The Stamp Act and Sugar Act lowered the tax, but now it was enforced. This also put an end to the profitable smuggling of the colonists. Colonists rioted and boycotted.

Left: Tarring and feathering of a British exciseman by a Liberty Tree.
Right: A tax collector being tarred and feathered in 1774.

The tall coastal pines of Georgia yielded lumber, which had become a major export of the colony by 1754. One major consumer of Georgia lumber was the Caribbean Islands, whose molasses exports help pay for the lumber. When the Sugar Act was passed Georgians were concerned about the sale of lumber to customers in the Caribbean who would be using money gotten from the export of molasses to pay for the lumber. Georgia was also concerned because they might not be able to adhere to the strict shipping requirements of the act. Georgians protested the act in England on strictly economic terms, unlike the other colonies who protested the levy of a tax without approval of those being taxed.

The Stamp Act of 1765 (passed March 22, 1765) brought the first true rift between loyalist and colonist in Georgia. England sees the colonies as a part of the mother country, populated by Englishmen, and Parliament serves all Englishmen, whether they live in England or America. Colonists, especially the educated and the coastal wealthy, see a mother country out of control. Heady from the defeat of the Spanish and French, and recognized as the preeminent world power, the colonists see an England that begins to extract more from the colonies abroad and less from English at home. And the fact that the colonists, as loyal Englishmen, no longer enjoy the privilege of electing members of Parliament does not sit well with many men. Most colonists and many others around the world view King George III as incapable.

Massachusetts took the lead in organizing resistance to the act, calling for a Stamp Act Congress of the colonial governments. When word reached Georgia, Alexander Wylly called the members of the Commons House to Savannah. Governor Wright refused to call the session to order so no official action could be taken, however, with the consensus of the members an unofficial document of support including a commitment to back any action taken was forwarded to the Stamp Act Congress.

November 1, 1765 was the date set for the Stamp Act to go into effect, but with no instruction from England, Wright turned to his council for advice. They recommended holding up all land grants and warrants, but permitting ships to pass (ships would need stamped papers to enter or leave port). On November 5 the Sons of Liberty met at MacHenry's Tavern in Savannah, plotting their course of action should a stampmaster arrive.

In December the Commons House convened and issued to the king and others the documents recommended by the Stamp Act Congress, fulfilling the House's pledge to back any action taken by the congress. Then, on January 2, 1766, a most unique meeting occurred at the gates of the Governor's Mansion in Savannah. A rowdy group of men, some of whom were Sons of Liberty, marched to the gate where they were greeted by -- the royal governor himself, alone (but armed with a pistol). After discussing the Stamp Act and his actions, he told them they needed to trust his decisions.

On January 3 the royal stampmaster, Mr. George Angus, arrived below the port of Savannah and was immediately taken to Governor Wright's house. With his arrival the colony began to issue stamps as required by law. Some stamps were purchased, but in general Georgians had decided to "wait and see" if the act would be rescinded.

Wright decided the stamps, which no longer had buyers were not safe from the Liberty Boys in Savannah, so he moved them to Fort George on Cockspur Island, where they remained until the act was repealed. Parliament repealed of the act on March 18, 1766, but they included an affirmation of their sovereignty. (Georgia was official notified of the repeal on July 16, 1765). George Knox, who acted as agent for Georgia on colonial matters in England wrote an article agreeing with the right of Parliament to levy taxes on the colonies. Knox was removed by the Commons House.

It was the Stamp Act, passed by the British Parliament in 1765, with its direct demand for revenue that roused a violent colonial outcry, which was spearheaded by the Northern merchants, lawyers, and newspaper publishers who were directly affected. Everywhere leaders such as James Otis, Samuel Adams, and Patrick Henry denounced the act with eloquence, societies called the Sons of Liberty were formed, and the Stamp Act Congress was called to protest that Parliament was violating the rights of trueborn Englishmen in taxing the colonials, who were not directly represented in the supreme legislature. The threat of boycott and refusal to import English goods supported the colonial clamor. Parliament repealed (1766) the Stamp Act but passed an act formally declaring its right to tax the colonies.

The incident was closed, but a barb remained to wound American feelings. Colonial political theoristsnot only radicals such as Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, Josiah Quincy (1744-75), and Alexander M c Dougall but also moderates such as John Dickinson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklinasserted that taxation without representation was tyranny. The teachings of 18th-century French philosophers and continental writers on law, such as Emmerich de Vattel, as well as the theories of John Locke, were implicit in the colonial arguments based on the theory of natural rights. The colonials claimed that Parliament had the sovereign power to legislate in the interest of the entire British Empire, but that it could only tax those actually represented in Parliament.

Trouble flared when the Chatham ministry adopted (1767) the Townshend Acts, which taxed numerous imports; care was taken to levy only an external or indirect tax in the hope that the colonials would accept this. But this indirect tax was challenged too, and although the duties were not heavy, the principle was attacked. Incidents came in interrupted sequence to make feeling run higher and higher: the seizure of a ship belonging to John Hancock in 1768; the bloodshed of the Boston Massacre in 1770; the burning of H. M. S. Gaspee in 1772.