Reaction of the Virginia Legislature to the Stamp Act of 1765

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The article examines the reaction of the Virginia legislature and society to the adoption of the Stamp Act of 1765. The subject of the study is the initiatives of legislators aimed at maintaining opposition to the new tax. The object of the study is the circumstances of the adoption by Great Britain of colonial tax legislation, the purpose of which was to cover the public debt. Important attention is paid to the role of Virginia politicians, thanks to whom the campaign for the repeal of the Stamp Act grew into a protest against the arbitrariness of the central government. A special role is given to the analysis of documents that form an idea of the events of the Virginia protest of 1765. The author uses chronological and historical-comparative research methods, which allow for a more complete analysis of protest sentiments in the Virginia Legislative Assembly. Several theses can be formulated as conclusions of the study. First, in discussing the reaction to the adoption of the Stamp Act in the Virginia Legislature, there was a parity of radical legislators and supporters of a moderate approach, while the participants in the May debate of 1765 perceived the events as a natural part of the political process. Secondly, the power of the richest families of the colony allowed them to keep any opposition aspirations under control, negotiate with the central government regarding better terms of interaction, and not provoke open conflict with its inherent radical methods of struggle. Thirdly, in the 1760s people from the ruling class of Virginia managed to contain the growth of popular protest. The richest families of Virginia began to realize that it was more profitable to lead the revolutionary processes than to try to continue to resist them.

References

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