Road to Rebellion Lecture

Key Topics

• Virtual representation
• "No taxation without representation"
• Internal vs. external taxes
• Revenue-raising vs. trade-regulating taxes
• Effective colonial tactics against British taxes and laws

Stamp Act of 1765

• Issued by Britain as part of Grenville's plan of Imperial reform
• Tax on paper products
  • Affected lawyers, newspaper editors, etc.
  • Seen as an attack on freedom of the press and speech
• First internal tax imposed on British North American colonies
  • Applied to products made/live within the colonies
  • Contrasts external trade duty (applies to imports/exports)
• Violated long-held colonial rights:
  • For 60+ years, Parliament had not imposed internal taxes due to benign neglect
  • Internal taxes were traditionally levied by colonial legislatures

Parliament's Authority vs. Colonial View

• Revenue-raising tax vs. trade-regulating tax:
  • Colonists accepted Parliament's right to regulate trade
  • Colonists did not accept Parliament's right to impose revenue-raising taxes
• Parliament practiced virtual representation:
  • Parliament claimed to represent entire Empire
  • Colonists demanded representation within taxation bodies

Colonial Response

• Eight Colonial legislatures condemned the Stamp Act
• Dramatic acts and imagery by colonists (e.g., Liberty and Gazette allegory) to protest
• Stamp required for numerous official papers (newspapers, diplomas, marriage certificates, etc.)

Important Details

• The press played a significant role in opposing the Stamp Act
• Ben Franklin warned about the impact on printers
• Historians like Jill Lepore argue Stamp Act was Britain's biggest management blunder in the colonies

Visual References

• Stamp used for official documents
• Colonists’ dramatic representations of Stamp Act's impact

Next Steps in Lecture

• Upcoming clip on what happened during the Stamp Act