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The Stamp Act - Page 3

© Brian Tubbs

In London, everyone had basically moved on. The colonial agents had resigned themselves to the new law and were now largely focused on other matters. At Prime Minister Grenville’s request, they had even submitted to him their recommendations for stamp commissioners in their respective colonies. Even Franklin, who had dutifully lobbied against the Stamp Act months before, forwarded to Grenville the name of a longtime friend. (For John Hughes, Franklin’s friend, and most of the others recommended to Grenville by the agents, the appointment turned out to be a curse, rather than a blessing). Franklin had miscalculated the reaction of the colonies to the Stamp Act. Clearly, he was not in tune with the anti-tax climate back home, but he would make a quick adjustment, and become North America’s best lobbyist in England.

The first official denunciation of the Stamp Act in North America came from the colony of Virginia, where a young backwoods lawyer was about to make history. More colonies soon followed. It quickly became apparent to officials in London that the Stamp Act had indeed altered the relationship between the Mother Country and her American colonies. They didn’t yet know how much.

Next Article: A Review of The Last Refuge of Scoundrels by Paul Lussier

Next in this Series: The Colonies Rally Together – A look at the Stamp Act Congress

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Sources for this article included:

Brands, H.W., The First American: The Life And Times of Benjamin Franklin, Doubleday, 2000

Fleming, Thomas, Liberty! The American Revolution, Viking (The Penguin Group), 1997

Lewis, Paul, The Grand Incendiary, The Dial Press, 1973

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