The 1765 British law that required tax stamps on printed materials in the American colonies was the Stamp Act.
Parliament passed the Stamp Act on 22 March 1765, and it took effect on 1 November. It required many newspapers, legal documents, licenses, pamphlets, and other paper items to carry a stamp showing that a tax had been paid. Unlike customs duties, the charge was directly visible in everyday colonial life.
Colonists objected that Parliament was taxing them without elected representatives in that body. Protests, boycotts, intimidation of stamp distributors, and the Stamp Act Congress followed. The slogan “no taxation without representation” became closely associated with the dispute.
Britain repealed the act in March 1766, but Parliament simultaneously passed the Declaratory Act, asserting authority over the colonies. The Stamp Act crisis therefore helped deepen the constitutional conflict that later contributed to the American Revolution.