Parliament Imposes Taxes & Laws on Colonists (College Board AP® US History)

Timeline

Summary

Even though Great Britain claimed the American colonies as part of its political empire, the British government was not involved in the colonies’ day-to-day governance prior to the Seven Years’ War.

• This policy of salutary neglect allowed Anglo-Americans to make many of their own decisions about how their colonies were run

• The laws that the British did make, such as those about trade, were viewed by the colonists as mere guidelines

• Because of this, colonists believed they were more independent from Great Britain than they were

Great Britain ended salutary neglect after the French and Indian War. The government needed to repay its war debts. To do so, it taxed goods coming into the colonies and enforced existing trade laws. Colonists resented this sudden interference in their daily lives. Many began rethinking the colonies' relationship with the British government.

New Tax Acts

• Great Britain’s victory over France in the French and Indian War came at a huge financial cost

  • British officials thought the colonists should pay back the money Great Britain spent defending the colonies

  • They also thought colonists should pay for the additional 10,000 troops that were stationed in the colonies to prevent conflicts between colonists and Indigenous groups

• Parliament passed a series of tax acts meant to raise revenue from the colonies

  • It also passed and enforced laws meant to stop smuggling of non-British goods into the colonies

    • This allowed the British to collect more taxes on imported goods

Colonial Laws Following the French and Indian War

The Sugar Act (1764)

• The Sugar Act:

  •  lowered tax on imported molasses

  • allowed officers to take goods from suspected smugglers without going to court

• In reaction to this, colonists argued they had a right to a trial by jury like other British citizens

• They also said the act violated their right to a secure home without the threat of a search for smuggled goods

The Stamp Act (1765)

• The Stamp Act taxed almost anything printed on paper: wills, newspapers, etc.

• Colonists said that only their local assemblies could tax them

• The Stamp Act Congress appealed to King George III

• Colonists boycotted British goods

• The law was repealed in 1766

The Declaratory Act (1766)

• The Declaratory Act:

  • gave Parliament the right to tax and make decisions for the colonies

  • was passed in response to colonists’ protests about the Stamp Act

• Colonists feared that Parliament would continue making new tax laws without offering parliamentary representation

The Townshend Acts (1767)

• The Townshend Acts:

  • taxed imported goods like glass, tea, and paper upon arrival in the colonies

• Boycotts of British goods resumed

• Women urged colonists to make their own goods, such as tea and fabric, instead of purchasing British products

The Tea Act (1773)

• The Tea Act:

  • Lowered the tax on British tea so it would be cheaper than tea smuggled into the colonies

• The law was supposed to help Britain’s East India Company stay in business

• Colonists felt like they were forced to buy the less expensive British tea, on which they still had to pay a tax

• The Boston Sons of Liberty staged the Boston Tea Party

  • This led to the passage of the Coercive Acts

The Coercive Acts (1774)

• The Coercive Acts:

  • Designed to punish colonists for pushing back against British authority

  • Boston Harbor was closed

  • Shipments of food and supplies to Massachusetts were stopped

  • Bostonians had to pay for the lost tea

• The individual colonies united to support Boston and Massachusetts

• Colonists nicknamed this and the Quebec Act the “Intolerable Acts” because of their brutal nature     

Reactions To & Arguments Against British Taxes

• Anger at the new laws united colonists against Parliament

  • Many remained loyal to King George III

  • Colonies formed Committees of Correspondence

    • These communication networks allowed men in different colonies to share ideas, offer help, and coordinate resistance efforts

• Colonists argued that the British government was violating the individual rights granted to them as subjects of the British Empire

  • Colonists wanted the same rights as people who lived in Great Britain. This included:

    • political liberty

    • civil liberty

    • personal liberty

    • religious liberty

  • Colonists also wanted colonial representation in Parliament

  • Without it, colonists believed Parliament could not enforce its tax laws in the colonies

    • “No taxation without representation” became an anti-Parliament rallying cry

  • Colonists also had natural rights

    • According to Enlightenment philosopher John Locke, natural rights include, “life, liberty, and estate [property]”

  • Colonists wanted to maintain colonial traditions of self-rule