Notes on Acts

  1. Background
  2. British citizens already heavily taxed
  3. Greenville thought colonists should share the financial load because
  4. colonies had become more expensive to run due to stationing of soldiers and cost of new territory
  5. colonist benefited more than the people of England
  6. Trade Laws
  7. designed to stop colonies from trading with other nations
  8. colonists typically ignored
  9. colonist had never questioned the right of Parliament to pass trade laws since they had regulated colonial trade for a while
  10. Colonists used to direct representation
  11. almost all head of household white males could vote
  12. representatives in colonial assemblies spoke directly for people that elected them
  13. colonial assemblies were composed of colonists and thus knew the taxes colonists could afford
  14. colonial representatives had to pay the taxes as well
  15. Parliament didn’t know colonists this well and Parliament did not have to pay the taxes they imposed on the colonies—even more, by taxing the colonies, the people in England paid less taxes
  16. thus colonists denied idea of virtual representation and said colonial interests could only be represented by colonial assemblies and thus only colonial assemblies could tax colonies
  1. Sugar Act
  2. Greenville prompted Parliament to pass in 1764
  3. did 3 things
  4. halved duty on foreign-made molasses (hoped colonists would pay lower tax than risk arrest)
  5. placed duties on previously untaxed imports
  6. strengthen enforcement of laws- allowed prosecutors to try smugglers in a vice-admiralty court as opposed to a colonial court
  7. one judge, no jury
  8. judge received 5% of any cargo the court confiscated from convicted smugglers
  9. guilty until proven innocent (Opposite of British law!)
  10. Could be tried in a distant location (ex. tried in Nova Scotia when live in Georgia)
  11. Colonists’ Reactions
  12. complained the Act would decrease profits
  13. thought would wipe out trade with non-British West Indies suppliers
  14. argued without this profit, they could not continue to buy British goods at the rate they had been and thus British businesses would lose more money than was gained in the tax
  15. felt Britain was violating their rights
  16. claimed Britain had no right to tax because they had no representation in Parliament
  17. Really only effected merchants and trader
  1. Stamp Act, February-March 1765
  2. First tax that directly affected colonists because it was levied on goods and services
  3. previous taxes were indirect because they involved duties on imports
  4. Impacted ALL colonists- rich and poor
  5. Required colonists to purchase stamped paper for legal documents, licenses, newspapers, pamphlets and almanacs, and placed special duties on things such as playing cards and dice
  6. Colonist Reactions
  7. With passage of the act, many colonists realized their interests were different and colonial political leaders began mobilizing working class
  8. Worried if the law took effect, Parliament’s right to tax colonies would be set
  9. Sons of Liberty
  10. Colonists heard about Act in May; Boston shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers organized a secret resistance group called Sons of Liberty

(1) One founder was Sam Adams

  1. Sons of Liberty threatened and harassed customs agents and royal governors
  2. Believed if could get stamp distributor in each colony to quit, the law could never go into effect

(1)successful- all agents quit but Georgia’s

(2)act only went into effect briefly in Georgia

  1. Many colonial assemblies passed measures stating England’s inability to tax colonies directly
  2. most famous was Virginia Resolves
  3. Boycotts
  4. Merchants added their power to the protest
  5. October 1765, about 200 NY traders agreed to a non-import policy of British goods until Act repealed

