Sugar Act
- The Parliament passed the "Sugar Act" in 1764
- It putted three-cent tax on foreign refined sugar and increased taxes on coffee, indigo, and certain kinds of wine
- It banned importation of rum and French wines.
- The act only affect a portion of the people.
- However the affected merchants were very vocal
- Besides, the taxes were enacted (or raised) without the consent of the colonists.
- This was one of the first instances in which colonists wanted a say in how much they were taxed.
Stamp Act
- The act was putted in effect on March 1765.
- It required the colonist to purchase stamp to buy paper.
- The act was used in England.
- It put tax on everything that was on paper.
- There must be a stamp to prove that you had paid for the anything that was printed.
- If you have no stamp, you will be seized and put in an Admiralty Court without jury, which was ran by British officials.
- Some of the colonist though it was reasonable .
- Other colonists didn't like the new act and were unhappy with it.
Tea Act
The Congress reaction on Tea Act A comic stripe about the Tea Act East India Company logo
- The parliament passed the "Tea Act" on May 10,1773
- It was designed to prop up the East India Company which was floundering financially and burdened with eighteen million pounds of unsold tea.
- The tea was to shipped directly to the colonies at a bargain price.
- The "Townshen Act" was still in place, it lead to many radical American leaders to think that this was an act to raise the support to the taxes that already in place.
- Colonists in Philadelphia and New York turned the tea ships back to Britain.
- In Charleston, many cargoes of tea were left to rot in dock.
- While in Boston, the governor was stubborn and held the ship in dock, which the colonists refused to unload the tea. It eventually led to the Boston tea party.
Townshen Act
- "Townshend Act" was a measures introduced into Parliament by Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend in 1767
- The act placed tax on imposed duties on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea imported into the colonies.
- The act was to defray imperial expenses in the colonies.
- The British leaders convinced themselves that the colonists would accept so-called indirect taxes.
- Many influential Americans believed that Parliament had no right to impose any taxes on the colonists, viewing taxation as an abuse of Great Britain's constitutional relationship with the colonies.
- In April 1770, Parliament repealed all the Townshend duties except the tax on tea.