The British government enacted the Stamp Act to raise revenue from its American colonies for the defense of North America. Prime Minister George Grenville (1712—1770) also wanted to establish parliament’s right to levy an internal tax on the colonists.
 
Viewing the act as taxation without representation, Americans passionately upheld their rights to be taxed only by their own consent through their own representative assemblies. Future revolutionists saw the act as a harbinger of greater direct taxation and the loss of political rights. Widespread American opposition led to repeal of the act in 1766.