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Stamp Act Dbq

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March 22, 1765, the Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament. The Stamp Act was a law that imposed a direct tax on British America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper. Any printed item was taxed, such as playing cards, documents, and envelopes. Other items taxed were land and tobacco, two major trades between colonists. The highest tax was placed on attorney licenses. Papers relating to court proceedings were taxed. Land grants were taxed. Cards were taxed a shilling a pack, dice ten shillings, and newspapers and pamphlets a shilling for every sheet, the tax on pamphlets grew in proportion to their size but ceased altogether if they became large enough to qualify as a book. The Stamp Act was designed to raise money from the colonists, but its purpose to …show more content…

The original factor of the Stamp Act was that it was the first internal tax, a tax based entirely on activities within the colonies, imposed directly on the colonies by Parliament. Due to its potential wide application to the colonial economy, the Stamp Act was judged by the colonists to have a more dangerous effect on their rights than the Sugar Act was. The Act was repealed on March 18, 1766 as a matter of expedience, but Parliament affirmed its power to legislate for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever" by also passing the Declaratory Act. There followed a series of new taxes and regulations, likewise opposed by the colonists. Now let’s take a look at how the Stamp Act affected the colonies. March 22, 1765, Bill Hood, a merchant from Boston, joined his wife, Ronda, son, Theodore, and daughter, Nancy, at

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