Colonial orators, like Patrick Henry, as well as newspapers, seized on the issue of English tyranny taking the form of taxation without representation, building the wave to revolution some 10 years later. Mob violence and intimidation followed, forcing stamp tax collectors to resign their positions and driving away ships carrying stamp papers at seaports. The colonies were incensed at the notion that they could be taxed by anyone outside their elected assemblies.
While the money demanded by the act was quite low and the act was repealed the following year, the damage was done. The “stamp” was applied to paper to denote that the tax had been paid. It was levied on American paper used for legal, official or everyday useful documents: ship’s papers, business licenses, calendars, declarations, inventory, etc. The Stamp Act, passed by British Parliament in 1765, often cited as one of the immediate causes of the American Revolution, was, in fact, a tax. Franklin was fired from that job when, in 1774, it was discovered that he had been opening mail (between English authorities) and feeding the correspondences’ contents to his rebel friends-in what’s become known as the Hutchinson Affair. But long before, the Crown had named him postmaster general of the American colonies in 1753, a post he shared with William Hunter. In 1775, upon his return from England, Franklin was named postmaster general of the independent colonies by the Continental Congress. Naturally, a great deal of correspondence was exchanged before 1847-the United States Post Office Department was established in 1792-but those letters were mostly paid for by the receiver.īenjamin Franklin, who along with George Washington graced the first stamps, has a fascinating history with the post, filled with intrigue. These are examples of the very first U.S. The year 1847 is a huge one for stamps: this was the first year that you could purchase stamps from the United States government and affix them to a piece of mail as a method to prepay for its delivery (the legislation was passed in 1845).
1847 Ben Franklin stamps (courtesy of Siegel Auction Gallery) The Boston Tea Party (Credit: Ed Vebell/Getty Images)
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