Benjamin Franklin and the Stamp Act Crisis is a documented exchange between the

British parliament and Benjamin Franklin. The purpose of the conversation was for the
British to find a way to get money from Americans to pay the debt they had accumulated
from the seven years war. Benjamin Franklins goal, on the other hand, was to
encourage parliament repeal the stamp act, and warn them of the consequences if they
refused to. After realizing that the colonists were not cooperating with their recently
imposed stamp act, the British parliament asked Franklin what they would have to do to
get the colonists to either buy the stamps, or impose taxes in another area to get money
from America. Franklins response was very clear- there is absolutely nothing you can
do to make them pay for the stamps, nor will they accept another form of taxation.
When the parliament questioned what the consequence would be if they did not repeal
the act, Franklin told them that the colonists would lose respect for Britain, and fight
back by not buying their goods. He also noted that if they were to continue to push
taxation laws, they might very well be met with protest and violence. This appears to be
the first of the documents that I have interpreted to be a legitimate source of
information. It is not biased because it documents both sides of the conversation.
Comparing this document with the textbook proved to be rather entertaining. Had the
British parliament taken Franklins advice, the colonists would not have revolted and
may have never fought for independence. Chapter five, sections one and two of
American Stories documents a series of desperate attempts by the British to collect
money from the colonists. One failed attempt after another led the colonists to come
together in revolt, spreading pamphlets among all thirteen colonies which encouraged
rebellion and the boycott of British products. As Benjamin Franklin had warned
parliament, the colonists were fully prepared to make do without Britains manufactured
goods, eventually learning to make the items on their own. Families willingly dealt with
having less luxuries in order to make a point to Britain. Though it took many years,
Britain did experience a significant amount of financial loss because of the protests.
This revolt was strongly encouraged by writers who exaggerated events that had taken
place. For example, the textbook tells the story of the Boston massacre, which was the
shooting of five men who were throwing rocks at British soldiers. Though each of the
five men were unmarried, the man who wrote about the incident in a eulogy described,
in great detail, the grieving wives of the men, and the children who stood in the street
watching the blood flowing from the heads of their fathers. These types of
overstatements were often used in the literature passed around the colonies to increase
the hype of the rebellion. The harder Britain pushed, the harder the colonists pushed
back. When it became clear that Britain was not going to win, they removed all of the
unconstitutional taxes, but out of pride, refused to cut the taxes of tea. Finally, the Tea
Act legislation was put in play to drop the price of tea, as an attempt to financially save
the East India Company. Because of the colonists newfound distrust of parliament, and
the fact that this seemed like a final attempt to continue taxing them, the Tea Act
ultimately led to the Boston tea party, where residents dressed as native Americans
bombarded Britains trade ship at its port, and dumped ten thousand euros worth of tea
into the ocean. Parliament responded by imposing harsh new laws on Boston to
discourage the rebellion. Rather than backing down, colonists from all over America
supported Boston by sending supplies.
 I really enjoyed going through this document with the textbook. Not only was it
entertaining to see that the parliament was warned by Benjamin Franklin as to exactly
what would happen if they didnt drop the unlawful taxes, but also to see the way that
the colonists came together to fight back.

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