You're listening to an airwave media podcast. Hello and thank you for joining the American Revolution.

Today episode 23, the Stamp Act Congress.

No one was surprised that the colonies were not fans of the Stamp Act.

The Act drew near universal condemnation in America.

The only thing that divided the colonists were between the camp that believed,

yeah, it sucks, but the law is the law, and those in the camp of,

this will not stand.

A surprisingly large number of people at all levels of colonial society seemed to fall in that

latter camp. The objections went far beyond taxes are annoying because they cost me money. Rather, people in all classes seem to accept

the opinion held by only radical wigs in London that this was a fundamental freedom issue.

Even if the taxes did not hit you personally or at least not very hard,

everyone seemed to grasp that this could be the beginning of much larger problems.

Once colonists accepted the idea that Parliament could lay direct taxes on them,

there was no line they could draw when those taxes became higher, broader, and more intrusive. Without representation in Parliament the

colonies had no effective way to prevent the government from continually

reaching into the colonial piggy bank anytime they needed a little

extra cash.

And let's face it, all governments think they can use a little extra cash.

Some in London thought this might be resolved by giving the colonists a few representatives in Parliament, but the idea never really went

anywhere because the colonists themselves rejected the idea.

If you had separate tax policies for England and the colonies, a small minority of members

would not be able to do anything as the English majority passed legislation against

...