"
The English Parliament, being largely made up of the King's friends, was
quite ready to carry out his wishes, and passed a law taxing the
colonists. This law was called the Stamp Act. It provided that
stamps--very much like our postage-stamps, but costing all the way from
one cent to fifty dollars each--should be put upon all the newspapers and
almanacs used by the colonies, and upon all such legal papers as wills,
deeds, and the notes which men give promising to pay back borrowed money.
[Illustration: George III.]
When news of this act reached the colonists they were angry. "It is
unjust," they said. "Parliament is trying to make slaves of us by forcing
us to pay money without our consent. The charters which the English King
granted to our forefathers when they came to America make us free men just
as much as if we were living in England.
"In England it is the law that no free man shall pay taxes unless they are
levied by his representatives in Parliament. We have no one to speak for
us in Parliament, and so we will not pay any taxes which Parliament votes.
The only taxes we will pay are those voted by our representatives in our
own colonial assemblies.
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