Paying+off+the+National+Debt--Popular+Protest

=Paying off the National Debt=

The colonies in the Americas were, at the time, just a part of Great Britain. Through this reasoning, the prime minister George Grenville found it just that the colonists financially support Britain in maintaining the military and paying off its debts. George Grenville proposed to the Parliament in 1764 the Revenue Act, more widely known as the Sugar Act. This act was designed to tax the colonists in the goods that they buy so that Britain can pay off its debts. This act was also designed to support the Navigation Act by discouraging colonists from doing anything that was not allowing the British making their revenues to the fullest extent. After the this new act was passed and the colonists were forced to pay extra taxes, the merchants, more so than the colonists, were very displeased. To somewhat coax the merchants, the price of molasses was brought down from 6 to 3 pense.

=Popular Protest=

George Grenville, still in charge of finding a way to get rid of the war debts of Britain, proposes another tax to put on the colonists, called the Stamp Act. This act was mainly targeted at the legislatures of the Americas in that they must buy a stamp to mark a document if it is to become valid. Colonel Isaac Barré claimed that this act will cause a major uproar in the Americas but no one chose to believe him. Of course, when the colonists were informed of this new tax, they were outrageous and a member of the House of Burgesses, Patrick Henry shouted out that this act was "illegal, unconstitutional, and unjust," and that it destroys liberty. Even though his efforts of persuading the floor that this new act was unrighteous were great, his actions were called treason and were ignored. The Virginia Resolves were misunderstood due to misinterpretation by the editors who put the resolutions up. In Massachusetts, representatives from nine colonies gathered and took part in the Stamp Act Congress that discussed problems about taxes and other things of the nature, but they did so cautiously.From resistance in meetings to the streets, the Stamp Act was soon protested by everyone and artisans and seamen in particular had mass protests. In Boston, more extreme action was taken by the "Sons of Liberty" who forced Andrew Oliver, the person in charge of stamp distribution, to resign and burned down his house afterwards. This caused leaders to realize the importance of the normal person, and for the normal person to take a stance on their beliefs. By November 1, 1765, all stamp distributors resigned and life was unchanged by the Stamp Act. But the "Sons of Liberty" threatened merchants to stop trade with Britain until the Stamp Act was repealed, and they complied due to fear. These rebellions caused people to live differently due to their past reliance on British goods, and even women took a part in it by making clothing from non-British imports.