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Seeds of Revolution
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A sheet of tax stamps, which in 1765 were required on all
legal documents, permits, contracts, newspapers, pam-
phlets, and playing cards in the American colonies. The
money raised from the Stamp Act tax was to be used to
help pay the cost of protecting the colonies.
Raising Revenue
In 1764, Parliament—Great Britain’s legislature—passed the American
Revenue
Act. Popularly known as the Sugar Act, the law imposed a
duty
(tax) of three pence per gallon on all molasses imported into the
American colonies.
Colonists didn’t like the Sugar Act. Molasses, which is derived from
sugarcane, was used to make rum. The import duty hurt the colonial rum
industry. Still, most colonists saw the Sugar Act as a measure to regulate
trade. That was something colonists believed Great Britain had every right
to do. And anyway, most colonists weren’t directly affected by the import
duty on molasses, or by the Sugar Act’s other provisions.
The same couldn’t be said of the Stamp Act, passed by Parliament in
March 1765 and slated to go into effect on November 1 of that year. It applied
to common legal documents almost every colonist would need at some
time, such as marriage licenses, wills, deeds, and contracts. It applied to
newspapers, almanacs, and
pamphlets. It even applied
to playing cards. The Stamp
Act required that all these
items be on paper bearing
a royal revenue stamp.
The cost would vary
according to the type of
printed material in ques-
tion. But all money raised
would be used to offset the
Crown’s expenses for the
defense of the colonies. Still,
the Stamp Act met with
furious opposition from
colonists. Why?
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