But when the Americans heard that this Act had been passed without
their consent they were angry.
"No," they said to the British Government, "you cannot tax us without
our consent. It is one of the foundations of British freedom that
those who pay the tax must also consent to it. We are not represented
in the British Parliament, our consent has not been asked, and we
deny your right to tax us."
The whole country was filled with clamour. In every colony young
men banded themselves together, calling themselves Sons of Liberty,
and determined to resist the tax. "No taxation without representation"
was the cry.
When the first boxes of stamps arrived they were seized and destroyed.
Newspapers appeared with a skull and crossbones printed where the
stamp should have been. There were riots and mass meetings everywhere.
The Americans did not merely resist, they resisted in a body.
Nothing but the idea that their liberty was in danger made them act
together. Over everything else they had been divided. Over that
they were united. "There ought to be no New England men, no New
Yorkers, known on the continent," said one man; "but all of us
Americans."
Even in Britain there were people who thought this Stamp Act was a
mistake. The great Pitt had been ill when it was passed into law,
but when he returned to Parliament he spoke strongly against it.
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