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91-640: Tensions between American colonists and the British Crown began in 1765 with the passage of the widely unpopular Stamp Act . An ensuing cycle of often-violent protests and reprisals culminated into open warfare in April 1775 . Shortly thereafter, King George III formally recognized the conflict as an act of "rebellion and sedition", to which the Continental Congress responded that it was only resisting parliament's unjust laws and hoped to avoid

182-603: A standing army at home so it was necessary to garrison most of the troops elsewhere. The outbreak of Pontiac's War in May 1763 led to the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and the added duty of British soldiers to prevent outbreaks of violence between Native Americans and American colonists. 10,000 British troops were dispatched to the American frontier , with a primary motivation of the move being to provide billets for

273-552: A Maryland attorney and politician, disputed this assertion in a widely read pamphlet , arguing that the relations between the Americans and the English electors were "a knot too infirm to be relied on" for proper representation, "virtual" or otherwise. Local protest groups established Committees of Correspondence which created a loose coalition from New England to Maryland. Protests and demonstrations increased, often initiated by

364-750: A Strong Naval Force, which it must forever be in the Power of Great Britain to hinder them from having: And whilst His Majesty hath 7000 Troops kept up within them, & in the Great Lakes upon the back of six of them, with the Indians at Command, it seems very easy, provided the Governors & principal Civil Officers are Independent of the Assemblies for their Subsistence, & commonly Vigilant, to prevent any Steps of that kind from being taken. The act

455-545: A further attempt to replace their local courts with courts controlled by England. As the act imposed a tax on many different types of paper items, including newspapers, contracts, deeds, wills, claims, indentures and many other types of legal documents, its effect would be felt in many different professions and trades, resulting in wide spread protests from newspapers, citizens, and even attacks on public officials, tax collectors and their offices and homes. Grenville started appointing Stamp Distributors almost immediately after

546-503: A hundred acres were taxed 1s. 6d., between 100 and 200 acres 2s., and from 200 to 320 acres 2s. 6d., with an additional 2s 6d. for every additional 320 acres (1.3 km ). Cards were taxed a shilling a pack, dice ten shillings, and newspapers and pamphlets at the rate of a penny for a single sheet and a shilling for every sheet in pamphlets or papers totaling more than one sheet and fewer than six sheets in octavo , fewer than twelve in quarto , or fewer than twenty in folio (in other words,

637-620: A legal Representation where they are laid, are we not reduced from the Character of free Subjects to the miserable State of tributary Slaves. Massachusetts appointed a five-member Committee of Correspondence in June 1764 to coordinate action and exchange information regarding the Sugar Act, and Rhode Island formed a similar committee in October 1764. This attempt at unified action represented

728-520: A local currency that is pegged to the U.S. dollar or the New Zealand dollar . The Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (in Cyprus ) use the euro. Since decimalisation on Decimal Day in 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 pence (denoted on coinage, until 1981, as "new pence"). The symbol for the penny is "p"; hence an amount such as 50p (£0.50) properly pronounced "fifty pence"

819-578: A major objection to the Stamp Act the following year. Parliament announced in April 1764 when the Sugar Act was passed that they would also consider a stamp tax in the colonies. Opposition from the colonies was soon forthcoming to this possible tax, but neither members of Parliament nor American agents in Great Britain (such as Benjamin Franklin ) anticipated the intensity of the protest that

910-613: A member of Parliament. John Adams complained that the London ministry was intentionally trying "to strip us in a great measure of the means of knowledge, by loading the Press, the colleges, and even an Almanack and a News-Paper, with restraints and duties." The press fought back. By 1760 the fledgling American newspaper industry comprised 24 weekly papers in major cities. Benjamin Franklin had created an informal network so that each one routinely reprinted news, editorials, letters and essays from

1001-618: A modification of the Molasses Act of 1733. The Molasses Act had imposed a tax of 6 pence per gallon (equal to £5.24 today) on foreign molasses imported into British colonies. The purpose of the Molasses Act was not actually to raise revenue, but instead to make foreign molasses so expensive that it effectively gave a monopoly to molasses imported from the British West Indies. It did not work; colonial merchants avoided

