British Acts

British Acts

Iron Act of 1750

Navigation Acts of 1651

Woolens Act of 1699

Molasses Act of 1733

Hat Act of 1732

The Navigation Acts were passed in October 1651. They were originally primarily aimed toward the Dutch and required all goods to be transported to England or its colonies by English ships manned by English citizens. Certain enumerated commodities such as sugar, cotton, tobacco, ect. were only to be exported to England.

The Wool Act was passed by British Parliament & banned the exporting of wool from the colonies, limited the importing of wool to that produced by Britain and taxed wool sales.

The Molasses Act of 1733 was an act passed by British Paliament placing prohibitive duties on sugar, rum and molasses imported from non-British West Indian islands to the North American colonies.

The Hat Act of 1732 restricted colonial manufacture and exports of hats in direct competition with English hat makers. It forbade exportation of hats from the colonies, limited apprenticeships and forbade the hiring of blacks in the trade.

The Iron Act of 1750 was intended to stem the development of colonial manufacturing in competition with home industries by restricting the growth of the American iron industry to the supply of raw materials. It provided for duty-free importation of colonial pig iron bar iron into any English port.

Sugar Act of 1764

Stamp Act of 1765

Proclamation of 1763

Mutiny/Quartering Act of 1765

Currency Act of 1764

The Sugar Act of 1764 put a three pence per gallon tax on foreign refined sugar and increased taxes on coffee, indigo and certain kinds of wine. This is a modified version of the Molasses Act, reducing the rate of tax by half from six pence per gallon to three pence per gallon.

The Currency Act of 1764 banned the use of paper currency in all colonies. This act sought to protect British merchants from being paid in depreciated colonial currency.

The Stamp Act of 1765 was a tax imposed directly on American colonists by the British government. This act required the colonists to pay a tax on all paper documents.

The Quartering Act, an amendment to the Mutiny Act, required colonial authorities and their families to provide food, fuel, transportation and shelter to the British military soldiers that were stationed in their towns or villages.

The British issued a proclamation at the end of the French and Indian War in 1763 which intended to satisfy the Indians by checking the intrusion of settlers on their lands.

Intolerable Acts of 1774

Townshend Acts of 1767

Declaratory Act of 1766

Tea Act of 1773

Quebec Act of 1774

The Intolerable Acts, also known as the Coercive Acts, were a series disciplinary laws mostly set against Massachusetts for acts of colonial defiance.

The Quebec Act of 1774 instituted a permanent administration in Canada, replacing the temporary government which was created at the time of the Proclamation of 1763. It gave the French Canadians complete religious freedom and restored the French form of civil war.

The Declaratory Act was a statement by the British Parliament that accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act. The declaration stated that the British Parliament/s taxing authorities was the same in America as in Great Britain. It emphasized on Parliament's power to make laws binding on the American colonies.

The Tea Act of 1773 was the main cause of the Boston Tea Party. It was supposed to help the troubled British East India company by reducing duties imposed on tea sold by the company. This encouraged the colonists to buy British-taxed tea.

The Townshend Acts were proposed by Charles Townshend and passed by British Parliament. The purpose of the series of four acts was to collect revenue from the colonists in America by putting customs duties on imports of glass, lead, paper, paints, and tea.