A Side Story to the 1765 Stamp Act

The Stamp Act had an incredible effect on history, but it had an unusual side effect that sometimes gets missed in the discussion. To tell that though we need to first look the Stamp Act itself.

In 1765 the American Colonies were firmly under the control of the British Parliament. The recently ended French & Indian War (Seven Years War in Europe) had left the British the undisputed ruler of the North American continent. The British Army in conjunction with the American colonial forces defeated the French and all seemed well for a time.  Prior to the French & Indian War, the British rulers had a sort of hands-off policy towards the American colonies. Only occasionally tweaking or supporting but never really “ruling” as they could.

Now the British were faced with two issues. The cost of the war to defend the colonies from the French and the now ongoing expense of posting substantial force in America to defend against the natives. They needed money and felt it was time for the colonies to foot their share of the bill. The first attempt at this was the 1765 Stamp Act passed by Parliament.

The tax would require the colonists to pay on anything that required paper. This included legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications. Even playing cards. This did not sit well with the colonists who opposed this sort of “direct” taxation. They took to the streets in protest through most of the colonies. It could be said that the revolution started here. It was eventually repealed and Parliament would spend the next ten years stumbling through a bad idea after a bad idea to get the Americans to pay taxes.

Side Effect?

So the unusual side effect? People in the colonies who took offense with the Stamp Act looked for some way to show their displeasure and to speak out beyond the newspapers and protests. So a market developed to fill that need. Whereas today we would wear ribbons or buttons or put bumper stickers on our cars, items like you see in the photo above, a simple teapot with a slogan became one of the more popular forms of subtle protest. Surely these items were made in Boston or Philadelphia or any other of the hot spot of the revolution.

Nope. They were made in England and Ireland and shipped to the Americans. While the British government struggled with how to deal with the Americans, their merchants figured the best way was to take their money and laugh all the way to the bank.