The Stamp Act

Explain the 1765 tax and the slogan "no taxation without representation".

Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.

What children learn in Level 11

To pay its debt, Britain's Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765. Newspapers, legal papers, even playing cards had to carry a stamp showing a tax was paid.
The tax wasn't large, but it made colonists angry. Why? Parliament made laws for the colonies, yet no one from the colonies was elected to it.
Their answer became a famous slogan: no taxation without representation. It means a government shouldn't tax people who have no voice in it.
Colonists refused to use the stamps, and they stopped buying British goods. Georgia was the only colony where any stamps were sold, and only for a short time.
In 1766, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, which means it canceled the law. But it also said it could still make laws for the colonies. The argument wasn't over.

Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social Studies:

SS4H1.a — Trace the events that shaped the revolutionary movement in America: French and Indian War, 1765 Stamp Act, the slogan "no taxation without representation," the activities of the Sons of Liberty, the activities of the Daughters of Liberty, Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party.