Essay: Sugar Act in American Revolution

Sample Essay

The Sugar Act was the first act to be passed immediately after the end of the seven year war as a means to generate revenues for the colonial government to cater for some of their defense cost. It was passed in 1764 and it required that a tax of three pence per gallon of molasses and other specified goods to be paid on export. The cost of Sugar Act was just half of the Sugar and Molasses Act passed in 1733 .

The new strategy on the sugar act was to reduce the tax but to enforce the law more strictly since the former sugar and molasses Act enforcement was lax . Though the strategy increased the revenue for the British government and the taxes paid by the colonists, it attracted so much opposition from the colonial leaders claiming that it was an act without representation since they had no cabinet to represent their interests. ‘The colonial governments of New York and Massachusetts sent formal letters of protest to Parliament’ . The opposition was further triggered by the fact that the act was passed during a period of economic downturn, meaning that the state of the economy that was prevailing at the time was not favorable to the business people.

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