1) George Grenville, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, needed to find ways to pay off debts from the French and Indian War and proposed the Stamp Act to King George III. 2) The Stamp Act, passed in 1765, imposed taxes on all printed materials in the colonies and required they be produced on stamped paper from London to generate revenue. 3) The taxes angered colonists who argued "no taxation without representation" and saw it as a violation of their rights as Englishmen. Groups like the Sons of Liberty organized protests against the Act.