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Townshend Acts

 
US Military Dictionary: Townshend Acts
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Four acts of the British Parliament in 1767 that imposed duties on the import of paint, glass, paper, lead, and tea to the North American colonies. The acts also called for quartering of British troops in the colonies. Though eventually repealed (except for the tax on tea), the acts were the source of resentment and led to the famous charge of “taxation without representation” and directly to the Boston Massacre.

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Townshend Acts
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(1767) British parliamentary measures to tax the American colonists. The series of four acts imposed duties on imports of lead, paint, glass, paper, and tea and established a board of customs commissioners to enforce collection. Colonial quartering of British troops was also revived. The colonists protested the new measures as taxation without representation and resisted compliance. Nonimportation agreements among colonial merchants cut British imports in half by 1769. In 1770 all the duties except the tax on tea were repealed.

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US History Encyclopedia: Townshend Acts
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Townshend Acts, four Parliamentary acts imposed on the American colonists (1767). They take their name from Charles Townshend, chancellor of the Exchequer and head of the British government at the time they were enacted.

The first law, the Suspending Act, suspended the New York assembly until it complied with the provisions of the Quartering Act of 1765, which required colonies to supply British troops with shelter and supplies. This law resulted from General Thomas Gage's decision to concentrate troops in central reserves in New York City, from which they might be dispatched as needed. This decision imposed an unforeseen financial burden on that colony, and the New York assembly refused to appropriate funds for additional quarters in New York City because they thought there was still ample room in the barracks at Albany.

The second act was the Revenue Act, which levied import duties on lead, paper, glass, and tea—all of which colonists could import legally only from Great Britain. This revenue was earmarked to support royal officials in the colonies, including judges and governors, who had relied previously on local assemblies for their salaries. Many colonists feared that this system would put these officials beyond all local control while increasing their dependence upon the British ministry for their positions and pay. Resistance to the Revenue Act took the form of agitation, Nonimportation Agreements, open evasion of the duties, and the promotion of American manufactures. This act marked the second time that the British government had regulated colonial commerce to raise revenue (the first was the Sugar Act of 1764). All other commercial laws had been intended to protect some industry within the empire. British leaders like Sir William Pitt and Edmund Burke assailed the Revenue Act as anticommercial. Instead of encouraging British industry, they argued that it discouraged English manufactures and encouraged competing industries in the colonies.

A board of customs commissioners, established by the third Townshend Act, assumed responsibility for collecting the new taxes. The board was stationed at Boston and retained complete control over all American customs. It was empowered to reorganize customs, regulate or close ports of entry, appoint customs officers, hire coastguard vessels and provide them with search warrants, and take other measures necessary to enforce the revenue laws. Townshend revenues and seizures of goods would pay for this new system. Enforcement officers met with resistance from many colonists, including those who seized the Liberty and burned the Gaspée. Such actions led the customs commissioners to ask for troops, so forces headed in September 1768 from New York to Boston, where they were quartered in the city. Friction between civilians and the soldiers resulted, and all but two regiments were withdrawn in 1769. One of these was involved in the Boston Massacre (1770), after which all troops were withdrawn.

Finally, the fourth Townshend Act repealed the inland duties on tea in England and permitted it to be exported to the colonies free of all British taxes. The uproar over the Townshend Acts subsided after Parliament repealed all duties except that on tea in 1770. The controversy reemerged a few years later, however, when protests over the Tea Act led to the Boston Tea Party in 1773.

Bibliography

McCusker, John J., and Kenneth Morgan, eds. The Early Modern Atlantic Economy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Middlekauff, Robert. The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.

Nash, Gary B. The Urban Crucible: The Northern Seaports and the Origins of the American Revolution. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1986.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Townshend Acts
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Townshend Acts, 1767, originated by Charles Townshend and passed by the English Parliament shortly after the repeal of the Stamp Act. They were designed to collect revenue from the colonists in America by putting customs duties on imports of glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea. The colonials, spurred on by the writings of John Dickinson, Samuel Adams, and others, protested against the taxes. The Boston merchants again boycotted English goods, the Massachusetts Assembly was dissolved (1768) for sending a circular letter to other colonies explaining the common plight, and British troops sent to enforce these laws and keep peace were involved in unpleasant incidents, notably the Boston Massacre. The boycott decreased British trade, and in 1770 most of the Acts were repealed, but retention of the tea tax caused the Boston Tea Party.

Law Encyclopedia: Townshend Acts
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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

The Revolutionary War in America was the result of a series of acts levied against the colonists by the English Parliament. One of these measures, the Townshend Acts, not only contributed to the American Revolution but precipitated the Boston Massacre as well.

In 1767 Parliament decided to reduce the property tax in England. To compensate for the deficit, Charles Townshend, chancellor of the exchequer, proposed legislation that would raise revenue from various taxes directed at the colonists. These laws, called the Townshend Acts, imposed duties on the importation of such articles as lead, glass, paint, tea, and paper into the colonies. The money collected from the colonists was to be applied to the payment of wages of English officials assigned to the colonies.

In addition to the taxes, the acts also provided for the maintenance of the American Board of Customs Commissioners in Boston. A third aspect of the legislation involved the disbanding of the New York legislature. This assembly had staunchly opposed and refused to accept the Quartering Act of 1765, and all its meetings were suspended until it complied with the unpopular act.

Antagonism between the colonists and English officials over the Townshend Acts increased, and English troops were sent to quell disturbances. Agitation continued, and on March 5, 1770, the Boston Massacre occurred when English soldiers fired into a crowd of hostile colonists, killing five men.

The colonists drafted nonimportation agreements and boycotted English goods. English merchants felt the loss of revenue, and in 1770 the Townshend Acts were repealed with the exception of a tax on tea. This tax, retained to reaffirm the right of Parliament to levy taxes on the colonists, led to the Boston Tea Party.

See: Boston Massacre soldiers; Stamp Act.

Wikipedia: Townshend Acts
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Charles Townshend spearheaded the Townshend Acts, but died before their detrimental effects became apparent.


The British government's belief that the colonists would accept "external" taxes resulted from a misunderstanding of the colonial objection to the Stamp Act. The colonists' objection to "internal" taxes did not mean that they would accept "external" taxes; the colonial position was that any tax laid by Parliament for the purpose of raising revenue was unconstitutional.[1] "Townshend's mistaken belief that Americans regarded internal taxes as unconstitutional and external taxes constitutional", wrote historian John Phillip Reid, "was of vital importance in the history of events leading to the Revolution."[2] The Townshend Revenue Act received the royal assent on 29 June 1767.[3] There was little opposition expressed in Parliament at the time. "Never could a fateful measure have had a more quiet passage", wrote historian Peter Thomas.[3]

The Revenue Act was passed in conjunction with the Indemnity Act of 1767,[4] which was intended to make the tea of the British East India Company more competitive with smuggled Dutch tea.[5] The Indemnity Act repealed taxes on tea imported to England, allowing it to be re-exported more cheaply to the colonies. This tax cut in England would be partially offset by the new Revenue Act taxes on tea in the colonies.[6] The Revenue Act also reaffirmed the legality of writs of assistance, or general search warrants, which gave customs officials broad powers to search houses and businesses for smuggled goods.[7]

The original stated purpose of the Townshend duties was to raise a revenue to help pay the cost of maintaining an army in North America.[8] Townshend changed the purpose of the tax plan, however, and instead decided to use the revenue to pay the salaries of some colonial governors and judges.[9] Previously, the colonial assemblies had paid these salaries, but Parliament hoped to take the "power of the purse"[10] away from the colonies. According to historian John C. Miller, "Townshend ingeniously sought to take money from Americans by means of parliamentary taxation and to employ it against their liberties by making colonial governors and judges independent of the assemblies."[11]

Some members of Parliament objected because Townshend's plan was expected to generate only ₤40,000 in yearly revenue, but he explained that once the precedent for taxing the colonists had been firmly established, the program could gradually be expanded until the colonies paid for themselves.[12] According to historian Peter Thomas, Townshend's "aims were political rather than financial".[13]

Contents

Enforcing compliance

To better collect the new taxes, the Commissioners of Customs Act of 1767 established the American Board of Customs Commissioners, which was modeled on the British Board of Customs.[14] The American Customs Board was created because of the difficulties the British Board faced in enforcing trade regulations in the distant colonies.[15] Five commissioners were appointed to the board, which was headquartered in Boston.[16] The American Customs Board would generate considerable hostility in the colonies towards the British government. According to historian Oliver M. Dickerson, "The actual separation of the continental colonies from the rest of the Empire dates from the creation of this independent administrative board."[17]