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1092-399: A penny", "two and a penny", etc. 5 shillings, for example, was written as "5 s ." or, more commonly, "5/–" (five shillings, no pence). Various coin denominations had, and in some cases continue to have, special names, such as florin (2/–), crown (5/–), half crown (2/6 d ), farthing ( 1 ⁄ 4 d ), sovereign (£1) and guinea (21s, 21/–, £1–1–0 or £1.05 in decimal notation). By

1183-456: A significant step forward in colonial unity and cooperation. The Virginia House of Burgesses sent a protest of the taxes to London in December 1764, arguing that they did not have the specie required to pay the tax. Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Connecticut also sent protest to England in 1764. The content of the messages varied, but they all emphasized that taxation of

1274-460: A stamp tax. The Glorious Revolution had established the principle of parliamentary supremacy. Control of colonial trade and manufactures extended this principle across the ocean. This belief had never been tested on the issue of colonial taxation, but the British assumed that the interests of the thirteen colonies were so disparate that a joint colonial action was unlikely to occur against such

1365-508: A tax–an assumption that had its genesis in the failure of the Albany Conference in 1754. By the end of December 1764, the first warnings of serious colonial opposition were provided by pamphlets and petitions from the colonies protesting both the Sugar Act and the proposed stamp tax. For Grenville, the first issue was the amount of the tax. Soon after his announcement of the possibility of a tax, he had told American agents that he

1456-418: A then uncultivated and unhospitable country where they exposed themselves to almost all the hardships to which human nature is liable, and among others to the cruelties of a savage foe, the most subtle, and I take upon me to say, the most formidable of any people upon the face of God's earth.... They nourished by your indulgence? They grew by your neglect of 'em. As soon as you began to care about 'em, that care

1547-922: A treaty of military alliance, the Treaty of Alliance . Stamp Act 1765 The Stamp Act 1765 , also known as the Duties in American Colonies Act 1765 ( 5 Geo. 3 . c. 12), was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper from London which included an embossed revenue stamp . Printed materials included legal documents, magazines, playing cards, newspapers, and many other types of paper used throughout

1638-650: A valour amidst their constant and laborious industry for the defence of a country whose frontier while drenched in blood, its interior parts have yielded all its little savings to your emolument .... The people I believe are as truly loyal as any subjects the king has, but a people jealous of their liberties and who will vindicate them if ever they should be violated; but the subject is too delicate and I will say no more." Massachusetts Royal Governor William Shirley assured London in 1755 that American independence could easily be defeated by force. He argued: At all Events, they could not maintain such an Independency, without

1729-417: Is often pronounced "fifty pee" /fɪfti piː/. The old sign d was not reused for the new penny in order to avoid confusion between the two units. A decimal halfpenny ( ⁠ 1 / 2 ⁠ p, worth 1.2 old pennies) was issued until 1984 but was withdrawn due to inflation . Before decimalisation in 1971 , the pound was divided into 20 shillings , and each shilling into 12 pence , making 240 pence to

1820-690: Is suppos'd an undoubted Right of Englishmen not to be taxed but by their own Consent given thro' their Representatives. That the Colonies have no Representatives in Parliament." The counter to this argument was the theory of virtual representation . Thomas Whately enunciated this theory in a pamphlet that readily acknowledged that there could be no taxation without consent, but the facts were that at least 75% of British adult males were not represented in Parliament because of property qualifications or other factors. Members of Parliament were bound to represent

1911-615: Is the central bank for sterling, issuing its own banknotes and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sterling banknotes issued by other jurisdictions are not regulated by the Bank of England; their governments guarantee convertibility at par . Historically, sterling was also used to varying degrees by the colonies and territories of the British Empire . There are various theories regarding

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2002-469: Is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £ ) is the main unit of sterling, and the word pound is also used to refer to the British currency generally, often qualified in international contexts as the British pound or the pound sterling . Sterling is the world's oldest currency in continuous use since its inception. In 2022, it

