To What Extent Was The Sugar Interest To Blame For The Revolutionary War

How the Sugar Interest Can be Blamed for the Revolutionary War
In 1763, British won the French and Indian war. To help them win this war, they took control of Quebec, Montreal, and, most importantly, Cuba and the French Caribbean Colonies, which were primarily used to harvest sugar. The Sugar Interest had a lot of power in parliament, as many were either in parliament or paid for their members. Since increasing the amount of sugar that the colonists and British would obtain decreases its value, the sugar planters wanted Parliament to get rid of these new sugar islands. British gave their islands back to the French, for a price. British gave up their caught islands, but kept Quebec. France additionally gave up Louisiana and split it at the Mississippi,

This action caused another war, this time between the British and the Pontiac tribe. The forts were very close to what was the land that the Pontiac tribe owned. While the French had befriended the tribe, the British did not. This started the Pontiac’s war, which resulted in forts and villages being destroyed, along with hundreds on each side being captured and killed. This continued the separation between Britain and the Natives, and finally ended in 1764 when the Fort Niagara Treaty was made. While not the sole reason, it was a contributing factor that caused the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which upset the colonists that fought in the French and Indian war and those who were promised land in the areas that they were given after the war. Not only this, but another war meant more money was needed to pay for the supplies and for those who fought in the Pontiac’s

This resulted in larger taxes on the colonists, as well as laws to force them to pay the new taxes. One of the first laws was the Currency Act of 1764 to make sure colonists would not pay in paper money, as it was not actual currency to them. The Sugar Act renewed an old law that states that sugar and rum from anyone except Britain would have a tax. The difference between the old law and the new one was that the new one was reinforced, and the tax on the sugar was lower. This tax was fueled by the Sugar Interest. While this did make some colonists angry, such as James Otis, several were willing to pay it. What made many of the colonists furious was the Stamp Act, which was an internal tax on stamps, something that was placed on nearly every piece of paper they had. This was considered to be unconstitutional. When colonists stopped buying goods from Britain in protest, they passed the Declaratory Act, saying Parliament had supreme control over the colonies, along with the Townshend/ Revenue Acts. Afterwards, they passed the Tea Act to lower tea prices. In response, a group of smugglers boarded a British shipped fill with tea in Boston and dumped it into the harbor to show that they were mad that their smuggled-in French tea could not be sold for as much, called the Boston Tea Party. To punish Boston, the British closed its harbor until the cost of the dumped tea was paid