Stamp Act Congress

The Stamp Act Congress was a meeting held between October 7 and 25, 1765 in New York City, consisting of representatives from some British colonies of North America; it was the first gathering of elected representatives from several of the American colonies to devise a unified protest against new British taxation. Parliament had passed the Stamp Act, which governed all its overseas colonies and was coming into effect November 1. The Congress discussed and united against the act, because Parliament did not include any representation from the colonies. The Congress consisted of delegates from nine of the 19 British colonies in North America; all nine would be from the Thirteen Colonies that eventually formed the United States of America.

The Congress met in the building that became Federal Hall in the city, and was held at a a time of widespread protests in the colonies against the Stamp Act's implementation (including some violence). The extra-legal nature of the congress caused alarm in Britain, but any discussion of the congress's propriety were overtaken by economic protests from British merchants whose business with the colonies suffered as a consequence of the protests and their associated non-importation of British products. These economic issues prompted the British Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act, but it passed the Declaratory Act the same day, to express its opinion on the basic constitutional issues raised by the colonists; it stated that Parliament could make laws binding the American colonies "in all cases whatsoever."

Background

Main article: Stamp Act 1765

In the aftermath of the French and Indian War, the British Parliament sought to increase revenues from its overseas colonies, where the cost of stationing troops had become significant. Parliament first passed the Sugar and Currency Acts in 1764, specifically aimed at raising money for the Crown, through the tighter regulation of colonial trade. With the Stamp Act of 1765, Parliament attempted to raise money through direct taxation on the colonies for the first time, rather than through trade regulation alone. The act required that all sorts of printed material, including newspapers, books, court documents, commercial papers, land deeds, almanacs, dice, and playing cards, carry a stamp (purchased from a government agent) to show that the tax had been paid. The revenue was to help finance the operations of the empire, including the cost of stationing troops in the colonies, without seeking revenue through the established colonial assemblies.

Call for congress

In June 1765, the Massachusetts Assembly drafted a letter, which was sent to the legislatures of the other colonies to "consult together on the present circumstances of the colonies". Nine colonial assemblies elected delegates to attend the congress: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and South Carolina. Delegates of New York only represented particular counties, and not the colony as a whole. All of the delegates were members of their colonial legislative bodies and proclaimed their loyalty to King George III.

Several colonial assemblies were prevented from meeting because the royal governor either dissolved the assembly before it could vote on the issue, or refused to call it into session. Of these Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia ended up not electing delegates, while Delaware and New Jersey legislators met without their governor's approval and chose delegates anyway. New Hampshire and Nova Scotia, both of which had colonial assemblies, declined to send delegates, while Quebec, St. John's Island (present-day Prince Edward Island), Newfoundland, and East and West Florida had no colonial assembly.

When word of the pending congress reached London, the Lords of Trade were so disturbed that they wrote to the king that "this is a matter of the utmost importance to the Kingdom and legislature of Great Britain... and proper only for the consideration of Parliament." Communications being slow, by the time Parliament was informed about its existence, the Stamp Act Congress was already in session.

Proceedings

The proceedings of the Stamp Act Congress were conducted in secret; the only known copy of the meeting minutes is held by Rowan University in New Jersey. There were three major issues discussed - trial by Jury, a right of self taxation, and reducing admiralty courts. Robert R. Livingston wrote that what gave the delegates the most trouble was whether to acknowledge the authority of Parliament to regulate trade even though they fully accepted its right to do so. If they admitted that Parliament had the authority to regulate trade it could be constructed as an admission that an external tax to raise revenue was acceptable. Americans would argue interminably about the difference between "external" and "internal" taxes, and their willingness to accept "external" taxes, but not "internal" taxes.

They maintained that while Parliament could make laws and taxes for Great Britain, only colonial assemblies could properly make laws for the colonies, since the colonies had no representation in Parliament. As for Parliament, the colonies could not be represented there, nor did they want to be represented there, since their representatives' objections to colonial taxation could easily be ignored.

On October 19, the delegates adopted a Declaration of Rights and Grievances. The delegates could not be convinced to affix their names to the document and only one signature appeared - the clerk of the congress. During the next few days the resolutions were redrafted into three petitions to the king, the Lords, and the Commons. Only six of the colonies agreed to write these petitions.

Declaration of Rights and Grievances

Main article: Declaration of Rights and Grievances

The Declaration of Rights raised fourteen points of colonial protest. In addition to the specifics of the Stamp Act taxes, it asserted that:

• Only the colonial assemblies had a right to tax the colonies.
• Trial by jury was a right, and the use of Admiralty Courts was abusive.
• Colonists possessed all the Rights of Englishmen.
• Without voting rights, Parliament could not represent the colonists.

Reaction

The petition left New York in the same ship which had just arrived with the stamps. Lord Dartmouth , the colonial secretary, rejected the petition to the Lords, saying it was an inappropriate document. The House of Commons cited several reasons not to consider the petition, including: it had been submitted by an unconstitutional assembly; it denied Parliament's right to levy taxes; acceptance of the petition would constitute an admission that Parliament had erred.

This Congress is viewed by some as the first organized political action in the American Revolution; however, lack of unity plagued the colonies up to and including the beginning of the Revolutionary War.^{[citation needed]}

Representatives

• Massachusetts - James Otis, Oliver Partridge, Samuel Adams, and Timothy Ruggles
• Connecticut - Eliphalet Dyer, David Rowland, and William Johnson
• Rhode Island - Metcalf Bowler and Henry Ward
• New York - William Bayard, John Cruger, Leonard Lispinard, Robert Livingston, and Philip Livingston
• New Jersey - Joseph Gordon, Hendrick Fisher, and Robert Ogden
• Pennsylvania - George Bryan, John Dickinson, and John Morton
• Delaware - Thomas McKean and Caesar Rodney
• Maryland - William Murdock, Edward Tilghman, Thomas Ringgold
• South Carolina - Christopher Gadsden, Thomas Lynch, and John Rutledge

Officers

• John Cotton served as secretary
• Timothy Ruggles of Massachusetts served as president

See also

• Timeline of the American Revolution
• American Enlightenment

References

• Unger, Barlow. John Hancock, Merchant King and American Patriot. ISBN 0785820264
• Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: an American History. New York: W.W. Norton, 2009, ISBN 9780393932553