Stamp Act Congress

Stamp Act Congress, assembly of delegates from nine of the American colonies, convened in October 1765 at New York City to protest against the Stamp Act. Held in response to an invitation sent to all 13 colonies by Massachusetts, the congress comprised representatives of Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland, and South Carolina. The delegates expressed the opposition of the colonists to the oppressive Stamp Act in three documents: a Declaration of Rights and Grievances, an address to the king, and a group of petitions to both houses of the British Parliament. Although the congress recognized the authority of Parliament, its petitions were refused for formal consideration by the House of Commons as coming from an unauthorized body.

In America, several of the colonial assemblies and the Sons of Liberty officially supported the congress. The Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, largely as a result of pressure from British business interests. The principles of independence enunciated by the congress, such as the right of trial by jury and particularly the ringing denunciation of “taxation without representation,” were later adopted by the leaders of the American Revolution and were incorporated into such revolutionary instruments as the Declaration of Independence.