Sugar Act
The Sugar Act is one of the most vital things to what led to the Revolution. It was the first attempt by England to raise money by taxing the American Colonists in order to pay off dept from the French and Indian War. On April 5, 1764, Parliament passed a modified version of the Molasses Act. The Sugar Act started to reduce the rate of tax on molasses. Parliament started to tax things with sugar, but the colonists became angry because they thought this was illegal since they had no representative in Parliament, and, more importantly, the Sugar Act was issued during a time of economic depression in the colonies and the Sugar Act had a negative impact on the American Colonies' economy. New England ports, shippers, and merchants were also affected by the Sugar Act since much of their revenue was being given to England for tax. To revolt against the Sugar Act, colonists began to protest and colonial merchants started to smuggle goods in and out of the colonies just to avoid tax. In May 1764, Samuel Adams drafted a report on the Sugar Act for the Massachusetts assembly, in which he denounced the act as an,"infringement of the rights of the colonists as British subjects." In August 1764, fifty Boston merchants agreed to stop purchasing British luxury imports, and in both Boston and New York there were movements to increase colonial manufacturing. There were sporadic outbreaks of violence, mostly in Rhode Island. These events led to the Sugar Act being repealed in 1776, but being replaced with the Revenue Act of 1766, which is one of the five Townshend Acts, shortly after.