today we're looking at the sugar and stamp act
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questions down in the description in the wake of the french and indian war the british were
seriously in debt after borrowing money to pay to fight the war in north america after they defeated
the french the british gained new territory but had a debt now estimated to be over 140 million
pounds in order to pay down this debt the british decided to impose new taxes on the american
colonies which of course led to resistance and eventually a revolution the first of these new
taxes was actually a modification of a previous tax that had been in place the sugar act otherwise
called the plantation act or revenue act of 1764 actually lowered the tax on imported molasses
which molasses is a thick syrup made during the sugar making process and was very popular
with the colonists to sweeten their tea the sugar act actually cut the tax in half but also called
for increased restrictions on smugglers bringing molasses into the american colonies that weren't
paying the tax for years the american colonists had been dodging paying the tax by smuggling or
sneaking molasses in without paying the tax and the british put a lower tax in place hoping that
the colonists would just go ahead and pay the tax now rather than you know trying to smuggle it in
furthermore the act put limitations on exporting certain items such as lumber and iron to other
countries other than england this act along with the proclamation of 1763 basically marked the end
of salutary neglect in the american colonies remember salutary neglect was the time period
from 1621 to 1763 in which the british basically ignored the american colonies and allowed them to
do as they pleased to say the least the colonists were not happy as the sugar act had almost
immediate negative economic impact on the colonies as trade with other countries was was basically
cut off and the colonists began to argue that the act was unfair because it was imposed upon them
by a british parliament where the colonists had no elected representative and the battle
cry became and of course remained throughout the time period no taxation without representation
next to come was the stamp act of 1765. the act placed new taxes on legal documents wills diplomas
and marriage licenses it also taxed newspapers almanacs playing cards basically any commercial
or legal piece of paper all these items named in the law had to have a stamp on them showing that
the tax had been paid and the colonists responded even more forcefully colonists believed that only
they or their elected officials in the colonies had the right to pass new taxes and so they began
to boycott or refuse to buy certain items that were taxed by this act the colonies began to
unite as never before behind this resistance to the stamp act in october of 1765 nine colonies
sent delegates to meet and draw up a petition or formal document arguing for something to be done
this petition was called the declaration of rights and grievance and they sent it to king
george and parliament to end the stamp taxes the king in parliament initially ignored the request
by arguing that the colonies had benefited from the british victory during the french and indian
war and the american colonists should pay their share of the debt but eventually the boycotts
and the simple fact that enforcing the tax was costing a lot of money basically prompted the
british to repeal or cancel the stamp act in 1766 the british also repealed the sugar act in 1766
and replaced it with the revenue act although the british repealed the stamp act the damage had been
done the colonists were beginning to organize against any british attempt to impose taxes
one of the most well-known resistance groups of course were the sons of liberty and of course i'll
cover them in another bell ringer but furthermore the colonists viewed the repeal of the stamp act
and sugar act as victories over the british they began to believe that that with enough resistance
they could overcome any new laws passed by the british however the british did not see things
that way the debt from the french indian war remained and the sugar and stamp act were simply
the beginning of a cycle of british of the british imposing new taxes and then repealing
them and eventually these tensions over taxes and representation will lead of course to the
american revolution so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching