Stamp Act History Project

A package of five laws with the first four being passed as Britain’s response to the Boston Tea Party Protest. The Boston Port Act closed the port of Boston until the East India Tea company was repaid for the destroyed tea. Massachusetts Government Act severely restricted the authority of colonial assemblies, banned committees of correspondence […]

The Tea Act actually placed no new tax on tea (the old tax was still in effect from the Townshend Duties). Instead, it gave the East India Company a virtual monopoly on selling tea in the colonies. Interestingly one of the intentions of the act was to lower the price of tea in the colonies […]

The law was named after Charles Tonshend the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It was designed as a smarter way to raise revenue as opposite to the heavy-handed Stamp Act passed a year earlier. The new law introduced a series of duties on common imports (such as paper, paint, glass, etc.) rather than taxing income. The law […]

The legislative act that was initiated by the British prime minister George Grenville and adopted by the British Parliament with the primary goal to raise money needed for military defences of the colonies. The revenue was created by making American population to purchase stamps that became a legal requirement for all official documents, licenses, contract, […]

The first in the series of Quartering acts passed by the British parliament. The act required colonial assemblies to provide housing, food and drink to British troops stationed in their towns. This practice existed before and usually caused no resentment during war time, but after the war colonists became more reluctant. The new act went […]

The first of the Navigation Acts was passed in 1651 and existed for almost two centuries to be fully repealed in 1849. The laws were designed to protect British economic interests in colonial trade. The law essentially dictated that the British foreign trade to be carried out only by English vessels. Favorably for American colonies, […]

This British law was an attempt to curb the smuggling that flourished in the colonies by reducing the previous tax rate and enforcing the collection of duties. It was introduced by the new British prime minister, George Grenville. The new law reduced the previous tax on sugar and molasses in half and allowed the customer to try violators in […]

The British law that imposed tax on molasses, sugar and rum imported to American colonies from non-British foreign colonies. The objective was to protect the position of British suppliers in American market against cheaper Spanish and French goods. The act not only increased the price of sugar and rum in the colonies, but also curtailed American […]