Our Colonies must be the biggest Beggars in the World, if such small Duties appear to be intolerable Burdens in their Eyes.”

Question

—“Pacificus,” Maryland Gazette, March 20, 1766
Question
Use the excerpt to answer the question.
This excerpt is from a citizen in England in response to the colonial outrage toward the Stamp Act. What central argument of the American colonists against the Stamp Act is not understood by the writer?

A. that trade was heavily restricted due to the taxes, which made it difficult for the colonists to make enough money to live let alone pay the taxes
B. that although the tax is small, it is the idea that the colonists have to repay the British government for a war they did not support that is unjust
C. that it is not the amount of tax that is the problem but rather the fact that the colonists were not involved in passing the tax
that the tax may seem small to those in England but for the
D. American colonists it is a very large amount of money
that the tax may seem small to those in England but for the American colonists it is a very large amount of money.

Answer 1

The central argument of the American colonists against the Stamp Act that is not understood by the writer is:

C. that it is not the amount of tax that is the problem but rather the fact that the colonists were not involved in passing the tax.

The excerpt indicates a lack of understanding of the colonists’ primary grievance, which was not solely the financial burden of the tax but rather the principle of taxation without representation. The writer dismisses the taxes as minor, missing the larger issue of the colonists' lack of say in the legislation that affected them.