Sugar Act

On April 5, 1764, Parliament passed an adapted version of the Molasses Act (1733), which was about to expire. Under the Molasses Act, colonial merchants were required to pay a tax of six pence per gallon on the importation of foreign molasses. This hurt the British West Indies market in molasses and sugar and the market for rum, which the colonies had been producing in equal quantities to cheaper French molasses. The purpose of the Sugar Act was to bend the colonial economy to best suit Great Britain, which supported British mercantilism.

Related Topics:
April 5 - 1764 - Parliament - Molasses Act - British West Indies - Colonies - Economy - Great Britain - Mercantilism

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British Prime Minister Lord George Grenville was attempting to bring the colonies in line regarding payment of taxes. He had instructed the Navy to become more active in enforcing the tax, and Parliament came to the conclusion that it would be wise to adjust trade regulations. The Sugar Act reduced the rate of tax on molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon, and Grenville took measures that the levy be strictly imposed. The act was not limited to sugar and listed more foreign goods to be taxed including certain wines, coffee, pimiento, cambric and printed calico, and further, regulated the export of lumber and iron, two major resources from the colonies.

Related Topics:
British Prime Minister - George Grenville - Navy

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The enforced tax on molasses caused a virtually immediate decline in the rum industry in the colonies. The effect of the new duties was sharply reducing trade with Madeira, the Azores, the Canary Islands, and the French West Indies (Guadelupe, Martinique and Santo Domingo (now Haiti)), all of which were important destination ports for lumber, flour, cheese, and assorted farm products. This disrupted the colonial economy by reducing the markets to which the colonies could sell, and the amount of currency available to them for the purchase of British manufactured goods. This act, combined with the Currency Act set the stage for the uprising at the imposition of the Stamp Act.

Related Topics:
Rum - Canary Islands - French West Indies - Haiti - Currency Act - Stamp Act

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Because of corruption, colonists were able to evade the taxes and enfeeble the objective of the tax ? that the English products would be cheaper than those from the French West Indies.

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