Townshend Act
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The Townshend Acts () or Townshend Duties, were a series of British acts of
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
passed during 1767 and 1768 introducing a series of taxes and regulations to fund administration of the British colonies in America. They are named after the
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
who proposed the program. Historians vary slightly as to which acts they include under the heading "Townshend Acts", but five are often listed: * The New York Restraining Act 1767 passed on 5 June 1767. * The Revenue Act 1767 passed on 26 June 1767. * The Indemnity Act 1767 passed on 29 June 1767. * The Commissioners of Customs Act 1767 passed on 29 June 1767. * The Vice Admiralty Court Act 1768 passed on 6 July 1768. The purposes of the acts were to: * raise revenue in the colonies to pay the salaries of governors and judges so that they would remain loyal to Great Britain. * create more effective means of enforcing compliance with trade regulations. * punish the
Province of New York The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the Uni ...
for failing to comply with the 1765
Quartering Act The Quartering Acts were two or more Acts of British Parliament requiring local governments of Britain's North American colonies to provide the British soldiers with housing and food. Each of the Quartering Acts was an amendment to the Mutiny A ...
. * establish the precedent that the British Parliament had the right to tax the colonies. The Townshend Acts met stiff resistance in the colonies, and public opposition to them was widely debated in colonial newspapers. Opponents of the Acts gradually became violent, leading to the
Boston Massacre The Boston Massacre (known in Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain as the Incident on King Street) was a confrontation in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which a group of nine British soldiers shot five people out of a crowd of three or four hu ...
of 1770. The Acts placed an indirect tax on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea, all of which had to be imported from Britain. This form of revenue generation was Townshend's response to the failure of the
Stamp Act 1765 The Stamp Act 1765, also known as the Duties in American Colonies Act 1765 (5 Geo. III c. 12), was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America and required that many printed materials i ...
, which had provided the first form of direct taxation placed upon the colonies. However, the import duties proved to be similarly controversial. Colonial indignation over the acts was expressed in
John Dickinson John Dickinson (November 13 Julian_calendar">/nowiki>Julian_calendar_November_2.html" ;"title="Julian_calendar.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Julian calendar">/nowiki>Julian calendar November 2">Julian_calendar.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Julian calendar" ...
's ''
Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania ''Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania'' is a series of essays written by the Pennsylvania lawyer and legislator John Dickinson (1732–1808) and published under the pseudonym "A Farmer" from 1767 to 1768. The twelve letters were widely read and r ...
'' and in the
Massachusetts Circular Letter The Massachusetts Circular Letter was a statement written by Samuel Adams and James Otis Jr., and passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives (as constituted in the government of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, not the current constitu ...
. There was widespread protest, and American port cities refused to import British goods, so Parliament began to partially repeal the Townshend duties. In March 1770, most of the taxes from the Townshend Acts were repealed by Parliament under
Frederick, Lord North Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (13 April 17325 August 1792), better known by his Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom, courtesy title Lord North, which he used from 1752 to 1790, was 12th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Min ...
. However, the import duty on tea was retained in order to demonstrate to the colonists that Parliament held the sovereign authority to tax its colonies, in accordance with the Declaratory Act 1766. The British government continued to tax the American colonies without providing representation in Parliament. American resentment, corrupt British officials, and abusive enforcement spurred colonial attacks on British ships, including the burning of the ''Gaspee'' in 1772. The Townshend Acts' taxation of imported tea was enforced once again by the Tea Act 1773, and this led to the
Boston Tea Party The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell tea ...
in 1773 in which Bostonians destroyed a large shipment of taxed tea. Parliament responded with severe punishments in the
Intolerable Acts The Intolerable Acts were a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws aimed to punish Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest of the Tea Act, a tax measure ...
1774. The Thirteen Colonies drilled their militia units, and war finally erupted in
Lexington and Concord The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord ...
in April 1775, launching the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
.


