In 1765, the British Parliament enacted the Stamp Act as a means of raising colonial tax revenues to help defray the cost of the French and Indian War in North America. The Colonists reacted immediately, asserting that the Stamp Act was an attempt to raise money in the colonies without the approval of colonial legislatures. Resistance to the act was demonstrated through debates in the colonial legislatures, written documents (including legislative resolves, prints, and songs), and mob/crowd actions such as tarring and feathering tax collectors.
The Declaratory Act was a measure issued by British Parliament asserting its authority to make laws binding the colonists “in all cases whatsoever” including the right to tax. The Declaratory Act was a reaction of British Parliament to the failure of the Stamp Act as they did not want to give up on the principle of imperial taxation asserting its legal right to tax colonies.