IBMYP United States Government the Stamp Act – Background

IBMYP United States Government denied these charges, and complained of British suspect that the British were intentionally plotting The Stamp Act – Background arrogance and contemptuousness in dealings with to enslave the colonists economically. the colonials. Commentary The French and Indian War – Results British troops also quarreled with colonial civilians, Summary who were often reluctant to provide food and The conflict between British and colonial soldiers shelter to the British, and consistently complained was indicative of the evolving attitudes of the two When the French and Indian War, and its of the troops' poor behavior. Pennsylvania regions toward one another. The colonies began European counterpart, the Seven Years War, Quakers, as pacifists, voted against appropriating to associate all things British with arrogance and officially came to a close with the Treaty of Paris in funds for the war effort, and Massachusetts and condescension, and the British viewed Americans 1763, North America was divided territorially New York also took a stand against the quartering as inept, irresponsible, and primitive. The colonial between the British and Spanish. Britain had of British troops in their colonies. British units in the war were involved primarily in support driven the French from the continent, and Parliament, and King George III, viewed these roles, providing reserve forces in battles and extended its land claims west to the Mississippi actions as antagonistic to the British effort to holding British forts. This way, the more highly River. It seemed that British holdings in North defend imperial territories. trained British professionals could lead the America and all over the world were more secure offensive against the French. Despite their Another major area of contention was taxation. than ever, but there were signs of trouble brewing separation of duties, the troops interacted often The colonies had profited greatly form the war. in the American colonies. The French had been enough to decide that they disliked each other, Military contracts and expenditures by British driven from the continent by a coalition of Britons, and each side registered frequent complaints troops had meant a large inflow of British colonists, and Native Americans. However, once about the other. peace was restored, this three-pronged alliance currency. Trade flourished, and many American's showed signs of crumbling. traded with the French West Indies. This trade The conflict of soldiers and civilians highlighted a was illegal in peace time, and seen as morally major complaint of the colonists throughout the One source of conflict arose between the colonial reprehensible during a war against the French, but period of time leading up to the revolution. The and British soldiers. In Britain, it was widely it proved very profitable. Meanwhile, the British colonists were perpetually wary of British assumed that the professional troops sent to the national debt had climbed from 72 million pounds meddling in colonial affairs, and saw the military colonies deserved full credit for British victory in before the war to 132 million at its end. To pay as the primary on-site actors in this effort. Fearing the war. In reality, about 40 percent of the regular down this debt, Britain instituted a land tax at the installation of standing armies, the colonies, soldiers who served in the war enlisted in home, and imposed excise tax on many commonly throughout their histories, had been reluctant to America. American soldiers complained constantly traded goods. supply and house British troops. During the French during and after the war that British public and Indian War this reluctance caused King However, the colonists felt burdened as well. opinion drastically underestimated America's part. George and the Parliament to question the loyalty During the war, prosperous colonists had of some colonies and led the British government British soldiers, for their part, bemoaned the developed a taste for imported goods. In fact, the to commit even more strongly to keeping a strong ineptitude of the colonial troops. They claimed the annual value of British imports to the colonies had British hand in colonial business. colonials were useless in battle and had no real doubled. Once the wartime economic boom sense of duty, tending to return home, even in the ended, many Americans went into debt trying to The issue of taxation was one that would drive a midst of a campaign, when their terms were up or maintain their middle-class lifestyle. Colonial wedge between the colonies and their mother they were not paid on time. Colonial troops debts to Britain grew rapidly, and many began to country from this time until the end of the to one-fifth of the military expenses in North Nova Scotia. Until 1768, vice-admiralty judges revolution. In Britain, citizens were forced to pay America. The Sugar Act signaled the end of were awarded five percent of all confiscated cargo exorbitant taxes on land and traded