Equal Protection and Race........................................................................................................ 1839. Overview..............................................................................................................................
Sugar cane plantations in the colonies of the West Indies. The older Sugar and Molasses tax charged the customer a duty of 6 pence per gallon of molasses. The bribe to customs officials per gallon of smuggled molasses was 1.5p. The new Sugar Act lowered the duty to 3p per gallon.
The Sugar Act of 1764 was Britains first attempt to tax the Americans for purposes of revenue. If it was the greatest precedent for the Stamp Act of 1765, it was not the only one. The five years before the Stamp Act Crisis saw many other invasions of American rights by the British.