Before the American Revolution, Great Britain had a say in many of the affairs of the young colonies that would become the United States of America. The King controlled anything from what the colonies could and could not export to what he wanted to collect taxes on. This often posed a problem with the colonists and eventually escalated into the revolution. A key document that led to this was the Stamp Act paper of 1765. This paper posed a tax on all printed objects in the colonies and affected all colonists. If looked at from the perspective of today’s society, it is easy to see why many colonists found it unfair, unjust, and just plain ridiculous.
While the document was effective in a sense that the King got money from the colonies, it wasn’t an effective way to tax the people. Not only would
“Resistance of the statute took the form of petitions to the king and Parliament, a boycott of British goods, the refusal of lawyers or printers to use stamps or stamped papers, and violence sparked by the Sons Of Liberty.”2 It was evident the American people disapproved. With all of the mentioned things happening consistently, Parliament finally repealed the Act in March of 1766, nearly 6 months after it was instated. While the Stamp Act may have ended, it still left a sore on the hearts of the colonists, and it would not be the last bill that England would try to impose on them either.
It is easy to see why everyone living in the American Colonies found the Stamp Act unfair. Instead of working out like Britain had hoped, it fueled the American fire to become independent and got the British re
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