Stamp Act 1765

While the Sugar and Molasses Acts were later repealed, additional legislation was brought to bear against the colony, the Stamp Act of 1765. Sugar and Molasses Act primarily impacted the population of the North East, the Stamp Act impacted the entire Colony (Brinkley 93). This act required that all printed material within the Colony carries a stamp, to be purchased from the Government. According to Brinkley, the British government was collecting ten times the previous taxes accumulated in previous years (Brinkley 93). This act only further exacerbated the negative feelings that already existed against the crown. This policy was too, met with an abundance of resistance. “Patrick Henry made a dramatic speech to the House on May 1765, concluding

They submitted willingly to the government of the Crown, and paid, in all their courts, obedience to acts Parliament” (Brinkley 94). Up until the time of the Stamp act they held the Crown in high regards. Once again Franklin was asked, “What is your opinion of a future tax, imposed on the same principal with that of the Stamp Act? How would the Americans receive it?” He answered, “Just as they do this. They would not pay it” (Brinkley 94). This conversation between Parliament and Franklin goes on to denote that the American population believes that the tax to be unconstitutional. A conflict of ideologies had risen; Parliament believed that the Crown had the right to govern the Colony and the population no longer accepting authority of the ruling government to tax its population. Furthermore, his deposition further exposed that if the Stamp Act was not repealed, there would be “a total loss of the respect and affection the people of America bear to this country, and of all commerce that depends on that respect and affection” (Brinkley

Hostilities against the Customs offices and staff by the citizens of Boston. The Crown responded by placing military forces within the vicinity of the Customs office, a police force was to protect government assets and staff. March 5, 1770 harassment of the Customs office and its staff was answered with gunfire; five citizens of Boston were killed. This event became known as the Boston Massacre. The media of the time picked up the story and sensationalized the event by using highly prejudicial biased propaganda. Terms such as “The Guilty, Guilty, murd’rer walks abroad… MURD’RER !” (Frederick 4.2). The soldiers involved were tried and convicted; however, only given token punishments (Brinkley 97). This propaganda did not address the rational or evaluate the justification for the killing of the five that perished in the event. The purpose of this article was to incite the masses and further shift the opinions of the populous. The end result were cries for those in control to” be hung with new made Ropes” (Frederick 4.2). As a result of these events, Samuel Adams argued that “England… had become a morass of sin and corruption” (Brinkley 97). This disdain for England had now taken root. Were it not specifically for the monetary policies of those in power, the tax base and governmental intervention required to enforce its collection, this event would not have taken