Changes

Americans surprised London merchants by boycotting English goods while the Stamp Act was in effect. Colonists banded together, with the urging of such groups as the Sons of Liberty, and posted numerous broadsides and conducted impromptu meetings in the streets to heighten their fellow citizens’ awareness of the oppressive actions being taken by Parliament. Groups such as these began to appear throughout the colonies and politics began to consume the thoughts and conversations not only of colonial leaders, but of average citizens as well.  According to historian Eric Foner, “Parliament had inadvertently united America.”<ref>Foner, 173.</ref>Rather than seeing themselves as separate entities, the colonies were cooperating rather competing with one another. Colonial unification became more formal in October 1765 when the Stamp Act Congress met in New York. Colonial leaders convened and formally advocated the boycott of British goods. The boycott posed a formidable economic threat to London merchants, who successfully persuaded Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act just one year after its issuance.