The importance of the Stamp Act (1765) for relations between Britain and America. (8)

The passing of the Stamp Act in 1765 proved to be a key turning point in Anglo American relations for several reasons. Firstly, the significance of the establishment of a direct tax by Britain on the colonies was profound; secondly, the effects of the tax and the social groups targeted fomented networks of resistance that became steadily more important in the lead up to the revolutionary war. Firstly, the Stamp Act was the first attempt to directly tax the colonies, and while the Sugar Act of 1764 had put tariffs on Molasses imports - the Stamp Act truly signaled the end of the British Government policy of 'Salutary Neglect.' This, rather sudden after the end of the Seven Years War - and precipitated by the cost of that war to the British Treasury - change in policy, brought about questions about the nature of the relationship between the colonies and the British Homeland. To many Americans hitherto loyal to the crown, this was received as an insult from the British Government, an acknowledgement that they thought themselves better than the colonists, despite their common ancestry. Secondly, the stamp act was important not just because of what it was but who it targeted. By putting a tax on all stamped documents, it specifically targeted Lawyers, Journalists and other educated elites, who were best placed to sow dissent in response. Gordon S. Wood describes a 'firestorm of opposition' by means of pamphlets and newspapers articles circulated which were vitriolically hostile towards the Act. It also brought the American people closer in two key ways - in Boston, many who had been involved with rival gangs put aside differences to a degree to become involved with the Sons of Liberty and other such groups. The houses of stamp officials were attacked, and effigies hung from trees. Far from disbanding afterwards, these groups and their violent responses grew in prominence with each subsequent British attempt at taxation. Secondly, Benjamin Franklin's previously rejected notion of an Inter-colonial congress was revived, and in October 1766, 37 delegates from 9 colonies attended the Stamp Act congress. In both these ways, The stamp act served to unify Americans as a group, and also to place this group outside, and increasingly antagonistic towards, notions of Britishness and British power.