On March 22, 1765 colonists received the horrible news of the tax that needed to be payed to England. The Act was passed on February 17, 1765, but took about a month to reach the colonists. This is how the Stamp Act started. England believed that the colonists owed them for protecting them during the French and Indian war, so they made them pay a tax for all paper products. The colonists thought this was absurd and did not agree that they owed England because they believed that it was their duty to protect them. The French and Indian war was started when England thought the French were taking control of things like land and trade. When the war started, things weren't going so well for England. Every time they would try to lead an attack
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This new tax caused a huge dispute with all of the colonists unlike other Acts and taxes that may have only affected certain groups of colonists. The homes of colonists were filled with angry men ranting about England’s unfair decision. They talked about how it’s England’s job to keep them safe, not something the colonists should have to pay for. They thought it was completely unfair that they would give them such a high tax on something as vital as paper. They used paper for many things such as documents, contracts, calendars, licenses, certificates, diplomas, and much more. The colonists started to think about how they could rebel. The merchants boycotted all documents, which is what they had to pay a tax for. This was important because it made England lose money, which was what they were trying to avoid doing. There were many things being said about Britain in the colonists’ households, but a major topic was rebellion. They wanted to get back at England for being so unreasonable and greedy. These ideas sparked riots. Colonists started turning to violence. This not only surprised the British, but also the americans. All of the rebels formed mobs and did things like destroy and burn Thomas Hutchinson’s,one of the active enforcers of the navigation, house down. They also damaged other people’s property purely out of anger. The rioters dressed up dummies to look like Stamp agents,
This new tax caused a huge dispute with all of the colonists unlike other Acts and taxes that may have only affected certain groups of colonists. The homes of colonists were filled with angry men ranting about England’s unfair decision. They talked about how it’s England’s job to keep them safe, not something the colonists should have to pay for. They thought it was completely unfair that they would give them such a high tax on something as vital as paper. They used paper for many things such as documents, contracts, calendars, licenses, certificates, diplomas, and much more. The colonists started to think about how they could rebel. The merchants boycotted all documents, which is what they had to pay a tax for. This was important because it made England lose money, which was what they were trying to avoid doing. There were many things being said about Britain in the colonists’ households, but a major topic was rebellion. They wanted to get back at England for being so unreasonable and greedy. These ideas sparked riots. Colonists started turning to violence. This not only surprised the British, but also the americans. All of the rebels formed mobs and did things like destroy and burn Thomas Hutchinson’s,one of the active enforcers of the navigation, house down. They also damaged other people’s property purely out of anger. The rioters dressed up dummies to look like Stamp agents,