Sugar Act

The Sugar Act was passed by the Parliament of Britain and enacted in April, 1764. (Boundless)

It was repealed in 1766 and replaced by the Revenue Act which lowered the tax on the importing of molasses. (Alchin)

There were multiple purposes for creating the Sugar Act. Parliament wanted to secure its authority over American colonies more, to reduce the amount of smuggling happening in the West Indies and American colonies, and most importantly to get money to get rid of the debt caused by the French and Indian Wars. (Carson/Bonk)

WHEN?

WHY?

Parliament of Britain

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The Sugar Act made a more complicated system of unloading imported goods in order to reduce the amount of smuggling going on. It also reduced the tax on molasses to 3 pence--cutting it in half so they could enforce it more, getting more money as a result. Thirdly, it made some goods more expensive because the tax on them made the retail price go up. (Carson/Bonk)

PROVISIONS

Colonists talking about the Sugar Act

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Multiple groups or classes were affected by the Sugar Act. Merchants were probably the most affected because the smuggling was reduced and they had to pay taxes for the goods that were being imported (Brinkley). Samuel Adams was a leader in protesting this act, he tried to unite the merchants and small farmers in Boston using this act to pull them together against Britain (Carson/Bonk). Lawyer James Otis Jr. wrote a pamphlet about how Britain shouldn't tax them at all because it wouldn't help colonial business and the tax would be too hard to collect (Carson/Bonk).There were also some small oppositions in Rhode Island and New York like what Adams and Otis Jr. had to say (Carson/Bonk).

WHO?

George Grenville, author of the Sugar Act

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This act caused a good amount of upset with the colonists and it only made their relationship with the British worse. It made the colonists start to worry about the intentions of the British parliament, whether they were for or against them. (Boundless) This act made the colonists angry which led to a tax rebellion which would set the stage for the American Revolution. (Lerner)

RELATIONSHIP EFFECT

"Sugar Act (1764)." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Ed. Thomas Carson and Mary Bonk. Detroit: Gale, 1999. U.S. History in Context. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.

URL

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“Grenville's Sugar Act.” Boundless U.S. History. Boundless, 21 Jul. 2015. Retrieved 31 Oct. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-history-textbook/the-british-empire-and-the-colonial-crisis-1754-1775-6/the-sugar-and-stamp-acts-1763-1765-60/grenville-s-sugar-act-368-9432/

Boundless. “Grenville's Sugar Act.” Boundless U.S. History. Boundless, 21 Jul. 2015. Retrieved 31 Oct. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-history-textbook/the-british-empire-and-the-colonial-crisis-1754-1775-6/the-sugar-and-stamp-acts-1763-1765-60/grenville-s-sugar-act-368-9432/
Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People.
6th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2004. Print.
KL Lerner, Essential Primary Source Series (Boston: 2007) p. 246-249, George Grenville, The Sugar Act, 1764. Print.
Alchin, Linda. "Sugar Act of 1764." Land of the Brave. Siteseen, Apr. 2015. Web. 30 Oct. 2015. <http://www.landofthebrave.info/sugar-act.htm>.