Representatives of theThirteen Colonies met in New York City in 1765 as theStamp Act Congress to discuss a unified response to the abuses exemplified by the1765 Stamp Act and other legislation from theBritish Parliament deemed contrary to theBritish constitution. A result was theDeclaration of Rights and Grievances passed on October 19, 1765.[1] This deliberative body and the Declaration it produced was at the other end of the resistance spectrum from theSons of Liberty, who were at the same time using civil disobedience and public displays to agitate for British reform in the colonies.
American colonists opposed the acts in large part because they were passed without consultation with colonial legislatures, violating theirrights as Englishmen. The Declaration of Rights raised fourteen points of colonial protest but was not directed solely to the Stamp Act. Among the assertions it made that were not specific protests of the Stamp Act are the following:
