Reasons behind the Stamp Act Essay

The British treated many colonists very poorly. The British Parliament created The Stamp Act in 1756. This ensured revenue from the American colonies by imposing a stamp duty on newspapers, legal and commercial documents. (Doc. #1) The Intolerable Act was made up of five laws that were passed by the British Parliament against the American colonies in 1774. (Doc. #5) Many American colonists were poorly treated by the British Parliament.

All the documents had to be formally printed in England and were distinguished by a special stamp. Then these pieces of paper had to be bought from a special agent at a price. This meant that the colonists had to pay taxes on every thing they bought from the British government. It was expected that this tax would raise 60,000 pounds annually. The colonists despised this and tried to buy as little as they could from England. After this act the colonists realised that the British government was revenue-raising. The colonists felt that the British Government should be helping to protect ones property not to take it. The colonists argued that they had no say or representation in the government and that is when the outcry started, “No taxation without representation!”

On account of King George’s tyranny and the complete lack of representation within the British Parliament, the American colonists were justified in waging war and breaking away from Britain.

It was created to increase the profit earned from the colonists by having a stamp that was required by law to placed on all newspapers, legal, and commercial documents. The purpose of the stamp act was to raise money to pay off the debt from the French and Indian War, raise money to pay to have the military in the colonies to reinforce the taxes, assert the authority of the British government over the colonies, reinforce policies from previous acts, and to implement taxes on documents. The act required the stamp to be placed on almost every item that was printed on paper from playing cards to diplomas and the tax had to be paid in silver or gold coins. The colonists were outraged because the British were taxing them and the colonies had no representatives in parliament. They protested using the now famous quote,”No taxation without representation!”

The stamp act eventually lead to serious things. The stamp act caused the Boston Massacre. The Boston Massacre started when a group started throwing sticks, stones, and other things at British soldiers. The stamp act eventually led to the American Revolution. The Revolution was a war between the Colonist and the British. The thirteen colonies fought against the British. The stamp act is what caused all of this destruction. The british should have just let the colonist be them They had to try to be the boss over everything. It eventually came back on the British. I think if the British wouldn't have been

The argument that was in the Stamp Act was that the colonist believed that they were entitled to the same rights as the citizens that were actually in Britain at that time. The colonist didn’t want to be taxed without representation. Since they were too far away to be represented, they wanted to just be taxed through their local representatives.

The Stamp Act was a law passed by the British government stating that legal documents, newspapers, license, and other items must have a stamp, indicating that a tax was paid when the item was purchased or received. Patrick Henry was an advocate for American Independence at this time in history, he sided with colonist and he was also tired of Britain's ridiculous laws. “We can under law be taxed only by our own representatives. We have no representatives in the British Parliament, (Patrick Henry, Doc 1).”The Stamp Act upset colonist because British parliament kept making tax laws, and it is against the law to tax without representation, and the parliament did not have any representatives. The colonist ignored this law and did not obey the Stamp Act. King George was a tyrant who would make laws and repeal them, so colonist did not take laws

Consequently, the British needed to invest money into collecting these taxes, but the cost of tax collection was four times greater than the money that they were collecting (Document F). In order to fix this problem the British imposed the Stamp Act, which mandated that all paper documents be taxed and stamped. One newspaper’s masthead actually pointed out how burdensome the Stamp Act was (Document H). This act especially irritated the colonists because this was the first tax that was not part of the price of an item. Previously, taxes were payed at ports and prices were raised to compensate for them.

England wanted to control its Colonies the way they should have originally, but due to their early Salutary Neglect the Colonists became accustomed to certain freedoms and rights that they weren’t suppose to have and the colonists believed in them strongly. The British’s debt turned political decisions into economical decisions, such as after the war when the colonists wanted to move westward to the land that they fought for and felt were entitled to, but were denied passage (Document A). This was not to limit the colonies, but to maintain peace between the colonies and the Indians, which was the cheapest

The British’s strict enforcement over the American colonies never sat completely well with many of the settlers to begin with, but to go along with their control issues on how they should be ran came many more policies to ensure their restrictions. Unfortunately for Britain, more rules and regulations only increased the colony’s desperation for freedom and their rebellious behavior rather than teaching them a lesson to mind their wonderful Majesty. The colony’s rebellious outbreaks, once began, would not stop until they were completely satisfied in their way of living. These colonies’ resistance towards Britain was due to their policies that had resulted in superfluous taxing, the loss of their trading rights, and

One of the things they did was tax the colonists on things they didn't get to vote on in parliament. NC Pedia states, "Parliament did not have the right to take their money by imposing taxes. "No taxation without representation" became their rallying cry." This means that colonists didn't want to get taxed for something they didn't have a say in. They know that taxes are needed to help run the country but, they didn't get to help decide what should be taxed. Great Britain also made some unfair laws. For example, they decided to make it legal that a British soldier come and sleep in your home and you would have to feed them. So, as you can tell, the British did some pretty unfair and cruel things so, who would want to be a part of

When the Stamp Act was created, it was because of the broken or leaky trade system between the Europeans and the Colonists. Their was a lot of smuggling that went on throughout the system. Many of the officers that should have been preventing these actions, just accepted bribes or just didn’t stop what was going on. Even though the system pretty much worked because everyone profited, the British Parliament wanted to tighten its grasp on the trade by punishing the colonists, thus The Stamp Act was born. The Stamp Act created out cry that would eventually lead to a better, more unified colony which would evolve into the United States

The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament on March 22,1765. It was a taxation on any piece of paper like, legal documents, playing cards, newspapers, etc, and once payed it got a stamp put on it. The reason for the act was to help pay the debt of the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War). This act affected all the colonists from the wealthy to the poor. What affected the colonists the most was that they had to pay in silver coins and silver was very difficult to find in the colonies. Like the Sugar Act many colonist protested violently and nonviolently. One violent protest was “harassing” tax collectors by destroying their homes and threatening them. A nonviolent protest was boycotting British goods hoping for the act to be repealed.

Why weren’t the thirteen colonies willing to abide by England’s laws? While some people were horrified with the Stamp Act, others were completely accepting of this new act. Janis Herbert stated in her book, The American Revolution for Kids, that after the French and Indian War, England had many debts, which obviously needed to be paid (3). England’s Parliament decided the American colonists needed to pay their debts for them. England went about this matter by raising taxes and requiring a stamp for fifty different documents (Gale Encyclopedia Par. 2). Since America was not yet a country, and had no representation, they were trapped with the laws Parliament passed. Even though England was trying to pay off their debts from the French & Indian War, they went about it the wrong way, because they expected the American colonists to pay by increased tax dollars. This is an example of taxation without representation, because the American colonists didn't have representatives, or the opportunity to vote.

The British law was the stamp act of 1765 that required the colonists to put stamps on all legal documents. From document 3 they put the tax on court documents and publications and the land agreements between the people. The reason that great Britain put the stamp tax on the colonists is because Britain had to pay for the French and Indian War. The stamp act put the tax on land and the warrants surveying for the land document 3. The colonists started delivering their papers by hand to resist the British law. Everything that to do with a court document you had to have a stamp on it or it would not be legal.