Stamp Act 1765 Detail

About Stamp Act 1765 Detail

The Stamp Act required colonists to purchase stamped paper for legal documents, newspapers, and playing cards. The stamps ranged from 1 penny to 10 pounds. The act was intended to raise 60,000 annually. Colonial resistance was immediate. The Virginia House of Burgesses passed resolutions asserting that only colonial assemblies could tax colonists. In Boston, the Sons of Liberty organized protests and burned tax collectors in effigy. By November 1765, all stamp distributors had resigned, making the act unenforceable. Parliament repealed the act in March 1766 but passed the Declaratory Act the same day, asserting its authority over the colonies. The Stamp Act crisis established the pattern of colonial resistance that would lead to independence ten years later.