Stamp Act Resolutions/Declarations of the Stamp Act/ William Pym's response
In the North American colony, which would later become known as the United States of America, 1765 was a time when topics like British authority, legislative jurisdiction, and American representation in Parliament polarized the infantile nation. These disagreements would eventually boil over into a full fledged revolution between Britain and her subjugate nation of America. Yet, before the Horns of War were to be blown, there was a series of legislative battles that were enacted by Parliament. This legislation would provide a catalyst for the revolution and helped bring the North American colonies into a loose confederation of resistance.
One of the first of these laws was the Virginia Stamp Act Resolution. In the opening of the Act, Parliament acknowledges the original settlers of the colonies and states that these settlers have transmitted to their posterity..... “the privileges and immunities, enjoyed, and possessed by the people of Great Britain (Brown 99). These privileges aren't outlined exclusively in the act, but calls them privileges and immunities of a natural born (British) citizens (Brown 99). The first of the act is trying to focus on the similarities between the two nations as well as to remind the Americans of their status as pseudo-native British citizens. Next the Act acknowledges that the Crown has always recognized the current system in America in which they have a internal member of the community collect taxes since this person would know the best way to collect these revenue and the appropriate amount to take (Brown 99).
The Act takes a turn and makes three key resolutions based on the assessment of taxation in America. The first deems that the General Assembly and its auxiliary offices have exclusive rights and powers to lay taxes and imposts upon the inhabitants on the colony (Brown 100). Second, inhabitants are not to obey any taxation lay set down by anyone...