Stamp Act Crisis

Duties in American Colonies Act 1765, which was the official title of the Stamp Act was basically a direct tax that was imposed by Great Britain on the colonies of the New World, i.e America and parts of the newly acquired territory from Spain and Canada. The Proclamation of 1763 that was made by the British Crown to make some administrative changes in Colonies of America is considered as a precursor to the act. The Stamp Act was basically a follow-up or the extension of these administrative change, but is considered to be of absolute importance as it led to the American Revolution.

The Seven Years war which involved a lot of colonies of the Europe commonwealths, proved to be an expensive deal. In the process though, Great Britain realized the need to keep a huge infantry stationed at the colonies so as to protect its interests in these colonies, and newly acquired territories from France and Spain. The sheer expanse of territories and the colonies needed protection from several other powers, and hence a decision to station about 10,000 troops in the colonies at the cost of £225,000 per year was reached. In addition to that, the Crown and the British Commonwealth had experienced a substantial rise in the volume of national debt, which was £130,000,000 in 1764, the primary reason being war expenditures. Thus, the objective of the Stamp Act was two-fold, finance the troops stationed, and reduce national debt through taxation.

What was the Stamp Act Crisis

The decision to station the troops had been initiated by the Bute ministry. However the Bute ministry did not think up of the George Grenville administration that started the imposition of taxes on the colonies. Trade duties and some basic taxes were prevalent in the trade that was carried out between the colonies and Great Britain. However, two pre-eminent acts, the Stamp Act and the preceding Sugar Act were imposed by the Parliament. Colonial militia was prevalent in the time periods preceding the Seven Years war. However, differences and behavioral problems soon arose in the militia and commanding British officers which, of course, led to a drop in the number of enlisted militia. Thus, in such a case the contribution of colonies to the commonwealth was quite negligible, and thus the initiative to tax was put into motion by the Parliament.

The Sugar Act was levied on all foreign molasses entering Great Britain at 3 pence a gallon. This act was actually a modification of the Molasses Act of 1733, which levied 6 pence per gallon. The Sugar Act also was protested against, and the colonists realized that their constitutional rights or being repented in the legislative body were being violated. This gave the British revenue a partial monopoly on the imports of molasses from West Indies. The Sugar Act did not work, it was either evaded (read: smuggle of molasses) or the import opportunity was lost (read: sugar molasses was exported to another destination), and the Parliament initiated the Stamp Act.

Stamp Act: A Summary

Prior to the Stamp Act, there was no duty on transfer of documents. This act basically, gave government an authority to collect tax on several varied sales. For example, a £10 tax was placed on attorney licenses, land transfers were taxed exorbitantly, and a certain tax was even placed on newspaper, playing cards, dice, etc. Thus, basically, there existed a tax, which was imposed upon almost every possible commodity. Apart from that, some clauses within the act granted British courts and the legislature greater authority than American courts and legislature. Another practical problem was that the tax was to be paid in British currency rather than Colonial script, which was again a genuine one. There is no concrete and specific Stamp Act definition, but the act was certainly not fair, and was a definite hindrance to the people and the economy. The Parliament also enforced it anyway, without the consent of proper representation in the British Parliament, though it must be noted that Prime Minister Grenville did meet representatives Benjamin Franklin, Jared Ingersoll, Richard Jackson and Charles Garth to discuss possible alternatives.

In the later stages, after the act was enforced, protests in streets of every colony broke out and petitions to the Parliament, hate mail and media publications criticizing and renouncing the act became common. The statement 'no taxation without representation' probably was adopted during this period. The Sons of Liberty also came into picture as an organization of activists. Another notable feature was that the Stamp Act Congress 1765, a congress of all the colonies and their representatives met for the first time, which make this time period in American history, integral and important. Though the Stamp Act in itself was unfair, there were also some cases of extreme violence.

The Stamp Act, 1765 was canceled officially in 1766 as a result of violence and petition. The Parliament however, openly warned the Colonial legislature of its dominant powers to make laws. The Stamp Act of 1765 was not a very huge incident, it was an important event that paved the way towards American independence.