2093-572: The Bute ministry decided in early 1763 to keep ten thousand British regulars in the American colonies, which would cost about £225,000 per year, equal to £42 million today. The primary reason for retaining such a large force was that demobilizing the army would put 1,500 officers out of work, many of whom were well-connected in Parliament . This made it politically prudent to retain a large peacetime establishment, but Britons were averse to maintaining

2184-720: The Continental Congress resolved to create a special committee "to prepare a plan of treaties to be proposed to foreign powers", along with committees for drafting the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation , respectively. The following day, the committee to draft a "Model Treaty" was formally established with five appointed members: Adams, John Dickinson , Benjamin Franklin , Benjamin Harrison , and Robert Morris ." As an early progenitor of

2275-451: The Sons of Liberty and occasionally involving hanging of effigies. Very soon, all stamp tax distributors were intimidated into resigning their commissions, and the tax was never effectively collected. Opposition to the Stamp Act was not limited to the colonies. British merchants and manufacturers pressured Parliament because their exports to the colonies were threatened by boycotts. The act

2366-743: The Stamp Act Congress held in New York City was the first significant joint colonial response to any British measure when it petitioned Parliament and the King. One member of the British Parliament argued that the American colonists were no different from the 90-percent of Great Britain who did not own property and thus could not vote, but who were nevertheless "virtually" represented by land-owning electors and representatives who had common interests with them. Daniel Dulany ,

2457-815: The United States Declaration of Independence , enabling the organized colonial resistance which led to the American Revolution in 1775. The British victory in the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), known in the United States and elsewhere as the French and Indian War , was won at great financial expense. During the war, the British national debt nearly doubled, rising from £72,289,673 in 1755 to almost £129,586,789 by 1764. Post-war expenses were expected to remain high because

2548-422: The "calamities" of a "civil war". Once it became clear that both sides had reached an impasse, the movement towards independence gained traction, and consequently many revolutionary leaders sought to develop foreign relations befitting a sovereign nation. George Wythe , Virginia's delegate to the Continental Congress, was one of the earliest and most notable proponents for seeking a foreign alliance. His suggestion

2639-657: The 1950s, coins of Kings George III , George IV and William IV had disappeared from circulation, but coins (at least the penny) bearing the head of every British monarch from Queen Victoria onwards could be found in circulation. Silver coins were replaced by those in cupro-nickel in 1947, and by the 1960s the silver coins were rarely seen. Silver/cupro-nickel sixpences, shillings (from any period after 1816) and florins (2 shillings) remained legal tender after decimalisation (as 2½p, 5p and 10p respectively) until 1980, 1990 and 1993 respectively, but are now officially demonetised. The pound sterling emerged after

2730-492: The Act passed Parliament. Applicants were not hard to come by because of the anticipated income that the positions promised, and he appointed local colonists to the post. Benjamin Franklin even suggested the appointment of John Hughes as the agent for Pennsylvania, indicating that even Franklin was not aware of the turmoil and impact that the tax was going to generate on American-British relations or that these distributors would become

2821-469: The Bank of England has exclusively used the single bar variant since 1975. Historically, a simple capital L (in the historic black-letter typeface, L {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {L}}} ) placed before the numerals, or an italic l. after them, was used in newspapers, books and letters. The Royal Mint was still using this style of notation as late as 1939. The glyphs Ł and Ⱡ may occasionally be encountered. Use of

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2912-605: The King and People of Great Britain. On 6 June 1765, the Massachusetts Lower House proposed a meeting for the 1st Tuesday of October in New York City: That it is highly expedient there should be a Meeting as soon as may be, of Committees from the Houses of Representatives or Burgesses in the several Colonies on this Continent to consult together on the present Circumstances of the Colonies, and

3003-457: The League's money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the "Easterlings", which was contracted to "'sterling". The OED dismisses this theory as unlikely, since the stressed first syllable would not have been elided. Encyclopædia Britannica states that the (pre-Norman) Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had silver coins called sterlings and that

3094-636: The Liberties, privileges, Franchises, and Immunities that have at any Time been held, enjoyed, and possessed, by the People of Great Britain. Resolved, That by the two royal Charters, granted by King James the First, the Colonists aforesaid are declared entitled to all Liberties, Privileges, and Immunities of Denizens and natural Subjects, to all Intents and Purposes, as if they had been abiding and born within

3185-605: The Model Treaty, Adams would ultimately be the primary drafter, and the resulting document largely reflected his plans. The Model Treaty was not with a specific country, but rather was a template for future relations with foreign countries; it was also America’s first diplomatic statement as an independent country, reflecting its ideals of free and reciprocal trade. It was also a practical document, reflecting America's existing non-political trade arrangements with France and Spain that Robert Morris had established as chairman of

3276-531: The Realm of England. Resolved, That the Taxation of the People by themselves, or by Persons chosen by themselves to represent them, who could only know what Taxes the People are able to bear, or the easiest method of raising them, and must themselves be affected by every Tax laid on the People, is the only Security against a burdensome Taxation, and the distinguishing characteristick of British Freedom, without which

3367-505: The Roman libra , solidus , and denarius . Notable style guides recommend that the pound sign be used without any abbreviation or qualification to indicate sterling (e.g., £12,000). The ISO 4217 code "GBP" (e.g., GBP 12,000) may also be seen should disambiguation become necessary. The ISO 4217 currency code for sterling is "GBP", formed from the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for

3458-561: The Secret Committee; the Model Treaty was to formalize these arrangements as being between governments rather than individual representatives. Reflecting Adams’ initial vision, the Model Treaty was silent on military assistance and had three main components, all commercial in nature: On behalf of the Model Treaty Committee, Adams presented a general draft before the Continental Congress on July 18, 1776, which

3549-581: The Seven Years' War and once again in 1761. Grenville had actually been presented with drafts of colonial stamp acts in September and October 1763, but the proposals lacked the specific knowledge of colonial affairs to adequately describe the documents subject to the stamp. At the time of the passage of the Sugar Act in April 1764, Grenville made it clear that the right to tax the colonies was not in question, and that additional taxes might follow, including

3640-778: The Thirteen Colonies. The August 1, 1768, issue of the Pennsylvania Chronicle , established by William Goddard , printed on the front page a four-column article of an address made at the State House (Independence Hall) against the Stamp Act , and other excessive tax laws passed without colonial representation in the British Parliament . The newspapers reported effigy hangings and stamp master resignation speeches. Some newspapers were on

3731-659: The United Kingdom ("GB") and the first letter of "pound". In historical sources and some specialist banking uses, the abbreviation stg (in various styles) has been used to indicate sterling. Many stocks on the London Stock Exchange are quoted in penny sterling, using the unofficial code "GBX". The exchange rate of sterling against the US dollar is referred to as "cable" in the wholesale foreign exchange markets . The origins of this term are attributed to

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3822-601: The adoption of the Carolingian monetary system in England c.  800 . Here is a summary of changes to its value in terms of silver or gold until 1816. The pound was a unit of account in Anglo-Saxon England . By the ninth century it was equal to 240 silver pence . The accounting system of dividing one pound into twenty shillings , a shilling into twelve pence, and a penny into four farthings

3913-517: The ancient Constitution cannot exist. Resolved, That his majesty's liege people of this his most ancient and loyal Colony have without interruption enjoyed the inestimable Right of being governed by such Laws, respecting their internal Polity and Taxation, as are derived from their own Consent, with the Approbation of their Sovereign, or his Substitute; and that the same hath never been forfeited or yielded up, but hath been constantly recognized by

4004-468: The colonies by Parliament. It was judged by the colonists to be a more dangerous assault on their rights than the Sugar Act was, because of its potential wide application to the colonial economy. The theoretical issue that soon held center stage was the matter of taxation without representation . Benjamin Franklin had raised this as far back as 1754 at the Albany Congress when he wrote, "That it

4095-399: The colonies to raise revenue. Politicians in London had always expected American colonists to contribute to the cost of their own defence. So long as a French threat existed, there was little trouble convincing colonial legislatures to provide assistance. Such help was normally provided through the raising of colonial militias, which were funded by taxes raised by colonial legislatures. Also,

