What is "stamp act"

Stamp \Stamp\, n.

1. The act of stamping, as with the foot.

2. The which stamps; any instrument for making impressions on other bodies, as a die.

   'T is gold so pure It can not bear the stamp without alloy.
   --Dryden.

3. The mark made by stamping; a mark imprinted; an impression.

   That sacred name gives ornament and grace, And, like his stamp, makes basest metals pass.
   --Dryden.

4. That which is marked; a thing stamped.

   Hanging a golden stamp about their necks.
   --Shak.

5. [F. estampe, of German origin. See Stamp, v. t.] A picture cut in wood or metal, or made by impression; a cut; a plate. [Obs.]

   At Venice they put out very curious stamps of the several edifices which are most famous for their beauty and magnificence.
   --Addison.

6. An official mark set upon things chargeable with a duty or tax to government, as evidence that the duty or tax is paid; as, the stamp on a bill of exchange.

7. Hence: A stamped or printed device, usually paper, issued by the government at a fixed price, and required by law to be affixed to, or stamped on, certain papers, as evidence that the government dues are paid; as, a postage stamp; a tax stamp; a receipt stamp, etc.

8. An instrument for cutting out, or shaping, materials, as paper, leather, etc., by a downward pressure.

9. A character or reputation, good or bad, fixed on anything as if by an imprinted mark; current value; authority; as, these persons have the stamp of dishonesty; the Scriptures bear the stamp of a divine origin.

   Of the same stamp is that which is obtruded on us, that an adamant suspends the attraction of the loadstone.
   --Sir T. Browne.

10. Make; cast; form; character; as, a man of the same stamp, or of a different stamp.

    A soldier of this season's stamp.
    --Shak.

11. A kind of heavy hammer, or pestle, raised by water or steam power, for beating ores to powder; anything like a pestle, used for pounding or beating.

12. A half-penny. [Obs.]
    --Beau. & Fl.

13. pl. Money, esp. paper money. [Slang, U.S.] Stamp act, an act of the British Parliament [1765] imposing a duty on all paper, vellum, and parchment used in the American colonies, and declaring all writings on unstamped materials to be null and void. Stamp collector,

    1. an officer who receives or collects stamp duties.

    2. one who collects postage or other stamps, as an avocation or for investment; a philatelist.

       Stamp duty, a duty, or tax, imposed on paper and parchment used for certain writings, as deeds, conveyances, etc., the evidence of the payment of the duty or tax being a stamp. [Eng.]

       Stamp hammer, a hammer, worked by power, which rises and falls vertically, like a stamp in a stamp mill.

       Stamp head, a heavy mass of metal, forming the head or lower end of a bar, which is lifted and let fall, in a stamp mill.

       Stamp mill (Mining), a mill in which ore is crushed with stamps; also, a machine for stamping ore.

       Stamp note, a stamped certificate from a customhouse officer, which allows goods to be received by the captain of a ship as freight. [Eng.]

       Stamp office, an office for the issue of stamps and the reception of stamp duties.

A stamp act is any legislation that requires a tax to be paid on the transfer of certain documents. Those that pay the tax receive an official stamp on their documents, making them legal documents. The taxes raised under a stamp act are called stamp duty. This system of taxation was first devised in the Netherlands in 1624 after a public competition to find a new form of tax. A variety of products have been covered by stamp acts including playing cards, patent medicines, cheques, mortgages, contracts and newspapers. The items often have to be physically stamped at approved government offices following payment of the duty, although methods involving annual payment of a fixed sum or purchase of adhesive stamps are more practical and common. Stamp acts have been enforced in many countries, including Australia, People's Republic of China, Canada, Ireland, India, Malaysia, Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

After Great Britain was victorious over France in the Seven Years' War (known in America as the French and Indian War), a small Stamp Act was enacted that covered of all sorts of documents from newspapers to legal documents, and even playing cards. Great Britain was taxing the colonial population to raise revenue, but the Americans claimed their constitutional rights were violated, since only their own colonial legislatures could levy taxes. Across the American colonies, opposition to the tax took the form of violence and intimidation. A more reasoned approach was taken by some elements. James Otis, Jr. wrote the most influential protest, The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved. Otis, the radical leader in Massachusetts, convinced the Massachusetts assembly to send a circular letter to the other colonies, which called for an inter-colonial meeting to plan tempered resistance to new tax. The Stamp Act Congress convened in New York City on October 7, 1765, with nine colonies in attendance; others would likely have participated if earlier notice had been provided. The delegates approved a fourteen-point Declaration of Rights and Grievances, formulated largely by John Dickinson of Pennsylvania. The statement echoed the recent resolves of the Virginia House of Burgesses, which argued that colonial taxation could only be carried on by their own assemblies. The delegates singled out the Stamp Act and the use of the vice-admiralty courts for special criticism, yet ended their statement with a pledge of loyalty to the King.

The Stamp Act Congress was another step in the process of attempted common problem-solving, which had most recently been tried in the Albany Congress in 1754. That earlier meeting had been held at the urging of royal officials, but the later one was strictly a colonial affair. The congress was a forum for voicing constitutional concerns, not a rallying point for revolution and independence. In fact, the meeting afforded the more conservative critics of British policy some hope of regaining control of events from the unruly mobs in the streets of many cities.