Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts were a series of British Acts of Parliament passed during 1767 and 1768 and relating to the British in North America. The acts are named after Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who proposed the program.
What was the Revenue Act of 1767 Quizlet?
Revenue Act of 1767 The Revenue Act of 1767 was one of the five Townshend Acts that placed new taxes on Britain's American colonies and created a strict regime for enforcement. The Revenue Act of 1767 placed taxes on glass, lead, painters colors, tea and paper.
What did the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767 do?
The Townshend Revenue Act of 1767 placed import duties on items such as glass, lead, paint, and paper.
What was taxed in the Stamp Act of 1765?
Early attempts, such as the Stamp Act of 1765—which taxed colonists for every piece of paper they used—were met with widespread protests in America. The Townshend Acts, named after Charles Townshend, British chancellor of the Exchequer, imposed duties on British china, glass, lead, paint, paper and tea imported to the colonies.
What did the Indemnity Act of 1767 do?
The Indemnity Act of 1767 lowered the taxes that the British East India Company had to pay to import tea to England. This allowed it to be sold in the colonies for cheaper, making it more competitive against smuggled Dutch tea that was much less expensive and quite detrimental to English trade.
What did the revenue Acts do?
1942 - The Revenue Act of 1942, hailed by President Roosevelt as "the greatest tax bill in American history," passed Congress. It increased taxes and the number of Americans subject to the income tax. It also created deductions for medical and investment expenses.
What did the Townshend revenue Act of 1767 do?
The Townshend Acts were a series of measures, passed by the British Parliament in 1767, that taxed goods imported to the American colonies. But American colonists, who had no representation in Parliament, saw the Acts as an abuse of power.
What did the revenue Act of 1762 do?
Parliament passed the Revenue Act of 1762 in an attempt to halt bribery as routinely practiced by colonists circumventing the Molasses Act. To do so, the Revenue Act dispensed with absentee customs officials who, rather than collecting duties on site, resided in England and relied on deputies susceptible to corruption.
What was the revenue Act known as?
The Revenue Act of 1913, also known as the Underwood Tariff or the Underwood-Simmons Act (ch. 16, 38 Stat. 114), re-established a federal income tax in the United States and substantially lowered tariff rates.
How did colonists react to the revenue Act?
Organized Colonial Protest. American colonists responded to Parliament's acts with organized protest. Throughout the colonies, a network of secret organizations known as the Sons of Liberty was created, aimed at intimidating the stamp agents who collected Parliament's taxes.
How did the colonists react to the Townshend revenue Act?
Riotous protest of the Townshend Acts in the colonies often invoked the phrase no taxation without representation. Colonists eventually decided not to import British goods until the act was repealed and to boycott any goods that were imported in violation of their non-importation agreement.
What was the Revenue Act quizlet?
The Revenue act of 1762 put hidden taxes on the colonists. It was also the transition from the colonial assemblies to the colonists paying the royal governors' salary. This act was created to enforce the collection of trade duties in the colonies.
Why did the Stamp Act of 1765 happen?
11) On March 22, 1765, the British Parliament passed the “Stamp Act” to help pay for British troops stationed in the colonies during the Seven Years' War. The act required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp, on various forms of papers, documents, and playing cards.
What did the 1765 Stamp Act do?
Stamp Act of 1765 (1765) The Stamp Act of 1765 was ratified by the British parliament under King George III. It imposed a tax on all papers and official documents in the American colonies, though not in England.
Why was the Revenue Act needed?
What Is the Revenue Act of 1862? The Revenue Act of 1862 was an expansion of the first U.S. income tax established under the previous Revenue Act of 1861. It was passed to raise additional federal revenue to fund the war against the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.
Was the Revenue Act successful?
Great Depression. Indeed, the Revenue Act of 1932 increased American tax rates greatly in an attempt to balance the federal budget, and by doing so it dealt another contractionary blow to the economy by further discouraging spending.
Who passed the American Revenue Act?
