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Reset text sizeResize text larger  Choosing Revolution  Stamp
Act Crisis   Residents of Britain, where tax rates were much
higher than in the colonies, strongly applauded the passage of
the Stamp Act. They often paid such taxes themselves, and the
Prime Minister projected that the yearly revenues from the tax
would offset 12 to 20 percent of the North American military
expenses. The colonists, the British believed, were represented
in Parliament (albeit indirectly), and therefore such an act was
perfectly within the rights of the British government.
Choosing RevolutionViolent reactions to the Stamp Act began to
occur throughout the colonies. A mob in Boston hanged the stamp
distributor in effigy, then beheaded the effigy and “stamped” it
to pieces before shattering the windows of the stamp
distributor’s home, destroying his furni