Where was the sugar act of 1764 affected by?

Answer 1

American importers were not paying the excessively high duty that had been placed on Sugar (molasses) by the Molasses Act of 1733. They found it cheaper to pay bribes of a penny or so per gallon, to the customs collectors. When George Grenville became Prime Minister, he had Parliament overhaul the old act with a new Sugar Act, 1764. The new act lowered the tax on sugar entering the colonies, but it also created a new system for enforcing the act, making sure that the lowered duties would be collected. In New England, where molasses was a major trade item used in making various drinks as well as a sweetener, there was immediate concern. A Boston town meeting declared that the city would boycott (not purchase) all British imports to that colony. Other New England cities, including New York, followed Boston’s lead. American Colonists granted Parliament the right to regulate trade but the colonists declared that the Sugar Act was an attempt to raise money in the colonies, something that colonists believed only colonial legislatures could do. They pointed to the official title of the Sugar Act--The American Revenue Act of 1764. Hence, the Americans, for perhaps the first time, raised the cry that they could not be taxed by a political body that did not represent them. They elected representatives to their assemblies, but not to Parliament. The cry, “No taxation without representation” would become a rallying cry for those favoring independence. In 1766, the British government reduced the duty on sugar to one penny (what had been the “traditional” bribe), and protest in New England began to subside.

Answer 2

n April 5, 1764, Parliament passed a modified version of the Sugar and Molasses Act (1733), which was about to expire. Under the Molasses Act colonial merchants had been required to pay a tax of six pence per gallon on the importation of foreign molasses. But because of corruption, they mostly evaded the taxes and undercut the intention of the tax - that the English product would be cheaper than that from the French West Indies. This hurt the British West Indies market in molasses and sugar and the market for rum, which the colonies had been producing in quantity with the cheaper French molasses. The First Lord of the Treasury, and Chancellor of the Exchequer Lord Grenville was trying to bring the colonies in line with regard to payment of taxes. He had beefed up the Navy presence and instructed them to become more active in customs enforcement. Parliament decided it would be wise to make a few adjustments to the trade regulations. The Sugar Act reduced the rate of tax on molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon, while Grenville took measures that the duty be strictly enforced. The act also listed more foreign goods to be taxed including sugar, certain wines, coffee, pimiento, cambric and printed calico, and further, regulated the export of lumber and iron. The enforced tax on molasses caused the almost immediate decline in the rum industry in the colonies. The combined effect of the new duties was to sharply reduce the trade with Madeira, the Azores, the Canary Islands, and the French West Indies (Guadelupe, Martinique and Santo Domingo (now Haiti)), all important destination ports for lumber, flour, cheese, and assorted farm products. The situation disrupted the colonial economy by reducing the markets to which the colonies could sell, and the amount of currency available to them for the purchase of British manufactured goods. This act, and the Currency Act, set the stage for the revolt at the imposition of the Stamp Act.

Answer 3

Colonial Americans were taxed in many ways prior to the formation of the country. The Sugar Act tax of 1764 reduce the tax on molasses. However, it taxed sugar, wines and coffee.