All the ways colonists protested the absurd breadth of the Stamp Act

Few actual Stamp Act stamps survived, as colonists destroyed nearly all of them in protest

The elaborate stamp bore royal symbols and the word "America" and was printed in Britain and shipped to the colonies to be sold by government officials. Protests erupted in nearly every colony before it could take effect, often violently targeting stamp collectors.

Watch how the Stamp Act in 1765 sparked the American Revolution

The reaction to the first direct tax on colonists prompted the second-ever colonial congress and a broad boycott of British goods. It also gave birth to the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, the congress's document articulating the "no taxation without representation" stance. The act's passage was a major stepping stone to revolution.

Read the resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress

Adopted October 19, 1765, the resolutions argued that taxation without colonial consent violated the British constitution, that admiralty courts without juries subverted English liberties, and that paying the tax in hard currency was practically impossible. Each grievance was framed not as rebellion but as a defense of rights the colonists already believed they possessed.

A timeline of the Stamp Act crisis from the view of Colonial Williamsburg

Colonial Williamsburg's timeline situates the act within the local political culture of Virginia: colonists accustomed to taxing themselves through their own representatives in Williamsburg's House of Burgesses were outraged that Parliament could reach into their pockets from across the ocean. The timeline also covers Patrick Henry's proposed "Resolves," which prompted shouts of "treason" from his co-legislators, as well as commemorative objects (buttons, teapots) that followed the repeal.

The Stamp Act's real purpose was protecting colonists from Native Americans

The troops the act funded weren't left in America to guard against France, but to manage the aftermath of Pontiac's Rebellion and keep the peace between colonists and Indigenous nations. Some historians argue this means Native American resistance to British expansion indirectly triggered the tax that sparked the Revolution.

The Sons of Liberty used radical tactics to resist British policies

The radical, patriotic Sons of Liberty were born in response to British taxation in the American colonies during the 1760s. Its members included major revolutionary figures Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and John Hancock, and their resistance led to the Stamp Act's repeal in 1766.

Colonial Americans used tobacco, wampum, and land-backed notes to solve a chronic coin shortage

British coins rarely circulated in the colonies due to an unfavorable trade balance, forcing colonists to improvise. They traded in Spanish dollars, Native American shells, tobacco warehouse receipts, and eventually paper money backed by land rather than gold.

Mark Twain had many gripes with the US Postal Service

Twain often complained about the cost of postage and the service's inefficiencies, often sharing these criticisms in newspaper opinion pieces. Still, in 1907, the USPS issued a commemorative stamp featuring his face.

Meet the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence—most of whom didn't put pen to paper until August 2, 1776—and see their original signatures.

Meet the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence and see their original signatures

This online exhibit from the Daughters of the American Revolution presents a visual slideshow of all 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, pairing portraits and biographies with photographs of their handwritten signatures.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

In 1639, Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony banned toasting

Like the Anglo-Saxons and the ancient Greeks before them, the American colonists tended to party when they got to toasting. That led to a 1639 law banning the practice, which they viewed as excessive and superstitious. Alcohol remained legal, but the hope was that banning toasting might reduce excessive drinking.

Protesters in Boston tossed chests of a type of Chinese black tea called Bohea

There were hundreds of chests of loose tea dumped into Boston Harbor on Dec. 16, 1773, in protest. The tea was not bagged (tea bags were not invented for another 150 years), and they were not bricks, either, a common way to pack tea elsewhere in the world. The tea was mostly Bohea tea, a common Chinese blend of black teas originating from southeastern China.

Browse a timeline of the fascinating history of board games in America.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

Benjamin Franklin once wrote a satirical essay about passing gas

The Founding Father was asked to judge a contest for the Royal Academy of Brussels, but was incensed by one of the contest's questions, which he believed was highly impractical. In response, he wrote a piece suggesting that the most essential problem for scientists to solve was the "fetid Smell" that came with passing gas.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

'A Modest Proposal' is one of history's most notorious satires

Jonathan Swift’s 1729 essay suggested that the starving Irish could stave off poverty by selling their children as food. Although it’s funny—albeit rather dark in form—it’s a classic example of Juvenalian satire, as it so pointedly criticizes the indifference of English elites.