In 1764, Grenville and his successors embarked on a complete overhaul of imperial trade policies, focusing on those that closely tied commerce to revenue. The result was a set of laws passed by Parliament between 1764 and 1773 that have become collectively known as the Revenue Acts.
What did the Revenue Act of 1926 do?
The United States Revenue Act of 1926, 44 Stat. 9, reduced inheritance and personal income taxes, cancelled many excise imposts, eliminated the gift tax and ended public access to federal income tax returns.
When was the Townshend revenue act?
29 June 1767On 29 June 1767 Parliament passes the Townshend Acts. They bear the name of Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer, who is—as the chief treasurer of the British Empire—in charge of economic and financial matters.
What was the reaction of the Townshend Act?
The resentment over the Townshend Acts divided American colonists into patriots and loyalists. The subsequent boycotts and protests forced the British government to send and quarter more troops in American cities like Philadelphia, New York and Boston.
What were the 4 Townshend Acts?
The Townshend Acts were four laws enacted by the British Parliament in 1767 that imposed and enforced the collection of taxes on the American colonies. The Townshend Acts consisted of the Suspending Act, the Revenue Act, the Indemnity Act, and the Commissioners of Customs Act.
What was the Townshend Revenue Act?
The Townshend Revenue Act of 1767 placed import duties on items such as glass, lead, paint, and paper . It also gave local officials more power to deal with smugglers and those attempting to evade paying royal taxes — all designed to help improve the profitability of the colonies to the Crown, and also more firmly establish the rule of (British) law in America.
What taxes were levied without representation in Parliament?
It turns out the colonies rejected all taxes — direct, indirect, internal, external, sales, income, any and all — that were levied without proper representation in Parliament. Townshend went further by appointing an American Board of Customs Commissioners.
What Were the Townshend Acts?
The Sugar Act of 1764 was the first direct tax on the Colonies for the sole purpose of raising revenue. It was also the first time that American colonists raised the issue of no taxation without representation. The issue would become a major point of contention the following year with the passage of the widely unpopular Stamp Act of 1765.
Why Did Parliament Pass the Townshend Acts?
From the perspective of the British government, these laws perfectly addressed the issue of colonial inefficiency, both in terms of government and revenue generation. Or, at the very least, these laws got things moving in the right direction.
What was the response to the Townshend Acts?
Response to the Townshend Acts. Knowing this perspective, it should not come as a surprise that the colonists responded harshly to the Townshend Acts. The first round of protests were calm — Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia petitioned the king to express their concern. This was ignored.
Why were the Townshend Acts called the Townshend Acts?
Quite simply, they were called the Townshend Acts because Charles Townshend, the then-Chancellor of the Exchequer (a fancy word for treasury), was the architect behind this series of laws passed in 1767 and 1768.
Why did the Patriots oppose the Townshend Act?
American Patriots strongly opposed the taxes in the Townshend Act as a violation of their rights. Demonstrators, some disguised as American Indians, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company. This political and mercantile protest became known as the Boston Tea Party.
What was the second act of 1767?
On June 26, Parliament passed the second act, the Revenue Act of 1767. This decree placed a tax on glass, lead, painters’ colors, and paper in addition to giving custom officials wide latitude to enforce the taxes and levy punishments on smugglers. In order to do so, custom officials could use a rule already in effect, ...
When did the British Parliament pass the Act of 1767?
On June 29, 17 67, the British Parliament passed an act that began as follows:
What happened to Townshend in 1767?
Townshend would not live to see the effects of his set of duties imposed on the British colonists, having died suddenly on September 4, 17 67, of a fever in London.
What act was passed in 1768?
British troops, in the future, would need to be stationed in the Massachusetts city. The fifth of the passed acts was the Vice Admiralty Court Act, although this passage did not come until July of 1768.
What was the tenant of Dickinson's letters?
The basic tenant of Dickinson’s letters was the illegality of the acts raising revenue, which was a right decreed to colonial governments, not the British Parliament. Furthermore, he espoused the idea that “the cause of one is the cause of all” in response to the singling out of New York in the Townshend Acts.
What was the New York Restraining Act?
The New York Restraining Act, passed on June 5, 1767, strictly forbade the New York Assembly, including the governor of New York from passing any new legislation until complying with the Quartering Act of 1765. New York resisted this act, which ruled that the colony pay for and provide housing for any British troops within its border, as an overreach of Parliament. Using the no taxation without representation line, this act never reached implementation as the assembly did comply with the dictates within the allotted timeframe.
What was the purpose of the Customs Board?
Passed into legislation on the same day as the Indemnity Act, the Commissioners of Customs Act created a five-person Customs Board headquartered in Boston. Enforcement and regulating shipping were the two main tenets for the board. In time other port cities would see Customs Boards created as well. Placing these boards in cities in North America instead of relying on the same establishment back in England was slated to help with the tax collecting, cutting down on smuggling, and more speedy enforcement of shipping regulations. As the board began carrying out its functions obvious frictions with merchants and colonists became more common, especially in Boston. British troops, in the future, would need to be stationed in the Massachusetts city.
What was the revenue act of 1764?
The next Revenue Act was the Currency Act of 1764, passed on April 19, 1764.
What was the last revenue act?
The last Revenue Act was the Tea Act of 1773, which had very little to do with either constitutional principle or raising a revenue. It was, rather, a pragmatic measure by Lord North to bail out the virtually bankrupt East India Company by allowing it to sell its only real asset, a surplus of almost 18 million pounds of tea sitting in London warehouses. The act eliminated all duties on tea that it re-exported to the colonies, thereby driving the cost well below that of smuggled Dutch tea, and gave the East India Company a monopoly on tea sales in America. Lord North and his ministers believed that the colonials would hardly recall the remaining Townshend duty on tea, with prices so low. They were wrong. American radicals quickly and effectively characterized the act as a subtle way to make colonials swallow the principle of parliamentary taxation. Violence and destruction greeted attempts to land the tea when ship captains did not agree to return their cargo to Britain. The Boston Tea Party, in particular, led not to repeal but to the Coercive Acts of 1774, the enforcement of which drove Britain and the colonies into the War for Independence.
What was the first law to be passed in 1764?
The Plantation Act, also known as the Sugar Act, was the first to be adopted, on April 5, 1764. Although the Act covered a great deal of commercial ground, its reduction in the duty on molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon and plan to vigorously collect it caused the most consternation in the colonies. Aggravation was especially sharp in New England, where Samuel Adams and James Otis argued that it invaded the colony's charter rights to govern itself by imposing taxation without representation.
What were the laws passed between 1764 and 1773?
The result was a series of laws passed by Parliament between 1764 and 1773 that have become collectively known as the Revenue Acts: The Plantation (or Sugar) Act (1764), the Currency Act (1764), the Stamp Act (1765), the Townshend Acts (1767), and the Tea Act (1773).
What was the first plantation act?
The Plantation Act, also known as the Sugar Act, was the first to be adopted, on April 5, 1764. Although the Act covered a great deal of commercial ground, its reduction in the duty on molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon and plan to vigorously collect it caused the most consternation in the colonies.
What was the effect of the Boston Tea Party?
Violence and destruction greeted attempts to land the tea when ship captains did not agree to return their cargo to Britain. The Boston Tea Party, in particular, led not to repeal but to the Coercive Acts of 1774, the enforcement of which drove Britain and the colonies into the War for Independence.
What was George Grenville's first task?
When George Grenville took over as "first minister" (his own term for the position that would later become prime minister) in the spring of 1763, he and his ministerial colleagues faced a daunting task: new financial resources had to be found to pay for the defense of the American colonies and to manage ...
What was the result of the Townshend Revenue Act?
The result was the resurrection of colonial hostilities created by the Stamp Act.
What happened in Boston in 1768?
Reaction assumed revolutionary proportions in Boston, in the summer of 1768, when customs officials impounded a sloop owned by John Hancock, for violations of the trade regulations. Crowds mobbed the customs office, forcing the officials to retire to a British War ship in the Harbor.
