A New Colonial System

A new imperial design necessary for the governing of the colonies was unacceptable for the Americans long accustomed to independence. The colonies demanded more freedom.

The interests of the Crown and the colonists came into conflict. Some colonies, whose population grew fast and thus needed more land for settlement, claimed the right to extend their boundaries. Fearing that these settlements would provoke new series of Indian wars, the British government restricted the migration. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 reserved all the western territory between the Alleghenies, Florida, the Mississippi River and Quebec for use by Native Americans. Thus the Crown attempted to sweep away every western land claim of the 13 colonies and to stop westward expansion. In the eyes of the colonists the Proclamation eliminated their most elementary right to occupy and settle western lands.

In 1764 the British government passed the Sugar Act (known in Parliament as the American Revenue Act). The earlier British trade acts, including the Hat, Wool and Iron Acts, were designed to protect British commerce from colonial competition. The Sugar Act marked the end of a strictly commercial British relationship with her American colonies and initiated a policy of raising revenue. England carried a large war debt from French and Indian War; the Sugar Act sought to alleviate the expenses of administering a greatly enlarged colonial territory. It imposed new or higher duties on additional imports, including textiles, coffee, indigo and wines; it increased duties on foreign refined sugar. The act also doubled the duties on foreign trade goods reshipped to the colonies from England; added additional goods to the list of enumerated items; and forbade the import of French wines and foreign rum. To enforce the Sugar Act, custom officials were ordered to show more energy and effectiveness. British warships in American waters were instructed to seize smugglers.

Both the duty imposed by the Sugar Act and the measures to enforce it caused consternation among New England merchants. Together with legislatures and colonists they protested the law.

Later in 1764, Parliament enacted a Currency Act “to prevent paper bills of credit hereafter issued in any of His Majesty’s colonies from being made legal tender”. The colonies were short of hard currency and thus the act meant difficulty to the colonial economy.

On March 22, 1765 the English Parliament set its first direct tax on the American colonies by passing the Stamp Act. The act mandated a tax on all printed materials, including almanacs, broadsides, pamphlets, newspapers, legal documents, licenses, insurance policies, ship’s papers and even playing cards and dice.

The passage of the Stamp Act met with almost universal colonial opposition, because it bore equally on people who did any kind of business. In the summer of 1765 the colonists organized themselves into the “Sons of Liberty” – secret organization protesting against the Stamp Act, often through violent means.

The Virginia House of Burgesses declared that Virginians had the rights of Englishmen, and hence could be taxed only by their own representatives. The Massachusetts Assembly invited representatives from all the colonies to fight against the law. South Carolina accepted the invitation immediately, then came the forma; acceptance of the Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Maryland assemblies. The assemblies of Delaware, New Jersey and New York took no official action, but delegates were informally elected to represent colonies at the congress. The remaining four colonies issued no acceptance and elected no delegates to attend the meeting.

The merchants of the colonies one by one joined the nonimportation movement in an attempt to boycott the Act.

In March 1766 King George III signed a bill fully repealing the Stamp Act. This news was greeted by celebrations and the immediate relaxation of the nonimportation policy. In their joy the colonists missed the Declaratory Act which asserted the authority of Parliament to legislate any law governing the American colonists “in all cases whatsoever”. And very soon (in June 1767) the English Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, a new series of external taxes on such goods as glass, lead, paints, paper and tea. These acts were based on the premise that taxes imposed on goods imported by the colonies were legal while internal taxes (like the Stamp Act) were not.

Merchants once again tried to oppose the English acts by signing nonimportation pact. In Boston the town meeting ordered Boston residents to arm, and English warships arrived in Boston Harbor, bringing military reinforcements to support the authority of the customs officials.

The presence of British troops in Boston provoked the colonists: a harmless snowballing of British soldiers degenerated into a mob attack. Someone gave the order to fire; as a result three Bostonians were killed, two were mortally wounded and six injured. The troops were withdrawn from the town.

In April 1770 Parliament repealed all the Townshend duties except that on tea, which was a luxury item in the colonies. Rejoiced, the colonists almost stopped the fighting.