True crime broadsides were a popular business venture in 19th-century England

Offered by traveling peddlers, these playbills described crimes and crime scenes in detail and often included speeches and confessions of the soon-to-be executed. Broadsides typically included illustrations of crime and execution scenes to drive home the details.

The Americans abandoned Philadelphia to the British in 1777

While George Washington's army was encamped in Valley Forge, the British took over the capital of Philadelphia (and the colonies, at the time), including Ben Franklin's house. It wouldn't last long. This is one of a series of podcast episodes exploring the war's battles.

Norman Rockwell's 'Freedom of Speech' has become an internet meme

The famous painting, which portrays a man in work clothes speaking up in a crowd of men in suits, has become a companion image for internet users posting unpopular or controversial opinions. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

One of Hamilton's first published works was an anonymous pamphlet

While on a scholarship at King's College, Alexander Hamilton anonymously published a series of political pamphlets defending the Continental Congress, engaging in a sustained, sharply argued back-and-forth with loyalist writer Samuel Seabury that drew wide attention.

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

Printers changed the song's name to 'The Star-Spangled Banner'

The week after Key wrote it, “Defence of Fort M’Henry” was published in the Baltimore Patriot newspaper. Soon, it would be printed in papers across the US. Eventually, its name was changed to a more recognizable one: “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Squanto was a tragic character in the original Thanksgiving story

Tisquantum (also known as Squanto) played a crucial role in the survival of the Pilgrims. As an English speaker, Squanto assisted the Pilgrims in gathering food and communicating with other Native peoples. However, his story also involved being sold into slavery by an English sea captain and returning home to find his tribe decimated by disease during the Great Dying. Tisquantum met his end not long after that first Thanksgiving, with historians speculating he died either by disease or assassination.

The typo that scandalized a continent

One printing mistake in the 17th century proved so unfortunate it cost two men their careers and scandalized religious folks for centuries. Read the story here.

The 'playing card' and 'blueberry' taxes are among the strangest around the world

In Canada, companies making children’s breakfast cereals are granted a tax exemption if their cereal boxes contain free toys. While the exemption is limited to toys that are not “beer, liquor, or wine,” the cereal tax is far from the world's most eccentric tax.

Day of the Dead poems skewer everyone, living or dead

The tradition of calaveras literarias, or satirical poems about death, dates back to the 20th century. They take aim at everyone, including deceased loved ones, politicians, family and friends.

Snyder v. Phelps found that the First Amendment protects speech, even if it is deeply hurtful or inflammatory

When some members of the Westboro Baptist Church, carrying inflammatory signs, picketed the funeral of a fallen Marine, his father sued but lost. The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that the protest addressed matters of public concern and was protected by the First Amendment.

The Eye of Providence on $1 bills is a lightning rod for conspiracy theorists

The symbol is associated with the Freemasons, one of the world’s oldest secret societies. It also appears on churches, Masonic buildings, and the great seal of the United States.

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

The Ramones' 'Pet Sematary,' the theme song for the Stephen King novel of the same name, was written while the band was admiring the writer's collection of horror memorabilia.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

Learn more about the history of fireworks, which dates back to an accidental invention during an alchemist's quest for information about immortality.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

Elk Cloner, the first computer virus to spread in public, was written as a practical joke by Richard Skrenta, a Pittsburgh high school student.

See these 16 pieces of art evoking phobias of snakes, flying, spiders, and more. 

Tattoos remain visible on your skin thanks to immune cells called macrophages

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

Massive 3D printers have been used to build homes by stacking layers of 'concrete toothpaste,' a fire-resistant material that effectively insulates against outside noise.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.