How much was a stamp in 1776?

Answer 1

According to historians Edmund and Helen Morgan: (d. is a pence, s. is a shilling, 12 d. = 1 s., 20 s. = £1)


The highest tax, £10, was placed … on attorney licenses. Other papers relating to court proceedings were taxed in amounts varying from 3d. to 10s. Land grants under a hundred acres were taxed 1s. 6d., between 100 and 200 acres 2s., and from 200 to 320 acres 2s. 6d., with an additional 2s 6d. for every additional 320 acres (1.3 km2). Cards were taxed a shilling a pack, dice ten shillings, and newspapers and pamphlets at the rate of a penny for a single sheet and a shilling for every sheet in pamphlets or papers totaling more than one sheet and fewer than six sheets in octavo, fewer than twelve in quarto, or fewer than twenty in folio (in other words, the tax on pamphlets grew in proportion to their size but ceased altogether if they became large enough to qualify as a book). The amounts had to be paid in sterling, not in colonial currency, but the administration did not propose thus to draw hard money out of the colonies. The proceeds of the tax were to be expended in America in procurement of supplies for the troops stationed there.

For comparison, £1 in 1765, is roughly equal to about $112 in current money. Thus, a shilling is about $5.60, and a pence, around $0.47.

For comparison, the Townshend Acts, which included the tea tax that led to the Boston Tea party, was 3 d. per pound of tea, with a pound of common tea selling for about 2 s. in the colonies. That's 3/24ths, or 12.5%. However, this was a flat rate per pound, so the higher the quality of the tea, the lower the effective percentage, with a commonly sold tea of the time selling for about 3 s. per pound, the effective rate was about 8%. This makes the tea tax, arguably, a tax that favors the rich.

Answer 2

You couldn't buy a stamp because they hadn't been invented yet. It would be another 75 years before you could purchase a stamp.

Answer 3

About a few cents