Benjamin franklin, testimony against the stamp act - Essay Example

The document d “Benjamin Franklin and the Stamp Act Crisis” gives a summary and transcript of an important historical event in the late 1700s involving one of Americas founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin. The Stamp Act was one way in which Great Britain wanted to impose taxes on the colonies of what would become the United States of America in about 1766. Benjamin Franklin, who was in Europe, was before Parliament and was asked how the Americans would consider the tax if it was imposed upon them.

This document was very interesting to read, especially since most people think of the relationship between England and the United States as just involving the Revolutionary War. Instead, here it is possible to see that the way diplomacy was handled between the two before the revolution and before the United States was formed. The transcript is the biggest part of the document, and in it Benjamin Franklin answers questions with honesty, and seems to be treated with respect. He says that the colonies “objected only to direct taxes,” which apparently was not understood in England, and claims that people in the Americas would only pay the stamp duty “unless compelled by force of arms,” basically meaning that England would have to go to war with them.

While this seems like something that is obvious today, presumably the people in England genuinely did not have any idea about how the colonies felt.It is easy to see from the cleverness and straightforward quality of Franklins answers why the author of the summary included with the transcript says that securing the repeal of the act “greatly enhanced his reputation both in England and America.”