Another measure to aid in enforcement of the trade laws was the Vice Admiralty Court Act of 1768.[18] Although often included in discussions of the Townshend Acts, this act was initiated by the Cabinet when Townshend was not present, and was not passed until after his death.[19] Before this act, there was just one vice admiralty court in North America, located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Established in 1764, this court proved to be too remote to serve all of the colonies, and so the 1768 Vice Admiralty Court Act created four district courts, which were located at Halifax, Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston. The purpose of the vice admiralty courts, which did not have juries, was to help customs officials prosecute smugglers, since colonial juries were reluctant to convict persons for violating unpopular trade regulations.

Townshend also faced the problem of what to do about the New York Provincial Assembly, which had refused to comply with the 1765 Quartering Act because members saw it as an unconstitutional tax.[20] The New York Restraining Act,[21] which according to historian Robert Chaffin was "officially a part of the Townshend Acts",[22] suspended the power of the Assembly until it complied with the Quartering Act. The Restraining Act never went into effect because, by the time it was passed, the New York Assembly had already appropriated money to cover the costs of the Quartering Act. The Assembly avoided conceding the right of Parliament to tax the colonies by making no reference to the Quartering Act when appropriating this money; they also passed a resolution stating that Parliament could not constitutionally suspend an elected legislature.[23]

Reaction

Townshend knew that his program would be controversial in the colonies, but he argued that, "The superiority of the mother country can at no time be better exerted than now."[24] The Townshend Acts did not create an instant uproar like the Stamp Act had done two years earlier, but before long, opposition to the program had become widespread.[25] Townshend did not live to see this reaction, having died suddenly on 4 September 1767.[26]

Dickinson's Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania

The most influential colonial response to the Townshend Acts was a series of twelve essays by John Dickinson entitled "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania", which began appearing in December 1767.[27] Eloquently articulating ideas already widely accepted in the colonies,[28] Dickinson argued that there was no difference between "internal" and "external" taxes, and that any taxes imposed on the colonies by Parliament for the sake of raising a revenue were unconstitutional.[29] Dickinson warned colonists not to concede to the taxes just because the rates were low, since this would set a dangerous precedent.[30]

Dickinson sent a copy of his "Letters" to James Otis of Massachusetts, informing Otis that "whenever the Cause of American Freedom is to be vindicated, I look towards the Province of Massachusetts Bay".[31] The Massachusetts House of Representatives began a campaign against the Townshend Acts by first sending a petition to King George asking for the repeal of the Revenue Act, and then sending a letter to the other colonial assemblies, asking them to join the resistance movement.[32] Upon receipt of the Massachusetts Circular Letter, other colonies also sent petitions to the king.[33] Virginia and Pennsylvania also sent petitions to Parliament, but the other colonies did not, believing that it might have been interpreted as an admission of Parliament's sovereignty over them.[34] Parliament refused to consider the petitions of Virginia and Pennsylvania.[35]

In Great Britain, Lord Hillsborough, who had recently been appointed to the newly created office of Colonial Secretary, was alarmed by the actions of the Massachusetts House. In April 1768 he sent a letter to the colonial governors in America, instructing them to dissolve the colonial assemblies if they responded to the Massachusetts Circular Letter. He also sent a letter to Massachusetts Governor Francis Bernard, instructing him to have the Massachusetts House rescind the Circular Letter. By a vote of 92 to 17, the House refused to comply, and Bernard promptly dissolved the legislature.[36]

Boycotts

Merchants in the colonies, some of them smugglers, organized economic boycotts to put pressure on their British counterparts to work for repeal of the Townshend Acts. Boston merchants organized the first non-importation agreement, which called for merchants to suspend importation of certain British goods effective 1 January 1769. Merchants in other colonial ports, including New York City and Philadelphia, eventually joined the boycott.[37] In Virginia, the non-importation effort was organized by George Washington and George Mason. When the Virginia House of Burgesses passed a resolution stating that Parliament had no right to tax Virginians without their consent, Governor Lord Botetourt dissolved the assembly. The members met at Raleigh Tavern and adopted a boycott agreement known as the "Association".[38]

The non-importation movement was not as effective as promoters had hoped. British exports to the colonies declined by 38 per cent in 1769, but there were many merchants who did not participate in the boycott.[39] The boycott movement began to fail by 1770, and came to an end in 1771.[40]

Unrest in Boston

Paul Revere's engraving of British troops landing in Boston in 1768.

