Stamp Act

The Stamp Act was the first attempt that the Parliament to assert governmental authority in all the colonies that the British owned. It was passed in March 22, 1765 by the Parliament. They put this act so that England could pay the debt they got from the Seven Years War. The money collected by the Stamp Act was used to pay the costs of defending and protecting the American frontier that were close with the Appalachian Mountains. Also, this new tax was imposed on the American colonists, that required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. From ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers to playing cards were taxed by the Parliament. The Stamp Act made a lot of conflict in those times.

The actual cost of the Stamp Act was relatively small. What really offend the colonists was the standard it seemed to set. In the past years, the taxes on colonial trade were used to measure commerce, not to raise money. However, the Stamp Act was viewed as an attempt by England to raise money in the colonies without the approval of the colonial legislatures. Few colonists believed the idea that they could do anything more than grumble and buy stamps. But suddenly Virginia House of Burgesses adopted Patrick Henry's Stamp Act Resolves. These resolves declared that Americans possessed the same right as the English.

There were more things declared in Patrick Henry's Stamp Act Resolves. It stated that they should be taxed only by their own representatives. Another one was that Virginians should pay no taxes except those voted by the Virginia House of Burgesses. And the last conflict declared was that anyone who supported the right of Parliament to tax Virginians should be consider an enemy of the colony. The House of Burgesses defeated most of Henry's radical ideas, but 4 of them were adopted. In conclusion, the Patrick Henry's Resolves helped a lot the colonists to protest against the British and make them repealed the Stamp Act in 1766.