Claim: Jonathan Boucher was a preacher, and a Tory who firmly believed in protest against Government wrongs such as the 1765 Stamp Act whic imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America, and required that many printed materials be produced on stamped paper produced in London.
Evidence: He was widely known as an eloquent preacher, and his scholarly attainments won for him the friendship and esteem of some of the ablest scholars in the colonies. He was also an ardent Tory, believing firmly that protest against Government wrongs should be carried out within the law– but definitely not an uncritical supporter of British policy; for example, he considered the 1765 Stamp Act to be "oppressive, impolitic and illegal", and the Royal proclamation against the Westward Expansion of the thirteen colonies "unjust and impolitic". The Stamp Act of 1765 (short title: Duties in American Colonies Act 1765; 5 George III, c. 12) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp.