[gore3000]

Why would a people who had a functional literacy rate of at most 20% become so angry at this new tax from England?

I must disagree with the above. The American Colonists were very literate. The US was perhaps the most literate country in the world at the time of the revolution. In a country of just a few million Paine's booklet sold hundreds of thousands of copies. Your other point may be true also however. The stamp tax also taxed legal documents of which all had a need for.

[TexanToTheCore]

I will check on the numbers but I think the numbers are about right. 20% would make us one of the most literate countries on earth at that time.

The first wave of immigrants (1600s) were quite literate, being made up of middle and upper class families but succeeding waves were not.

[TexanToTheCore]

I did some looking around and was very surprised to find that there are many references to European travelers and documentarians of the American Scene who traveled the colonies in the middle to late 1700s and sho spoke of the amazing degree of literacy in this country.

The primary instruction was in the home, this being an important part of a motter's duties and the child was put into a private school later, frequently a school directly funded and maintained by a church.

One source states that only 4 of 1000 colonialists were iliterate, a rate of literacy that is far higher than we have today.

Thanks for the correction.