Background

Following the
Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
(1756–1763), the British government was deep in debt. To pay a small fraction of the costs of the newly expanded empire, the
Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a new unified Kingdo ...
decided to levy new taxes on the colonies of
British America British America comprised the colonial territories of the English Empire, which became the British Empire after the 1707 union of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, in the Americas from 16 ...
. Previously, through the
Trade and Navigation Acts The Navigation Acts, or more broadly the Acts of Trade and Navigation, were a long series of English laws that developed, promoted, and regulated English ships, shipping, trade, and commerce between other countries and with its own colonies. The ...
, Parliament had used taxation to regulate the trade of the empire. But with the
Sugar Act The Sugar Act 1764, also known as the American Revenue Act 1764 or the American Duties Act, was a revenue-raising act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain on 5 April 1764. The preamble to the act stated: "it is expedient that new provisi ...
of 1764, Parliament sought, for the first time, to tax the colonies for the specific purpose of raising revenue. American colonists argued that there were constitutional issues involved. The Americans claimed they were not represented in Parliament, but the British government retorted that they had "
virtual representation Virtual representation was the idea that the members of Parliament, including the Lords and the Crown-in-Parliament, reserved the right to speak for the interests of all British subjects, rather than for the interests of only the district that ele ...
", a concept the Americans rejected. This issue, only briefly debated following the Sugar Act, became a major point of contention after Parliament's passage of the
Stamp Act 1765 The Stamp Act 1765, also known as the Duties in American Colonies Act 1765 (5 Geo. III c. 12), was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America and required that many printed materials i ...
. The Stamp Act proved to be wildly unpopular in the colonies, contributing to its repeal the following year, along with the failure to raise substantial revenue. Implicit in the Stamp Act dispute was an issue more fundamental than taxation and representation: the question of the extent of Parliament's authority in the colonies. Parliament provided its answer to this question when it repealed the Stamp Act in 1766 by simultaneously passing the
Declaratory Act The American Colonies Act 1766 (6 Geo. III c 12), commonly known as the Declaratory Act, was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act 1765 and the amendment of the Sugar Act. Parliament repealed ...
, which proclaimed that Parliament could legislate for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever".


The Five Townshend Acts


The New York Restraining Act 1767

This was the first of the five acts, passed on 5 June 1767. It forbade the New York Assembly and the governor of New York from passing any new bills until they complied with the Quartering Act 1765. That act required New York to provide housing, food and supplies for the British troops stationed there to defend the colony. New York resisted the Quartering Act saying they were being taxed, yet had no direct representation in Parliament. Furthermore, New York didn't think British soldiers were needed any more, since the
French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...
had come to an end. Before the act was implemented, New York reluctantly agreed to provide some of the soldiers' needs, so it was never implemented.


The Revenue Act 1767

This was the second of the five acts, passed on 26 June 1767. It placed taxes on glass, lead, painters' colors, paper, and tea. It gave customs officials broad authority to enforce the taxes and punish smugglers through the use of "
writs of assistance In common law, a writ (Anglo-Saxon ''gewrit'', Latin ''breve'') is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, an ...
", general warrants that could be used to search private property for smuggled goods. There was an angry response from colonists, who deemed the taxes a threat to their rights as British subjects. The use of writs of assistance was significantly controversial since the right to be secure in one's private property was an established right in Britain.


The Indemnity Act 1767

This act was the (joint) third act, passed on 29 June 1767, the same day as the Commissioners of Customs Act (see below). '
Indemnity In contract law, an indemnity is a contractual obligation of one party (the ''indemnitor'') to compensate the loss incurred by another party (the ''indemnitee'') due to the relevant acts of the indemnitor or any other party. The duty to indemni ...
' means 'security or protection against a loss or other financial burden'. The Indemnity Act 1767 reduced taxes on the
British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
when they imported tea into England. This allowed them to re-export the tea to the colonies more cheaply and resell it to the colonists. Until this time, all items had to be shipped to England first from wherever they were made and then re-exported to their destination, including to the colonies. This followed from the principle of
mercantilism Mercantilism is an economic policy that is designed to maximize the exports and minimize the imports for an economy. It promotes imperialism, colonialism, tariffs and subsidies on traded goods to achieve that goal. The policy aims to reduce a ...
in England, which meant the colonies were forced to trade only with England. The
British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
was one of England's largest companies but was on the verge of collapse due to much cheaper smuggled Dutch tea. Part of the purpose of the entire series of Townshend Acts was to save the company from imploding. Since tea smuggling had become a common and successful practice, Parliament realized how difficult it was to enforce the taxing of tea. The Act stated that no more taxes would be placed on tea, and it made the cost of the East India Company's tea less than tea that was smuggled via
Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
. It was an incentive for the colonists to purchase the East India Company tea.


