In de pen dence and Nation Building 33Organizations such as the Sons of Liberty and the Daughters of
Liberty were formed in 1765 , and several riots occurred. The Sons
of Liberty did not hesitate to resort to violence. All the stamp agents
resigned. The violence, and the disastrous effect on merchants and
businessmen, finally prompted Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act in
1766 , but again it asserted in the Declaratory Act the government’s
“full power and authority... to bind the colonies and people of Amer-
ica, subjects of the crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever.”
But Americans were so delighted that they had forced Parliament to
repeal the Stamp Act that they simply disregarded the Declaratory
Act. If nothing else, their Stamp Act Congress had demonstrated that
by unified action the colonies could compel Parliament to respect their
rights. Let Parliament attempt another such tax, and the consequence
might be the onset of rebellion.
It is interesting and important that they used the word “Congress”
to describe their assembly. The word did not have the same meaning as
it does today, namely that of a legislative body. A congress in the eigh-
teenth and nineteenth centuries usually denoted a diplomatic assembly
of sovereign and inde pendent states. Thus the delegates to this Stamp
Act Congress represented a collection of individual and distinct enti-
ties who considered themselves as having rights and powers as En-
glishmen by which they had full power to enact legislation for the
benefi t of the people living in their respective colonies.
In Virginia, a young, eloquent lawyer by the name of Patrick
Henry, got up in the House of Burgesses and railed against both the
king and Parliament. He argued so vehemently and so convincingly for
the rights of colonists against the authority in London that someone in
the room shouted, “Treason!” He was quick to respond, saying that if
standing up for one’s rights is treason then the colonists should take
advantage of it. He introduced seven resolutions denouncing the mon-
archy and Parliament. Although the Burgesses passed only four of the
less extreme of them, newspapers printed all seven and distributed
them to the other colonies.
At this point a change in government in London brought the Chan-
c e l l o r o f t h e E x c h e q u e r, C h a r l e s To w n s h e n d , t o t h e h e a d o f government,