Name:____________________
Period:___ Date:____________
RESOLUTIONS OF THE STAMP ACT CONGRESS
Carefully read the questions below before studying the Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress.
As you read, circle any words of which you are unfamiliar, and/or do not know the definition.
See if you can infer the meaning of the words from the context and write a short definition in the
margin. Some of the terms which may be foreign include – but may not be limited to – the
following words:
o
o
o
inviolable
liege
manifest
o
o
o
subvert
burthensome
specie
o
o
o
impracticable
manufactures
increase
Answer the questions that follow on a separate piece of paper.
(Be sure to write in complete sentences.)
1. Explain, in your own words, the temperament or demeanor of the preamble to the Resolutions of the
Stamp Act Congress, dated 19th October 1765. (Is the tone confrontational or conciliatory? Cite
specific examples.)
2. According to this document, what are the colonists obligated to do?
3. To what are the liege subjects entitled?
4. What is “essential to the freedom of a people,” especially as a right of Englishmen?
5. Why, “from their local circumstances,” can the people of the colonies not be represented in House of
Commons in Great Britain?
6. In the view of the Stamp Act Congress, who are the only persons who can constitutionally impose taxes
on the people of the colonies? Why?
7. Explain, in your own words, what concerns are expressed by the colonists in Article VI. (What
amendment to the Constitution of the United States protects against this abuse?)
8. What is implied by the statement in Article VII of the Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress “that trial
by jury is the inherent and invaluable right of every British subject?”
9. What has subverted the rights and liberties of the colonists?
10. What makes the payment of the imposed duties “absolutely impracticable?”
11. Eventually how are the needs of the Crown supplied, if the colonies be not taxed directly?
12. Why will the colonies be unable to purchase manufactures from Great Britain?
13. On what does “the increase, prosperity, and happiness of these colonies” depend?
14. What right do the colonists claim in Article XII of the Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress?
15. What right, later codified after the War of Independence in Amendment I of the present Constitution of
the United States, are the colonists exercising?