The British Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765.
Enacted on March 22, 1765, the Stamp Act required many printed materials in the American colonies to carry a tax-paid stamp. Covered items included newspapers, legal documents, licenses, pamphlets, and playing cards. It was one of the first direct internal taxes Parliament imposed on the colonies.
Colonial opposition focused on the principle that taxation required representation. The slogan “no taxation without representation” summarized the argument that colonists should not be taxed by a Parliament in which they elected no representatives. Crowds, merchants, lawyers, printers, and colonial assemblies protested the law, while the Stamp Act Congress met in New York in October 1765.
Parliament repealed the act in March 1766, but it simultaneously passed the Declaratory Act, asserting authority to legislate for the colonies. The dispute therefore continued after repeal. Later conflicts over the Townshend Acts, the Tea Act, and other measures helped build the resistance that eventually produced the Revolutionary War.