The Sugar Act was established in 1764. The Sugar Act forced colonists to pay taxes imports from different countries. This law was passed by the Great British Parliament through King George III. Previously, there was a Molasses Act that had colonists pay taxes on only molasses. But, then the parliament establishes the Sugar Act because the Molasses Act was about to expire. In the well being of the Sugar Act, the items that were taxed were everyday luxuries that the colonists enjoyed, therefore meaning they would want to pay the extra money. There were several items that were taxed under the Sugar Act which included wines, sugar, coffee, cambric and printed calico. The only rule that the colonists were forced to follow was to pay the tax. Since sugar was commonly used, the parliament decided to place the tax on sugar so that the citizens would have to pay the tax. If the colonist were not to pay the tax, they would face serious consequences such as the potential of going to jail. …show more content…
Under the Molasses Act, the citizens had to pay 6 pence per gallon on foreign molasses. Because of this act, the citizens did not want to purchase foreign molasses, therefore the act fell. Then the Sugar Act was passed by the British Parliament because of the nearing expiration of the Molasses Act and the poor response of the citizens to this act. Eventually, the Sugar Act was passed in order to gain more money for the army by taxing everyday goods. In addition, the Sugar Act made tax collection more efficient. The parliament wanted the money to come from the taxes since every citizen would have to pay three pence with this
Protests broke out all across the colonies, with revolts, boycotts, and even fights. British Parliament established the acts to raise revenue through trade taxes on the American colonies. The Sugar Act was established in 1764 to increase controls on non-British trading and taxed not only sugar but other materials such as; coffee, coconuts and different animals parts. The Stamp Act was established in 1765 to tax people for a royal stamp, it also taxed paper, shipping and legal documents, pamphlets, and many more. The act was not as large as other taxes, but it changed the way of Parliament authority, from trade to direct taxes on the colonies. The famous saying “no taxation without representation”,
The Act of 1764, also known as The Sugar Act, lowered the taxes on molasses but also it had more ways to enforce the tax. In addition to the tax on molasses they taxed things such as silks, wines, and potash. The Americans were outraged with this new law. The colonists did whatever they could to ignore this new law. The British passed the Quartering Act which basically said that the American colonists have to house and feed British forces who were serving in North America. This inflamed the
The Sugar Act also known as the American Revenue Act of 1764 was one of the things leading up to and help cause the American Revolutionary war. The Sugar Act was established on April 5, 1764. This act was established so the colonists would help pay for the national debt and to help pay for the British troops in the colonies to protect them from any further attacks.
Britain's idea to solve its massive debt was to tax and make money from the American colonies under their control. George Grenville a British Minister came up with the Sugar Act to help with tax revenue. This Act taxed six pence per gallon molasses and lowered the molasses prices imported by colonists. The Sugar Act took away the colonist’s
With the passage of the Sugar Act in 1764, sugar was taxed by the pound. The sole purpose of this tax was to generate income for the British treasury. They also instituted a court used to prosecute colonists who were caught trying to smuggle sugar or bribe an official, the Vice-Admiralty Courts. Merchants suspected of smuggling were considered guilty and
After the French and Indian war ended in 1763, England was in a huge debt. To pay off this debt they had to find a source of income. For the colonist that was bad because it just so happens that they were that source of income. The colonist had to pay unfair taxes and one of the unfair taxes was the Sugar Act. In April of 1764, Prime Minister George Grenville proposed and established the Sugar Act.
England passed a series tax laws and demanded the colonists pay back the debt. In 1764, the Sugar Act was passed by the Parliament of Great Britain, reducing smuggling yet increasing the cost of imported goods in the American colonies and decreasing exportation to non-British markets. The Currency Act of 1764 did not forbid colonies from releasing paper money, yet it did ban paper money from being used to pay of private or public debts. In 1765, the Stamp Act was established in order to raise revenue from the American colonies by taxing stamps which were required on all legal or commercial documents, newspapers, licenses, and diplomas. Great Britain benefited from the passing of the Stamp Act which enriched their economy. The colonists, however, believed that the Act was taxation without representation and the power to tax is the power to destroy. In 1767, a series of laws known as the Townshend Acts placed taxes on tea, glass, paper and other materials. This again benefited Great Britain and upsetted the colonists because of the high payments enforced on these
Parliament decided that the colonies should help pay towards the cost of the recent war debt and for future defense. The first step towards this was the Revenue Act of 1764, generally referred to as the Sugar Act. The Sugar Act was also known as “an Act with Teeth,”(Mass Historical Society) symbolizing that it was an act with depth or of importance. The Act itself was divided into two sections. First, it was intended to raise money from trade between the British colonies in America. It levied import duties on a list of raw materials including: sugar, coffee, indigo, wine, rum, lumber, and various cloths. The Sugar Act made the Molasses Act of 1733 perpetual. Although it cut the tax on molasses in half, from sixpence to threepence per gallon, to discourage smuggling and to make the tax attractive. Second, the Act revamped and reinvigorated the customs service, which managed the collection of these import duties. For the first time, colonists argued that Parliament was depriving them of a fundamental constitutional right to have these goods duty free.
