Stamp Act Review

What did the Stamp Act tax?

• Tea and Sugar

• Mail sent between England and the American colonies

• Printed materials like newspapers and legal documents

• It was an income tax on the colonial lawyers

• Weapons such as muskets and rifles

Answer explanation

The result was that every piece of paper the colonists used was taxed by the British. The tax also included fees for playing cards, dice, and newspapers. The reaction in the colonies was immediate.

Why did the British government decide to tax the colonies?

• To pay for the French and Indian War

• To pay for a new palace for King George

• To pay for a war against Spain

• To pay for improvements in the city of London

• To pay for new ships being built for the Royal Navy

Answer explanation

• 1. THE WAR HAS A MISLEADING NAME.

• 2. GEORGE WASHINGTON SPARKED THE WAR.

• 3. THE FIRST POLITICAL CARTOON IN AMERICA WAS PUBLISHED DURING THE WAR.

Why did the American colonists protest against the Stamp Act?

• Because they thought they should not have to pay any taxes at all

• Because they were being taxed without having any representation in the government

• Because they already paid high taxes such as income tax to the British government

• All of the above

• None of the above

Answer explanation

"No taxation without representation" is a political slogan that originated during the American Revolution period. Colonist believed that since they were not REPRESENTED in the distant British parliament, any taxes it imposed on the colonists (such as the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts) were unconstitutional, and were a denial of the colonists' rights as Englishmen.

What year did the British begin to impose the Stamp Act?

• 1762

• 1765

• 1775

• 1776

Answer explanation

Fun Fact about what else happened in the year 1765:

America's first medical college was opened in the city of Philadelphia.

Nasser Napes, a French chemist and father of modern photography, was born. He was the first to succeed in taking photographs.

What was the colonist reaction to the Stamp Act? What did they do?

• Organized Protest

• Harassed Stamp Collectors

• Organized Boycotts

• Purchase more British Goods

Answer explanation

On 26 August, an attack was led on the mansion of a Stamp Collector by the name of Hutchinson and his family. The mob evicted the family, destroyed the furniture, tore down the interior walls, emptied the wine cellar, scattered Hutchinson's collection of Massachusetts historical papers, and pulled down the building's dome roof structure. Hutchinson had been in public office for three decades; he estimated his loss at £2,218^[83] (in today's money, at nearly $250,000).

What was the meeting of delegates from the colonies to discuss the Stamp Act called?

• Continental Congress

• Stamp Act Convention

• Congress Against Taxes

• Anti-tax Colonial Convention

• Stamp Act Congress

Answer explanation

What group took to the streets to protest against the Stamp Act?

• Sons of Liberty

• Green Mountain Boys

• The Minutemen

• Patriots of America

• Continental Congress

Answer explanation

The Sons of Liberty were a group of people in Boston at the time of the American Revolution. They were led by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and Paul Revere. Most famous for their role in the Boston Tea Party, the Sons of Liberty who used an extreme form of civil disobedience—threats, and in some cases actual violence—to intimidate loyalists and outrage the British government.

What was the result of the American protests against the Stamp Act?

• The British declared war on the American colonies

• The British parliament repealed the Stamp Act

• The British ordered the protesters shot

• The British continued to enforce the Stamp Act and the Americans finally gave in and paid the tax

• All of the above

Answer explanation

The British government coupled the repeal of the Stamp Act with the Declaratory Act, a reaffirmation of its power to pass any laws over the colonists that it saw fit.

What was the Declaratory Act?

• A declaration from the American colonies to the British that they would not pay any British taxes

• A declaration of war by the British

• A statement from the British Parliament stating that they had the right to tax the colonies

• A new tax on tea and sugar

• A tax on income to pay for repealing the Stamp Act

Answer explanation

The Declaratory Act was a new threat to their independence. It was 1766, and to most colonists, the ability of England to tax the colonies without giving them representation in Parliament was seen as disgraceful.

True or False:   The British never tried to tax the American colonies again after the Stamp Act.

• True

• False