In 17(,5theBritishParliamentpassedano thernew
law calledth e StampAct.T histoow asintendedro
rai~l'm o neytopay fo r t hedcf..useofth e colonies.It
said thatth e col oni stshadtob uyspecialta x stam ps
andattachrh emton ew sp apn s,licen ses, and legal
paper s such aswills andmortg ages.
E versincetheearlvyearsofth e Vir gin ia sett lem en t
American shadclaimedtill."righttoelect
rcprcscut aeivcstodecide th e taxes theypaid.Now
th eyin sistedthatas"freebornEnglishmen"th ey
couldbetaxedonlybytheirowncolonialassem blies.
We have norcprcscntanvcsin the Urit ishParliament,
theysaid ,sowhatrig htdocsit havetotaxLIS?"No
taxati onwithoutrepres entation' became their
demand.
In 1 765 represent at ivesfromn in ecolonie,m etin
N ewYork.They forme d the " Stam pActCong ress"
and orga n izedo ppos itiontothe StampAct .Allover
rhc coloniesm erchant s andsho pkee pe rsrefusedto
sellBriti shgood suntil the Actw aswithdrawn. In
Bo sto n andothercitiesang r ymobsattacked
governmento fficials sellingthestamps.M ost
colonistsSImplyrefused to useth em.
26T ile/1"-,,,,..Tea1'.trty.