Treated Unfairly: George Grenville And The Stamp Act

The hope was that lowering the duty on molasses would reduce the temptation to smuggle the commodity from the Dutch and French West Indies for the rum distilleries of New England…the duty imposed by the Sugar Act…caused consternation among New England merchants. They contended that payment of even the small duty imposed would be ruinous to their businesses. • Political: Colonists grown accustomed to governing themselves, many were outraged with Parliaments assertion of power But this tax did not generate sufficient funds, so Prime Minister George Grenville implemented another tax on the colonists. ➢

The Sugar Act was to prevent the colonies from printing their own money, and being able to proceed with gaining money. The act called Stamp Act was a tax on colonists, to gain more money by placing a tax on stamps and paper items such as playing cards, paper, and other miscellaneous items like dice. After passing the Stamp Act colonists were enraged about the taxing on their items by the British Parliament. Therefore they boycotted by not buying all the taxed items, years later the British Parliament repealed the stamp act cause of the boycott.

In dire need of paying off war debt, the British Parliament decided to tax the colonists due to the debt being their fault. Along with taxing the colonists, the East India Company boosted the income for the Parliament and benefited the George III by hurting the colonists economically by enacting the tea act. Blending “lethal politics, personalities, and economics”3 the American Revolution was bound to happen between the colonists and British, having little supporters of the idea of war. With the tension build up between the colonists and British Parliament, the Boston Tea Party occurred with the colonists rebelling against the Parliament’s political decision towards the colonists, symbolizing the starting point for a revolution and a step

Britain tried to control the colonies' trade through the Navigation Acts and that caused resentment and rebellion. Later the Townshend Acts would cause suspicion and struggle when England tried to tax colonists to pay colonial judges and governors to work with Britain. The Tea Act was imposed to help out the East India Company and had nothing to do with taxes, but with smothering the smuggling of Dutch tea. The colonists were radically angry about supposedly being taxed without consent, and the Boston Tea Party happened because of it. The Intolerable Acts, or the Coercive Acts, which gave Britain the right to try criminals in England as well as close the Boston Harbor until reparations were paid.

During the early 1700s, the protests in the colonies against British policies quieted down, but that does not mean that the colonists were satisfied with the British government. The Tea Act was intended to help the British East India Company. Everyone that had been drinking tea was paying taxes that Parliament had placed on them without their consent. The Tea Act however, lowered the price to the tea by allowing the East India Company to ship tea directly to the colonies. Lots of Colonial leaders argued that even though the price of tea was lowered, colonists still had to pay the tax on the tea.

He believed that the reason the colonists despised the sugar act was because it was a directly taxing their goods. Mr. Townshend thought it would be better to indirectly tax them through taxes on import products. The idea behind taxing the colonists was to pay for the colonial judges and governors therefore taking the chance of bribery from colonial assemblies. This also was to prove to the colonists that they could do whatever they wanted and could tax the colonists however they pleased. This was also to punish New York for disobeying the Quartering Act.

The British were starting to lose control of the American colonies. Taxes and acts enacted changed the relationship between Britain and the American colonists. The Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts both showed that Britain was trying to enforce its power after being lenient with the colonists since the beginning of British rule. The Boston Massacre of 1770 was the point of no return for the colonists in their British relations and led to the American Revolution. The incident inflamed the colonists based on rumors that the affected colonists were shot without provocation, and because the colonists were already fed up with all the acts imposed by the British Parliament.

This made the theme taxation without representation a common catchphrase in the colonies. Colonists were agitated since they presumed that they didn’t begin the battle with the french indians. Paragraph #6 The Stamp act 1765The Stamp act was put taxes on the colonist for the use of newspapers, licenses, and colonial paper. The act was passed by the british parliament on March 22, 1765.

They Successful in forcing the British parliament to repeal the stamp act in march 18, 1766. In June 1767 British parliament passes the Townshend revenue acts by Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend. in this act they have to pay duty on imported items. Because of this act American stop using the british iteams.

The French and Indian War and the Effects left on the Colonies: The French and Indian war was the 4th colonial conflict between England and France. The three previous conflicts started in Europe and travelled to the Colonies. This conflict started in the Colonies. During the beginning of this war, Britain seemed to be losing the battle. Washington seemed successful after his capture of Fort Duquesne, but the Frenchmen who walked out of the fort, came back after the British began process building Fort Necessity.

The American colonists also in retaliation created a group made solely to repeal the Stamp Act, and resist British rules that they saw as

Colonists despised the Stamp Act of 1765 for this reason, as it hindered the liberties they could exercise because of the unjustified financial burden it posed. The colonists peaceful call for reform of English legislation through the means of the Stamp Act Congress and Ben Franklin’s testimony indicated the initial stages of a revolution. Although, at this point, the colonists did not desire the consequence of war with England, the hatred for their mother country was building, and it eventually forced the Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act. Franklin had warned the House of Commons of the colonists displeasure with the Stamp Act by saying “A total loss of the respect and affection the people of America bear to [England],” and furthermore, a loss “of all the commerce that depends on that respect and affection” would occur if England remained stagnant. Colonists largely believed the taxes imposed on them were not only overpriced, but also violated the basic “natural rights’.

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

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.

In result, economic changes would come to the colonies. Parliament met in 1763 and came to the conclusion that they were not receiving the profit they needed from the colonies (Document F). As a result, many taxes were passed by British Parliament upon the colonies, including the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act (Document H) and the Tea Act. The American colonies were not happy, to say the least. Americans protested, saying that these taxes were unnecessary and unfair.