At the suggestion of the Massachusetts Assembly, delegates from nine of the thirteen American colonies met in New York in October 1765, to protest the imposition by the British Parliament of a “stamp tax” on paper, legal documents, and other commodities, limits on trial by jury, and increased powers of the vice-admiralty courts. Only six delegates, including Williams Samuel Johnson (1727–1819) from Connecticut, agreed to draft a petition to the King based on this Declaration of Rights.