goods in colonial exemption from revenue-raising taxation. and ships, a clear incentive to come to a guilty order to support Britain's skyrocketing debt. These Previous acts, such as the long-standing verdict. The vice-admiralty courts also reversed citizens looked across the ocean to see the Navigation Acts, had been passed as protectionist traditional judicial ideology, by burdening the colonists not pulling anywhere close to equal measures, regulating trade to boost the economy defendant with the task of disproving the charge weight, even though the colonists had been the of the British Empire as a whole. Under the of smuggling rather than assuming innocence until primary beneficiaries of the war. Colonists Navigation Acts, taxes were paid by British guilt was proven. continued to assert their freedom from taxation importers alone, rather than the colonists, and British Prime Minister George Grenville ordered and reminded British rulers that they had not brought in just 1,800 pounds in 1763, compared the navy to enforce the Sugar Act, and it did so called for the war. Still, even though many with a cost of 8,000 pounds just to enforce the vigorously. Still colonists continued to smuggle Americans went through hard times because of acts. molasses until 1766, when the duty on foreign the collapse of the wartime boom, the colonists The Sugar Act lowered the duty on foreign- molasses was lowered to one penny. The Sugar could not deny the facts. The colonial debt totaled produced molasses from six pence per gallon to 3 Act provided the British treasury with about 2 million pounds to Britain's 132 million. In fact, pence per gallon, in attempts to discourage 30,000 pounds per year between 1766 and 1775, just the interest charges on Britain's debt cost the smuggling. The act further stipulated that a substantial source of income. empire 4 million pounds per year. Still, the Americans could export many commodities, colonists railed against taxation. Nine provincial legislatures in America protested including lumber, iron, skins, and whalebone, to the passage of the Sugar Act, but seven of these Emerging after the war was a new dynamic in foreign countries, only if they passed through objected on narrow grounds. Though many Anglo-American relations. The British sought to British ports first. The act also placed a heavy tax colonists objected to the act's revenue-raising control their colonial possessions more tightly, on formerly duty- free Madeira wine from taxation and regulation, opposition was minor, and sent greater numbers of officials to America, Portugal. due to a lack of organization and the hesitancy of imposed regulations on trade, and restricted The Sugar Act complicated trade for American the legislatures to take a stand against Parliament. territorial expansion to this effect. The colonies, shippers by requiring them to fill out a number of on the other hand, wished to be free to govern confusing forms in order to legalize their themselves, to trade as they desired, and to Commentary shipments. If even the smallest technicality was expand into the West. The French and Indian war not attended to, ships' captains could have their The Sugar Act was one of the first tangible signs of was hailed as a victory for Britain in its attempt to entire cargo seized. Further, the act could be Britain's intent to gain tighter control over colonial control its colonies, but the conditions employed in some cases regarding local trade trade. Parliament predicted that if shippers had to immediately after the war's close set the stage for along the east coast, and in many cases put stop at British ports en route to other destinations a widening rift rather than the maintenance of unrealistic restrictions on this trade. they would be more likely to purchase imperial affable relations. goods to bring back with them to the colonies, and The Sugar Act In addition to a restriction of trade, many colonists thus boost Britain's flailing economy. Parliament Summary felt the Sugar Act constituted a restriction of imagined it could further collect a great amount in justice. The act allowed customs officials to revenue and discourage smuggling by lowering the In 1764 Parliament passed the Sugar Act, with the transfer smuggling cases from colonial courts with duties. Parliamentary leaders reasoned that with goal of raising 100,000 pounds, an amount equal juries to juryless vice- admiralty courts in Halifax, the duty set at three pence, colonists would be one's peers. Not only did the Sugar Act provide for taxed without representation in Parliament. less likely to smuggle than they had been when the relocation of trials from the colonies to Grenville and his followers claimed that they the duty was six pence, and thus more likely to Halifax, Nova Scotia, far from the setting in which agreed with Pitt, and that the colonies were pay, leading to a higher income for the British infractions had taken place, it also allowed trials represented in Parliament, even though they did treasury.

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