History 346 paper 0 runner

There are many reasons to support the Morgans claim that Prime Minister George Grenville support of the stamp act was designed to do more than raise a revenue from the colonies, it aimed at asserting the principle of Parliamentary control. The Stamp Act was an important act introduced by the British
prime minister George Grenville and it was passed on March 22,1765 by the
British Parliament. It’s purpose was to raise money for the British army
stationed in the American colonies. The Stamp Act required tax stamps
for public documents such as, newspapers, legal documents, customs
documents, licenses, playing cards, deeds, and almanacs. The actual cost of the Stamp Act was relatively small. What made the law so offensive to the colonists was not so much its immediate cost but the standard it seemed to set. In the past, taxes and duties on colonial trade had always been viewed as measures to regulate commerce, not to raise money. The Stamp Act, however, was viewed as a direct attempt by England to raise money in the colonies without the approval of the colonial legislatures. If this new tax were allowed to pass without resistance, the colonists reasoned, the door would be open for far more troublesome taxation in the future.



One of the real reasons I believe that Prime Minister George Grenville supported the stamp act was to maintain imperial British control. Remember that, England did not view the colonists as having their own separate nation. They still looked at the Americans as living under the crown of England and still a part of the British Empire. In order to maintain dominance over the British American colonies the Parliament placed a tax on any goods being transferred within the colonies and any products being traded with the colonies. I imagine that putting a tax on items being bought and sold by the American people would not allow business and trade to grow within the colonies. THe colonists were already struggling to prosper and form new ways of trade and commerce before being hindered by taxation from the British. Now with the stamp act the gorwth of the trade industry will be limited even more. In this way, the British are in a winning situation becuase they will profit from all forms of trade or sale in the Britsh American colonies. THe only ones that I imagine would be satisfied with this taxation were loyalists in the British American colonies that still acknowledged the crown of England as having societal rule over them and the English parliament as the supreme poltical authority. America in itself was still blossoming as a new nation. The whole reason many of the colonists left England was to escape the heavy taxation put on many citizens from the English throne. Prime Minister George Grenville was just doing his job and supporting the Parliament and the English throne. He also may have been secretly supporting his own personal ambitions.