How much do you know about The Stamp Act Congress? When did they meet and why? When did the struggle for independence actually begin? How did colonial resistance change when the stamp men resigned after the riots? How did Samuel Adams change the way the Massachusetts Bay Colony government functioned?

On today’s episode of Founded we’re finding out what was happening in Boston just weeks before The Stamp Act was to go into effect. We’ll also be exploring the Stamp Act Congress, what they set out to do and parliament’s opinion of the meeting. Things got real messy in these final weeks. Not only was chief rabble rouser Samuel Adams in the House of Representatives, but it turns out there were a lot of mistakes made on the British side of stamps.

Key Players:

Samuel Adams: Elected member to the House of Representatives, loved rousing rabbles, antagonizing tories and writing articles in several newspapers

John Hancock: Political pancake that’s beginning to flip to the patriot side of the cause, doing things like joining non-importation agreements and getting his portrait painted

James Otis Jr: Prominent lawyer, elected representative in the house, delegate to the stamp act congress

Thomas Hutchinson: Chief Justice and Lt. Governor of Massachusetts Bay colony, had his house wrecked by a mob, somehow more reasonable than most

Francis Bernard: Royal Governor of Massachusetts Bay colony. Seemingly completely out of touch with public opinion, enjoyed shutting the government down and fleeing to Castle William

Find my Sources

Click here for Merch

We want to hear from you! What did you find interesting? What do you want to find out next? Email us: [email protected]

Founded is a part of the Airwave Media network. Please contact ⁠[email protected]⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices