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Sugar Act
The Sugar Act was the first direct tax that Parliament imposed on the colonies. The sugar was three pence per pound, and it wasn’t even that much, but it angered the colonists. The colonists started to protest, and they felt they were being taxed without representation. This urged Parliament to keep trying to control colonists and earning the money they thought they deserved. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act stated that stamps had to be purchased by the British government and put on all important documents, except for books. The colonists were so angered that they started a Stamp Act Congress, and said that they would only accept a tax decided by colonial government. Mobs of colonists even met the boats and destroyed the stamps. Parliament passed the Stamp Act to raise money. They repealed it eventually, but then passed the Declaratory Acts. They would not accept colonial rebellion. -
Quartering Act
It required colonists to feed and shelter troops when needed. Colonists thought that this was an invasion on their rights, and felt that Parliament should not have been able to do it. They didn't even want the soldiers there in the first place. Parliament reasoned that they spent all the money to send soldiers over, so the least that the colonists could do was help them. -
Declaratory Act
The Declaratory Act stated that Parliament had the authority to pass any law they wanted that would be binding to the American colonists. This made colonists even more enraged, because this solidified that the British Parliament was trying to control them. They rebelled and protested. Parliament just kept passing laws and taxes, thinking that this new act could control the colonists. -
Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts placed a tax on all imported goods. Colonists started to boycott British goods, refusing to allow taxation of these items. Parliament repealed the acts, but they actually thought that the act would work in the start. They thought that the colonists were so eager for imports that they would spend more on them.