Stamp!

On November 1, 1765, the British Parliament enacted the Stamp Act on the Thirteen Colonies. Officially called the Duties in American Colonies Act 1765, it was a direct tax requiring many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper from London that included an embossed revenue stamp. Though created to help defray costs of British military operations in North America, British subjects in those colonies objected to it strenuously, eventually leading to secession and the Revolutionary War.