Stamp Act

January 22, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

About 250 Years Ago … Benjamin Franklin’s ‘Examination’

As we approach the semiquincentennial (250th) anniversary of the forming of the United States, here is a brief summary of issues and actions that led to the Revolution and the Revolutionary War … this is about the Examination of Benjamin Franklin.

The French and Indian War (1754-1763) was the North American phase of a worldwide conflict between Britain, the French and Native Americans.

While the British won the war, the French and Indian War had been enormously expensive and left Great Britain with a heavy debt. And, the expense of protecting the English possessions in America seemed likely to increase rather than diminish.

The war and the British government’s attempts to impose taxes on colonists to help cover these expenses resulted in increasing colonial resentment of British attempts to expand imperial authority in the colonies.

One of the early taxes to be imposed was the Stamp Act.

On February 13, 1766, Benjamin Franklin appeared before the British Parliament’s House of Commons to advocate for a repeal of the Stamp Act of 1765. (Archives) Franklin provided evidence in the form of answers to 174 questions. The session, according to the Proceedings of Parliament, lasted for four hours.

Franklin shared his observations on the attitude of the colonists towards the British Empire before and after the imposition of the Stamp Act, and comments on issues of taxation, representation and the ability of the colonies to become economically independent from the mother country. Here are some of Franklin’s responses:

At the time, In North America there were about 300,000 white men from sixteen to sixty years of age. The population increase of “the inhabitants of all the provinces together, taken at a medium, double[d] in about 25 years.”

“But their demand for British manufactures increased much faster, as the consumption is not merely in proportion to their numbers, but grows with the growing abilities of the same numbers to pay for them.”

Colonists’ Attitude to Britain

The “temper of America towards Great Britain before the year of 1763” was “The best in the world, they have submitted willingly to the government of the Crown, and paid, in all their courts, obedience to acts of parliament.”

“They had not only a respect, but an affection, for Great Britain, for its laws, its customs and manners, and even a fondness for its fashions, that greatly increased the commerce.”

“They consider themselves as a part of the British empire, & as having one common interest with it; they may be looked on here as foreigners, by they do not consider themselves as such.”

And, in 1763, “it is greatly lessened” which was due to “a concurrence of causes; the restraints lately laid on their trade, by which the bringing of foreign gold and silver into the colonies was prevented; the prohibition of making paper money among themselves; and then demanding a new and heavy tax by stamps; taking away at the same time, trials by juries, and refusing to receive & hear their humble petitions.

Their temper in 1766? … “O, very much altered.”

Parliament

Before 1763, there was no “objection to the right of [Parliament] laying duties to regulate commerce; but a right to lay internal taxes was never supposed to be in parliament, as we are not represented there.”

“But the payment of duties laid by act of parliament, as regulations of commerce was never disputed.”

Previously, “there was never an occasion to make any such act, till now that [Britain has] attempted to tax us; that has occasioned resolutions of assembly, declaring the distinction, in which I think every assembly on the continent, and every member in every assembly, have been unanimous.”

Taxes Versus Duties

The difference between external taxes and internal taxes “is very great.”

“An external tax is a duty laid on commodities imported; that duty is added to the first cost, and other charges on the commodity, and when it is offered to sale, makes a part of the price. If the people do not like it at that price, they refuse it; they are not obliged to pay it.”

“But an internal tax is forced from the people without their consent, if not laid by their own representatives.”

Colonists Were Willing to Pay Their Fair Share

“The Colonies raised, paid and clothed, near 25,000 men during the last war, a number equal to those sent from Britain, and far beyond their proportion; they went deeply in debt in doing this, and all their taxes and estates are mortgages, for many years to come, for discharging that debt. Government here was at that time sensible of this. The Colonies were recommended to parliament.”

“Every year the King sent down to the house a written message to this purpose. That his Majesty, being highly sensible of the zeal and vigour with which his faithful subjects in North-America had exerted themselves, in defence of his Majesty’s just rights and possession, recommended it to the house to take the same into consideration, and enable him to give them a proper compensation.”

“You will find those messages on your own journals every year of the war to the very last, and you did accordingly give 200,000 Pounds annually to the Crown, to be distributed in such compensation to the Colonies.”

“This is the strongest of all proofs that the Colonies, far from being unwilling to bear a share of the burthen, did exceed their proportion, for if they had done less, or had only equaled their proportion, there would have been no room or reason for compensation.”

“Indeed the sums reimbursed them, were by no means adequate to the expence they incured beyond their proportion; but they never murmured at that; they esteemed their Sovereign’s approbation of their zeal and fidelity, the approbation of this house, far beyond any other kind of compensation”.

“[T]herefore, there was no occasion for this act, to force money from a willing people, they had not refused giving money for the purposes of the act: no requisition had been made; they were always willing and ready to do what could reasonably be expected from them, and in this light they wish to be considered.”

If Great-Britain should be engaged in a war in Europe, I think North-America would contribute to the support of it, “as far as their circumstances would permit.” The Colonists “consider themselves as a part of the whole.”

“Though the parliament may judge of the occasion, the people, will think it can never exercise such a right, till representatives from the Colonies are admitted into parliament, & that whenever the occasion arises, representatives will be ordered.”

“They will not find a rebellion; they may indeed make one.”

The pride of the Americans used to be “To indulge in the fashions and manufactures of G. Britain.”

What is now their pride? “To wear their old cloaths over again, till they can make new ones.” (Benjamin Franklin) (Information here is from Massachusetts Historical Society)

Repeal of Stamp Act

Delegates from the colonies convened in New York City at the Stamp Act Congress, where they drew up formal petitions to the British Parliament and to King George III to repeal the act. It was the first unified colonial response to British policy and it provided the British a taste of what would come soon thereafter.

Realizing that it actually cost more to enforce the Stamp Act in the protesting colonies than it did to abolish it, the British government repealed the tax in 1766.

Click the following links to general summaries about Ben Franklin’s ‘Examination’:

Click to access Actions-After-the-French-and-Indian-War-Changed-Everything-SAR-RT.pdf

Click to access Benjamin-Franklins-Examination.pdf

December 26, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

About 250 Years Ago …Taxes, Taxes, Taxes

As we approach the semiquincentennial (250^th) anniversary of the forming of the United States, here is a brief summary of issues and actions that led to the Revolution and the Revolutionary War … this is about Taxes, Taxes, Taxes.

The French and Indian War was a clash of British, French and American Indian cultures. American Colonists were British citizens and fought side-by-side with the red coats.

The war started as a struggle for control of the land west of the Allegheny Mountains in the Ohio River Valley. (It was waged from 1754 to 1763.)

As the conflict spread, European powers began to fight throughout the world. It became a war fought on four continents: North America, Europe, Asia & Africa.

(The European portion of the war was called the Seven Years War.)

It ended with the removal of French power in North America.

The stage was set for the American Revolution. In a lot of respects, actions after the French and Indian war changed every-thing in the Colonies.

While the British won the war, it had been enormously expensive and left Great Britain with a heavy debt.

British government’s attempts to impose taxes on the Colonists to help cover those expenses resulted in increasing Colonial resentment.

The Colonists claimed they were equal to all other British citizens.

They felt they should be treated equally and argued that without representation in Parliament, Parliament could not tax them.

Parliament taxed and imposed import/export restrictions on the Colonies early and often (here are some):

Sugar Act (April 5, 1764)

Currency Act (April 19, 1764)

Stamp Act (March 22, 1765)

Quartering Act (Mar. 24, 1765)

Declaratory Act (Mar. 18, 1766)

Townshend Acts (June 5, 1767)

Tea Act (May 10, 1773)

Intolerable Acts (Mar. 31, 1774)

Mounting tensions came to a head during the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, when the “shot heard round the world” was fired.

It was not without warning; the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770 and the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773 showed the increasing dissatisfaction with British rule in the Colonies.

The Declaration of Independence, issued on July 4, 1776 stated the reasons the Colonists felt com-pelled to break from the rule of King George III and parliament to start a new nation.

In September of that year, the Continental Congress declared the “United Colonies” of America to be the “United States of America.”

France joined the war on the side of the Colonists in 1778, helping the Continental Army conquer the British at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.

The American Revolutionary War in North America lasted from April 19, 1775 (with the Battles of Lexington and Concord) to September 3, 1783 (with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.)

It lasted 8 years, 4 months, 2 weeks and 1 day; then, the sover-eignty of the United States was recognized roughly by what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and the Mississippi River to the west.

The Peace of Paris is a collection of treaties ending the American Revolution and signed by representatives of Great Britain on one side and the United States, France, and Spain on the other.

Click the following link to a general summary about Taxes, Taxes, Taxes.

Click to access Taxes-Taxes-Taxes-SAR-RT.pdf

March 30, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Declaratory Act

The Stamp Act was passed by Parliament in 1765; effectively, it required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp.

Included under the act were bonds, licenses, certificates, and other official documents as well as more mundane items such as plain parchment and playing cards. It imposed a tax on all papers and official documents in the American colonies, though not in England.

It was a direct tax imposed by the British government without the approval of the colonial legislatures and was payable in hard-to-obtain British sterling, rather than colonial currency.

Further, those accused of violating the Stamp Act could be prosecuted in Vice-Admiralty Courts, which had no juries and could be held anywhere in the British Empire. (Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History)

The colonists had recently been hit with three major taxes: the Sugar Act (1764), which levied new duties on imports of textiles, wines, coffee and sugar; the Currency Act (1764), which caused a major decline in the value of the paper money used by colonists; and the Quartering Act (1765), which required colonists to provide food and lodging to British troops under certain circumstances.

With the passing of the Stamp Act, the colonists’ grumbling finally became an articulated response to what they saw as the mother country’s attempt to undermine their economic strength and independence.

The first legislative protest against the Stamp Act came from Virginia. On May 30, 1765, the House of Burgesses adopted four resolutions, submitted by Patrick Henry. On the 8th of June, Massachusetts issued the call for the Stamp Act congress.

By November 1, the date on which the Stamp Act was to go into effect, the resolutions of assemblies and public meetings, and the intimidation and violence of the ‘Sons of Liberty’ and others, had made the execution of the act impossible, even if stamps could have been had.

A circular letter from Conway to the governors, dated October 24, urging them to do their utmost to maintain law and order, and authorizing them to call upon the military and naval commanders for assistance, if necessary, was unavailing.

At the opening of Parliament, December 17, papers relating to affairs in America were submitted.

Numerous petitions were also presented setting forth the losses which the Stamp Act had inflicted upon British trade.

A resolution declaratory of the right of Parliament to tax the colonies, submitted February 3, was adopted by large majorities.

On the 6th the Lords, by a vote of 59 to 54, resolved in favor of executing the Stamp Act; but a similar proposition in the Commons was rejected by a vote of more than two to one.

On the 12th the King announced himself favorable to modification of the act; while the examination of Franklin before the House of Commons further strengthened the argument for repeal.

The repeal bill and the declaratory bill passed the Commons March 4, and on the 7th the declaratory bill passed the Lords.

The proposition to repeal the Stamp Act, however, encountered strong opposition in the Lords, where 33 members entered a protest against it at the second reading, and 28 at the third; but on the 17th the bill passed, and the next day both acts received the royal assent.

Parliament appeased the unruly colonists by repealing the Stamp Act. However, the repeal of the Stamp Act did not mean that Great Britain was surrendering any control over its colonies.

The Declaratory Act, passed by Parliament on the same day the Stamp Act was repealed; members of Parliament were upset that colonists had challenged their authority and they asserted complete authority to make laws binding on the American colonies “in all cases whatsoever” and stated that the British Parliament’s taxing authority was the same in America as in Great Britain. (LOC)

The act particularly illustrated British insensitivity to the political maturity that had developed in the American provinces during the 18th century, partly in response to Parliament’s unwritten policy of salutary neglect toward the colonies during the first half of the century. (Select Charters Illustrative of American History)

Click the following link to a general summary about the Declaratory Act:

Click to access Declaratory-Act.pdf

February 23, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The French and Indian War had been enormously expensive and left Great Britain with a heavy debt. And, the expense of protecting the English possessions in America seemed likely to increase rather than diminish.

One of the early taxes to be imposed was the Stamp Act. Its title and text noted it was, An Act for granting and applying certain stamp duties, and other duties, in the British colonies and plantations in America, towards further defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the same …

Then, a long list of items related to “every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be ingrossed, written or printed within such British Colonies .. [shall pay] a stamp duty …”

Effectively, the Act required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp. Included under the act were bonds, licenses, certificates, and other official documents as well as more mundane items such as plain parchment and playing cards. It imposed a tax on all papers and official documents in the American colonies, though not in England.

It was a direct tax imposed by the British government without the approval of the colonial legislatures and was payable in hard-to-obtain British sterling, rather than colonial currency.

They raised the issue of taxation without representation, and formed societies throughout the colonies to rally against the British government and nobles who sought to exploit the colonies as a source of revenue and raw materials.

In October 1765, delegates from the colonies convened in New York City at the Stamp Act Congress, where they drew up formal petitions to the British Parliament and to King George III to repeal the act. It was the first unified colonial response to British policy and it provided the British a taste of what would come soon thereafter.

The British had been receiving reports of mob violence in the colonies, and Prime Minister Grenville had been replaced by Lord Rockingham, who proved more sympathetic than his predecessor to the colonists’ demands. (Khan Academy)

The colonists also took exception with the provision denying offenders trials by jury. A vocal minority hinted at dark designs behind the Stamp Act. These radical voices warned that the tax was part of a gradual plot to deprive the colonists of their freedoms and to enslave them beneath a tyrannical regime.

By October of that year, nine of the 13 colonies sent representatives to the Stamp Act Congress, at which the colonists drafted the “Declaration of Rights and Grievances,” a document that railed against the autocratic policies of the mercantilist British empire.

Realizing that it actually cost more to enforce the Stamp Act in the protesting colonies than it did to abolish it, the British government repealed the tax the following year. (History-com)

Click to access Stamp-Act.pdf