Patrick Henry’s personal copy of his May 1765 “Resolves Against the Stamp Act” was found at the end of his life in a sealed envelope near his will. Passed by the British Parliament in 1765, the Stamp Act compelled the colonists to pay a tax on paper goods by requiring the purchase of stamps for all pieces of printed paper. Some colonists resented this “taxation without representation” because traditionally local colonial legislatures, not Parliament in London, had decided what should be taxed within the American colonies. The image shows a handwritten copy of five of the Resolves Against the Stamp Act Henry presented to the Virginia House of Burgesses on May 29, 1765.