Stamp Act What Role Did the Stamp

Stamp Act

What role did the Stamp Act play in the American Revolution?

The Stamp Act of 1765 was enacted by British Parliament as an attempt to raise revenue that would help to pay off the debt that Britain had incurred during the Seven Years' War, also known as the French and Indian War. The Stamp Act required that American colonists pay a tax on "every piece of paper they used" (Summary of the 1765 Stamp Act, n.d.). While American colonials were used to being taxed by the British Parliament as they were still English subjects, they were most upset by the principle of the Act. The passage of the Stamp Act by British Parliament helped to bring attention to how American colonials were unjustly and unfairly being governed and helped to provide a political platform that would justify revolution.

One of the major reasons that colonials were highly against the Stamp Act is because they felt that they were not being represented within Parliament and that they had no say in how they should be governed. The colonists felt that there should be "no taxation without representation" (No Taxation Without Representation, n.d.). While Parliament supported the idea of virtual representation, and argued that an actual representative from the Colonies was not required. While neither actual or virtual representation seemed to plausible, Americans wanted to have at least the option of determining how the colonies should be run, rather than having someone (that had no idea what was going on) impose laws, taxes, and levies. Americans felt that if revenues were necessary, they should be able to form their own assemblies to determine what would be the best way to raise money (No Taxation Without Representation, n.d.).

The Stamp Act angered and united the American people like never before. It inspired both political and constitutional forms of literature to be distributed throughout the colonies, strengthened colonial perception and involvement, and created new forms of organized resistance. These organized groups of resistance quickly learned that they could force royal officials to resign by using violent measures and threats. The American people were very tired with not having a voice in their own lives and the Stamp Act was the last straw that led them to revolt for their own rights as American citizens.

One of the groups that formed in response to the Stamp Act was the Sons of Liberty. This militant group would later go on to play a major role in the American Revolution. At first, the Sons of Liberty were contained to the Boston area but by the end of 1765, there were chapters of the Sons of Liberty present in every colony (The Sons of Liberty, n.d.). The Sons of Liberty were able to use violence and coercion to rid the colonies of any representatives of the British Royal Government and by the end of 1766, "the royal government had been displaced in nearly every colony" (The Sons of Liberty, n.d.). The Sons of Liberty continued to rebel against any Acts imposed on the colonies by British Parliament, of which the Tea Act is one of the most important. The attempted enforcement of the Tea Act by Parliament led the Sons of Liberty to act out against their foreign sovereign at what is now known as the Boston Tea Party in 1773 (The Sons of Liberty, n.d.).