The Stamp Act Congress brought delegates from nine colonies to New York, where they declared that only colonial representatives could tax the colonists. Groups calling themselves Sons of Liberty organized protests, sometimes using intimidation and violence. Stamp distributors resigned under pressure, making the law difficult to enforce. Merchants adopted nonimportation agreements. Women became indispensable to the boycott movement by producing homespun cloth and reducing consumption of British manufactures. Their labor gave political meaning to household choices. Although denied formal political power, women entered the public struggle through association, production and persuasion. Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1766, but simultaneously passed the Declaratory Act, asserting full authority to make laws binding the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.” Celebration concealed the unresolved issue: who possessed final sovereignty?
“Resistance succeeded-and taught the colonies that coordinated action could change imperial policy.”
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