<Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The Stamp Act of 1765 (short title Duties in American Colonies Act 1765; 5 George III, c. 12) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain that imposed a direct tax on the colonies of British America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp . Printed materials included legal documents, magazines, playing cards, newspapers, and many other types of paper used throughout the colonies . Like previous taxes, the stamp tax had to be paid in valid British currency, not in colonial paper money . The purpose of the tax was to help pay for troops stationed in North America after the British victory in the Seven Years' War and its North American theater of the French and Indian War . However, the Colonists had never feared a French invasion to begin with, and they contended that they had already paid their share of the expenses . They suggested that it was actually a matter of British patronage to surplus British officers and career soldiers who should be paid by London . </P> <P> The Stamp Act was very unpopular among colonists . A consensus considered it a violation of their rights as Englishmen to be taxed without their consent--consent that only the colonial legislatures could grant . Their slogan was "No taxation without representation ." Colonial assemblies sent petitions and protests . The Stamp Act Congress held in New York City was the first significant joint colonial response to any British measure; it petitioned Parliament and the King . </P> <P> One member of the British Parliament argued that the colonials were no different from the 90% residents of Great Britain who did not own property (and thus could not vote), but who were nevertheless "virtually" represented by land - owning electors and representatives who had common interests with the nonvoters . An American attorney refuted this by pointing out that while electors in Great Britain could conceivably have enough in common with nonvoting residents of that country to justify "virtually" representing nonvoters, "the relation between the British Americans, and the English electors, is a knot too infirm to be relied on ." (i.e. not enough in common between Parliament and the Colonials to justify imposing the law without the consent of the Colonials). </P>

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