The Commissioners of Customs Act 1767

This act was passed on 29 June 1767 also. It created a new Customs Board for the North American colonies, to be headquartered in Boston with five customs commissioners. New offices were eventually opened in other ports as well. The Board was created to enforce shipping regulations and increase tax revenue. Previously, customs enforcement was handled by the Customs Board back in England. Due to the distance, enforcement was poor, taxes were avoided and smuggling was rampant. Once the new Customs Board was in operation, enforcement increased, leading to a confrontation with smuggling colonists. Incidents between customs officials, military personnel and colonists broke out across the colonies, eventually leading to the occupation of Boston by British troops. This led to the
Boston Massacre The Boston Massacre (known in Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain as the Incident on King Street) was a confrontation in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which a group of nine British soldiers shot five people out of a crowd of three or four hu ...
.


The Vice Admiralty Court Act 1768

This was the last of the five acts passed. It was not passed until 6 July 1768, a full year after the other four. Lord Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, after whom the Townshend Acts were named, had died suddenly in September 1767. Because of this, some scholars do not include the Vice-Admiralty Court Act with the other Townshend Acts, but most do since it deals with the same issues. The Act was not passed by Parliament, but by the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, with the approval of the King. The Act was passed to aid the prosecution of smugglers. It gave Royal naval courts, rather than colonial courts, jurisdiction over all matters concerning customs violations and smuggling. Before the Act, customs violators could be tried in an admiralty court in Halifax, Nova Scotia, if royal prosecutors believed they would not get a favourable outcome using a local judge and jury. The Vice-Admiralty Court Act added three new royal admiralty courts in Boston, Philadelphia and Charleston to aid in more effective prosecutions. These courts were run by judges appointed by the Crown and who were awarded 5% of any fine the judge levied when they found someone guilty. The decisions were made solely by the judge, without the option of trial by jury, which was considered to be a fundamental right of British subjects. In addition, the accused person had to travel to the court of jurisdiction at his own expense; if he did not appear, he was automatically considered guilty.