What is the purpose of the Act of 1812?
AN ACT for granting certain duties in the British colonies and plantations in America; for allowing a drawback of the duties of customs upon the exportation from this kingdom, of coffee and cocoa nuts of the produce of the said colonies or plantations; for discontinuing the drawbacks payable on china earthen ware exported to America; and for more effectually preventing the clandestine running of goods in the said colonies and plantations.
Why did the British government tax the colonies?
The British government thought the colonists should help pay the cost of their protection. The British Parliament enacted a series of taxes on the colonies for the purpose of raising revenue. Early attempts, such as the Stamp Act of 1765—which taxed colonists for every piece of paper they used—were met with widespread protests in America.
When did the Townshend tax go into effect?
The Townshend duties went into effect on November 20, 1767, close on the heels of the Declaratory Act of 1766, which stated that British Parliament had the same authority to tax the American colonies as they did in Great Britain. By December, two widely circulated documents had united colonists in favor of a boycott of British goods.
What were the duties of the Townshend Acts?
The Townshend Acts, named after Charles Townshend, British chancellor of the Exchequer, imposed duties on British china, glass, lead, paint, paper and tea imported to the colonies. Benjamin Franklin had informed the British Parliament that the colonies intended to start manufacturing their own goods rather than paying duties on imports.
Why did Charles Townshend use the import duties?
The Townshend Acts would use the revenue raised by the duties to pay the salaries of colonial governors and judges , ensuring the loyalty of America’s governmental officials to the British Crown. However, these policies prompted colonists to take action by boycotting British goods.
What happened to the colonists in 1770?
Tensions between the colonists and British troops finally boiled over on March 5, 1770, when British soldiers shot into an angry mob, killing five American colonists in an event known as the Boston Massacre.
How many British troops were in Boston in 1769?
By 1769, more than 2,000 British troops had arrived in Boston to restore order—a large number considering only about 16,000 people lived in Boston at the time. Skirmishes between patriot colonists and British soldiers—as well as colonists loyal to the British Crown—became increasingly common.
What documents united colonists in favor of a boycott of British goods?
These influential pamphlets included “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania ,” a series of essays written by Pennsylvania legislator John Dickinson and the “Massachusetts Circular Letter,” a statement written by Samuel Adams and James Otis Jr.
What Were The Townshend Acts?
Why Did Parliament Pass The Townshend Acts?
- From the perspective of the British government, these laws perfectly addressed the issue of colonial inefficiency, both in terms of government and revenue generation. Or, at the very least, these laws got things moving in the right direction. The intention was to squash the growing spirit of rebellion under the king’s boot — the colonies weren’t contributing as much as they should ha…
Response to The Townshend Acts
- Knowing this perspective, it should not come as a surprise that the colonists responded harshly to the Townshend Acts. The first round of protests were calm — Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia petitioned the king to express their concern. This was ignored. As a result, those with dissent as their goal began to more aggressively distribute their perspective, hoping to recruit m…
Repealing The Townshend Acts
- Coincidentally, on the same day as that conflict — March 5, 1770 — Parliament voted to repeal all of the Townshend Acts except the tax on tea. It’s easy to assume it was the violence that motivated this, but instant messaging didn’t exist back in the 18th century and that meant it was impossible for the news to reach England that quickly. So, no cause and effect here — just pure …
Why Were They called The Townshend Acts?
- Quite simply, they were called the Townshend Acts because Charles Townshend, the then-Chancellor of the Exchequer (a fancy word for treasury), was the architect behind this series of laws passed in 1767 and 1768. Charles Townshend had been in and out of British politics since the early 1750s, and in 1766, he was appointed this prestigious position, where he could fill out h…
Conclusion
- The passage of the Townshend Acts and the colonial response to them demonstrated the depth of difference that existed between the Crown, Parliament, and their colonial subjects. And furthermore, it showed that the issue wasn’t just about the taxes. It was about the status of the colonists in the eyes of the British, which saw them more as disposable hands working for a cor…