69the centre
39the states
5 from breach · leans the centre
1765
The Stamp Act
A new tax arrives from across the ocean. Every printed thing is covered — newspapers, contracts, wills, even playing cards. You must buy stamped paper or the document is worthless.
The money is not unreasonable on its face; a war was fought here and somebody must pay for it. But not one person from these colonies sits in the body that passed it. Nobody asked you. Nobody could have — you have no seat, no vote, no voice there.
It is yours to rule
Merchants are burning the stamped paper in the street. The governor wants the tax collected quietly.
Is a tax you had no say in simply a tax — or is it something else?
Pay it. The law is the law, and a colony that picks which laws to obey is no colony at all.
Refuse. A government that takes from you without your voice in it is not governing you — it is ruling you.