Townshend's program


Raising revenue

The first of the Townshend Acts, sometimes simply known as the Townshend Act, was the Revenue Act 1767. This act represented the
Chatham ministry The Chatham ministry was a British government led by William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham that ruled between 1766 and 1768. Because of Pitt's former prominence before his title, it is sometimes referred to as the Pitt ministry. Unusually for a poli ...
's new approach to generating tax revenue in the American colonies after the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766. The British government had gotten the impression that because the colonists had objected to the Stamp Act on the grounds that it was a direct (or "internal") tax, colonists would therefore accept indirect (or "external") taxes, such as taxes on imports.Reid, ''Authority to Tax'', 33–39. With this in mind, Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, devised a plan that placed new
duties A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; fro, deu, did, past participle of ''devoir''; la, debere, debitum, whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may ...
on paper, paint, lead, glass, and tea that were imported into the colonies. These were items that were not produced in North America and that the colonists were only allowed to buy from Great Britain. The colonists' objection to "internal" taxes did not mean that they would accept "external" taxes; the colonial position was that any tax laid by Parliament for the purpose of raising revenue was unconstitutional. "Townshend's mistaken belief that Americans regarded internal taxes as unconstitutional and external taxes constitutional", wrote historian John Phillip Reid, "was of vital importance in the history of events leading to the Revolution." The Townshend Revenue Act received the
royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
on 29 June 1767.Thomas, ''Duties Crisis'', 31. There was little opposition expressed in Parliament at the time. "Never could a fateful measure have had a more quiet passage", wrote historian Peter Thomas. The Revenue Act was passed in conjunction with the Indemnity Act 1767, which was intended to make the tea of the
British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
more competitive with smuggled Dutch tea. The Indemnity Act repealed taxes on tea imported to England, allowing it to be re-exported more cheaply to the colonies. This tax cut in England would be partially offset by the new Revenue Act taxes on tea in the colonies. The Revenue Act also reaffirmed the legality of
writs of assistance In common law, a writ (Anglo-Saxon ''gewrit'', Latin ''breve'') is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, an ...
, or general
search warrant A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to confiscate any evidence they find. In most countries, ...
s, which gave customs officials broad powers to search houses and businesses for smuggled goods. The original stated purpose of the Townshend duties was to raise a revenue to help pay the cost of maintaining an army in North America. Townshend changed the purpose of the tax plan, however, and instead decided to use the revenue to pay the salaries of some colonial governors and judges. Previously, the colonial assemblies had paid these salaries, but Parliament hoped to take the "
power of the purse The power of the purse is the ability of one group to manipulate and control the actions of another group by withholding funding, or putting stipulations on the use of funds. The power of the purse can be used positively (e.g. awarding extra fund ...
" away from the colonies. According to historian John C. Miller, "Townshend ingeniously sought to take money from Americans by means of parliamentary taxation and to employ it against their liberties by making colonial governors and judges independent of the assemblies." Some members of Parliament objected because Townshend's plan was expected to generate only £40,000 in yearly revenue, but he explained that once the precedent for taxing the colonists had been firmly established, the program could gradually be expanded until the colonies paid for themselves. According to historian Peter Thomas, Townshend's "aims were political rather than financial".


American Board of Customs Commissioners

To better collect the new taxes, the Commissioners of Customs Act 1767 established the American Board of Customs Commissioners, which was modeled on the British Board of Customs. The Board was created because of the difficulties the British Board faced in enforcing trade regulations in the distant colonies. Five commissioners were appointed to the board, which was headquartered in Boston. The American Customs Board would generate considerable hostility in the colonies towards the British government. According to historian Oliver Dickerson, "The actual separation of the continental colonies from the rest of the Empire dates from the creation of this independent administrative board." The American Board of Customs Commissioners was notoriously corrupt, according to historians. Political scientist Peter Andreas argues: :merchants resented not only the squeeze on smuggling but also the exploits by unscrupulous customs agents that came with it. Such "customs racketeering" was, in the view of colonial merchants, essentially legalized piracy. Historian Edmund Morgan says: :In the establishment of this American Board of Customs Commissioners, Americans saw the extension of England's corrupt system of officeholding to America. As Professor Dickerson has shown, the Commissioners were indeed corrupt. They engaged in extensive "customs racketeering" and they were involved in many of the episodes of heightened the tension between England and the colonies: it was on their request that troops were sent to Boston; The Boston Massacre took place before their headquarters; the "Gaspee" was operating under their orders. Historian Doug Krehbiel argues: :Disputes brought to the board were almost exclusively resolved in favor of the British government. Vice admiralty courts claimed to prosecute vigorously smugglers but were widely corrupt—customs officials falsely accused ship owners of possessing undeclared items, thereby seizing the cargoes of entire vessels, and justices of the juryless courts were entitled to a percentage of the goods from colonial ships that they ruled unlawful. Writs of assistance and blanket search warrants to search for smuggled goods were liberally abused. John Hancock, the wealthy New England merchant, had his ship "Liberty" seized in 1768 on a false charge, incensing the colonists. Charges against Hancock were later dropped and his ship returned because of the fear that he would appeal to more scrupulous customs officials in Britain. Another measure to enforce the trade laws was the Vice Admiralty Court Act 1768. Although often included in discussions of the Townshend Acts, this act was initiated by the
Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...
when Townshend was not present and was not passed until after his death. Before this act, there was just one
vice admiralty court Vice Admiralty Courts were juryless courts located in British colonies that were granted jurisdiction over local legal matters related to maritime activities, such as disputes between merchants and seamen. American Colonies American maritime act ...
in North America, located in Halifax,
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
. Established in 1764, this court proved to be too remote to serve all of the colonies, and so the 1768 Vice Admiralty Court Act created four district courts, which were located at Halifax, Boston,
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, and
Charleston Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...
. One purpose of the vice admiralty courts, which did not have
juries A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England durin ...
, was to help customs officials prosecute smugglers since colonial juries were reluctant to convict persons for violating unpopular trade regulations. Townshend also faced the problem of what to do about the
New York General Assembly The General Assembly of New York, commonly known internationally as the New York General Assembly, and domestically simply as General Assembly, was the supreme legislative body of the Province of New York during its period of proprietal colonia ...
, which had refused to comply with the Quartering Act 1765 because its members saw the act's financial provisions as levying an unconstitutional tax. The New York Restraining Act, which according to historian Robert Chaffin was "officially a part of the Townshend Acts", suspended the power of the Assembly until it complied with the Quartering Act. The Restraining Act never went into effect because, by the time it was passed, the New York Assembly had already appropriated money to cover the costs of the Quartering Act. The Assembly avoided conceding the right of Parliament to tax the colonies by making no reference to the Quartering Act when appropriating this money; they also passed a resolution stating that Parliament could not constitutionally suspend an elected legislature.


