Demerara sugar

The Sugar Act 1764, also known as the American Revenue Act 1764 or the American Duties Act, was a revenue-raising act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain on 5 April 1764. The Molasses Act 1733 was passed by Parliament largely at the insistence of demerara sugar plantation owners in the British West Indies.

Molasses from French, Dutch, and Spanish West Indian possessions was inexpensive. During the Seven Years’ War, known in Colonial America as the French and Indian War, the British government substantially increased the national debt to pay for the war. George Grenville did not expect the colonies to contribute to the interest or the retirement of the debt, but he did expect the Americans to pay a portion of the expenses for colonial defense. The Molasses Act was set to expire in 1763.

The Commissioners of Customs anticipated greater demand for both molasses and rum as a result of the end of the war and the acquisition of Canada. They believed that the increased demand would make a sharply reduced rate both affordable and collectible. When passed by Parliament, the new Sugar Act of 1764 halved the previous tax on molasses. The new act listed specific goods, the most important being lumber, which could only be exported to Britain. Ship captains were required to maintain detailed manifests of their cargo and the papers were subject to verification before anything could be unloaded from the ships.

Customs officials were empowered to have all violations tried in vice admiralty courts rather than by jury trials in local colonial courts, where the juries generally looked favorably on smuggling as a profession. American historian Fred Anderson wrote that the purpose of the Act was “to resolve the problems of finance and control that plagued the postwar empire”. America, and those that adjusted old rates in such a way as to maximize revenues. The Sugar Act was passed by Parliament on 5 April 1764, and it arrived in the colonies at a time of economic depression. A good part of the reason was that a significant portion of the colonial economy during the Seven Years’ War was involved with supplying food and supplies to the British Army.

New England ports especially suffered economic losses from the Sugar Act as the stricter enforcement made smuggling molasses more dangerous and risky. Also they argued that the profit margin on rum was too small to support any tax on molasses. Forced to increase their prices, many colonists feared being priced out of the market. Two prime movers behind the protests against the Sugar Act were Samuel Adams and James Otis, both of Massachusetts. For if our Trade may be taxed why not our Lands? In August 1764, fifty Boston merchants agreed to stop purchasing British luxury imports, and in both Boston and New York City there were movements to increase colonial manufacturing. There were sporadic outbreaks of violence, most notably in Rhode Island.