Stamp Act Dbq

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The Stamp Act of 1765 was one of the first events that the British government established that led to the breakdown of the relationship between Great Britain and the colonists. The Stamp Act was executed by the British Parliament for the sole purpose to raise revenue from the colonists to help pay for the expenses of the French and Indian War which costed over £135 million. The Act placed a tax on every piece of legal and commercial paper, such as newspapers, advertisements, cards, pamphlets, etc., and affected everyone since paper was a huge part of everyday life and was used in the majority of items in general (Gilje 1 of 1). The colonists thought that this Act was unfair because they believed that they could only be taxed by their own …show more content…
The Stamp Act threatened the colonists’ voice in their own government because, unlike the British citizens, they were taxed without given representation in the British Parliament. By taxing the colonists without allowing them to be represented, they had less rights than English subjects which was unjust (The Stamp Act Controversy 1 of 1). As a result, the colonists rebelled in many forms and set a precedent of opposition for the revolution. For example, seven colonies met in October 1765 to send a petition to King George III and the Parliament to ask for the same rights and liberties as the British citizens. This meeting is known as the Stamp Act congress. On another level of rebellion, the Stamp Act caused an outbreak of violent rioting in the streets where stamp distributors were hanged or tarred and feathered (Gilje 1 of 1). The slogan “no taxation without representation” is commonly associated with the Stamp Act because the Stamp Act was the starting cause of the rebellion of the colonists for a voice in their …show more content…
The British government was mercantile based which meant that the colonies existed as moneymakers for the mother country (Britain). Subsequently, the British Parliament granted the British East India Company permission to export tea directly from its Chinese warehouses to a chosen group of colonial merchants which reduced the tax and price of tea significantly in comparison to the tea that was exported to England, where a tax was paid, and then back to the colonies with even more taxes (Cheek 1 of 1). This meant that tea from the British East India Company was a lot cheaper than tea from other sellers. Parliament formed this plan to try and coax the colonists to only buy tea from the British East India Company as that would serve as a win-win scenario since the colonists could buy tea at a cheaper price and the British East India Company could gain revenue since they owed the British crown roughly £1 million. However, the unchosen colonial merchants who smuggled tea and were not protected under the tea act would no longer be able to make a profit. They thought that Great Britain was trying to start a monopoly which would lead to their loss of freedom (Williams 1 of 1). Again, the colonists rebelled against this Act and on December 16, 1773, around 60 men dressed up as Native Americans
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