Reaction

Townshend knew that his program would be controversial in the colonies, but he argued that, "The superiority of the mother country can at no time be better exerted than now." The Townshend Acts did not create an instant uproar like the Stamp Act had done two years earlier, but before long, opposition to the programme had become widespread. Townshend did not live to see this reaction, having died suddenly on 4 September 1767. The most influential colonial response to the Townshend Acts was a series of twelve essays by
John Dickinson John Dickinson (November 13 Julian_calendar">/nowiki>Julian_calendar_November_2.html" ;"title="Julian_calendar.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Julian calendar">/nowiki>Julian calendar November 2">Julian_calendar.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Julian calendar" ...
entitled "
Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania ''Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania'' is a series of essays written by the Pennsylvania lawyer and legislator John Dickinson (1732–1808) and published under the pseudonym "A Farmer" from 1767 to 1768. The twelve letters were widely read and r ...
", which began appearing in December 1767.Chaffin, "Townshend Acts", 132. Eloquently articulating ideas already widely accepted in the colonies, Dickinson argued that there was no difference between "internal" and "external" taxes, and that any taxes imposed on the colonies by Parliament for the sake of raising a revenue were unconstitutional. Dickinson warned colonists not to concede to the taxes just because the rates were low since this would set a dangerous precedent. Dickinson sent a copy of his "Letters" to James Otis of
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
, informing Otis that "whenever the Cause of American Freedom is to be vindicated, I look towards the Province of Massachusetts Bay". The
Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...
began a campaign against the Townshend Acts by first sending a petition to King George asking for the repeal of the Revenue Act, and then sending a letter to the other colonial assemblies, asking them to join the resistance movement. Upon receipt of the
Massachusetts Circular Letter The Massachusetts Circular Letter was a statement written by Samuel Adams and James Otis Jr., and passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives (as constituted in the government of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, not the current constitu ...
, other colonies also sent petitions to the king. Virginia and Pennsylvania also sent petitions to Parliament, but the other colonies did not, believing that it might have been interpreted as an admission of Parliament's sovereignty over them. Parliament refused to consider the petitions of Virginia and Pennsylvania. In Great Britain,
Lord Hillsborough Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire, (30 May 1718 – 7 October 1793), known as The 2nd Viscount Hillsborough from 1742 to 1751 and as The 1st Earl of Hillsborough from 1751 to 1789, was a British politician of the Georgian era. Best known ...
, who had recently been appointed to the newly created office of Colonial Secretary, was alarmed by the actions of the Massachusetts House. In April 1768 he sent a letter to the colonial governors in America, instructing them to dissolve the colonial assemblies if they responded to the Massachusetts Circular Letter. He also sent a letter to Massachusetts Governor Francis Bernard, instructing him to have the Massachusetts House rescind the Circular Letter. By a vote of 92 to 17, the House refused to comply, and Bernard promptly dissolved the legislature. When news of the outrage among the colonists finally reached Franklin in London he wrote a number of essays in 1768 calling for "civility and good manners", even though he did not approve of the measures. In 1770, Franklin continued writing essays against the Townsend Acts and
Lord Hillsborough Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire, (30 May 1718 – 7 October 1793), known as The 2nd Viscount Hillsborough from 1742 to 1751 and as The 1st Earl of Hillsborough from 1751 to 1789, was a British politician of the Georgian era. Best known ...
and wrote eleven attacking the Acts that appeared in the ''
Public Advertiser The ''Public Advertiser'' was a London newspaper in the 18th century. The ''Public Advertiser'' was originally known as the ''London Daily Post and General Advertiser'', then simply the ''General Advertiser'' consisting more or less exclusively o ...
'', a London daily newspaper. The essays were published between January 8 and February 19, 1770 and can be found in ''
The Papers of Benjamin Franklin ''The Papers of Benjamin Franklin'' is a collaborative effort by a team of scholars at Yale University, American Philosophical Society and others who have searched, collected, edited, and published the numerous letters from and to Benjamin Fran ...
''.