4186-472: The colonies without colonial assent was a violation of their rights. By the end of 1765, all of the Thirteen Colonies except Georgia and North Carolina had sent some sort of protest passed by colonial legislative assemblies. The Virginia House of Burgesses reconvened in early May 1765 after news was received of the passage of the act. By the end of May, it appeared that they would not consider

4277-400: The colonies, and it had to be paid in British currency , not in colonial paper money . The purpose of the tax was to pay for British military troops stationed in the American colonies after the French and Indian War , but the colonists had never feared a French invasion to begin with, and they contended that they had already paid their share of the war expenses. Colonists suggested that it

4368-421: The colonies, the revenues were to be expended in America, especially for supplies and salaries of British Army units who were stationed there. Two features of the act involving the courts attracted special attention. The tax on court documents specifically included courts "exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction." These type of courts did not currently exist in the colonies and no bishops were currently assigned to

4459-442: The colonies, who would preside over the courts. Many colonists or their ancestors had fled England specifically to escape the influence and power of such state-sanctioned religious institutions, and they feared that this was the first step to reinstating the old ways in the colonies. Some Anglicans in the northern colonies were already openly advocating the appointment of such bishops, but they were opposed by both southern Anglicans and

4550-414: The colonists. The Sugar Act, to a large extent, was a continuation of past legislation related primarily to the regulation of trade (termed an external tax), but its stated purpose was entirely new: to collect revenue directly from the colonists for a specific purpose. The novelty of the Stamp Act was that it was the first internal tax (a tax based entirely on activities within the colonies) levied directly on

4641-478: The common phrase "quids in"). Its origin is unknown: possible derivations include scudo , the name for a number of currency units used in Italy until the 19th century, introduced by Italian immigrants; or from Latin quid via the common phrase quid pro quo , literally, "what for what", or, figuratively, "An equal exchange or substitution". The term "nicker" (also both singular and plural) may also refer to

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4732-468: The compound noun pound sterling was derived from a pound (weight) of these sterlings. The English word pound derives from the Latin expression lībra pondō , in which lībra is a noun meaning 'pound' and pondō is a noun, in the ablative case , meaning 'by weight'. The currency sign for the pound unit of sterling is £ , which (depending on typeface) may be drawn with one or two bars :

4823-424: The consent of Parliament, but the colonists argued that due to their theoretical Rights as Englishmen , they could not be taxed without their consent, which came in the form of representation in Parliament. The colonists elected no members of Parliament, and so it was seen as a violation of their Rights for Parliament to tax them. There was little time to raise this issue in response to the Sugar Act, but it came to be

4914-478: The debate, Charles Townshend said, "and now will these Americans, children planted by our care, nourished up by our Indulgence until they are grown to a degree of strength and opulence, and protected by our arms, will they grudge to contribute their mite to relieve us from heavy weight of the burden which we lie under?" This led to Colonel Isaac Barré 's response: They planted by your care? No! Your oppression planted 'em in America. They fled from your tyranny to

5005-405: The difficulties to which they are and must be reduced by the operation of the late Acts of Parliament for levying Duties and Taxes on the Colonies, and to consider of a general and humble Address to his Majesty and the Parliament to implore Relief. There was no attempt to keep this meeting a secret; Massachusetts promptly notified Richard Jackson of the proposed meeting, their agent in England and

5096-732: The dunghill". These Loyalists beliefs can be seen in some of the early newspaper articles about the Stamp Act, but the anti-British writings were more prevalent and seem to have had a more powerful effect. Pound sterling King Charles III [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee Sterling ( ISO code : GBP )

5187-430: The fact that from the mid-19th century, the sterling/dollar exchange rate was transmitted via transatlantic cable. Historically almost every British coin had a widely recognised nickname, such as "tanner" for the sixpence and "bob" for the shilling . Since decimalisation these have mostly fallen out of use except as parts of proverbs. A common slang term for the pound unit is " quid " (singular and plural, except in

