109. Stamp Act Riots, 1765.--Until the summer of 1765 the colonists contented themselves with passing resolutions. There was little else that they could do. They could not refuse to obey the law because it would not go into effect until November. They could not mob the stamp distributers because no one knew their names. In August the names of the stamp distributers were published. Now at last it was possible to do something besides passing resolutions. In every colony the people visited the stamp officers and told them to resign. If they refused, they were mobbed until they resigned. In Boston the rioters were especially active. They detested Thomas Hutchinson. He was lieutenant-governor and chief justice and had been active in enforcing the navigation acts. The rioters attacked his house. They broke his furniture, destroyed his clothing, and made a bonfire of his books and papers. [Sidenote: Colonial congresses.] [Sidenote: Albany Congress, 1754.] [Sidenote: Stamp Act Congress, 1765.] 110. The Stamp Act Congress, 1765.--Colonial congresses were no new thing. There had been many meetings of governors and delegates from colonial assemblies. The most important of the early congresses was the Albany Congress of 1754. It was important because it proposed a plan of union. The plan was drawn up by Benjamin Franklin. But neither the king nor the colonists liked it, and it was not adopted. All these earlier congresses had been summoned by the king's officers to arrange expeditions against the French or to make treaties with the Indians. The Stamp Act Congress was summoned by the colonists to protest against the doings of king and Parliament. [Illustration: PATRICK HENRY "I am not a Virginian, but an American."] [Sidenote: Declaration of the Rights and Grievances of the Colonists, 1765. _McMaster_, 115.] 111. Work of the Stamp Act Congress.--Delegates from nine colonies met at New York in October, 1765. They drew up a "Declaration of the Rights and Grievances of the Colonists." In this paper they declared that the colonists, as subjects of the British king, had the same rights as British subjects living in Britain, and were free from taxes except those to which they had given their consent. They claimed for themselves the right of trial by jury--which might be denied under the Stamp Act. But the most important thing about the congress was the fact that nine colonies had put aside their local jealousies and had joined in holding it. [Sidenote: Benjamin Franklin.] [Sidenote: Examined by the House of Commons.]