(1)Violation of mercantilism

  1. Boston and Philadelphia merchants followed suit
  2. Colonists figured since they imported about 40% of British exports, British merchants would force Parliament to respond
  1. Stamp Act Congress
  2. October 1765, delegates from nine colonies met in NYC and issued a Declaration of Colonial Rights and Grievances
  3. stated Parliament lacked power to impose taxes on subjects because colonists were not represented in Parliament and colonists had same rights and liberties as the King’s subjects in England
  1. British Response to Stamp Act Congress
  2. Parliament responded by defending their right to tax colonies
  3. Agreed Britons could only be taxed with consent or consent of their representatives
  4. Argued colonists represented
  5. They may not have voted, but 90% of people in Britain didn’t either
  6. Argued all Britons had virtual representation
  7. Parliament members defended interests of all, not just those of the people that elected them
  8. Thus Parliament could tax colonists as it could all Britons
  9. Colonial response
  10. colonists denied idea of virtual representation and said colonial interests could only be represented by colonial assemblies and thus only colonial assemblies could tax colonies (see I, D for explanation)
  11. Colonial attitudes had changed- few still thought of British government as friends still
  12. By 1774, Committees of Correspondence formed a communication network linking colonial leaders
  13. Colonial actions worked!
  14. Act repealed March 1766
  1. Declaratory Act
  2. Passed same at same time as repeal of Stamp Act
  3. Asserted Parliament’s full right to make laws to “bind the colonies and people of America… in all cases.”
  4. Done to make power of Parliament clear- it could pass any law it desired for the colonists
  1. Townshend Acts
  2. Charles Townshend, newly appointed minister decided on a new way to gain revenue from the colonies- Parliament passed series of laws in June 1767, collectively known as Townshend Act
  3. Indirect tax (custom duties) on imports of glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea
  4. Money raised was used to pay salaries of royal governors which had been paid by colonists; took away exclusive right to tax colonies\cut power over Governors and royal officials
  5. Colonial Reactions
  6. Considered it a tax law
  7. Protested, boycotted, and spoke out
  8. Women of all ranks stopped buying British luxuries and joined spinning bees
  9. Spinning bees were public display of spinning and weaving of colonial made cloth to show determination to boycott British cloth
  10. Shared tea recipes
  11. Sometimes called themselves Daughters of Liberty
  12. All repealed on March 5, 1770 (same day as Boston Massacre) with exception of tax on tea
  1. Tea Act, May 1773
  2. Lord Frederick North became Prime Minister in 1770
  3. Designed to help struggling British East India Tea Company
  4. Allowed British East India Tea Company to sell tea directly to colonists tax-free
  5. cut out tea seller that had to pay the taxes
  6. Hoped to make British Tea cheaper than smuggled tea from the Netherlands
  7. Colonial Response
  8. Colonists felt it was a trick to get them to pay a tax on tea
  9. Patriots wanted to keep British tea out of colonies
  10. Local committees in Philadelphia and NY convinced captains of ships carrying British teas to turn around and go back to England without unloading tea
  11. Charleston- tea ship entered but no one claimed shipment customs agents seized tea and locked it in basement of custom’s house
  12. Boston unable to get tea ship to turn around but thought seized tea would end up in circulation—will continue this situation with the Boston Tea Party
  1. Intolerable Acts, March to May, 1774
  2. King George III furiousby the organized destruction of British property an pressed Parliament to act
  3. Parliament passed a series of measures as punishment for the Boston Tea Party
  4. Became known as the Intolerable Acts in the colonies because they were viewed as unbearable
  5. Individual Acts
  6. Quartering Act, March 24, 1774
  7. Authorized British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private homes and building
  8. Boston Port Bill, June 1, 1774
  9. Closed the port of Boston until damages from the Boston Tea Party were paid
  10. Administration of Justice Act, May 20, 1774
  11. stated British officials could not be tried in provincial courts for capital crimes  They would be extradited back to Britain and tried there  effectively gave British free reign to do whatever they wished, because no justice would be served while they were still in the colonies
  12. Massachusetts Government Act, May 20, 1774
  13. Annulled charter of Massachusetts, giving the British Governor complete control of the town meetings, and taking control out of the hands of the colonialists
  14. General Thomas Gage, Commander in Chief of British forces in North America, appointed new Governor of Massachusetts,

(1)arrived in Boston in May 1774

(2) placed Massachusetts under martial law to keep the peace

  1. Wrap-up
  2. King George had hoped to single out and isolate Massachusetts but actually helped strengthen colonial unity
  3. Colonist rallied to support Boston
  4. sent food and money to Bostonians out of work due to dock closure
  5. Committees of correspondences acted quickly and assembled the first Continental Congress