The French and Indian War left England with a debt of £130,000,000. To help pay off the debt Britain set up taxes, to collect money, on frequently used products by the colonists. The Molasses Act put a six pence tax on every gallon of molasses. The colonists thought this was a lot of money to pay so they did everything to avoid it. This act was not really enforced and the colonists did not really obey this act. Britain needed a way to fix this. They came up with the Sugar Act, a set of taxes to help Britain raise money. Taxes were not a new thing for the colonists, but these new taxes caused big issues. The Sugar Act was suggested by Prime Minister George Greenville. There are four reasons for the Sugar Act. First, they could use the taxes …show more content…
The taxes that the Sugar Act placed made the most money for Britain, more than any of the other taxes did. The colonist were very upset with the Sugar Act because of the way it was enforced. The Sugar Act took away the colonist’s right to a trial by jury when the British set up the Admiralty courts. Admiralty courts were where a judge decides the outcome rather than the colonial courts. The judges would earn 5% of however much the cargo load was worth if they could prove the person accused was guilty. The Admiralty courts were set up to try colonists for buying products from different countries other than Britain. The Admiralty Courts were run by the British Navy. Prime Minister George Grenville also set the Navy to enforce the new tax and the shipping regulations. The Sugar Act raised the issue of unfair taxation. Since the American colonies are one of the few that would buy sugar from the British West Indies, the Sugar Act really only applied to the colonists and not the other British citizens. During the Sugar Act the first organized protests were held against the British authorities defying the Sugar Act. Every once in a while there would be violent outbursts against the British authorities. These outbursts were especially in New York and Rhode Island. Samuel Adams and James Otis told the colonists that they
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Show MoreThe Sugar Act Even when us colonists are already broke you want us to pay a tax to Britain, most of us don 't even want to deal with Britain! On April 5, 1764, The Sugar act was imposed by Britain who was in debt from helping out in the French and Indian war. What was the sugar act? The Sugar act was taxes on goods such as this big ones like sugar, and molasses. The Sugar act also took place in Great Britain.
The sugar act started in 1764. “April,5 1764... A new law passed called the Sugar and Molasses Act. Colonial merchants...were required to pay tax of six-pence…” All molasses was imported. Most of the colonist tried to buy french molasses and sugar at a cheaper price.
The Sugar Act, also known as the American Revenue Act or the American Duties Act, was one of the laws that led to anger, dislike, disagreement, and eventually revolution in Colonial America. Another effect was an increase in smuggling and crime in the colonies. The colonists did not want to pay the outrageous taxes so they looked for ways not to have to pay. A third effect was the colonists decided to stop buying luxury products from Great Britain and looked to local manufacturers for their products. They did this to avoid paying the high
The passing of the Sugar Act further intensified the growing resentment between the colonies and England. George Grenville, the Prime Minister of England, passed the Sugar Act in 1764.This act taxed all of America’s imports. He also more strictly enforced the trade laws. The Americans deeply resented the taxation that they felt was unjust. James Otis put the general mood of the colonists into words when he said each colonist had the right to be “free from all taxes but what he consents to in person, or by his
Many events occurred in the year 1764, including the Sugar Act, an Act meant to better enforce British trade laws, the Currency Act, and James Otis’s “taxation without representation,” which led to a boycott of British goods. The Sugar Act was passed as a result of Britain’s war with France, and the debt it caused. The Act was supposed to help pay for the defense of the colonies as well as the newly acquired territories. The Act increased the taxes on imported sugar, and other items like textiles, coffee, wines, and indigo dye.
The Sugar Act caused alarm in the American colonies because of the expected economic disadvantages, and its difficult implementation in all thirteen colonies. Added to this was a general post-war depression that affected the colonies. It was this combination of factors which provided the background for the oppositional activities. One of the steps taken, was to threat with a boycott all of English products. Meanwhile rumors of a possible new act which was being prepared by the British added to the growing tension in the American
Parliament had to pay for the war, even though the British won. They protected the colonists with a permanent army in North America from Indian attacks. In order to help pay for the taxes of war, they passed the Sugar Act in 1764. This act placed taxes on molasses and sugar imported by the colonists. British troops stepped up the search for smuggled good and smugglers were treated
Soon after the items were taxed the people would stop buying them. That’s what made the merchants mad! The reaction to the king was to tax even more items without the consent of the colonies permission. An example of an item that was taxed without permission of the people was the, Stamp Act.
The Sugar Act, was made to try and stop the smuggling of sugar and molasses. This tax was given to the people to help settle the debt of the war, and it started an argument of “taxation without representation”. This dispute helped spread the idea of breaking
In 1763, Britain started to force the colonies to pay taxes even though they greatly opposed. The French and Indian War debt, although Britain won, was one of the first reasons taxes were increased. Secondly in 1764, the Sugar Act was passed. Unalike Walpole’s salutary neglect policy, these new taxation on sugar and molasses was enforced, upsetting the colonials. And in 1765 the Stamp Act put taxes on paper goods which upsetted the colonials more.
The act that most likely angered the colonists the least was the Sugar Act. This act required the price of
The Navigation Acts restricted foreign trade to competition with other countries, while reducing the chances of the colonies becoming an independent nation; in addition, all British products that were to be sent to the colonies were heavily taxed in order to create more profit. The Sugar Act placed tax on sugar, wine, and coffee, and denied any colonist accused of smuggling trial by jury, eventually leading to a drastic plummet in the rum industry. Finally, the Stamp Act, an act that was passed without the consent of the colonists, that taxed any paper or document in order to gain money from the colonists for Britain, ultimately leading to the colonists revolting against Britain, and writing newspapers that promoted the idea of independence from the imperialist nation that had repeatedly denied them their liberty, democracy, and
After the war the British were in a lot of debt; they needed a way to pay off the debt. Consequently the war took place in British America, the Parliament of England figured that the colonists should pay the price. The colonists were upset because of the taxes they called unfair. The Molasses Act was the first tax on sugar. The Molasses Act was placed on the colonies, however, the British government did not enforce this “law”.
The British were in massive debt following the French and Indian war, therefore they placed taxes on the colonists in order to regenerate some of that money lost. The Sugar Act of 1764 taxed the sale of molasses in hopes to gain some lost money, but this act led the people of Boston to boycott the molasses industry. The Stamp Act of 1765 shortly followed, making colonists buy a stamp with every paper product. The rage the colonists felt over the passing of this act, led the colonies to begin to unify as they together boycotted the trade industry. The Townshend Duties of 1767 imposed taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper and tea, but this only led to the colonist to again boycott the trade of those items and start newspaper attack.
As expected, Britain put certain taxes on the colonies to help regulate trade and pay for transport of goods. However, many of the taxes Britain put on colonists were for the sole purpose of creating revenue for the British (Doc 2). The reason the British believed they were justified to do this was the belief that colonists still owed reparations for British support in the French Indian war (Doc 1). The colonists found these taxes so insulting that many of them refused to purchase British goods.