Stamp Act Congress was the first congress of the American Colonies. People of these colonies were immigrants and citizen of Kingdom of Great Britain. They were loyal and had great influence of Britain on themselves. At the end of Seven Years War which involved every great power of the time except the Ottoman Empire, and affected Europe, the Americas, West Africa, India, and the Philippines, people of colonies were glad to be Englishmen and proud of their Kingdom. Kingdom of Great Britain was victorious at last.
However, at the other side of the Atlantic, people of Mother Land (Britain) had such difficulties with their colonies. As most of victories followed great wars, victory and war had some economic consequences. Moreover, this victory was more expensive because parliament could not demobilize the army. Most of officers had good relations in parliament and political consequences of demobilizing would be intolerable. As a result parliament had decided to maintain standing army in their colonies and the annual cost was £225,000 (£29,733,429 today).
Though the decision of the Parliament was unnecessary according to People of Colonies since they were accustomed to defend themselves from Indians and there were not any other enemy anymore, the decision of parliament was not offensive for them.
This cost should be afforded by someone and the best option was people of North America. Parliament had begun to approve new taxes on colonies, Currency tax was followed by Sugar Act and in March 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act which imposed direct taxes on the colonies for the first time. For the first time, American people were publicly considered as secondary citizen though they feel like that before, especially when they travelled to Mother Land.
According to Stamp Act, all official documents, newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, playing cards etc. were required to have the stamps. In other words, all of these papers should be sent from Britain with special price.
For the first time, people had begun to raise their voices tough they were still loyal to King and Mother Land. It was the beginning of something which was unpredictable and powerful that would change the world.
These people were neither noble nor well educated. Most of them were farmers, few of them were merchants. They were inexperienced in organizing and management. They saw themselves always as subjects of Great Britain. However, their reaction was amazing.
In June 1765, the Massachusetts Assembly drafted a letter, which was sent to the legislatures of "the several Colonies on this Continent" to "consult together on the present circumstances of the colonies". Nine colonies ultimately selected delegates to attend the congress: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and South Carolina. All of the delegates selected were members of their colonial legislative bodies.
The first session of the Congress was held on October 7, in New York's City Hall. Of the debates that took place in the congress little is known. The official journal of the congress, in an apparently deliberate move, only contains the barest details of official actions, and none of the participants kept private journals. However, we well know that both of the delegates were in fact loyal to the Crown. They saw these acts like mistakes and they could not dream or think an Independent America.
On October 19, the delegates adopted the Declaration of Rights and Grievances. It contains 14 statements, he first 6 lay groundwork, proclaiming loyalty to the crown, and asserting that, according to the Rights of Englishmen and the more general "freedom of a people", only representatives chosen by the colonists could levy taxes. Because Parliament did not have such representatives, it could not levy taxes. The seventh statement asserts that the Rights of Englishmen afford all colonists the right to trial by jury. The remaining statements protest the unconstitutionality of the Stamp Act, express the economic consequences act, and reiterated the rights of the colonists to petition the crown and Parliament.
Later, this would be remembered as “No Taxation Without Representation”
Though only 6 colonies signed it, its impact on Britain was great. Their unity had been supported by merchants whose commerce was under threat and as a result Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 18 March 1766.
It was the first organized and coordinated political action of the American subjects of the Kingdom of Great Britain and it would end with an Independent America. Only 8 years after, 13 colonies except Quebec and Nova Scotia who were always loyal during the American Revolution, were going to assemble again and start the Revolution.
Some delegates of Congress;
John Dickinson (Pennsylvania): He later became one of the United States Founding Fathers.
William Johnson (Connecticut): He later was a leading drafter of the United States Constitution.
John Morton (Pennsylvania): He later signed the United States Declaration of Independence.
James Otis (Massachusetts): Otis is widely credited with popularizing the phrase "no taxation without representation" in response to Parliamentary tax bills.
