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The American Revenue Act Of 1764: The Road To Revolution

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The Road to Revolution The American Revenue Act of 1764, is called the Sugar Act. It was a law that attempted to curb the smuggling of sugar and molasses in the colonies by reducing the previous tax rate and enforcing the collection of duties. It added several products such as hides, skins and potash to the list of enumerated commodities that could be legally exported under the Navigation Act. It was introduced by the new British Prime Minister, George Grenville. The whole purpose was to stop people from smuggling sugar and molasses. The goal of this law was threefold. First, the British realized that smuggling was close to endemic and that the rule of law was being undermined by illegal trade. Second, protecting British trade by introducing …show more content…

The purpose of the proclamation was to organize Great Britain's new North American empire and to stabilize relations with Native North Americans through regulation of trade, settlement, and land purchases on the western frontier. The Royal Proclamation continues to be of legal importance to First Nations in Canada and is significant for the variation of indigenous status in the United States. It also ensured that British culture and laws were applied in Quebec, which was done to attract British settlers to …show more content…

The act, which imposed a tax on all paper documents in the colonies, came at a time when the British Empire was deep in debt from the Seven Years’ War (1756-63) and looking to its North American colonies as a revenue source. Arguing that only their own representative assemblies could tax them, the colonists insisted that the act was unconstitutional, and they resorted to mob violence to intimidate stamp collectors into resigning. The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770. A squad of British soldiers, come to support a sentry who was being pressed by a heckling, snowballing crowd, let loose a volley of shots. Three persons were killed immediately and two died later of their wounds; among the victims was Crispus Attucks, a man of black or Indian parentage. The British officer in charge, Capt. Thomas Preston, was arrested for manslaughter, along with eight of his men; all were later acquitted. The Boston Massacre is remembered as a key event in helping to galvanize the colonial public to the Patriot

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