The Stamp Act

Why did Britain begin to tax the American colonies in 1765?

• Britain needed money because they lost many trading partners

• Colonists had been rioting and the British punished them by taxing them

• The British needed money to pay off their war debts

• The King of England owed a lot of alimony payments to his ex wives

How would you best describe the Stamp Act?

• The action taken to “stamp” out colonial taxes

• Law that greatly increased Americans stamp prices

• A tax, a stamp, on major colonial paper documents

• A tax placed on sugar deported from the colonies

Which best explains why the Act was called the “Stamp” act?

• Colonists “stamped” in the street to protest the tax

• Colonial merchants stamped the tax on items sold

• Parliament “stamped” with joy when the tax passed

• A stamp was placed on all taxed items

Circle all forms of protest that were taken up by the colonists against the Stamp Act?

• Colonists often physically attacked tax collectors

• Colonists rioted in the streets of major cities

• Colonists damaged the homes of tax collectors

• Colonists wrote petitions in protest of the Act

Which best describes the meaning of the colonial protest slogan, “No taxation, without representation?”

• They paid no taxes; they have no representatives

• They elected no lawmakers, they shouldn’t be taxed

• Paying taxes meant representatives should come to the US

• No elected representatives, they should be a free country