Boycotts

Merchants in the colonies, some of them smugglers, organized economic boycotts to put pressure on their British counterparts to work for repeal of the Townshend Acts. Boston merchants organized the first non-importation agreement, which called for merchants to suspend importation of certain British goods effective 1 January 1768. Merchants in other colonial ports, including New York City and Philadelphia, eventually joined the boycott. In Virginia, the non-importation effort was organized by
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
and
George Mason George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of the three delegates present who refused to sign the Constitution. His writings, including s ...
. When the Virginia
House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been established ...
passed a resolution stating that Parliament had no right to tax Virginians without their consent, Governor
Lord Botetourt Baron Botetourt ( ) is an abeyant title in the Peerage of England. It was created by writ of summons on 19 June 1305. It became abeyant in 1406, was recalled from abeyance in 1764 for Norborne Berkeley. However, it became abeyant again on his dea ...
dissolved the assembly. The members met at
Raleigh Tavern The Raleigh Tavern was a tavern in Williamsburg, Virginia, and was one of the largest taverns in colonial Virginia. It gained some fame in the pre-American Revolutionary War Colony of Virginia as a gathering place for legislators after several Ro ...
and adopted a boycott agreement known as the "Association". The non-importation movement was not as effective as promoters had hoped. British exports to the colonies declined by 38 percent in 1769, but there were many merchants who did not participate in the boycott. The boycott movement began to fail by 1770 and came to an end in 1771.


