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DIRECTIONS: Read the historical background and view each document. Answer the questions that follow the document on the Answer Sheet.

STAMP ACT, 1765
“No Taxation without Representation”

Protest against the Stamp Act The sign in the background reads: "The Folly of England and the Ruin of America"

five shillings A tax stamp placed on certain items showed that colonists had paid taxes on them.

Historical Background:

In 1765, upon George Grenville’s recommendation, the British Parliament enacted the Stamp Act as a means of raising colonial tax revenues to help pay the cost of the French and Indian War in North America. It was the first direct tax imposed by Britain on its American colonies. This law placed a tax on newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, playing cards and legal documents.

The Colonists reacted immediately, asserting that the Stamp Act was an attempt to raise money in the colonies without the approval of colonial legislatures. Patrick Henry in the Virginia House of Burgesses stated, “No taxation without representation”. This became the slogan of the day. Patriotic societies, known as the Sons of Liberty”, were formed to organize resistance to the tax. Resistance to the act was demonstrated through debates in the colonial legislatures, written documents (including legislative resolves, prints, and songs), and mob/crowd actions such as tarring and feathering tax collectors. Merchants pledged to halt the import of British goods, and the people vowed to stop buying English products until the tax was repealed.

1. What are the people protesting?

2. Who do the dolls hanging from the trees represent?

3.  How did the colonists protest the tax?

4.  What does the sign "The Folly of England and the Ruin of America" mean?

  5.  What is meant by “NO taxation without representation”?