Although Parliament had responded to economic pressure from America by repealing the Stamp Act, England angrily and obstinately maintained its right to tax the colonies. The other sugar duties remained, and the Declaratory Act of 1766 affirmed the right of Parliament to legislate in all matters concerning Americans. Nevertheless, there was rejoicing both in the colonies and in England, and it was generally believed that the English and American differences would be reconciled. But even then, the Quartering Act of 1765 had been on the statute books a year, with its stipulations that the colonial assemblies provide barracks, some provisions, and part of the costs of military transport for British troops stationed within the colonies. This law proved to be especially problematic in New York, where soldiers were concentrated on their way to the West. Much worse was to come, however. George Grenville had been dismissed from the British ministry in 1765, largely because King George III (age 25) disliked him. Grenville was replaced as chancellor of the exchequer by Charles Townshend. Because the great English landowners were persistently clamoring for relief from their heavy property taxes, Townshend tried once again to raise revenues in America. He felt that if the colonials objected to “internal” taxes, he would provide them with some “external” duties levied on such important articles of consumption as tea, glass, paper, and red and white lead (pigments for paint). By 1767, the Townshend duties were imposed.
Although these dutied items were definitely important to colonial life, the colonists might have accepted their taxation calmly had the British not adopted measures to put real teeth into the law. One of the Townshend Acts provided for an American Customs Board, another for the issuance by colonial courts of the hated general search warrants known as writs of assistance, and another for admiralty courts in Halifax, Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston to try smuggling cases. With a single stroke (Economic Reasoning Proposition 1, scarcity forces us to make choices), the British ministry succeeded once again in antagonizing a wide cross-section of the American populace, and again resistance flared—this time in the form of both peaceful petitions and mob violence, culminating in the 1770 Boston Massacre, which left five colonials dead. Once more the nonimportation agreements, especially effective in the port towns (see page 65, Map 4.1), were imposed. Only in the Chesapeake colonies—the one major colonial region spared a court of admiralty—was this boycott fairly unsuccessful.29 Nevertheless, by late 1769, American imports had declined to perhaps one-third of their normal level. The value of lost
English sales in the colonies exceeded ?1 million in 1768 and 1769 combined, and once again, English merchants exerted pressure to change trade policy. For the second time, Parliament appeared to acquiesce to colonial demands. In 1770, all the Townshend duties except the duty on tea were repealed, and although some of the most distasteful acts remained on the books, everyone except a few colonial hotheads felt that a peaceful settlement was possible. Trade was resumed, and a new level of prosperity was reached in 1771.
World History
