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 (1764), the Stamp Act (1765), and the Townshend Acts (1767) were merely some of the unpopular pieces of legislation placed upon the American colonies for the purpose of raising funds to pay the French and Indian War debt. Years of unrest and discord followed.