Existing comment:
No to the Stamp!
"The STAMP-ACT having received a mortal wound by the Hands of Justice, on Saturday last gave up the Ghost, to the great joy of the Inhabitants of Frederick County. The lifeless body lay exposed to public Ignominy 'til Yesterday, when it was thought proper, for preventing infection-from its stench to bury it in the following manner..."
-- Excerpt from the account appearing in the Maryland Gazette December 16, 1765
This British seal was to be stamped on all paper. The Stamp Act served as tax to recoup payment for the protection given to the American colonies by the Crown during the French and Indian War.
Burying the Act
The Sons of Liberty staged a funeral procession that carried the "deceased" Stamp Act -- placed in a coffin -- through the principal streets of town to the courthouse square where a gallows had been erected. An effigy (dummy shown above) representing the tax collector, was buried with the Stamp Act. A detailed report of this event appearing in the Maryland Gazette would be reprinted in papers throughout the colonies including Boston, New York and Philadelphia.
On November 30th, 1765, Frederick County citizens assembled here, where their first courthouse stood. They were showing support for the daring action taken a week earlier in which Justices of Frederick County repudiated (rejected) the Crown's new law forcing the colonies to use taxed stamped paper for all business transactions. The deed by the Justices would later be considered the first rebellious act of defiance by an official body toward British Parliament and the King of England.
Outspoken Annapolis printer Jonas Green used a "death's head" stamp in his Maryland Gazette to protest the Stamp Act, which also required publishers to use taxed paper. Note that the Maryland Gazette front page (above) from October of that year bears the symbol. |