3. Almanac Stamp of 1765 or 1766
The Stamp Act, passed by British Parliament in 1765, often cited as one of the immediate causes of the American Revolution, was, in fact, a tax. It was levied on American paper used for legal, official or everyday useful documents: ship’s papers, business licenses, calendars, declarations, inventory, etc. —even playing cards. The “stamp” was applied to paper to denote that the tax had been paid. While the money demanded by the act was quite low and the act was repealed the following year, the damage was done.
The colonies were incensed at the notion that they could be taxed by anyone outside their elected assemblies. Mob violence and intimidation followed, forcing stamp tax collectors to resign their positions and driving away ships carrying stamp papers at seaports. Colonial orators, like Patrick Henry, as well as newspapers, seized on the issue of English tyranny taking the form of taxation without representation, building the wave to revolution some 10 years later.
