The Stamp Act 1765-1766
- New way to impose tax on all american colonists
- Required them to pay tax on all paper products( playing cards,legal papers, news papers etc.)
- Tax was to help pay the costs of defending and protecting the American Frontier
- Was a small price
- Colonists saw the act as an attempt to raise money within the colonies without their consent
- Colonists thought they could do nothing about the enforced taxes
- Virginia House of Burgesses adopted Patrick Henry's Stamp Act Resolves
- Declared that Americans had the same rights as Englishmen
- Anyone who opposed that would be looked upon as an enemy.
The Townshend Act 1767-1768
- Charles Townshend issued the act after the Stamp Act was repealed
- It was designed to collect income from the colonists by putting a tax on custom duties and imports
- Glass, Lead, Paint, Tea and Paper were just a few of the items that were being taxed on
- Boston merchants boycotted English goods
- Massachusetts Assembly sent a letter to other colonies explaining the common predicament
- As a result English were sent troops to enforce the laws which usually ended in unpleasant accidents
- Boycott decreased British trade, as a result most of the acts were repealed