-
Colonists were smuggling molasses and sugar from France to avoid the British taxes from the original Molasses Tax, but Britain naturally didn't like that. They made a new and improved Sugar Tax which did basically the same thing, just even more. The colonists told Britain that they literally couldn't afford any more than one penny per gallon, but Britain made it three.
Sugar Act | Summary & Facts | Britannica Money. (n.d.). Www.britannica.com. https://www.britannica.com/money/topic/Sugar-Act -
This act said that colonists could no longer print paper money or even use it. They had to use British coins which they didn't have, or pure gold, which they didn't have either. Basically, this act made it so colonists couldn't buy anything, which is extremely hard to do if you are planning on surviving for an extended period of time.
MHS Collections Online: An Act to prevent Paper Bills of Credit, hereafter to be issued in any of His Majesty’s Colonies or Plantations in America ... (2022) -
The Seven Year's War was extremely expensive, and Britain needed a way to pay back their now astronomical debt. They decided the best way to do this, without hurting their own citizens, was to tax the colonists. They made a law that every paper product had to have a stamp on it or you would be fined, and this hurt the wealthy people (who were the main ones using paper goods), and those people were dangerous ones to make mad.
The Stamp Act, 1765 | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History -
Governing in the colonies was expensive, due to the fact that it was on an entirely different continent and a whole ocean apart. Therefore, Britain raised the tax rates on glass, lead, paper, paint, and tea to try and recompense that original expense. This, of course, angered the colonists and so they decided to push back and agreed to refrain from buying any British imports and therefore avoid any of the Townshend taxes.
Library of Congress 1766-1767 -
Britain made it so, even with the Townshend tax, this tea was the cheapest so that they would have to buy this brand. This upset the colonists, and so they enacted the Boston Tea Party, which was when they dressed up as Indians and threw barrels full of tea into the Boston Harbor.
The Tea Act and the Boston Tea Party | Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, VA. (n.d.). Www.jyfmuseums.org. https://www.jyfmuseums.org/learn/research-and-collections/essays/the-tea-act-and-the-boston-tea-party