Unrest in Boston

The newly created American Customs Board was seated in Boston, so it was there that the Board concentrated on enforcing the Townshend Acts. The acts were so unpopular in Boston that the Customs Board requested assistance. Commodore Samuel Hood sent the fifty-gun fourth-rate ship HMS ''Romney'', which arrived in
Boston Harbor Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States. History Since ...
in May 1768. On 10 June 1768, customs officials seized the ''
Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
'', a sloop owned by leading Boston merchant
John Hancock John Hancock ( – October 8, 1793) was an American Founding Father, merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the ...
, on allegations that the ship had been involved in smuggling. Bostonians, already angry because the captain of the ''Romney'' had been impressing local sailors, began to riot. Customs officials fled to
Castle William Fort Independence is a granite bastion fort that provided harbor defenses for Boston, Massachusetts. Located on Castle Island (Massachusetts), Castle Island, Fort Independence is one of the oldest continuously fortified sites of England, English ...
for protection. With
John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
serving as his lawyer, Hancock was prosecuted in a highly publicized trial by a
vice-admiralty court Vice Admiralty Courts were juryless courts located in British colonies that were granted jurisdiction over local legal matters related to maritime activities, such as disputes between merchants and seamen. American Colonies American maritime act ...
, but the charges were eventually dropped. Given the unstable state of affairs in Massachusetts, Hillsborough instructed Governor Bernard to try to find evidence of
treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
in Boston. Parliament had determined that the
Treason Act 1543 The Treason Act 1543 ( 35 Hen 8 c 2) was an Act of the Parliament of England passed during the reign of King Henry VIII of England, which stated that acts of treason or misprision of treason that were committed outside the realm of England could ...
was still in force, which would allow Bostonians to be transported to England to stand trial for treason. Bernard could find no one who was willing to provide reliable evidence, however, and so there were no treason trials. The possibility that American colonists might be arrested and sent to England for trial produced alarm and outrage in the colonies. Even before the ''Liberty'' riot, Hillsborough had decided to send troops to Boston. On 8 June 1768, he instructed General
Thomas Gage General Thomas Gage (10 March 1718/192 April 1787) was a British Army general officer and colonial official best known for his many years of service in North America, including his role as British commander-in-chief in the early days of the ...
,
Commander-in-Chief, North America The office of Commander-in-Chief, North America was a military position of the British Army. Established in 1755 in the early years of the Seven Years' War, holders of the post were generally responsible for land-based military personnel and ac ...
, to send "such Force as You shall think necessary to Boston", although he conceded that this might lead to "consequences not easily foreseen". Hillsborough suggested that Gage might send one regiment to Boston, but the ''Liberty'' incident convinced officials that more than one regiment would be needed. People in Massachusetts learned in September 1768 that troops were on the way.
Samuel Adams Samuel Adams ( – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and ...
organized an emergency, extralegal convention of towns and passed resolutions against the imminent occupation of Boston, but on 1 October 1768, the first of four regiments of the
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began disembarking in Boston, and the Customs Commissioners returned to town. The "
Journal of Occurrences The ''Journal of Occurrences'', also known as ''Journal of the Times'' and ''Journal of Transactions in Boston'', was a series of newspaper articles published from 1768 to 1769 in the ''New York Journal and Packet'' and other newspapers, chronicling ...
", an anonymously written series of newspaper articles, chronicled clashes between civilians and soldiers during the military occupation of Boston, apparently with some exaggeration. Tensions rose after
Christopher Seider Christopher Seider (or Snider) (1758 – February 22, 1770) was a young boy who is considered to be the first American killed in the American Revolution. He was 11 years old when he was shot and killed by loyalist Ebenezer Richardson in Boston on F ...
, a Boston teenager, was killed by a customs employee on 22 February 1770. Although British soldiers were not involved in that incident, resentment against the occupation escalated in the days that followed, resulting in the killing of five civilians in the
Boston Massacre The Boston Massacre (known in Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain as the Incident on King Street) was a confrontation in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which a group of nine British soldiers shot five people out of a crowd of three or four hu ...
of 5 March 1770. After the incident, the troops were withdrawn to Castle William.


Partial repeal

On 5 March 1770— the same day as the Boston Massacre although news traveled slowly at the time, and neither side of the Atlantic was aware of this coincidence—
Lord North Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (13 April 17325 August 1792), better known by his courtesy title Lord North, which he used from 1752 to 1790, was 12th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782. He led Great Britain through most o ...
, the new Prime Minister, presented a motion in the House of Commons that called for partial repeal of the Townshend Revenue Act.Knollenberg, ''Growth'', 71. Although some in Parliament advocated a complete repeal of the act, North disagreed, arguing that the tea duty should be retained to assert "the right of taxing the Americans". After debate, the Repeal Act received the
Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
on 12 April 1770. Historian Robert Chaffin argued that little had actually changed:
It would be inaccurate to claim that a major part of the Townshend Acts had been repealed. The revenue-producing tea levy, the American Board of Customs and, most important, the principle of making governors and magistrates independent all remained. In fact, the modification of the Townshend Duties Act was scarcely any change at all.Chaffin, "Townshend Acts", 140.
The Townshend duty on tea was retained when the 1773 Tea Act was passed, which allowed the East India Company to ship tea directly to the colonies. The Boston Tea Party soon followed, which set the stage for the American Revolution.


