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"From the Providence Gazette Extraordinary. The following is said to be a copy of the Resolutions of the Congress held at New-York ..."
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[ This description is from the project: Coming of the American Revolution ]
On 19 October 1765, the Stamp Act Congress (made up of 27 delegates from nine colonies) adopted fourteen resolutions, conveyed in separate and appropriate forms to King, Commons, and Lords. Not until the resolutions were published in London did they make their way back across the Atlantic to America, where they appeared in this publication in March of 1766.
A Call for a Unified Response
Before the Virginia Resolves are made public, the Massachusetts legislature circulates a letter (dated 8 June 1765) calling for a unified response to the economic and constitutional issues menacing the colonies. In 1754, the Albany Congress had urged the colonies to work together to combat the French threat in America. Drawing on that precedent from the era of the French and Indian war, Massachusetts proposes that representatives from each colony meet in New York City. Nine colonies send delegates, twenty-seven in all, to the Stamp Act Congress; the governors of Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia bar their assemblies from convening to elect representatives, and New Hampshire does not participate but later approves the body's actions. On 19 October 1765, the congress adopts fourteen resolutions, which it conveys, in separate and appropriate forms, to King, Commons, and Lords. Not until the resolutions are published in London do they make their way back across the Atlantic to America, where they appear in March 1766.
To examine all four pages of this newspaper, please see the online display of the The Massachusetts Gazette, 20 March 1766.
Questions to Consider
1. Rewrite the fourteen resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress in your own words. Which resolution do you think is most accommodating? Most radical? Most important?
Further Exploration
2. The congress must address the King, the House of Commons, and the House of Lords in different ways. Why do you think this is so? Explain. Research the differences among addresses, memorials, petitions, remonstrances, and declarations.
3. Choose one individual from the twenty-seven listed in the glossary definition of the Stamp Act Congress. Research his life. Use a resource beyond this website to write a two-paragraph biography of him.
4. Compare the list of delegates in the glossary definition of the Stamp Act Congress to the list of delegates in the glossary definition of the First Continental Congress. How many/which men attended both? Does the number surprise you? Why or why not?