On March 22, 1765, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act, a revenue-raising measure under which all pamphlets, almanacs, newspapers, bonds, notes, leases, insurance policies, and legal papers had thenceforward to be issued on stamped paper that could only be purchased from the king's officers.



American colonists objected to the Act, saying that Parliament did not have the right to impose duties and taxes on a people who were not represented in the House of Commons. Review the terms of the Stamp Act and see the resolution of the colonies' Stamp Act Congress of October 1765, petitioning for repeal.