Existing comment:
Affixing the Stamp
The British government enacted the Stamp Act to raise revenue from its American colonies for the defense of North America. Prime Minister George Grenville (1712–1770) also wanted to establish Parliament's right to levy an internal tax on the colonists. Because the Stamp Act required that a revenue stamp be affixed to all print publications, its economic impact fell most heavily on printers. This issue of William Bradford's Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser shows a skull and crossbones representing the official stamp required by the act. |