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Was The Sugar Interest To Blame For The American Revolution?

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The Revolutionary War between the colonists and England sparked the United States into becoming their own independent nation. The Sugar Interest, a group of British men that lived in England and had overseers in the West Indies doing work for them, said that colonists could only buy sugar from the British West Indies, which spiraled into multiple infractions between the British and the Colonists. Many facets can be put forth into the reasoning for the Revolution occurring, but some argue that the Sugar Interest could be blamed for it in its entirety. The Sugar Interest, often members of British Parliament, wanted to protect their money and would do just about anything to do so. With the Treaty of 1763, the British gave the French back their …show more content…

The Sugar Interest already hiked up the price of sugar for the colonists, and that led to many acts being placed on the colonists which caused complications. First came the Currency Act of 1764. This was practically reinforcing the Currency Act of 1751 because Parliament was scared of the colonists bonding together. This act was created just for the New England colonies, and it really made money have no value as England prohibited the colonists from issuing new bills or reissuing new currency. Soon the Sugar Act was enforced also after already having been in existence for a while. The Sugar Interest wanted to be positive the colonists were not buying anyone else’s rum except for English rum, so the Act places customs duties on non-British sugar and prohibited any rum that was not British. Most colonists actually did not mind this and thought it was constitutional, except for Boston who grew to be quite angry especially since smugglers had a harder time of making a living now. Next, comes the Stamp Act, which was a miniscule tax on just about everything made of paper. Some colonies already had their own type of Stamp Act imposed, so the extra tax made most colonists very angry especially because it was an internal tax; therefore, it is unconstitutional. Due to the Stamp Act, Boston acted in extreme fashions, as the Liberty Boys tarred and feathered and terrorized many …show more content…

This refusal of purchase from those in the New World consequently caused the Sugar Act to be lowered and the Stamp Act to be repealed. This sounds like Colonists were now getting what they wanted and felt they deserved, but then a new set of Acts were imposed on the colonists. The Declaratory, Townshend, and Revenue Acts were all passed afterwards. The Declaratory Act stated that Parliament has supreme rule over every colonial matter. The Townshend and Revenue Acts were made as a compromise between Benjamin Franklin and Townshend, Prime Minister of England, to give both sides a little snippet of what they wanted. These forced Parliament to only use external taxes. The main idea of these Acts were to raise money for the troops who were protecting citizens in the West from the natives and any other invaders there could have been, as both the economies in the colonies and in England dropped after the war. Eventually, a small vocal minority of colonists concentrated in Boston express their hatred towards England. The Boston Massacre occurred, where only seven people died. Colonists very much so exaggerated this event as they blame everything on the British and say they themselves did nothing wrong. This “massacre” was on the same day the Townshend Act was repealed and Nonimportation halted. Quickly after, Bostonian smugglers began sneaking in Dutch tea as they were mad at the East India Tea

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The Sugar Act Even when us colonists are already broke you want us to pay a tax to Britain, most of us don 't even want to deal with Britain! On April 5, 1764, The Sugar act was imposed by Britain who was in debt from helping out in the French and Indian war. What was the sugar act? The Sugar act was taxes on goods such as this big ones like sugar, and molasses. The Sugar act also took place in Great Britain.

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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.

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Many events occurred in the year 1764, including the Sugar Act, an Act meant to better enforce British trade laws, the Currency Act, and James Otis’s “taxation without representation,” which led to a boycott of British goods. The Sugar Act was passed as a result of Britain’s war with France, and the debt it caused. The Act was supposed to help pay for the defense of the colonies as well as the newly acquired territories. The Act increased the taxes on imported sugar, and other items like textiles, coffee, wines, and indigo dye.

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Sugar Interest The Sugar Interest could be blamed for the Revolutionary War because their initial decision to give the French back their Caribbean colony resulted in a chain of events that caused the colonists to rebel against Britain. The British gave back France’s Caribbean colonies to lower the amount of sugar being produced, therefore having the opportunity to increase the price in the colonies. Britain also began enforcing the Sugar Act, which placed an importation tax on Non-British Sugar and Non-British Rum. As the British Parliament continued placing new taxes on the American Colonies, the colonists began revolting against the crown.

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308 Words | 2 Pages

Also, the British could search any ship they wanted, so they didn’t let us receive sugar from other countries. The Stamp Act also was very unfair. This was when England made the colonists only buy paper with the English stamp on it. Every paper product had to be made out of it, and this special paper had a heavy tax on it.