5278-537: The focus of colonial resistance. Debate in the colonies had actually begun in the spring of 1764 over the Stamp Act when Parliament passed a resolution that contained the assertion, "That, towards further defraying the said Expences, it may be proper to charge certain Stamp Duties in the said Colonies and Plantations." Both the Sugar Act and the proposed Stamp Act were designed principally to raise revenue from

5369-573: The interests of all British citizens and subjects, so colonists were the recipients of virtual representation in Parliament, like those disenfranchised subjects in the British Isles. This theory, however, ignored a crucial difference between the unrepresented in Britain and the colonists. The colonists enjoyed actual representation in their own legislative assemblies, and the issue was whether these legislatures, rather than Parliament, were in fact

5460-539: The law. The articles written in colonial newspapers were particularly critical of the act because of the Stamp Act's disproportionate effect on printers. David Ramsay , a patriot and historian from South Carolina, wrote of this phenomenon shortly after the American Revolution: It was fortunate for the liberties of America, that newspapers were the subject of a heavy stamp duty. Printers, when influenced by government, have generally arranged themselves on

5551-422: The legislatures were sometimes willing to help maintain regular British units defending the colonies. So long as this sort of help was forthcoming, there was little reason for the British Parliament to impose its own taxes on the colonists. But after the peace of 1763, colonial militias were quickly stood down. Militia officers were tired of the disdain shown to them by regular British officers, and were frustrated by

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5642-491: The letter ⟨L⟩ for pound derives from medieval Latin documents: "L" was the abbreviation for libra , the Roman pound (weight), which in time became an English unit of weight defined as the tower pound . A "pound sterling" was literally a tower pound (weight) of sterling silver . In the British pre-decimal ( duodecimal ) currency system, the term £sd (or Lsd) for pounds, shillings and pence referred to

5733-408: The most easy and least objectionable to the Colonies". Thomas Whately had drafted the Stamp Act, and he said that the delay in implementation had been "out of Tenderness to the colonies", and that the tax was judged as "the easiest, the most equal and the most certain." The debate in Parliament began soon after this meeting. Petitions submitted by the colonies were officially ignored by Parliament. In

5824-509: The near-impossibility of obtaining regular British commissions; they were unwilling to remain in service once the war was over. In any case, they had no military role, as the Indian threat was minimal and there was no foreign threat. Colonial legislators saw no need for the British troops. The Sugar Act of 1764 was the first tax in Grenville's program to raise a revenue in America, which was

5915-399: The non-Anglicans who made up the majority in the northern colonies. The act allowed admiralty courts to have jurisdiction for trying violators, following the example established by the Sugar Act. However, admiralty courts had traditionally been limited to cases involving the high seas. The Sugar Act seemed to fall within this precedent, but the Stamp Act did not, and the colonists saw this as

6006-463: The officers who were part of the British patronage system. John Adams wrote disparagingly of the deployment, writing that "Revenue is still demanded from America, and appropriated to the maintenance of swarms of officers and pensioners in idleness and luxury". George Grenville became prime minister in April 1763 after the failure of the short-lived Bute Ministry , and he had to find a way to pay for this large peacetime army. Raising taxes in Britain

6097-409: The origin of the word "sterling". The Oxford English Dictionary states that the "most plausible" etymology is a derivation from the Old English steorra for "star" with the added diminutive suffix -ling , to yield "little star". The reference is to the silver penny used in Norman England in the twelfth century, which bore a small star. Another theory holds that the Hanseatic League

6188-411: The others, thus helping form a common American voice. All the editors were annoyed at the new stamp tax they would have to pay on each copy. By informing colonists what the other colonies were saying the press became a powerful opposition force to the Stamp Act. Many circumvented it and most equated taxation without representation with despotism and tyranny, thus providing a common vocabulary of protest for

6279-411: The pound. The currency of all the Crown Dependencies ( Guernsey , Jersey , Isle of Man ) and a third of British Overseas Territories ( British Antarctic Territory ; Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ; Gibraltar ; and Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha ) is either sterling or pegged to sterling at par. The other British Overseas Territories have

