(Sugar Act) | One of the key Parliamentary Acts leading to the American Revolution

(Sugar Act)

Anno Regni Georgii III … An Act for granting certain Duties in the British Colonies and Plantations in America … for applying the Produce of such Duties and of the Duties to arise by the virtue of the said Act, towards defraying the Expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the said Colonies and Plantations … and more effectively preventing the clandestine Conveyance of Goods to and from the said Colonies and Plantations, and improving and securing the Trade between the same and Great Britain. London: Printed by Mark Baskett; and by the assigns of Robert Baskett, 1764

Folio (288 x 186 mm). Title-page with woodcut royal coat-of-arms. Disbound. Housed in a cloth slipcase with chemise. 

One of the key Parliamentary Acts leading to the American Revolution

The Sugar Act (1764) was intended to help defray the national debt incurred by the French and Indian War, by reducing the rate of tax on molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon, and establishing measures to actually enforce the duty. 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, and sharply reduce the trade with Madeira, the Azores, the Canary Islands, and the French West Indies. 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.

REFERENCE

ESTC N56801