History - AS - Unit B - American Revolution - Lead up to the War

- Passed by Parliament on 5 April 1764.

- Reduced the rate by half from the Molasses Act of 1733 and increased measures to enforce the tax.

- Molasses Tax 1733 was never collected effectively due to colonial evasion.

- Increased the colonists' concerns over the intent of the British Parliament.

- Arrived in the colonies during a time of economic depression.

- Main focus of opposition was economic rather than ideological.

- Two prime movers behind the protests were Samuel Adams and James Otis

- New England ports suffered the most as the stricter enforcement made smuggling more dangerous. Merchants were forced to increase prices and many colonists feared being priced out of the market.

- Passed by Parliament on 22 March 1765

- Imposed a direct tax on the colonies

- Required that printed materials in the colonies should be produced on stamped paper produced in London and carry an embossed revenue stamp.

- 'Printed materials' included legal documents, magazines, playing cards, newspapers and many other types of paper

- The tax was to pay for British troops in the American colonies after the French and Indian War.

- Colonists did not fear a French invasion

- Many considered it a violation of their rights as Englishmen to be taxed without their consent

- The Stamp Act Congress was the first significant joint colonial response to any British measure

- Local protest groups established Committees of Correspondence which created a loose coalition between New England and Maryland

- Protests often initiated by the Sons of Liberty

- Repealed on 18 March 1766

- A series of resolutions passed by the Virginia House of Burgesses in response to the Stamp Act 

- Claimed that Virginia could only be taxed by a parliamentary assembly elected by Virginians

- Submitted by Patrick Henry on May 29 1765 after most conservative members were away

- The Newport Mercury was the first newspaper to publish the Virginia Resolved to the general public as several other followed suite

- Directly grew public anger over the Stamp Act and may have incited the Stamp Act Riots

- A meeting held between the 7 and 25 of October, 1765 in New York

- First gathering of elected representatives from several colonies

- Usedto devise a unified protest against British taxation

- Consisted of delegates from 9 of the 18 British colonies in North America

- Met at a tim of widespread protests, some of which were violent, against the Stamp Act 

- Issued a Declaration of Rights and Grievances in which they calimed parliament could not tax the colonies as they did not have proper representation

- 6 delegates signed petitions addressed to parliament and King George III

- Economic issues raised by the protests and ono-importation of British Goods caused parliament to repeal the act

- Passed the Declaratory Act the same day

- An act passed on 5 June 1767

- The first of the five Townshend Acts

- Forbade the New York Assembly from passing new bills until they agreed to comply with the Quartering Act 1765

- The Quartering Act required the colonies to provide housing, food and supplies for British troops in America

-  New York reluctantly agreed to pay for at least some of the soldiers' needs 

- They feared Parliamentary action

- An act passed by Parliament on 6 July, 1768

- Passed to aid the prosecution of smugglers

- Gave Royal naval courts, over colonial courts, jurisdiction in matters concerning customs violations and smuggling

- Decisions made solely by the judge with no jury option, which was considered a fundamental right of British subjects

- The accused person had to travel to the court of jurisdiction at his own expense (considered automacically guilty if he did no appear)