This page shows questions in the Stamp Act public release module at MSDE. 8th Grade Social Studies
"Stamp Act"
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Note: This set contains more items than what would regularly appear on an operational test. An operational EBAS would contain four 2-point items and one 4-point item.
Items that have student responses were field-tested on MCAP assessments and may or may not have been used operationally prior to public release.
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Introduction
A student is preparing for an in-class debate on the causes of the American Revolution. The compelling question being debated is:
Was the British government justified in passing the Stamp Act?
The student has found the following sources. Use the sources and source information to answer the questions.
Background Information
Great Britain began establishing colonies in America in the early 1600s, with the first permanent settlement, Jamestown, being founded in 1607. By the 1700s, these settlements had formed into the 13 British colonies, which eventually became the original United States. In 1765, after the French and Indian War, the British Parliament (legislature) passed the Stamp Act, the first attempt by the British to directly tax the colonists without their consent. This was later called “taxation without representation.” It required all colonists to pay a duty, or tax, on every piece of printed paper they used. This included legal documents, licenses, newspapers, and even playing cards. The money from the tax was meant to help the British government pay the costs of protecting the American frontier on the western border. There was support and opposition to the Stamp Act from both the British and American perspectives. These disagreements over taxation would later contribute to the start of the Revolutionary War.
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Source A
The gentleman tells us, America is obstinate [stubborn]; America is almost in open rebellion. I rejoice that America has resisted . . .
The Americans . . . have been wronged. They have been driven to madness by injustice. Will you punish them for the madness you have occasioned [caused]?
. . . the Stamp Act [should] be repealed absolutely, totally, and immediately; that the reason for the repeal should be assigned, because it was founded on an erroneous [false] principle. At the same time, let the sovereign authority of this country over the colonies be asserted in as strong terms as can be devised [thought up], and be made to extend every point of legislation whatsoever: that we may bind [limit] their trade, confine their manufactures, and exercise every power whatsoever — except that of taking money out of their pockets without their consent.
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Source B
Parliament: Are not all the people very able to pay those taxes?
Franklin: No. The frontier counties, all along the continent, have been frequently ravaged [destroyed] by the enemy and greatly impoverished, are able to pay very little tax . . .
Parliament: Are not the colonies . . . very able to pay the stamp duty?
Franklin: In my opinion there is not gold and silver enough in the colonies to pay the stamp duty for one year.
Parliament: Do you think it right that America should be protected by this country [Great Britain] and pay no part of the expense?
Franklin: That is not the case. The colonies raised, clothed, and paid, during the last war, near 25,000 men, and spent many millions.
Parliament: Do not you think the people of America would submit to pay the stamp duty, if it was moderated?
Franklin: No, never, unless compelled by force of arms . . . .
Parliament: What is your opinion of a future tax? . . . How would Americans receive it?
Franklin: Just as they do this. They would not pay it.
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Source C
It is a truth . . . that the people of [Britain] are involved in a debt under which they struggle. . . . From its enormity [the debt’s great size] many . . . have predicted the ruin of the nation. . . . The protection of America has, in no small degree, contributed to this burden of the mother country [Britain].
. . . America is of the utmost importance to Great Britain. A loss of it to the British crown would greatly diminish its strength . . . If America is of so much importance to her mother country; and if it is just and reasonable that she should contribute towards her own defense . . . will any be so absurd as to deny the reasonableness, the necessity, of the crown's having some certainty that she [the American colonies] will pay her proportion of aids [taxes] when requisite [required] and demanded. . . .
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Source D
[The idea] that no Englishman is or can be taxed but by his own consent as an individual: this is so far from being true . . .
It has been . . . [argued] that, though Parliament may have power to impose taxes on the Colonies, they have no right to use it, because it would be an unjust tax; and no supreme or legislative power can have a right to enact any law in its nature unjust: to this, I shall only make this short reply, that if Parliament can impose no taxes but what are equitable, and the persons taxed are to be the judges of that equity, [Parliament] will in effect have no power to lay any tax at all. No tax can be imposed exactly equal on all, and if it is not just, no power whatever can impose it, by which [logic], all taxation is at an end . . .
