The Carolinas

REspnse to the Sugar Act

The Colonists defied the new Revenue Acts as best they could. An example of that defiance is the case of the Sloop Polly . Soon after the Revenue Act was passed, she sailed into Newport Harbor carrying a load of molasses. Her owner, Job Smith, reported he had sixty-three casks of molasses on board and paid the required taxes on that amount. The revenue official of the port, John Robinson, did not believe that a ship of that size would only have such a small amount of molasses. Once the ship sailed from the port he sailed after it with a British Man-of War. Robinson overtook the Polly, and after a lengthy inspection, found out it carried twice the amount of molasses reported by its owner. Robinson seized the vessel, under the terms of the revenue act. However, he did not have the crew to sail it back to port. Robinson returned to Newport in search of help. While he was away, forty men in disguise boarded the ship. These men took off the molasses and anything else of value, and then they beached the ship. Robinson retrieved the ship, but he was arrested and charged with destroying the ship. This is just one of many examples of what took place in the colonies, while the British tried to enforce the Revenue Act. These were the first acts of blatant defiance by the Colonists against the British government.

Many of the Colonists accepted as inevitable that they would have to start paying taxes to help pay for the cost of defending the colonies. It was, however, the method these taxes were imposed that raised anger in the colonies. The fact Colonists were not consulted about the taxes and the fact that the new taxes interfered with the ability of Colonists to trade.

The imposition of the Revenue Act began the path to the revolution. Not only did it begin the first acts of resistance, it also stirred the political thoughts that led to the revolution. The best example of that was a speech by . Otis had been Advocate General of the province of Massachusetts. Otis resigned and instead appeared in court on behalf of the Boston merchants to argue against the Writs of Assistance. These writs allowed customs officials to break into homes, warehouses, and ships that were suspected of carrying smuggled goods. To Otis, the writs violated the fundamentals of the British unwritten constitution. He stated that even though the British Parliament has passed these writs, they should not be enforced by the local government, and should be repealed. Otis lost his case, but the issue of writs, which the enforcement of the revenue act brought forth, became one of a growing list of colonial grievances against England.