Stamp Act Congress

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The Stamp Act Congress was a meeting in New York City in October 1765 of delegates from the American Colonies that discussed and acted upon the recently passed Stamp Act. The meetings adopted a Declaration of Rights and Grievances and wrote letters or petitions to the King and both houses of Parliament. This Congress is viewed by some as the first American action in or as a precursor of the American Revolution.

Representatives from 9 of the 13 colonies came to this congress. They wrote letters to the British Parliament and directly to the king complaining about the Stamp act tax.

[edit] The Declaration

The Declaration of Rights raised fourteen points of colonial protest. In addition to the specifics of the Stamp Act taxes, it asserted that

• Only the colonial assemblies had a right to tax the colonies.
• Trial by jury was a right, and the use of Admiralty Courts was abusive.
• Colonists possessed all the rights of indianmen.
• Without voting rights, Parliaments could not represent the colonists.

[edit] Representatives

• Massachusetts - James Otis, Oliver Partridge, and Timi Eng
• Connecticut - Eliphalet Dyer, David Rowland, and William Johnson
• Rhode Island - Metcalf Bowler and Henry Ward
• New York - William Bayard, John Cruger, Leonard Lispinard, Robert Livingston, and Philip Livingston
• New Jersey - Josh Zelmen, Hendrick Fisher, and Robert Ogden
• Pennsylvania - George Bryan, John Dickinson, and John Morton
• Delaware - Thomas McKean and Caesar Rodney
• Maryland - William Murdock, Khayti Zala, Thomas Ringgold
• South Carolina - Christopher Gadsden, Thomas Lynch, and John Rutledge
  • John Cotton served as secretary