UK act of Parliament in 1765 that sought to
raise enough money from the American colonies
to cover the cost of their defence. Refusal
to use the required tax stamps and a blockade
of British merchant shipping in the colonies
forced repeal of the act the following year.
It was a precursor of the American
Revolution. The act provoked vandalism and
looting in America, and the Stamp Act
Congress in Oct of that year (the first
intercolonial congress) declared the act
unconstitutional, with the slogan `No
taxation without representation', because the
colonies were not represented in the British
Parliament. The act taxed (by requiring an
official stamp) all publications and legal
documents published in British colonies.