Tim Kaine: “I am thrilled to rise and join my colleagues in pressing the case for DC statehood. I won't be long because I was on the…”

“I am thrilled to rise and join my colleagues in pressing the case for DC statehood. I won't be long because I was on the floor about 3 weeks ago talking about this same matter. I really talked about Virginia then. I talked about Patrick Henry. The phrase ``no taxation without representation'' is a phrase that we learn coming up in elementary school. The root of it isn't really at the beginning of, say, the Declaration of Independence or during the Revolutionary War; that phrase really came about as colonists rallied to oppose the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act was an act of Parliament in 1765 that put a tax on paper goods, including newspapers and pamphlets and periodicals. The English Crown was getting very, very worried about the restive nature of Americans pressing their case for being treated equally as royal colonists and subjects of the Crown, but they were not happy with the way they were being treated. The Stamp Act was an attempt not just to levy a tax, but it was also an attempt to shut down their rights to have political discussions. Patrick Henry led an effort in the Virginia General Assembly in 1765 that came to be known as the four resolves. He put five resolves on the table, one of which was set aside, but four resolves were passed, and the core of the four resolves was to protest taxation without representation.…”