6370-497: The pound. The symbol for the shilling was " s ." – not from the first letter of "shilling", but from the Latin solidus . The symbol for the penny was " d .", from the French denier , from the Latin denarius (the solidus and denarius were Roman coins). A mixed sum of shillings and pence, such as 3 shillings and 6 pence, was written as "3/6" or "3 s . 6 d ." and spoken as "three and six" or "three and sixpence" except for "1/1", "2/1" etc., which were spoken as "one and

6461-513: The reign of King Offa of Mercia (757–796), who introduced a "sterling" coin made by physically dividing a Tower pound (5,400 grains, 349.9 grams) of silver into 240 parts. In practice, the weights of the coins were not consistent, 240 of them seldom added up to a full pound; there were no shilling or pound coins and these units were used only as an accounting convenience . Halfpennies and farthings worth 1 ⁄ 2 and 1 ⁄ 4 penny respectively were also minted, but small change

6552-529: The royal payroll and supported the act, but most of the press was free and vocal. Thus William Bradford , the foremost printer in Philadelphia, became a leader of the Sons of Liberty. He added a skull and crossbones with the words, "the fatal Stamp," to the masthead of his Pennsylvania Journal and weekly Advertiser . Some of the earliest forms of American propaganda appeared in these printings in response to

6643-437: The side of liberty, nor are they less remarkable for attention to the profits of their profession. A stamp duty, which openly invaded the first, and threatened a great diminution of the last, provoked their united zealous opposition. Most printers were critical of the Stamp Act, although a few Loyalist voices did exist. Some of the more subtle Loyalist sentiments can be seen in publications such as The Boston Evening Post , which

6734-647: The sole recipients of the colonists' consent with regard to taxation. In May 1764, Samuel Adams of Boston drafted the following that stated the common American position: For if our Trade may be taxed why not our Lands? Why not the Produce of our Lands & every thing we possess or make use of? This we apprehend annihilates our Charter Right to govern & tax ourselves – It strikes our British Privileges, which as we have never forfeited them, we hold in common with our Fellow Subjects who are Natives of Britain: If Taxes are laid upon us in any shape without our having

6825-599: The tax by smuggling or, more often, bribing customs officials. The Sugar Act reduced the tax to 3 pence per gallon (equal to £2.24 today) in the hope that the lower rate would increase compliance and thus increase the amount of tax collected. The act also taxed additional imports and included measures to make the customs service more effective. American colonists initially objected to the Sugar Act for economic reasons, but before long they recognized that there were potential constitutional issues involved. The British Constitution guaranteed that taxes could not be levied without

6916-437: The tax generated. Stamp acts had been a very successful method of taxation within Great Britain; they generated over £100,000 in tax revenue with very little in collection expenses. By requiring an official stamp on most legal documents, the system was almost self-regulating; a document would be null and void under British law without the required stamp. Imposition of such a tax on the colonies had been considered twice before

7007-412: The tax on pamphlets grew in proportion to their size but ceased altogether if they became large enough to qualify as a book). The high taxes on lawyers and college students were designed to limit the growth of a professional class in the colonies. The stamps had to be purchased with hard currency , which was scarce, rather than the more plentiful colonial paper currency. To avoid draining currency out of

7098-415: The tax with Benjamin Franklin , Jared Ingersoll from New Haven, Richard Jackson , agent for Connecticut, and Charles Garth , the agent for South Carolina (Jackson and Garth were also members of Parliament). These colonial representatives had no specific alternative to present; they simply suggested that the determination be left to the colonies. Grenville replied that he wanted to raise the money "by means

7189-686: The tax, and many legislators went home, including George Washington . Only 30 out of 116 Burgesses remained, but one of those remaining was Patrick Henry who was attending his first session. Henry led the opposition to the Stamp Act; he proposed his resolutions on 29 May 1765, and they were passed in the form of the Virginia Resolves . The Resolves stated: Resolved, That the first Adventurers and Settlers of this his majesty's colony and Dominion of Virginia brought with them, and transmitted to their Posterity, and all other his Majesty's subjects since inhabiting in this his Majesty's said Colony, all

7280-440: Was actually a matter of British patronage to surplus British officers and career soldiers who should be paid by London. The Stamp Act was very unpopular among colonists. A majority considered it a violation of their rights as Englishmen to be taxed without their consent—consent that only the colonial legislatures could grant. Their slogan was " No taxation without representation ". Colonial assemblies sent petitions and protests, and

7371-470: Was adopted from the livre carolingienne system introduced by Charlemagne to the Frankish Empire . The penny was abbreviated to "d", from denarius , the Roman equivalent of the penny; the shilling to "s" from solidus (written with a long s , ſ , later evolving into a simple slash , / ); and the pound to "L" (subsequently £ ) from Libra or Livre . The origins of sterling lie in

7462-437: Was exercised in sending persons to rule over 'em, in one department and another, who were perhaps the deputies of deputies to some member of this house, sent to spy out their liberty, to misrepresent their actions and to prey upon 'em; men whose behaviour on many occasions has caused the blood of those sons of liberty to recoil within them.... They protected by your arms? They have nobly taken up arms in your defence, have exerted

7553-403: Was formally adopted on September 17. A week later, Congress selected commissioners to France to negotiate a treaty based on the template provided in the Model Treaty. Benjamin Franklin took the Model Treaty to Paris, and it was used as the starting point for negotiations with France, which ultimately resulted in the signing of two treaties: an economic treaty, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce , and

7644-499: Was formally taken into consideration by a committee, with John Adams of Massachusetts being among the most enthusiastic supporters: as early as February and March 1776, he wrote in his diary about the advantages of trading with France, speculating that the French would support the colonies' separation from their long-time rival. Adams even drafted what would become a preliminary version of the Model Treaty in his diary. On June 11, 1776,

7735-438: Was not opposed to the Americans suggesting an alternative way of raising the money themselves. However, the only other alternative would be to requisition each colony and allow them to determine how to raise their share. This had never worked before, even during the French and Indian War, and there was no political mechanism in place that would have ensured the success of such cooperation. On 2 February 1765, Grenville met to discuss

7826-488: Was out of the question, since there had been virulent protests in England against the Bute ministry's 1763 cider tax , with Bute being hanged in effigy. The Grenville ministry, therefore, decided that Parliament would raise this revenue by taxing the American colonists without their consent. This was something new; Parliament had previously passed measures to regulate trade in the colonies, but it had never before directly taxed

7917-475: Was passed by the British Parliament on 22 March 1765 with an effective date of 1 November 1765. It passed 205–49 in the House of Commons and unanimously in the House of Lords . Historians Edmund and Helen Morgan describe the specifics of the tax: The highest tax, £10, was placed ... on attorney licenses. Other papers relating to court proceedings were taxed in amounts varying from 3d. to 10s. Land grants under

8008-551: Was repealed on 18 March 1766 as a matter of expedience, but Parliament affirmed its power to legislate for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever" by also passing the Declaratory Act . A series of new taxes and regulations then ensued—likewise opposed by the Americans. The episode played a major role in defining the 27 colonial grievances that were clearly stated within the text of the Indictment of George III section of

8099-484: Was run by British sympathizers John and Thomas Fleet. The article detailed a violent protest that occurred in New York in December, 1765, then described the riot's participants as "imperfect" and labeled the group's ideas as "contrary to the general sense of the people." Vindex Patriae denigrated the colonists as foreign vagabonds and ungrateful Scots-Irish subjects determined to "strut and claim an independent property to

8190-533: Was the fourth-most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market , after the United States dollar , the euro , and the Japanese yen . Together with those three currencies and the renminbi , it forms the basket of currencies that calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights . As of late 2022, sterling is also the fourth most-held reserve currency in global reserves . The Bank of England

8281-576: Was the origin of its definition, manufacture, and name: the German name for the Baltic is Ostsee ( ' East Sea ' ) and from this the Baltic merchants were called Osterlings ( ' Easterlings ' ). In 1260, Henry III granted them a charter of protection and land for their kontor , the Steelyard of London , which by the 1340s was also called Esterlingeshalle ( ' Easterlings Hall ' ). Because

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