Primary sourceDocument1765

Stamp Act 1765

Parliament of Great Britain · 1765

A 1765 British law taxing printed materials in the American colonies; passed early in George III's reign, it sparked the 'no taxation without representation' crisis.

Passed early in George III's reign and later repealed with his support, it opened the tax dispute that defined his American troubles.

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A dome-topped wooden box covered in tooled leather with stamped decorations, initials, and the inscription 'Stamp Act Repealed March 18 1766' on its lid, displayed in a museum case. — Box commemorating the repeal of the Stamp Act, 1766. National Museum of American History, Washington, DC.

About this source

What it is

The Stamp Act 1765 was a law of the Parliament of Great Britain that taxed printed materials in the American colonies, requiring them to be produced on stamped paper from London. It was passed in 1765 to help pay for British troops stationed in America.

Why it matters

Colonists objected that they were being taxed without any say in Parliament, coining the slogan "no taxation without representation". Protests, boycotts and the Stamp Act Congress forced Parliament to repeal the act in 1766, though it insisted it still had full power to legislate for the colonies. The dispute begun here grew into the grievances later listed against King George III in the Declaration of Independence, and eventually into the American Revolution.

Look closer

Why might Parliament have expected the colonies to pay for troops they didn't ask for?
What does the surviving decorated box commemorating the repeal tell us about how people felt when the act was overturned?
Whose voices are missing from this official document?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of George III and Thomas Hutchinson on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.