Creative Resistance to Taxation on the Colonies

Lesson Overview

Background information: 
Students have previously learned of the mercantile economic system and the Navigational Act of 1651. As transatlantic trade increased it became more difficult for England to keep track of colonial trade. Colonists often resorted to illegal trade with other countries. Between 1733 and 1765, Britain enacted several “taxation” Acts. In 1765, following the French and Indian War in North America, Britain enacted The Stamp Act in order to raise money to defray the costs of the war. The colonists reacted that the Stamp Act, and other taxation Acts, were ways of raising funds in the colonies without the approval of the colonial legislatures. Colonists resisted the Stamp Act and other Acts through demonstrations, debates in the colonial legislatures, newspaper articles, songs, and even mob actions such as tarring and feathering tax collectors. In these lessons students will explore the various ways that colonists responded to the British policies of taxation.