The newly created American Customs Board was seated in Boston, and so it was there that the Board concentrated on strictly enforcing the Townshend Acts.[41] The acts were so unpopular in Boston that the Customs Board requested naval and military assistance. Commodore Samuel Hood complied by sending the fifty-gun warship HMS Romney, which arrived in Boston Harbor in May 1768.[42]

On 10 June 1768, customs officials seized the Liberty, a sloop owned by leading Boston merchant John Hancock, on allegations that the ship had been involved in smuggling. Bostonians, already angry because the captain of the Romney had been impressing local sailors, began to riot. Customs officials fled to Castle William for protection. With John Adams serving as his lawyer, Hancock was prosecuted in a highly publicized trial by a vice-admiralty court, but the charges were eventually dropped.[43]

Given the unstable state of affairs in Massachusetts, Hillsborough instructed Governor Bernard to try to find evidence of treason in Boston.[44] Parliament had determined that the Treason Act 1543 was still in force, which would allow Bostonians to be transported to England to stand trial for treason. Bernard could find no one who was willing to provide reliable evidence, however, and so there were no treason trials.[45] The possibility that American colonists might be arrested and sent to England for trial produced alarm and outrage in the colonies.[46]

Even before the Liberty riot, Hillsborough had decided to send troops to Boston. On 8 June 1768, he instructed General Thomas Gage, Commander-in-Chief, North America, to send "such Force as You shall think necessary to Boston", although he conceded that this might lead to "consequences not easily foreseen".[47] Hillsborough suggested that Gage might send one regiment to Boston, but the Liberty incident convinced officials that more than one regiment would be needed.[48]

People in Massachusetts learned in September 1768 that troops were on the way.[49] Samuel Adams organized an emergency, extralegal convention of towns and passed resolutions against the imminent occupation of Boston, but on 1 October 1768, the first of four regiments of the British Army began disembarking in Boston, and the Customs Commissioners returned to town.[50] The "Journal of Occurrences", an anonymously written series of newspaper articles, chronicled clashes between civilians and soldiers during the military occupation of Boston, apparently with some exaggeration.[51] Tensions rose after Christopher Seider, a Boston teenager, was killed by a customs employee on 22 February 1770.[52] Although British soldiers were not involved in that incident, resentment against the occupation escalated in the days that followed, resulting in the killing of five civilians in the so-called Boston Massacre of 5 March 1770.[53] After the massacre, the troops were withdrawn to Castle William.[54]

Partial repeal

On 5 March 1770—ironically the same day as the Boston Massacre—Lord North, the new Prime Minister, presented a motion in the House of Commons that called for partial repeal of the Townshend Revenue Act.[55] Although some in Parliament advocated a complete repeal of the act, North disagreed, arguing that the tea duty should be retained to assert "the right of taxing the Americans".[56] After debate, the Repeal Act[57] received the Royal Assent on 12 April 1770.[58]

Historian Robert Chaffin argued that little had actually changed:

It would be inaccurate to claim that a major part of the Townshend Acts had been repealed. The revenue-producing tea levy, the American Board of Customs and, most important, the principle of making governors and magistrates independent all remained. In fact, the modification of the Townshend Duties Act was scarcely any change at all.[59]

The Townshend duty on tea was retained when the 1773 Tea Act was passed, which allowed the East India Company to ship tea directly to the colonies. The Boston Tea Party soon followed, which set the stage for the American Revolution.

