Door24 History

In 1763, the French and Indian War came to an end. A nine year war that became the first global conflict in human history. As part of the peace treaty, France gave its territorial holdings in North America to Great Britain. Although the victor, Britain had amassed a huge debt to finance the war. Now, to ease its financial burden, Britain turned to its American colonies to finance the peace. In 1765, Parliament, the legislative body of the British Empire, passed the Stamp Act—a tax on most paper goods sold in the colonies. Newspapers, marriage licenses, playing cards, and anything else made of paper required a stamp be placed upon it showing that a tax had been paid to the British government. This was the first time that Britain had passed a tax directly on the colonies. For 150 years, colonies had created their own democratic governments and elected citizens to legislative assemblies that passed laws and taxes. The Stamp Act went into effect without any colonial voting for it. Hence, some colonials began