Page "Stamp Act 1765" Paragraph 17

For Grenville, the first issue was the amount of the tax.

Soon after his announcement of the possibility of a tax, he had told American agents that he was not opposed to the Americans suggesting an alternative way of raising the money themselves.

However the only other alternative would be to requisition each colony and allow them to determine how to raise their share.

This had never worked before, even during the French and Indian War, and there was no political mechanism in place that would have ensured the success of such cooperation.

On February 2, 1765 Grenville met with Benjamin Franklin, Jared Ingersoll from Philadelphia, Richard Jackson the agent for Connecticut, and Charles Garth the agent for South Carolina ( Jackson and Garth were also members of Parliament ) to discuss the tax.

These colonial representatives had no specific alternative to present ; they simply suggested that the determination be left to the colonies.

Grenville replied that he wanted to raise the money " by means the most easy and least objectionable to the Colonies " and Thomas Whately, who had drafted the Stamp Act, said the delay in implementation had been " out of Tenderness to the colonies " and the tax was judged as " the easiest, the most equal and the most certain.