Source D - adapted
The idea that no English person can be taxed without personally agreeing to it is simply not true.
Some people argue that even if Parliament has the power to tax the colonies, it doesn’t have the right—because such taxes would be unfair. And since no government has the right to pass unjust laws, they say Parliament shouldn’t tax the colonies at all. Here’s my response: if Parliament can only make taxes that everyone thinks are fair—and the people being taxed get to decide what’s fair—then Parliament wouldn’t really have the power to tax anyone. No tax is perfectly fair to everyone. So if unfair taxes aren’t allowed, then that means no taxes would ever be allowed. That wouldn’t work either.
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Part B
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a question with 2 parts, including a test question that allows you to select spans of text directly from the passage, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Consider the Source Information provided for Source B.
Select one detail about Benjamin Franklin that may have influenced his viewpoint on the Stamp Act.
Benjamin Franklin was a leader in colonial politics and society. He served as a clerk [assistant] for the Pennsylvania legislature and postmaster of Philadelphia in the 1730s. Franklin became a spokesperson for colonial resistance to the Stamp Act. In 1766, while working in London , he was brought before the British Parliament to testify about the colonists’ attitudes toward the Stamp Act. This is a transcript of the questions posed by members of Parliament and Franklin’s answers.
Part B
Explain how the detail you selected in Part A may have influenced Franklin’s viewpoint on the Stamp Act.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Governing colonies has serious risks.
Explain how evidence from Source C supports the statement.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
William Pitt supported strong British control over the American colonies.
Explain how evidence from Source A supports the statement.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source B.
Why might a historian use Source B as evidence of how colonial leaders responded to the Stamp Act?
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Part B
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source D.
Why might a historian question Source D’s usefulness as evidence of the colonial response to the Stamp Act?
This is a question with 2 parts, including a test question that allows you to select spans of text directly from the passage, and, a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Part A
Consider the Source Information provided for Source B.
Select one detail from the Source Information that suggests that events of this time period impacted the information provided.
Benjamin Franklin was a leader in colonial politics and society. He served as a cleark [assitant] for the Pennsylvania legislature and postmaster of Philadelphia in the 1730s. Franklin became a spokesperson for colonial resistance to the Stamp Act. In 1766, while working in London, he was called before the British Parliament to testify about the colonists’ attitudes toward the Stamp Act. This is a transcript of the questions posed by members of Parliament and Franklin’s answers .
Part B
Explain how the detail you selected in Part A suggests that events of this time period impacted the information provided.
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
What perspective is shared by the member of British Parliament (Source A) and the colonial leader (Source B)?
Briefly explain your answer with evidence from both sources.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source D.
How might the author's perspective impact the information provided in the pamphlet?
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
Consider the Source Information provided for Source C.
Why would Joseph Galloway publish his article under the fake name, Americanus?
Enter your answer in the space provided.
This is a test question that allows you to select spans of text directly from the passage.
Select two pieces of evidence from Source C that show Britain's need to maintain control over their American colonies.
It is a truth . . . that the people of [Britain] are involved in a debt under which they struggle . . . . From its enormity [the debt's great size] many . . . have predicted the ruin of the nation . . . The protection of America has, in no small degree, contributed to this burden of the mother country [Britain]. . . . America is of the utmost importance to Great Britain. A loss of it to the British crown would greatly diminish its strength . . . If America is of so much importance to her mother country; and if it is just and reasonable that she should contribute towards her own defense, . . . will any be so absurd as to deny the reasonableness, the necessity, of the crown’s having some certainty that she [the American colonies ] will pay her proportion of aids [taxes] when requisite [required] and demanded. . . .
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
The information provided in Sources A through D is credible. Use these sources to respond to the compelling question.
Was the British government justified in passing the Stamp Act?
Develop a claim that responds to the compelling question.
- Explain how one source supports your claim.
- Explain how one source does not support your claim.
- Use details and examples from the selected sources to support your response.
Enter your answer in the space provided.