Notes


Bibliography

* Chaffin, Robert J. "The Townshend Acts crisis, 1767–1770". ''The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the American Revolution''. Jack P. Greene, and J.R. Pole, eds. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1991; reprint 1999. . * Dickerson, Oliver M. ''The Navigation Acts and the American Revolution''. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press The University of Pennsylvania Press (or Penn Press) is a university press affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The press was originally incorporated with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on 26 Ma ...
, 1951. * * * Knollenberg, Bernhard. ''Growth of the American Revolution, 1766–1775''. New York: Free Press, 1975. . * Labaree, Benjamin Woods. ''The Boston Tea Party''. Originally published 1964. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1979. . * Jensen, Merrill. ''The Founding of a Nation: A History of the American Revolution, 1763–1776''. New York:
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 1968. * Miller, John C. ''Origins of the American Revolution''.
Stanford University Press Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It was among the presses officially ...
, 1959. * Reid, John Phillip. ''In a Rebellious Spirit: The Argument of Facts, the Liberty Riot, and the Coming of the American Revolution''. University Park:
Pennsylvania State University Press The Penn State University Press, also known as The Pennsylvania State University Press, was established in 1956 and is a non-profit publisher of scholarly books and journals. It is the independent publishing branch of the Pennsylvania State Uni ...
, 1979. . * Reid, John Phillip. ''Constitutional History of the American Revolution, II: The Authority to Tax''. Madison:
University of Wisconsin Press The University of Wisconsin Press (sometimes abbreviated as UW Press) is a non-profit university press publishing peer-reviewed books and journals. It publishes work by scholars from the global academic community; works of fiction, memoir and po ...
, 1987. . * Thomas, Peter D. G. ''The Townshend Duties Crisis: The Second Phase of the American Revolution, 1767–1773''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. .


Further reading

* Barrow, Thomas C. ''Trade and Empire: The British Customs Service in Colonial America, 1660–1775''.
Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...
, 1967. * Breen, T. H. ''The Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence''. Oxford University Press, 2005. ; . * Brunhouse, Robert Levere. "The Effect of the Townshend Acts in Pennsylvania." ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' (1930): 355–373
online
* Chaffin, Robert J. "The Townshend Acts of 1767." ''William and Mary Quarterly: A Magazine of Early American History'' (1970): 90-121
in JSTOR
* Chaffin, Robert J. "The Townshend Acts crisis, 1767–1770." in Jack P. Greene, J. R. Pole eds., ''A Companion to the American Revolution'' (2000) pp: 134–150
online
* Knight, Carol Lynn H. ''The American Colonial Press and the Townshend Crisis, 1766–1770: A Study in Political Imagery''. Lewiston: E. Mellen Press, 1990. * Leslie, William R. "The Gaspee Affair: A Study of Its Constitutional Significance." The ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'' (1952): 233–256
in JSTOR
* Ubbelohde, Carl. ''The Vice-Admiralty Courts and the American Revolution''. Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press The University of North Carolina Press (or UNC Press), founded in 1922, is a university press that is part of the University of North Carolina. It was the first university press founded in the Southern United States. It is a member of the Ass ...
, 1960.


External links


Text of the Townshend Revenue Act

Article on the Townshend Acts
with some period documents, from the
Massachusetts Historical Society The Massachusetts Historical Society is a major historical archive specializing in early American, Massachusetts, and New England history. The Massachusetts Historical Society was established in 1791 and is located at 1154 Boylston Street in Bost ...

Documents on the Townshend Acts and Period 1767–1768
{{UK legislation 1767 in the Thirteen Colonies Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain Great Britain Acts of Parliament 1766 Laws leading to the American Revolution History of the Thirteen Colonies