“Our properties within our own territories be not taxed or regulated by any power on earth but our own.”
― Thomas Jefferson
Wier chronicles each event that pressured the colonists to revolt against the crown starting in the year 1764, just a dozen years prior to the American independence. A running theme with these events is taxation. Many of us may be familiar with the phrase “no taxation without representation,” which was popularized amongst all classes of people in the colonies. During the 1750’s and 60’s “no taxation without representation” went from being a catchy phrase to an incendiary idea sparking the eventual revolution. The “taxation” that became the bane of colonists everyday life was accompanied a series of acts that only exposed corruption and miscommunication in the SC colony, these included:
1.The Sugar Plantation Act of 1764 — an act that no sugar planters read or discussed with the Speaker of the Commons. The act was originally written to increase the planters revenue but was so complicated it is said to not have fulfilled it’s purpose. This ineffective act created no progress at any point for the agriculturally based colony and was rendered invalid in 1776. The colonists did not catch this detail of no increase revenue for almost 6 years when this act was complained about in the press during the Revolutionary War.
2.the Election Act of 1721 — an act repealed in response to a possibly rigged election that SC’s own governor, Thomas Boone in 1762 challenged. The revision of this act was suggested by Boone after it was not followed correctly by the poll handling parish in the Grant/Montgomery/Gadsden SC Representative election of 1762. This act requires those managing the poll take an oath of honesty to ensure the true results of the vote. The parish (this group of people managed all the polls for elections) skipped the honesty oath and Gadsden won. Boone demanded an investigation by the Commons on this election. Gadsden was the true winner but Boone amongst others with voting rights did not believe Gadsden was a good representative for them and through the power of the press raised awareness on this controversy. Their self published reports on dishonesty, rigged elections (nobody knows where all the votes for Gadsden came from, and it was speculated the poll managers voted for him countless times to get his number higher) and misrepresentation in the colony led to the Commons refusing to do business with Gov. Boone.
3. The Stamp Act, effective 1765 – the most famous of the acts, this stamp tax added an extra few cents on any printed or paper based item. Books, playing cards and plain paper where just some of the items that got an added tax that British parliament decided on. The special twist about this tax act was that it could only be paid in British currency, none of the colonial paper money would count towards the tax. This was especially tiring for the colonists to keep up. This tax was implemented to pay for the British soldiers stationed in the colonies after the Seven Years War (note this war ended 11 years prior to this tax yet British troops were still present).
3.1. – The Stamp Act backlash – The colonists also reacted via press to the stamp act printing “inflammatory pieces” and “poison” about the Commons, Parliament and even the stamp distributors. The SC newspaper, The Gazette a weekly publication based in Charles Town traveled through the colonies as far as Boston, New York City and Rhode Island with these messages. This was apart of the colonists peaceful protest efforts against the crown. The stamp act was repealed in 1766, only a year later but was simultaneously (in the same meeting of the Commons that the stamp act was repealed this act came into effect) replaced with the Declaratory Act.
4. The Declaratory Act 0f 1766 – Plain and simple this act said that the Colonies were not a self-governing body in any capacity and that all major decisions, laws, taxes and representation would be made by the governing body under the crown. The colonies had no say in what they wanted, it was all about what Commons and Parliament wanted for them.
5. The Tea Tax of 1773 – This tax allowed tea from the British East India Company to be shipped to the colonies but for a raised price. This is the tax that lead to the Boston Tea party and colonist boycotting both the British East India Company and tea in general. Wier believes the colonists should have been appreciative for getting such high quality tea regardless of the price.
These five acts were the fuel to the fire that started the American Revolution, a people mistreated will always revolt
Comments are closed.