TOWNSHEND DUTIES

As mentioned in the previous post, the British created the Declaration Act which showed that the colonies remained subordinate to the British government  and despite the repeal of the Stamp Act,  Britain’s plan to tax  the  colonies did not end.

In 1767, the then Chancellor proposed enacting law customs on the most  popular items imported by the colonies and the parliament approved the  Townshend duties which can also be referred to as the Townshend which taxed a wide variety of imports including glass, lead, paints, paper, silk, tea unlike that of the Stamp act, the new levy was an indirect tax payable at American ports.

During this period parliament also implemented several administrative measures e.g it created a board of customs and commissions to enforce trade regulation and established vice admiralty courts to the law. The British government paid salaries of colonial governors with money collected from The America etc All in All North America was made responsible for finances used for maintenance. This angered the Colonies and led to different protest and boycotts on the British and the British goods. By 1770, the intensity and rivalry between the two  (colony and colonizer) had reached its peak .  This led  to violence such as the Boston Massacre  and also  introduction of new acts and tax such as the Tea Act which  led to more violent respond like the Boston Tea Party and the Declaration of Independence.

The Boston Tea Party and Declaration of Independence shall be looked at in the next post so look forward to it

REFERENCE

Brogan, H., The Penguin History of the United State, Penguin, 1990.

Brogan, H., Longman History of the United State, 2^nd edition Longman, 1999

Leonard C. woods, etal, The American Nation: Beginning Through Reconstruction,   HBJ pub 1986.

Richard,N.C et al, American History: A survey. New York,1983.

Several Lecture on American History By Dr. E. Ibiloye, 2011/2012