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631 Words | 3 Pages

The Sugar Act was to prevent the colonies from printing their own money, and being able to proceed with gaining money. The act called Stamp Act was a tax on colonists, to gain more money by placing a tax on stamps and paper items such as playing cards, paper, and other miscellaneous items like dice. After passing the Stamp Act colonists were enraged about the taxing on their items by the British Parliament. Therefore they boycotted by not buying all the taxed items, years later the British Parliament repealed the stamp act cause of the boycott.

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After the French and Indian War, the British set out to reform the relationship with the new colonies, (Shultz,n.d.). They issued a number of tax acts on the colonists to raise money. These acts were met with great opposition from the colonists, as they felt it was interfering with the liberties they had fought so hard for. Acts such as the Sugar Act, the Quartering Act, and the Stamp caused the colonists great frustration and this lead to rebellion toward the Crown. The Sugar Act would lower the taxes sugar and molasses, but much to the dismay of the colonists Europe had increased its enforcement of these taxes, (Shultz,n.d.).

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300 Words | 2 Pages

British imperial policies between 1763 and 1776 intensified colonials' resistance to British rule and their commitment to Republican values. New imperial policies led to a strong displeasure of the British by colonists who had become accustomed to a self-governed life. These new taxes and constraints on colonial life enhanced Republican values in the minds of colonists; something that eventually caused the colonies to separate from the British monarchy. In 1764, the British passed the Sugar Act, lowering the tax on molasses, but adding taxes on other items such as sugar, an act which Lord Grenville assured would be strictly enforced.

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By 1763, Great Britain was already one of the most powerful countries in the world, owning territory from the Hudson Bay to the Caribbean Sea and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. With such extensive land to control, the British turned to intimidation and regulations to establish their dominance over the colonies. Throughout the next decade, the British Parliament would implement strict laws to keep the colonists in their place—under the authority of the government across the ocean. Although Britain thought that these acts would be accepted by Americans, they had actually initiated a war for independence. Both elite and common people recognized the injustices happening in their country and decided to fight back against the

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So with that according to the website landofthebrave.info says, “the colonists were the economic impact as well as the constitutional issue of taxation without representation. The colonists were undergoing a period of financial difficulties and their resentment was due to both the economic impact of the Sugar Act as well as the constitutional issue of taxation without

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The Stamp Act also angered lawyers as every document they worked with was taxed. The colonists were outraged and used violence as a response. Tarring and feathering or burning in effigy was a typical punishment the stamp collectors. The Stamp Act was the first hit angering the colonists and it also united them which was a key part of the American Revolution. The Townshend Acts were introduced to the colonists in 1767.

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660 Words | 3 Pages

By not enforcing this act, it allowed the colonists to get used to running their own affairs. So when the British stiffened the enforcement of the sugar act, the colonists resented it. About a year later, Parliament places the stamp act which taxed all paper goods. Many of the colonists were angered by this new tax because they were being taxed without their consent. The Stamp Act congress was held as a response to the acts.

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355 Words | 2 Pages

After the French and Indian war, British parliament had decided that the American colonists needed to pay their share in taxes. When parliament began attempting to exert influence on the colonists, many Americans rebelled and turned to smuggling goods without paying charges or duties. Although the Sugar Act was put into effect in order to prevent smuggling and encourage colonists to purchase British goods, it came with courts being establish and appointing judges to rule on whether a person is innocence or guilty. Being that colonists began to have a drive for independence, it ultimately led to the parliament implementing the Stamp Act to have a sense of control amongst the colonies. The Stamp Act is a new law that states the colonists will

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1150 Words | 5 Pages

Parliament believed the act was justified because they had defended, protected and secured the colonies during the war. The purpose of the Sugar act was to reduce the rate of tax on molasses and to ensure that this tax could be collected by a stronger military presence. It was also meant to regulate trade and was designed to stop trade between the colonies and the French, Dutch and West Indies. The act was just the beginning of the reforms that began to make the colonists concerned about the intent of the Parliament. The Stamp act was the reform that made the colonists very angry though because it was the first internal tax levied directly on them by the government.

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1112 Words | 5 Pages

On May 5, 1770, a street fight between the British soldiers and the Boston colonists erupted which later became known as the Boston Massacre. The events of the Boston Massacre occured after the French and Indian war, when the British were in great debt. This caused them to pass many acts like the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act, which taxed colonists when they bought or imported certain goods. The Sugar Act set duties on sugar and molasses imported by colonists, while the Stamp Act required colonists to pay for an official stamp when buying paper items. The Quartering Act of 1768 was also later passed which forced colonists to house British soldiers in their own homes.

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