Chapter 4/5 Exam Flashcards
Details of the sugar act
When was it passed?
- Lowered taxes on molasses, but made taxes more strongly enforced by prosecuting smugglers.
- Established admirality courts that prosecuted smuggling merchants without a jury. Counteract colonial courts, which would acquit them.
1764
3 Repurcussions from the Sugar Act
- Angry but peaceful,* “No taxation without representation”* started.
- Colonials argued that removing trials abridges English rights.
- The British saw the absence of riots as submission and saw parliment’s power as a sanctuary of liberty
Details of the Currency Act
Banned the use of paper as a legal tender: Using a paper check as a payment of debt.
Details of the Stamp Act
When was it passed?
- First direct taxation of the colonies in an effort to fund stationed troops! Taxed printed goods, which had to have a special stamp.
1765 (After the Quartering Act)
2 aspects of Colonial reasoning behind the stamp act
- England is anassociation of equals and parliment had no right to impose internal taxes
- They invoked their rights as free Englishmen, so they can’t be treated differently than their mainland brethren. Rhetoric about liberty proliferated.
3 Colonial legal actions taken against the stamp act.
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Stamp Act Congress which 9 colonies attended (America is now inadvertently united)
1a. Treat us as englishmen, boycott British goods - House of Burgesses passed a resolution saying the colonists had the same rights as british citizens, and parliment taxing colonials without representation was illegal.
- Committee of Correspondence, intercolonial communication networks, coordinated resistance and boycotts, spread anti-tax sentiment.
2 things that happened after the repeal of the stamp act
- Liberty Poles were est. in NYC as a meeting place of ralliers/opposers of the stamp act.
- The Declatory Act was passed: “taxing you guys is perfectly legal and we retain the right to do so whenever the heck we want.” Reasserted the importance of strenghtening authority.
Colonial crazy action against the stamp acts
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Sons of Liberty were formed, and used violence and intimidation to stop tax collectors from enforcing the stamp act (tar and feathering of tax collectors, attacked fort George
-**
2 Details of the Townshend Acts
- Charles Townshend wanted to help royal Govenors reduce their dependence on assemblies by outsourcing their salaries.
- Taxed a ton of stuff (duties: import and export)
This was a series of acts!
Consequences of the Townshend Acts
- Merchant profits shriveled, not able to conduct business freely and their livelihoods were threatened.
- Increased prices made the lower class struggle.
Action taken against the Townshend Acts
- Nonimportation agreements were reimposed
- Chesapeake planters did non-importation and “retrenched expenses” (cut back on spending).
- The sons and liberty used intimidation tactics and enforced boycotts
- The daughters of liberty spun their own cloth
- Letters from a farmer in Pennsylvania: a series of essays that argued for peaceful fighting against taxation but reconciling with them other country (utilized ideas from the enlightenment).
- An association between mainland brits and self indulgence formed
- The Boston Massacre
Aftermath of the Passing of the Townshend Acts
They were repealed, except for the tax on tea.
Details of the Tea Act
- To save the East India Company from collapsing due to its speculative bubble the government stimulated distribution and sales to the colonies, resulting in very cheap tea that hurt the business of local merchants and smugglers. The tax on tea established during the Townshend Acts also remained.
Colonial Reaction to the Tea Acts
- “Brits are conspiring to make them accept unfair taxes, Londing was conspiring in favor of catholics.”
- Boston Tea Party (December 16, 1773)
British Response to the December 16 1773 Boston Tea Party
Shut Down Boston
- Lord North closed Boston’s ports until the tea would be paid for.
- Curtailed colonial town hall meetings
- Passed the Coercive/Intolerable Acts overthrowing colonial government and quartering soldiers
- The Quebec Act gave legal toleration to Canadian catholics in an attempt to keep them loyal to the crown. This further angered colonists.
When was the stamp act?
1765
WHen were the Townshend Acts passed?
`
1767
When was the Tea Act passed?
1773
