Stamp Act 1765

The final Colonial War (1689-1763) was the French and Indian War, which is the name given to the American theater of a massive conflict involving Austria, England, France, Great Britain, Prussia, and Sweden called the Seven Years War. The English and the French battled for colonial domination in North America, the Caribbean, and in India. The English did ultimately come to dominate the colonial outposts, but at a cost so staggering that the resulting debt nearly destroyed the English government. It was that debt that caused the escalation of tensions leading to the Revolutionary War. Parliament was desperate to obtain two objectives; first, to tax the colonies to recover monies expended on the battle over North America, and second to restore the profitability of the East India Company in an effort to recover monies spent on the battle over India.

The Stamp Act, passed by the British Parliament in 1765, imposed a tax on the issuing of all legal documents in the American colonies.

The Stamp Act was passed by Parliment in an effort to recoup some of the money expended during the French-Indian war protecting British possessions, including the colonies. The colonists did not like it very much because it was passed into law without their input and they felt the colonial militias that had assisted during the war were more than enough compensation for the services the British military had provided.

Although Britain had taken control of French possessions in America after the French and Indian War ended in 1763, the war had been a costly enterprise, and London tried to recover its war expenses by increasing the financial burden of the colonies. The Stamp Act was one component of this effort. The colonists regarded the stamp tax as extremely unjust and staged protests and an embargo of British goods throughout the colonies. The tax soon proved to be uncollectible, and the Stamp Act had to be repealed in 1766. The colonists' response to the Stamp Act was an early sign...