Sugar act.
The popular name of an act of the British Parliament, officially known as the molasses act. In 1733 the
British government laid a prohibitive duty on all sugar and molasses imported into
North America from the islands of
France, for the purpose of compelling the people of
New England particularly to purchase their sugar and molasses from the planters in the
English West Indies.
In 1763, when Lord Grenville became prime minister, he introduced into Parliament two measures of vast importance to the
American colonists.
The first was the revival of the old molasses act; the second was the notorious
Stamp act (q. v.). The immediate effects of the reinforcement of the molasses act were seen in the trade relations between the
New England colonies and the
French West Indies.
The
New England people depended largely upon the products of their fisheries, and
[
455]
a considerable portion found a ready market in the
French West Indies.
Those possessions in turn depended upon the molasses raised therein, and the
French government, in order to force a market for the sugar, forbade the planters paying for the fish with anything except molasses.
The trade between the
New England colonies and the
French West Indies, accordingly, becoming a matter of great importance to the people of both sections, and the reinforcements of the original act could have but two results: either the New-Englanders would have to pay the
 |
|
A sugar Refinery. |
[
456]
exorbitant duty on the
French West Indies molasses, or have it seized without ceremony or compensation.
