How And Why Did Issues Of Taxation Affect Relations 1763-68? Flashcards
Would taxation cause friction ?
Yes it was almost gauranteed to cause some degree of friction
The colonists used the slogan ‘no taxation without representation’
- the problem wasn’t the taxes but the lack of representation in the British parliament
When and what was the anti smuggling legislation ?
What is the issue and what is implemented
Anti smuggling legislation on 1763
- Issue: Grenville wanted to extract more revenue from Americans and customs service was inefficient: rife smuggling and custom officers were corrupt
- this meant that Americans often evaded customs duties
implemented
- colonial custom reside in America and couldn’t delegate to deputies
- colonial juries had leniency towards smugglers so the cases were transferred from colonial courts to a vice admiralty court in Halifax where the judge had the verdict
What was the response to the anti smuggling legislation from the colonists ?
- it was unpopular as it was an unification of a new approach from Britain
- sign that the policy of salutary neglect was being abandoned and replaced with stricter control
When and why was the sugar act passed ?
When and why was it reinforced
1764
- the preceding 63 suger act imposed heavy duties of 6d per gallon on colonial imports of molasses and rum to gain revenue for the treasury and to give the British West Indian sugar interests a monopoly of the market for these products
- However this revenue was scarcely collected by customs officers and if collected it was often only a 10% levy of the duty
- in 1764 the Act proposed a reduced duty to 3d however this new tax was enforced
- it hoped to stop trade with France and Spain as West Indian plantation owners were loosing £000s to foreign competition
- any custom officer who accepted a bride was fined £500 and banned from serving in any government post
What were the reasons for the sugar act being so unpopular ?
- brought much of colonial trade under imperial control as foreign goods were imported through British posts which added to costs
- violators if the new rules denied a fair trial as the law allowed customs offices to transfer cases from colonial court with jury to vice admiralty court with a single judge deciding outcome
What was the response from the colonists to the sugar act?
- colonists continued to smuggle until 1776 but gov reduced tax to 1d making it more expensive to evade it so the treasury picked up £30k annually thereafter
- unrest amongst colonies including New York with many seeing it as an issue of arbitrary government and extension of power as a threat to liberty
- by 1765 9 colonies had written to parliament arguing they had abused their power and accepted the right to regulate trade but did not have the right to use legislation to raise colonial tax
- Grenville had confidence to install further taxes
When and what was the currency Act ?
1764
- prohibited colonists issuing paper money
*Why introduced**
- wartime spending ended in 1760 left American markets full of unsold goods and a bumper tobacco crop drove prices down by 75%
- economic slump and many business on the Atlantic seaboard filed for bankruptcy
- it was a simplistic response and increased antagonism
Who did the colonists react to the currency act ?
- it made it far harder for colonists to pay their debts
- further evidence of attempts for greater centralisation and interference from London undermining colonial assemblies
- couldn’t have come at a worse time during an economic depression
When and what was the stamp act ?
When ?
What ?
Aim ?
Duties ?
Type of tax ?
March 1765
- a tax on any legal document which affected every colonist with stiff penalties for infringement
- aimed to raise £100k for the treasury cutting cost of administering empire by 20%
- American duties were much lighter at 1sh per person compared to Britains 26sh per person
- first direct tax levied on the colonists and raised the issue of wether they could be taxed by a government where they were not represented
What was the colonial reaction to the stamp act ?
opposition why ?
peaceful three types
why colonial opposition
- fundamental rejection of virtual representation with demands for a colonial delegate
- colonial assemblies undermined by Grenville as colonists thought they had the same power in law making
- a failure to stand up to this tyranny would cause more tax
peaceful protest
- Boston formed protests association and pledged to cease imports of British goods to bring economic pressure on a Brit gov
- Virgin 1765 House of Burgesses under Patrick Henry: Virginia resolves declaring right of Virginians to disobey laws not passed by assembly consider to be reasonable. Massive impact as newspaper printed the resolves
- October 1765 stamp Act congress 9 colonies representatives met rejecting parliaments right to tax them
What was the violent reaction to the stamp act and the reaction from parliament ?
Who does what to who ?
Who defends colonists in Parliament ?
- mob violence of crowds and Sons of liberty tore apart the office and home of Andrew Olivier the chief stamp distributor of Massachusetts’s
- an effigie of him was hung from a tree in a stark warning and he promised not to enforce it
- similar reactions in around the colonies
- boycott of goods stopped 40% of UK goods reaching America and Brit business communities panicked and pleaded for a repeal
Parliament
- Pitt and Edmund Burke argue that the colonists had justifiable grievances as Gov had no right to legislate internal taxes which could be resided by their own elected legislatures
When is the Stamp Act repealed and why
- July 1765 Grenville is replaced by Rockingham as PM and the disruption to trade caused a wiliness to negotiate
- Under pressure from British merchants concerned by the loss of trade
- General Thames Gage advised that the act could only be enforced if troops were increased
- it was repealed in March 1766 the same day the Declaratory Act was passed
When and what was the declaratory Act ?
Passed the same day the stamp act is repealed in 1776
- parliament had the right to pass laws in the colonies in ‘all cases whatsoever’
- parliament meant it to be take literally and to affirm this act the colonies where subordinate to the ‘crown and parliament’
- sewed the seeds for further discourse between the two sides
How did the colonists react to the declaratory act ?
- the repeal on the stamp act was greeted with joy in the colonies but controversy had raised a number of issues and has been seen as a turning point
- the campaign made the colonists ware of their practical which could be used to gain further concessions from Britian
What was the ideological debate that came from the stamp act ?
Questions of rights, representation and taxation
- argued only the colonial assemblies could raise tax
- spectre of despotism by the Briths government
-pamphlets handed out warning against tyrannical legislation
