For every pound weight avoirdupois of wrought silks, bengals, and stuffs, mixed with silk or herba, of the manufacture of Persia, China, or East India, imported from Great Britain, two shillings.

For every piece of callico painted, dyed, printed, or stained, in Persia, China, or East India, imported from Great Britain, two shillings and six pence.

For every piece of foreign linen cloth, called Cambrick, imported from Great Britain, three shillings.

For every piece of French lawn imported from Great Britain three shillings..

II. And it is hereby further enacted

That from and after [September 29, 1764] . . . there shall also be raised, levied, collected, and paid, unto his Majesty . . ., for and upon all coffee and pimento of the growth and produce of any British colony or plantation in America, which shall be there laden on board any British ship or vessel, to be carried out from thence or any other place whatsoever, except Great Britain, the several rates and duties following; that is to say,

III. For every hundred weight avoirdupois of such British coffee, seven shillings.

For every pound weight avoirdupois of such British pimento, one halfpenny.

[Sections V. and VI. continue the Molasses Act in force until Sept. 30, 1764, after which it is to be perpetual, subject to the changes in this present act.]

VI. And be it further enacted . That in lieu and instead of the rate and duty imposed by the said act upon melasses and syrups, there shall, from and after .. [September 29, 1764] be raised, levied, collected, and paid, unto his Majesty for and upon every gallon of melasses or syrups, being the growth, produce, or manufacture, of any colony or plantation in America, not under the dominion of his Majesty . . ., which shall be imported or brought into any colony or plantation in America, which now is, or hereafter may be, under the dominion of his Majesty the sum of three pence.

XI. And it is hereby further enacted .

which, from and after . . . [September 29,

arise by the several rates and duties herein before granted; and

also by the duties which, from and after the said [date], shall be raised upon sugars and paneles, by virtue of . . . [the Molasses Act] (except the necessary charges of raising, collecting, levying, recovering, answering, paying, and accounting for the same) shall be paid into the receipt of his Majesty's Exchequer, and shall be entered separate and apart from all other monies paid or payable to his Majesty . . . : and shall be there reserved to be, from time to time, disposed of by parliament, towards defraying the necessary expences of defending, protecting, and securing, the British colonies and plantations in America.

[September 29, 1764] . . ., no rum or spirits of the produce or manufacture of any of the colonies or plantations in America, not in the possession or under the dominion of his Majesty . . . . shall be imported or brought into any of the colonies or plantations in America which now are, or hereafter may be, in the possession or under the dominion of his Majesty •, upon forfeiture of all such rum or spirits, together with the ship or vessel in which the same shall be imported, with the tackle, apparel, and furniture thereof. . .

XIX. And it is hereby further enacted

...

That from and after. [September 29, 1764] . . ., nothing in . . . [the Molasses Act,] . . . or any other act of parliament, shall extend, or be construed to extend, to give liberty to any person or persons whatsoever to import into the kingdom of Ireland, any sort of sugars, but such only as shall be fairly and bona fide loaden and shipped in Great Britain, and carried directly from thence in ships navigated according to law.

*

* That from

XXVII. And it is hereby further enacted and after [September 29, 1764]. . ., all coffee, pimento, cocoa nuts, whale fins, raw silk, hides, and skins, pot and pearl ashes, of the growth, production, or manufacture, of any British colony or plantation in America, shall be imported directly from thence into this kingdom, or some other British colony or plantation

XXVIII. And it is hereby further enacted

and after . . . [September 29, 1764] . .

That from

no iron, nor any sort

of wood, commonly called Lumber, as specified in an act passed in the eighth year of the reign of King George the First, intituled, An act for giving further encouragement for the importation of naval stores, and for other purposes therein mentioned, of the growth, production, or manufacture, of any British colony or plantation in America, shall be there loaden on board any ship or vessel to be carried from thence, until sufficient bond shall be given, with one surety besides the master of the vessel, to the collector or other principal officer of the customs at the loading port, in a penalty of double the value of the goods, with condition, that the said goods shall not be landed in any part of Europe except Great Britain.

XXIX. And, for the better preventing frauds in the importation or exportation of goods that are liable to the payment of duties, or are prohibited, in the British colonies or plantations in America, it is further enacted . . . That from and after . . . [September 29, 1764] . . ., no goods, wares, or merchandizes, of any kind whatsoever, shall be shipped or laden on board any ship or vessel in any of the British colonies or plantations in America, to be carried from thence to any other British colony or plantation, without a sufferance or warrant first had and obtained from the collector or other proper officer of the customs at the port or place where such goods shall be intended to be put on Board. . .

