This year marks the 250th anniversary of the Stamp Act, a watershed event that helped foster the American Revolution. The New York Public Library commemorates the anniversary and honors the Fourth of July season with a display that charts the founding of the United States of America, curated entirely from the Library's collections.
Passed on March 22, 1765, the Stamp Act levied a direct tax on British North America, requiring materials printed in the colonies to be issued on special paper bearing an embossed revenue stamp. The measure proved extremely unpopular, uniting the colonists in opposition to Great Britain for the first time in a significant manner and popularizing the iconic phrase, “No taxation without representation.” Although the act was repealed the following year, the stage was set for further disagreements with the mother country, and a rebellious spirit intensified throughout the colonies. Eleven years later, in 1776, this revolutionary impulse would find its ultimate expression in the Declaration of Independence.
