The act required that all sorts of printed material carry a stamp (purchased from a government agent) to show that the tax had been paid. With the Stamp Act of 1765, Parliament attempted to raise money by direct taxation on the colonies for the first time. British Prime Minister George Grenville noted at the time of the Sugar Act's passage that a stamp tax might also be necessary, immediately raising concern and protest in the colonies. The acts had brought protests from colonial legislatures but had skirted the idea of direct taxation by structuring their revenues as trade-related excise duties. Parliament first passed the Sugar and Currency Acts in 1764, specifically aimed at raising money for the Crown by tighter regulation of colonial trade. In the aftermath of the French and Indian War, the British Parliament sought to increase revenues from its overseas colonies, where the cost of stationing troops had become significant. The economic issues prompted the British Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act, but it passed the Declaratory Act the same day, to express its opinion on the basic constitutional issues raised by the colonists it stated that Parliament could make laws binding the American colonies "in all cases whatsoever." The extralegal nature of the Congress caused alarm in Britain, but any discussion of the congress's propriety were overtaken by economic protests from British merchants, whose business with the colonies suffered as a consequence of the protests and their associated non-importation of British products. Members of six of the nine delegations signed petitions addressed to Parliament and King George III objecting to the Act's provisions. ![]() The delegates discussed and united against the act, issuing a Declaration of Rights and Grievances in which they claimed that Parliament did not have the right to impose the tax because it did not include any representation from the colonies. The Congress met in the building now known as Federal Hall and was held at a time of widespread protests in the colonies, some violent, against the Stamp Act's implementation. Although sentiment was strong in some of the other colonies to participate in the Congress, a number of royal governors took steps to prevent the colonial legislatures from meeting to select delegates. All of the attending delegations were from the Thirteen Colonies that eventually formed the United States. ![]() The Congress consisted of delegates from nine of the eighteen British colonies in mainland North America. Parliament had passed the Stamp Act, which required the use of specialty stamped paper for legal documents, playing cards, calendars, newspapers, and dice for virtually all business in the colonies starting on November 1, 1765. It was the first gathering of elected representatives from several of the American colonies to devise a unified protest against new British taxation. The Stamp Act Congress (October 7 – 25, 1765), also known as the Continental Congress of 1765, was a meeting held in New York, New York, consisting of representatives from some of the British colonies in North America.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |