Stamp Act of 1765

Commentary

The Stamp Act prescribed taxes for legal and commercial transactions and documents used in court proceedings (including the licenses of attorneys), the papers used in clearing ships from harbors, college diplomas, appointments to public office, bonds, grants and deeds for land, mortgages, indentures, leases, contracts, bills of sale, articles of apprenticeship, liquor licenses, playing cards, and dice. It taxed a printer's entire business: pamphlets, almanacs, newspapers, and newspaper advertisements. The law required these documents to be written or printed on paper carrying a stamp embossed by the Treasury Office in England which was sold only by the stamp commissioners. This legislation hurt printers even more because many of them manufactured their own paper.

Prime Minister George Grenville (1712–1770) did not think he had asked for anything unreasonable. If a merchant did not consider it worth the price...