XXX. And whereas British vessels arriving from foreign parts. at several of the out ports of this kingdom, fully or in part laden abroad with goods that are pretended to be destined to some foreign plantation, do frequently take on board some small parcels of goods in this kingdom which are entered outwards for some British colony or plantation, and a cocket and clearance thereupon granted for such goods, under cover of which the whole cargoes of such vessels are clandestinely landed in the British American dominions, contrary to several acts of parliament now in force, to the great prejudice of the trade and revenue of this kingdom; for remedy whereof, be it further enacted..., That from and after . . . [May 1, 1764,] . . . no ship or vessel shall, upon any pretence whatsoever, be cleared outwards from any port of this kingdom, for any land, island, plantation, colony, territory, or place to his Majesty belonging, or

...

which shall hereafter belong unto or be in the possession or undet the dominion of his Majesty in America, unless the whole and entire cargo of such ship or vessel shall be bona fide, and without fraud, laden and shipped in this kingdom. . .

XXXI. Provided always, That this act shall not extend, nor be construed to extend, to forfeit, for want of such cocket or clearance, any salt laden in Europe for the fisheries in New England, Newfoundland, Pensylvania, New York, and Nova Scotia, or any other place to which salt is or shall be allowed by law to be carried; wines laden in the Madeiras, of the growth thereof; and wines of the growth of the Western Islands, or Azores, and laden there; nor any horses, victuals, or linen cloth, of and from Ireland, which may be laden on board such ships or vessels.

No. 33. Stamp Act

March 22, 1765

A STAMP act formed part of the plan of colonial taxation outlined by Townshend in 1763, and adopted by Grenville when the latter became prime minister (see note to No. 32). In September, 1763, the commissioners of stamp duties were requested to draft provisions for the extension of those duties to America. In March, 1764, shortly before the passage of the Sugar Act, Grenville announced his intention of introducing, at the next session, a stamp bill; and the plan received the approval of Parliament. In the meantime, opportunity was given the colonial agents to communicate with their respective governments, in order that the colonies, in case the stamp tax were deemed objectionable, might agree upon some other method of raising the desired revenue. The prospect of parliamentary taxation was viewed with alarm in America, where a stricter enforcement of the acts of trade was already thought to threaten disaster to commerce. When, however, the subject was again brought before Parliament by Grenville, in February, 1765, the colonial agents, although remonstrating against the proposed measure, were unable to recommend any substitute; while petitions from the colonial assemblies, and from London merchants interested in the American trade, were refused consideration, under a rule of the House of Commons forbidding the reception of petitions on money bills. There was little opposition in Parliament, and the bill passed the Commons by a vote of 205 to 49, and the Lords without a division. George III. was at the time insane, and the act received the royal assent, March 22, by commission.

REFERENCES. Text in Pickering's Statutes at Large, XXVI., 179–204. The act is cited as 5 Geo. III., c. 12. The proceedings in Parliament may be followed in the Parliamentary History, XV., XVI., and the Annual Register (1765). The fullest account of the debates is in Bancroft's United States (ed. 1852), V. Bradford's Massachusetts State Papers, 33–92, gives the addresses and messages of Governor Bernard, and the answers of the House of Representatives, of that colony, in relation to the act and its repeal. The best-known contemporary expression of American opinion, called out by the Sugar Act and the proposal of a stamp act, is Otis's Rights of the British Colonies; for a more moderate statement, see Stephen Hopkins's Rights of the Colonies Examined (in R. I. Col. Records, VI.).

An act for granting and applying certain stamp duties, and other duties, in the British colonies and plantations in America, towards further defraying the expences of defending, protecting, and securing the same; and for amending such parts of the several acts of parliament relating to the trade and revenues of the said colonies and plantations, as direct the manner of determining and recovering the penalties and forfeitures therein mentioned.

WHEREAS by an act made in the last session of parliament, several duties were granted, continued, and appropriated, towards defraying the expences of defending, protecting, and sccuring, the British colonies and plantations in America: and whereas it is just and necessary, that provision be made for raising a further revenue within your Majesty's dominions in America, towards

defraying the said expences: ... be it enacted . . . That from

and after . . . [November 1, 1765,] . . . there shall be raised, levied, collected, and paid unto his Majesty, his heirs, and successors, throughout the colonies and plantations in America which now are, or hereafter may be, under the dominion of his Majesty, his heirs and successors,

For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be ingrossed, written or printed, any declaration, plea, replication, rejoinder, demurrer, or other pleading, or any copy thereof, in any court of law within the British colonies and plantations in America, a stamp duty of three pence.

[Then follow specifications of numerous kinds of legal docu ments, with the several rates of duty thereon.]