The Stamp Act was a law passed by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765, to help pay for British troops stationed in the colonies during the Seven Years’ War. The act required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp, on various forms of papers, documents, and playing cards. It was a direct tax imposed by the British government without the approval of the colonial legislatures and was payable in hard-to-obtain British sterling, rather than colonial currency. The Stamp Act was the first British parliamentary attempt to raise revenue through direct taxation of all colonial commercial and legal papers, newspapers, pamphlets, cards, almanacs, and dice.

The Stamp Act was met with widespread resistance and protest from the colonists, who felt that their rights as Englishmen were being violated. The colonists formed secret organizations such as the Sons of Liberty to intimidate the stamp agents who collected Parliaments taxes. Before the Stamp Act could even take effect, all the appointed stamp agents in the colonies had resigned. The Massachusetts Assembly suggested a meeting of all the colonies to work for the repeal of the Stamp Act. All but four colonies were represented. The Stamp Act Congress passed a "Declaration of Rights and Grievances," which claimed that American colonists were equal to all other British citizens, protested taxation without representation, and stated that, without colonial consent, Parliament could not tax colonists.

The colonists protests and boycotts of British goods were successful, and Parliament repealed the Stamp Act just one year later, on March 18, 1766. The Stamp Act crisis was a significant event in the lead-up to the American Revolution and helped to unite the colonies against British rule.