stamp act and sugar act

Question

Why did the colonists react so much more strongly to the Stamp Act than to the Sugar Act? How did the principles that the Stamp Act raised continue to provide points of contention between colonists and the British government?

Answer 1

Simply put, the Sugar Act only affected New England Merchants on one good.

The stamp act however was a broad internal(direct) tax on virtually every colonist on purchases a typical colonist would make often...newspapers, pamphlets, insurance policies etc.

The stamp act was a barrage of taxes on the people who were trying to engage in transactions that involved an unavoidable bureacracy and struck near to feelings of property rights(an important colonial value)

Answer 2

I would say one of the main points which was brought up, not only with the sugar and stamp acts, but beforehand with the Navigation Acts, Wool Act, Hat Act, Debt Recovery Act, and Iron Act was "Taxation without Representation". These taxes and acts were passed without input from those who would be paying these taxes. That along with the distance between the colonies and the head of government led to a lot of distrust and a most likelihood for disobedience. If you read the Declaration of Independence, the founding fathers enumerated the reasons why they were declaring independence from the empire (look at section 3). Good luck!