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. Since Britain
was left with a large national debt from the Seven Years’ War, the
British government felt that since the colonies benefited that they
should contribute to the expenses. The American colonies acted
strongly against this matter.
During the Summer of 1765, there were many protests in the
colonies. These protests involved everyone from civic leaders to street
mobs. In many cities and towns the slogan became “no taxation without
representation.” Many acts of violence and a lot of
pressure was centered towards the Stamp Agents who enforced the stamp act.
stamp agents resigned.
The Virginia Assembly declared that the Stamp Act was unjust
and illegal. The assembly passed resolutions against taxation’s by the
British Parliament.
The Stamp Act Congress declared
that stamp taxes could not be collected without the people’s consent and
that the colonists’ right to be taxed was only by their own elected
representatives. Merchants agreed not to import British goods until the
law was repealed. That lead to the British Parliament being bombarded
by petitions from English merchants not importing their goods. Many
English political leaders argued that the law was unenforceable.
Finally on March 4, 1766 the Stamp Act was repealed by the
British Parliament. The unity of the American colonists in their
opposition towards the Stamp Act contributed to the American
nationalists.



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.

Few colonists believed that they could do anything more than grumble. These resolves declared that Americans possessed the same rights as the English, especially the right to be taxed only by their own representatives. and that anyone supporting the right of Parliament to tax Virginians should be considered an enemy of the colony.


The Stamp Act met with great resistance in the colonies. It was seen as a violation of the right of Englishmen to be taxed only with their consent—consent that only the colonial legislatures could grant. Colonial assemblies sent petitions of protests, and the Stamp Act Congress, reflecting the first significant joint colonial response to any British measure, also petitioned Parliament and the king. Local protest groups, led by colonial merchants and landowners, established connections through correspondence that created a loose coalition that extended from New England to Georgia.

The Glorious Revolution had established the principle of parliamentary supremacy. Control of colonial trade and manufactures extended this principle across the ocean. Although this belief had never been tested on the issue of colonial taxation, the British assumed that the interests of the thirteen colonies were too disparate to make joint colonial action against such a tax likely

The debate in Parliament began soon after this meeting. Petitions submitted by the colonies were officially ignored by Parliament.