Chapter 20 Lesson 3

Molasses Act

(1733) A British law that imposed a tax on sugar, molasses, and rum imported from non-British colonies into North American colonies. It was intended to maintain the monopoly of the American sugar market by the West Indies sugarcane growers. It was the least successful of the Navigation Acts, since it was avoided by smuggling.

Sugar Act

(1764) British deeply in debt partl to French & Indian War. English Parliament placed a tariff on sugar, coffee, wines, and molasses. colonists avoided the tax by smuggling and by bribing tax collectors.

Declaratory Act

(1766) Stated that the British Parliament had the same power to tax in the colonies as it did in Great Britain. Parliament emphasized its authority to make binding laws on the American colonies.

Currency Act

1764 Stopped colonial printing of paper money & forced colonists to pay in gold and silver

Boston Massacre

1770, street clash between townspeople and Irish soldiers ordered to guard British custom houses.

Tea Act

1773 act which eliminated import tariffs on tea entering England and allowed the British East India Company to sell directly to consumers rather than through merchants. Led to the Boston Tea Party.

Boston Tea Party

A 1773 protest against British taxes in which Boston colonists disguised as Mohawks dumped valuable tea into Boston Harbor.

Quebec Act

A law passed by Parliament in response to the Boston Tea Party, Expanded the borders of Canada, took land away from the colonies and gave it to Quebec, tried to take away colonies local self-rights

Navigation Acts

A series of British regulations which taxed goods imported by the colonies from places other than Britain, or otherwise sought to control and regulate colonial trade. Increased British-colonial trade and tax revenues. The Navigation Acts were reinstated after the French and Indian War because Britain needed to pay off debts incurred during the war, and to pay the costs of maintaining a standing army in the colonies.

Royal Proclamation

Act passed by Britain that attempted to keep the colonies from settling the lands west of the Appalachian Mountains in attempt to ease pressure from the Natives and to save money

Quartering Acts

Parliament enacted them to order local governments of the American colonies to provide the British soldiers with any needed accommodations. It also required citizens to provide food for any British soldiers in the area.

Stamp Act 1765

Parliament's first direct tax on the Colonies; taxed newspapers, pamphlets, legal documents, dice and playing cards

Townshend Acts

Passed by Parliament in 1767, placed taxes on imported materials such as glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. Led to outrage and tons of people boycotted British goods.

Intolerable Acts

Passed by Parliament in 1774 in reaction to the Boston Tea Party. Passed series of measures including shutting down Boston Harbor and the Quartering Act, which allowed British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private homes and other buildings. This resulted in the colonists forming the First Continental Congress and drawing up a declaration of colonial rights. - Tom says this was a combination of the Coercive Acts and the Quebec Act.