Who was Lord Grenville and why was he important?

Answer 1

On 1764, the Chancellor Lord Grenville urged the Parliament to pass the Revenue Act (Sugar Act) which placed tariffs on sugar, wine, coffee and other items imported by the American Colonies. The Americans argued that since there was no one in the Britain Parliament representing them, that they should not be taxed: "taxation without representation" and they started to smuggle goods.

In response Grenville and the Parliament enacted the Stamp Act: everyone who distributed paperwork had to purchase special stamps.

Americans saw that the money they paid would go to England, rather than to their own legislature so in 1765, and delegates from 9 colonies formed The Stamp Act Congress to repeal the Act. But Grenville and the Parliament refused, and then came violence. The Sons of Liberty began to riot and threatened the agents who sold stamps, as a result the agents resigned. So when the Stamp Act finally went into effect, there were no agents remaining in the colonies to sell stamps.

Americans started to boycott English goods. The British merchants, manufacturers and shipping companies suffered and asked Britain to remove the Stamp Act so the Parliament repealed the Act and the Colonists dropped their boycott.

However on the same day the Parliament passed the Declaratory Act, which said that Britain could pass any law it wished over the American Colonies.

So you can see how far reaching the decisions of Lorn Grenville were. I hope this helped :)

- Source: The American Pageant