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Stamp act and its effects
Stamp act and its effects
Stamp act and its effects
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Stamp act and its effects
Stamp act and its effects
Stamp act and its effects
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Stamp Act, which was issued in 1765, taxed all paper documents in the colonies. The Stamp Act was the first Act that was directed towards the colonies alone and was issued because they had an abundance of debt after the Seven Years War. You had to pay taxes for printing legal documents, diplomas, almanacs, broadsides, newspapers, and playing cards. In October nine of the colonies sent someone to the Stamp Act Congress where the colonies drafted the Declaration of Rights and Grievances which was a document that went against the British empire. The colonists also rebelled by not selling any British products.
Financial stability of the colonial people was often thought to be put at stake with the introduction of new taxes and regulations which caused much frustration. Before Parliament had laid out any questionable taxes (i.e. stamp act), the citizens appeared perfectly content with Parliament 's power (Doc C). The stamp act required that every document, used by the colonists be stamped and taxed. One can see why this would anger people (as paper was the “big thing” before modern technology). Chaos ensued, the colonists were not fond of tax collectors whatsoever.
Great Britain passed the Stamp Act which imposed an internal tax on every paper colonist used. To include newspaper, legal documents, and playing cards. The colonist felt that the Stamp Act was not treating them as equals to peers in Great Britain. The merchants had problems with the parliament. The parliament wanted to increase domestic taxes and control imports.
The date was March 22, 1765, the Stamp Act had just been passed, and the colonies were outraged. One Massachusetts family in particular was discussing it. The Miller family had a complex view about the Stamp Act. The mother, Maribeth was a patriot, and hated the stamp act, the father, George however, still disliked the Stamp Act, but this made his job very difficult, for he owned a mail and delivery system. The older, sixteen year old daughter, May was very rebellious against her parents, and thought the Stamp Act was very necessary, and because of this, she didn’t get along well with her family, since they were patriots, and because of her father’s job.
In March of 1766, Britain annulled the burdensome Stamp Act, because of the great resistance. The ordinance had to be enforced on the first of November in 1765. However, only a few stamps were sold. Moreover, the spreaders of these marks were prosecuted by furious colonials, which opposed such regime. The opposition to the Stamp Act was depicted in different ways.
In 1765, the Stamp Act was placed on colonists, which placed a tax on many types of printed materials. As a result of the sudden tax placement, almost all of the free colonists were furious and began to riot. Groups such as the Loyal Nine opposed the Stamp Act and expressed their anger through violence. English colonists were determined to have freedom since they believed that the Stamp Act imposed by Great Britain “violated their liberty” (Foner, 179). The determination to achieve colonial liberty established a huge divide between the colonists and Great Britain.
This first direct tax imposed on the colonists was seen as an unequivocal way for the British to raise revenue. This added to colonial hostility against the British, and led to much public outcry. This is notable in Document H, where we see a picture of the Pennsylvania
By taxing colonists for paper, Britain could regain the money they lost. The Stamp Act made colonists very mad. Paper was a common item, and the colonists did not want to have to constantly buy stamps. The colonists wanted freedom from the taxes and they did not like being controlled by Britain.
The Sugar, Stamp, and Townshend Acts all say that England needs to tax the colonies so he can protect them. I found three examples of this. First, the Sugar Act said, “...it is just and necessary, that a revenue be raised, in your majesty 's said dominions in America, for defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the same…” That meant that England needed money to protect America. Second, the Stamp Act said, “...toward defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing, the British colonies and plantations in America: and whereas it is just and necessary, that provisions be made for raising a further revenue within your Majesty’s dominions in America…”
At first, the American colonies were happy to be control by the Great Britain, The British Parliament didn’t bother the colonists very much. However, after the French Indian War, The Great Britain need money to repay a huge debt. The British Parliament said the purpose of the Great Britain to fought the war is to protect the American Colonies from French, so the American Colonies should help to pay the debt for the war. For this reason, the British Parliament has been passing laws to place taxes on the American colonies. However, most American colonists didn’t agree to help the Britain to repay the debt.
The Stamp Act, a bill, was created to assist England in paying for the most recent war with France. Many of the British Colonists believed that the Stamp act was highly unfair; however, England believed that the bill was truly right and just, seeing as the colonial taxpayers paid less in other taxes. This act led to the two groups battling against one another to see who was on the correct side of the argument (Beauchemin 9). The Stamp Act was heavily unfair to the American taxpayers due to the mass amounts of trouble and disrupt that England had caused the colonies.
During the Colonial Era (1492-1763), colonists were justified in waging war against Great Britain; due to the inequitable Stamp Act, the insufferable British oppression, and the perceived tyranny of King George III, the king of Great Britain, however, the colonists were unjustified in some of their actions. In Colonial America, colonists were justified in waging war against Great Britain, because the Stamp Act was unfair and viewed as punishment. Because of the war, Britain had no other choice but to tax the colonists to pay for the debt. For example, according to document 2, the author states that the act was not only for trade but for “the single purpose of levying money.”
For one, “taxation without representation” attacked the “free colonists’ well-being” (Holton 18). The taxation started with the Sugar Act in 1764, which taxed molasses but ultimately raised revenue. Although the act would prove to be beneficial, the colonists believed that they should be represented in Parliament if their products would be taxed. When the British subjected the colonists to the first internal tax, the Stamp Act of 1765, the colonists became even more furious and the thought of independence seemed better than ever. Previously, the British had created the Proclamation Line of 1763, which protected Native American land but infuriated many including the Founding Fathers who “dreamed of vastly enhancing their wealth by speculating in western land” (Holton 18).
One of the British wrongdoings against the colonists was that the Parliament instilled a numerous number of heavy taxes on the colonies after the Seven Years War. Those taxes were the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Quartering Act, Townshend Acts and the Tea Act. These Acts, from the colonial standpoint, were to collect money for the treasury (Boyer et al, 141). Moreover, these taxed placed upon the colonies were an act of taxation without representation, which upset the colonists. “Jefferson argued that the English government had violated its contract with the colonists, there by giving them the right to replace it with a government of their own design.”
The Stamp Act was one of several new acts known as the Townshend Acts. According to Britain, these taxes were designed to pay off their war debt that protected the Americans. However, John Dickinson later wrote in Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania that “[the Townshend Acts claim the authority] to impose duties on these colonies, not for the regulation of trade…but for the single purpose of levying money upon us.” (Doc 2) This means that the British were imposing these taxes on the colonists in order to make money.