Notes

  1. ^ Reid, Authority to Tax, 33–39.
  2. ^ Reid, Authority to Tax, 33.
  3. ^ a b Thomas, Duties Crisis, 31.
  4. ^ The Indemnity Act was 7 Geo. III ch. 56; Labaree, Tea Party, 269n20. It is also known as the Tea Act of 1767; Jensen, Founding, 435.
  5. ^ Dickerson, Navigation Acts, 196.
  6. ^ Labaree, Tea Party, 21.
  7. ^ Reid, Rebellious Spirit, 29, 135n24.
  8. ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 22–23.
  9. ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 23–25.
  10. ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 260.
  11. ^ Miller, Origins, 255.
  12. ^ Chaffin, "Townshend Acts", 128; Thomas, Duties Crisis, 30.
  13. ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 30.
  14. ^ 7 Geo. III ch. 41; Knollenberg, Growth, 47.
  15. ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 33; Chaffin, "Townshend Acts", 129.
  16. ^ Chaffin, "Townshend Acts", 130.
  17. ^ Dickerson, Navigation Acts, 199.
  18. ^ 8 Geo. III ch. 22.
  19. ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 34–35.
  20. ^ Chaffin, "Townshend Acts", 134.
  21. ^ 7 Geo. III ch. 59. Also known as the New York Suspending Act; Knollenberg, Growth, 296.
  22. ^ Chaffin, "Townshend Acts", 128.
  23. ^ Chaffin, "Townshend Acts", 134–35.
  24. ^ Chaffin, "Townshend Acts", 131.
  25. ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 48; Thomas, Duties Crisis, 76.
  26. ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 36.
  27. ^ Chaffin, "Townshend Acts", 132.
  28. ^ Chaffin, "Townshend Acts", 132.
  29. ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 50.
  30. ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 52–53.
  31. ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 54. Dickinson's letter to Otis was dated December 5, 1767.
  32. ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 54.
  33. ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 84; Knollenberg, Growth, 54–57.
  34. ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 85, 111–12.
  35. ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 112.
  36. ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 81; Knollenberg, Growth, 56.
  37. ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 57–58.
  38. ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 59.
  39. ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 157.
  40. ^ Chaffin, "Townshend Acts", 138.
  41. ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 61–63.
  42. ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 63.
  43. ^ "Notorious Smuggler", 236–46; Knollenberg, Growth, 63–65.
  44. ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 109.
  45. ^ Jensen, Founding, 296–97.
  46. ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 69.
  47. ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 82; Knollenberg, Growth, 75; Jensen, Founding, 290.
  48. ^ Reid, Rebellious Spirit, 125.
  49. ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 92.
  50. ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 76.
  51. ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 76–77.
  52. ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 77–78.
  53. ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 78–79.
  54. ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 81.
  55. ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 71.
  56. ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 71.
  57. ^ 10 Geo. III c. 17; Labaree, Tea Party, 276n17.
  58. ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 72.
  59. ^ Chaffin, "Townshend Acts", 140.

References

  • Chaffin, Robert J. "The Townshend Acts crisis, 1767–1770". The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. Jack P. Greene, and J.R. Pole, eds. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1991; reprint 1999. ISBN 1-55786-547-7.
  • Dickerson, Oliver M. The Navigation Acts and the American Revolution. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1951.
  • Knollenberg, Bernhard. Growth of the American Revolution, 1766–1775. New York: Free Press, 1975. ISBN 0-02-917110-5.
  • Labaree, Benjamin Woods. The Boston Tea Party. Originally published 1964. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1979. ISBN 0930350057.
  • Jensen, Merrill. The Founding of a Nation: A History of the American Revolution, 1763–1776. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968.
  • Miller, John C. Origins of the American Revolution. Stanford University Press, 1959.
  • Reid, John Phillip. In a Rebellious Spirit: The Argument of Facts, the Liberty Riot, and the Coming of the American Revolution. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1979. ISBN 0-271-00202-6.
  • Reid, John Phillip. Constitutional History of the American Revolution, II: The Authority to Tax. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1987. ISBN 0-299-11290-X.
  • Thomas, Peter D. G. The Townshend Duties Crisis: The Second Phase of the American Revolution, 1767–1773. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. ISBN 0-19-822967-4.

Further reading

  • Barrow, Thomas C. Trade and Empire: The British Customs Service in Colonial America, 1660–1775. Harvard University Press, 1967.
  • Breen, T. H. The Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence. Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 019518131X; ISBN 9780195181319.
  • Knight, Carol Lynn H. The American Colonial Press and the Townshend Crisis, 1766–1770: A Study in Political Imagery. Lewiston: E. Mellen Press, 1990.
  • Ubbelohde, Carl. The Vice-Admiralty Courts and the American Revolution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1960.

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