The series of British legislative acts against American colonies is best viewed as a sequence of action and counteraction events. These acts are an excellent illustration of the socioeconomic forces that destroyed the British colonial empire and led to the American Revolution. The Stamp Act was the first serious American challenge to British power. The names of these acts are familiar to many. And how can anyone not remember a name like Molasses Act? But did British Parliament actually called it that way?

From the time the British colonized the North American territory they tried to control and protect trade and all economic exchanges with its colonies using a mercantilistic policy, which was very much in vogue at the time. The American entrepreneurial spirit did not falter; instead they found ways around the laws which led into smuggling, corruption of the authorities and a lack of respect for British law. During this colonial period and for more than a decade before the outbreak of the American Revolution, new ideas of democracy were emerging and embraced by the opposition. The opposition was led by The Sons of Liberty headed by Samuel Adams who advocated for “No British taxation without representation”.

Denunciation of the Stamp Act. Woodcut by Darley

A series of legislative acts attempted by the British to raise revenue from the colonies in order to pay for its escalating military costs were received with heated protest. Among them are the Sugar act of 1764, Stamp act of 1765, Townshend Revenue act of 1767 and the Tea act of 1773.  Resentment for lack of representation in parliament and unmet demand for equal rights as British citizens led to the Boston Massacre in 1770 and in 1773 to the Boston Tea Party. The British government reaction to The Boston tea Party was the imposition of a package of five laws known as Coercive or Intolerable Acts with the purpose of restoring authority in its colonies.

This website will present a comprehensive analysis of the actions against colonies that are thought to have brought the American Revolution.

Related Information

Navigation Act 1651

The Navigation Act existed for almost two centuries to be fully repealed in 1849. The laws were designed to protect British economic interests in colonial trade and to protect its industry against the rapidly growing Dutch navigation trade.

Molasses Act 1733

Enacted to protect sugar plantations in the West Indies. This act was not designed to raise revenue but it was part of England’s mercantile policy of the time and a continuation of the Navigation Acts.

Sugar Act 1764

Known as Sugar and Molasses Act, it required all colonial merchants to pay a certain amount of tax per imported gallon of sugar and molasses.

Stamp Act 1765

The primary goal was to raise money needed for military defenses of the colonies. The revenue was created by making the American population purchase stamps that became a legal requirement for all official documents, licenses, contract, newspapers and a long list of other paper items.

Quartering Act 1765

The act required colonial assemblies to provide housing, food and drink to British troops stationed in their towns.

Townshend Act 1767

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 rather than taxing income.

Tea Act 1773

The Tea Act was intended to benefit the East India Company by giving them the exclusive right to sell tea in the colonies, creating a monopoly which the colonists perceived as another means of “taxation without representation”.

Intolerable Acts 1774

Also known as Coercive Acts, Intolerable Acts were a package of five laws implemented by the British government with the purpose of restoring authority in its colonies.