Essay 2-A: The Stamp Act and The People

Essay Read by Constituting America Founder, Actress Janine Turner

America has always been a nation of communities.  Its pattern of settlement, through Royal Charters, gave wide latitude for establishing local governance.  Because the colonies were over 3,500 miles from London, detailed oversight of the colonies was impossible.  By necessity, and by desire, colonists embraced local authority over distant rule from England. 

 This pattern of delegating powers to American-based local governments was promoted by King George II (reigned 1727-1760).  He supported a “hands-off” approach to Colonial Administration, allowing local governments to establish and enforce their own laws and establish and collect their own revenue, overseen by passive Royal Governors.

George II’s worldview was that his colonies’ expanding population and economy generated demand for British goods and thwarted French and Spanish ambitions in the Americas.  

 The King’s delegation created “fertile soil” for Colonial America to develop a thriving governance culture based on local sovereignty and the consent of the governed.

 As Alexis de Tocqueville would later explain:  “The revolution of the United States was the result of a mature and dignified taste for freedom, and not of a vague or ill-defined craving for independence.”

 The passing of George II changed things for the worse.

First, England triumphed over the French in the first true “world war”. The Seven Years War (1756-1763) obliterated French control in North America (except for the Port of New Orleans) and India.  Colonial America no longer played a role in countering French incursions.

Second, King George III (1760-1820) had a very different world view from his grandfather.  He saw everything in terms of loyalty to the Crown (him). As a result, he sought direct control of the American colonies. He distrusted America’s local governments bending to his will. 

 The King’s Prime Minister, Lord Grenville (1763-1765), devised a way to assert the Crown’s authority over the American Colonies.

 British victory in the Seven Years’ War left it with crippling debt.  Grenville chose to ignore the windfall profits gained from India’s cotton and opium trades. He also chose to ignore the fact that American colonists paid, fought, and died to defeat France in North America. 

 During the “French and Indian War,” approximately 3,000 British “Regular” troops were killed in action, but over 11,000 American “Provincial” troops died in action.

 Instead, Grenville promoted the concept that the beneficiaries of the war (American colonists) should pay for it: “and now will these Americans, children planted by our care, nourished up by our indulgence until they are grown to a degree of strength and opulence, and protected by our arms, will they grudge to contribute their mite to relieve us from heavy weight of the burden which we lie under?” Grenville’s first step was to enforce existing customs duties.  Many British Customs officials managed collections through intermediaries while remaining in England.  Grenville forced them to relocate to America as part of his general crack down on sporadic smuggling, lax enforcement, and spotty revenue collection. Expanded numbers of Customs Officers became more aggressive in using search warrants, called “writs of assistance,” to track down smuggled goods. Warehouses were seized and ships were captured to bolster Royal revenue collection.  Royal Customs officials became a permanent and pervasive presence in Colonial seaports along the Atlantic coast.

American colonists resisted this Royal intrusion by “going underground.”  Universal smuggling became the new colonial business practice. Customs revenue fell accordingly.

 This shortfall in Customs revenue led to the Stamp Act of 1765, the first internal tax levied directly on American colonists by the British Parliament. Prior to the Stamp Act, taxes were only levied by local government through their elected officials.  Now a government 3,500 miles away was asserting control, without the knowledge, approval, or oversight of the colonists.

 The Stamp Act imposed a tax on all paper documents in the colonies. This included legal documents, playing cards, newspapers, and land titles. Stamps had to be purchased with British sterling, rather than local paper currency, causing additional economic hardship. Proof of payment required affixing a Royal Stamp on documents, which is why it is called the “Stamp Act.”

 The February 1765 British Parliament debate on the Stamp Tax revealed the collision course set by King George III against the American Colonists.

 Colonel Isaac Barré [Member of Parliament and friend of Benjamin Franklin] spoke against Grenville’s Act and the King’s strategy: 

 “They [America Colonists] nourished by your indulgence? They grew by your neglect of ‘em. As soon as you began to care about ‘em, that care was exercised in sending persons to rule over ’em, in one department and another, who were perhaps the deputies of deputies to some Member of this House, sent to spy out their liberty, to misrepresent their actions and to prey upon ’em; men whose behavior on many occasions has caused the blood of those sons of liberty to recoil within them….

 “They [America’s Colonists] have nobly taken up arms in your defense, have exerted a valor amidst their constant and laborious industry for the defense of a country whose frontier while drenched in blood, its interior parts have yielded all its little savings to your emolument …. The people [America’s Colonists] are as truly loyal as any subjects the King has, but a people jealous of their liberties will vindicate them if ever they should be violated.”

 America’s journey to Revolution had begun.

Scot Faulkner was the Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives. Earlier, he served on the White House staff. He is Vice President of the George Washington Institute of Living Ethics at Shepherd University and the President of Friends of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.

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