It was not until 1764 when Britain started to interfere with the colonies. The colonies had some independence so they were not used to being told what to do. Because the British government had gone in debt fighting France, they decided that the colonies had to help pay for their own defense. To raise this money, parliament made a new law, sugar act. It required payment of a tariff on imported items such as molasses, sugar, coffee and certain wines. During this time, tariffs were used to regulate trade; however, the colonist felt this was just
In 1761 the British began to reinforce writs of assistance, laws that granted customs officials the authority to conduct random searches of property to seek out goods on which required duties had not been paid, not only in public establishments but in private homes. The next step was the Sugar Act of 1764, and it quickly became apparent that the purpose of the act was to extract revenue from America. The Molasses Act of 1733 had placed a tax of six pence per gallon on sugar and molasses imported into the colonies. In 1764 the British lowered the tax to three pence but now eventually decided to enforce it. In addition, taxes were to be placed on other items such as wines, coffee, and textile products, and other restrictions were applied, this upset the colonists. Madaras L, SoRelle J (2011) & Wood S. G. (2003)
The British has been imposing taxes and regulating the commerce of the colonies. The Sugar Act was another law that reduced the taxes by half; the Sugar Act seems to favor the colonies and there is no reason to complain. However, there were black markets across the colonies that did not pay taxes; so, now these people have to pay taxes since the law was force due to the enormous debt of the British Empire.
The Sugar Act was a pass by Britain in 1764 with the intention of raising revenue for Great Britain. This act was a tax imposed on sugar imports such as sugar cane and molasses. The sugar act greatly effected the production and cost of goods such as rum in New England. Being that rum was a staple commodity in New England, this did not sit well with the colonists. Part of this act was that all exports had to stop in Great Britain first and get taxed, then they were allowed to move on to other places and sell their goods. This act backfired and failed partly due to colonists evading the tax by smuggling sugar and other trade commodities and bribing government employees in charge of
Because of what was going on in the colonies, the British parliament decided a reform of the Sugar and Molasses act was in need. The Sugar Act reduced the tax on molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon. Also included in the new act were more foreign goods to have a tax placed on such as sugar, wine, and coffee. It also placed strict regulations on the export of lumber and iron. This strict enforcement of the new act caused an almost immediate decline in the rum industry. The ultimate goal of the new act was to reduce the markets that the colonist could sell.
After the Peace of Paris, 1763, the British, after fifty years, felt at peace after several years of wars. However, they were also left with a tremendous amount of debts, which led them to enforce several policies, taxes and acts in the colonies, wrecking the colonial and the British relationship. The prime minister to George III, George Grenville, introduced a series of Acts to the colonists that issued a tax on certain supplies. After the proclamation of 1763 that restricted the colonist from traveling westward of the Appalachian Mountains. This angered the colonists greatly and they resisted by continuing to move westward, making the proclamation ineffective. Under Grenville’s program, the very first taxation on sugar was passed under the Sugar Act of 1764. It raised taxes on sugar and reduced taxes on molasses. This only affected few of the merchants,
The frustrations amongst colonists did not stop with the Proclamation Line. In 1764 the Revenue Act, more commonly known as the Sugar Act was passed cutting the duty on molasses in half. Though the reduction in duty was favorable, the act also meant that ships carrying cargo were very closely monitored and those who breached laws regarding duty were tried in juryless admiralty courts. Following the Revenue Act was the Currency act of 1764, which prohibited colonies from producing their own currency; the reasoning was to restrict colonists from paying off debt with currency that was worth less than face value.