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Seeds of Revolution

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didn’t think that mattered, because they didn’t get to vote for members of Parliament. The British government was seeking to tax them with- out their consent. Their rights as British subjects, they believed, were being violated. Backlash In May 1765, shortly after news of the Stamp Act’s passage reached the colonies, Virginia’s House of Burgesses took action. The elected assembly passed a series of resolutions. The Virginia Resolves, as they came to be called, laid out reasons the Stamp Act taxes were illegal and invalid. Colonial newspapers widely reprinted the Virginia Resolves. The assemblies of other colonies also drafted resolutions detailing their

opposition to the Stamp Act. They petitioned the British government to repeal the law. Some colonists weren’t content with legislative resolutions or peti- tions to London. They favored more persuasive tactics. Secretive groups calling themselves the Sons of Lib- erty formed. In New York City, the Sons of Liberty posted threaten- ing notices on street corners and on the doors of public buildings. “The first Man that either distrib- utes or makes use of Stampt Paper,” the notices warned, “let him take Care of his House, Person, and Effects.” The notices were signed Vox Populi —Latin for ”Voice of the People.”

Patrick Henry presents resolutions against the Stamp Act to the Virginia House of Burgesses, May 30, 1765. The resolutions asserted that the colonists could not be taxed because they were not represented in Parliament.