Page 143 - American Stories, A History of the United States

would have to contribute to the maintenance of the army. The first bill he steered
5.1 through Parliament was the Revenue Act of 1764, known as the Sugar Act.
This legislation placed a new burden on the Navigation Acts that had governed the
flow of colonial commerce for almost a century (see Chapter 3). Those acts had forced
5.2 Americans to trade almost exclusively with Britain. They were not, however, primarily
intended to raise money for the British government. The Sugar Act—and the acts that
followed—redefined the relationship between America and Britain. Parliament now

5.3 expected the colonies to generate revenue. The preamble of the Sugar Act proclaimed
explicitly: “It is just and necessary that a revenue be raised . . . in America for defraying
the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the same.”
The Americans immediately protested Grenville’s scheme as unconstitutional.
5.4
The Rhode Island Assembly said that the Sugar Act taxed the colonists in a manner
“inconsistent with their rights and privileges as British subjects.” James Otis, a fiery
orator from Massachusetts, exclaimed the legislation deprived Americans of “the right
Quick Check of assessing their own taxes.”
Why did Parliament think that the The act generated no violence, however. Ordinary men and women were only mar-
colonies should contribute to paying ginally involved in drafting formal petitions. The protest was still confined to the colo-
off Britain’s national debt?
nial assemblies, merchants, and the well-to-do who had personal interests in commerce.

Read the Document James Otis, The Rights of the British Colonies
Asserted and Proved (1763)

JamEs oTis james Otis, jr. (1725–1783) of Massachusetts was a brilliant lawyer, a prolific writer, and a strong
supporter of colonial rights. He is credited with being one of the first Patriots to declare that “taxation Without
Representation is tyranny!”
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