The Stamp Act affected newspaper publishers more than any other businessmen. From New Hampshire to South Carolina, papers issued on October 31, 1765, used dark black mourning lines and funereal language to herald the date the Stamp Act went into effect. A New Hampshire editor dramatically declared, “I must Die, or Submit to that which is worse than Death, Be Stamped, and lose my Freedom.” All colonial newspapers resumed publication within a week or two, defiantly operating without stamps. Library of Congress.