Science FAIR
The Sugar Act The Sugar Act was not really new legislation by the time British Parliament passed it in 1764, but mere an extension of the 1733 Molasses Act. The Molasses Act placed an import tax of 6 pence per gallon of molasses and a 5 shilling tax per hundred pounds of sugar not produced in the British West Indies. Colonists generally ignored the Molasses Act and intimidated tax officials or smuggled the contraband into the colonies.
The Molasses Act and Sugar Act were intended to help the competitiveness of West Indies molasses and sugar in the New England colonies. These products cost the West Indies much more to produce than in most other markets. The West Indies, being a major trading partner of Britain at the time, requested Parliament help prevent the American colonies from buying cheaper molasses and sugar.
Northern colonists were more afraid of the methods that Great Britain took to enforce the Sugar Act than the actual cost of the tax itself. The British Navy began patrolling the shipping lanes to the colonies and customs agents became more aggressive in collecting import duties. The Southern colonies could produce most of their own crops and only viewed this as another annoying regulation.
While the colonies did not approve of the legislation, most of the outrage came from Virginia. The Virginia House of Burgess, a precursor to Congress, took upon itself the duty to respond to the King and express the colonies' displeasure with the tax. Protests were only ordered if the King refused to hear the colonists' complaints about the right to freedom from British taxation.
The Sugar Act did not actually cause as much protest as some people are led to believe. Attempts to protest the British government could not garner enough steam as only a few of the 13 colonies were detrimentally affected. Protests and public outrage would start with the passage of the Stamp Act, which placed a $1 million tax
The Molasses Act and Sugar Act were intended to help the competitiveness of West Indies molasses and sugar in the New England colonies. These products cost the West Indies much more to produce than in most other markets. The West Indies, being a major trading partner of Britain at the time, requested Parliament help prevent the American colonies from buying cheaper molasses and sugar.
Northern colonists were more afraid of the methods that Great Britain took to enforce the Sugar Act than the actual cost of the tax itself. The British Navy began patrolling the shipping lanes to the colonies and customs agents became more aggressive in collecting import duties. The Southern colonies could produce most of their own crops and only viewed this as another annoying regulation.
While the colonies did not approve of the legislation, most of the outrage came from Virginia. The Virginia House of Burgess, a precursor to Congress, took upon itself the duty to respond to the King and express the colonies' displeasure with the tax. Protests were only ordered if the King refused to hear the colonists' complaints about the right to freedom from British taxation.
The Sugar Act did not actually cause as much protest as some people are led to believe. Attempts to protest the British government could not garner enough steam as only a few of the 13 colonies were detrimentally affected. Protests and public outrage would start with the passage of the Stamp Act, which placed a $1 million tax