Stamp Act Passed: On This Day, March 22, 1765

On March 22, 1765, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act to help pay for British troops stationed in the colonies during the Seven Years’ War. The act required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp, on various forms of papers, documents, and playing cards. Colonists’ anger over the new tax was heightened by the fact that it had been passed by Parliament without the approval of colonial legislatures. Reactions ranged from boycotts of British goods to more violent protests, including riots and attacks on tax collectors. In an August 19, 1765, letter, Archibald Hinshelwood of Nova Scotia describes Bostonians’ reactions to the Stamp Act:

There is a violent spirit of opposition raised on the Continent against the execution of the Stamp Act, the mob in Boston have carried it very high against Mr. Oliver the Secry (a Town born child) for his acceptance of an office in consequence of that act. They have even proceeded to some violence, and burnt him in Effigy &c. They threaten to pull down & burn the Stamp Office now building.

He ends his account rather forebodingly by pondering, "what the consequences may be in the Colonies who have no military force to keep the rabble in order, I cannot pretend to say."

Follow the Road to Revolution in an essay by Northwestern University professor T. H. Breen.