| May 25 |  |
Editor says, what if the Stamp Act was voted down, muses Eric Lipps? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
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In 1765, Patrick Henry spoke before the Virginia House of Burgesses in praise of the British Parliament?s defeat of the Stamp Act.
The Defeat of the Stamp Act by Eric LippsThe first direct tax to be levied on the American colonies, it would have required that all newspapers, pamphlets, legal documents, commercial bills, advertisements, and other papers issued in the colonies bear a stamp.
Although the revenue to be raised from the stamps was earmarked for colonial defense, the proposal was hugely unpopular in America, where it was seen as a crippling blow to all sorts of ordinary activities, from the publication of newspapers to such legal documents as birth and marriage certificates.
The defeat of the Stamp Act was a serious blow to the ministry of George Grenville, which contributed to his fall from power of July 10, 1765 following a dispute with King George III on a separate matter involving the composition of the regency council.
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Eric Lipps
© Eric Lipps,2007-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Liberty Fails Source: Wikipedia Labels: Stamp Act, War of Independence, America, Patrick Henry, George Henry.
~ Got any more where this came from?
~ This might have postponed things, but as f'd up as the UK government was at the time, sooner or later things would have come to a head.
~ I'm toying with the notion of there being a series of colonial reforms leading to American representation in the House of Commons and perhaps (although this might be less plausible) the creation of American peers who could, in time, sit in the Lords.
If the American colonies had been integrated into Britain proper by being granted representation, it might have taken the wind out of the sails of independence advocates. The biggest problem I see (assuming the British were willing to go along, which is a whole other issue) is logistical: any American representatives would have to journey to England, which took weeks at the time, aand so would all too easily lose touch with their constituents back home.
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
