The Duties in America Colonies Act of 1765, commonly referred to as the Stamp Act was issued by King George III in 1765. The tax was in the form of a revenue stamp that would have to be purchased from the government and attached to many things such as documents, tobacco, alcohol, licenses, firearm registration, and many other things. Even a deck of cards would need to have a revenue stamp on it to charge the tax. The news was known throughout the Thirteen colonies through criers and news-papers such as this.
All of the British revenue stamps were produced on special paper to prevent counterfeit and most of the stamps came from London. This act soon influenced many other countries to produce revenue stamps and soon influenced the idea of postage stamps. Below is a proof copy of a 1765 American revenue stamp.
The Americans were angered at this tax introduction because they had no representatives in the British Parliament. The tax was approved without any approval from the Americans, which they called “taxation without representation” and began to result in many protests. The purpose of the Stamp Act was to use the tax money to defend the American colonies.
There were many protests during the American revolutionary period, mostly organized by the “Sons of Liberty” (radicals who intimidated and protested against the loyalists and others who were faithful to the king). The Sons of Liberty were involved with many revolutionary protests and incidents such as the burning of the HMS Gaspée in 1772. The most noted protest was the Boston Tea Party.
The Boston Tea Party was a big protest against the British Government and the East India Company that controlled all of the tea imported into the colonies. Officials in Boston refused to return three ships filled with creates of taxed tea to Britain, a group of settlers boarded the three ships and through the tea creates into the Boston Harbor. The event happened on December, 16 1773, and was a very iconic event in American history.