Friday, June 8, 2018

What made Parliament repeal the Stamp Act?

In 1765, in an effort to collect additional revenue from the colonists, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act required every official document be stamped and a fee paid to the British government for the official stamp. On its face and given in today's modern times most government documents require a fee paid for copying or verifying the authenticity; this does not seem like such a big deal. But to the American Colonists, this was one more in a series of taxes imposed on which the colonists had no say.
In October of 1765, the colonists organized to appeal the Stamp Act. The colonists formed the Stamp Act Congress and led by Benjamin Franklin, took their complaints directly to the British Parliament. Franklin, the consummate diplomat, worked behind the scenes reminding members of Parliament the numerous other taxes and fees imposed on the colonies and implying American colonists would boycott British goods. In March of 1766, the Stamp Act was repealed.
Historians debate if the repeal was the result of Franklin's diplomatic skills. No doubt he was able to make the case to Parliament and because of his international stature may have had some influence over the vote to repeal. Some historians believe the threat and in some instances, the actual occurrence of boycotting of British goods, as well as random attacks on custom houses, brought to bear potential pressure resulting in the British repealing the tax. The notion of the economic boycott is a possible reason, but unlikely the colonists would end economic ties with their largest trading partner with no apparent commercial replacement. Others think the repeal was the result of business and investment interests in Britain who held a substantial financial stake in the American colonies. These interests may have held sway over Parliament as politics and economic interest overlap.
The fact is the Stamp Act was repealed in March of 1766 and probably was more a combination of factors than one single. And though the British Parliament relented on the Stamp Act, at the same session of Parliament a bill was passed called the Declaratory Acts. The gist of the law was a statement was the British government had free and total legislative power over the colonies. The repeal of the Stamp Act may have been an effort to quell the clamor for more significant change and possibly averting further protests from the American colonists.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/parliament-repeals-the-stamp-act

https://www.historycentral.com/Revolt/stamptaxrepealed.html

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