The+Townshend+Acts

**Describe the Townshend Acts**

The Townshend Acts were many laws that were passed in 1767 by the Parliament of Great Britain, relating to the British colonies in North America. The Townshend Acts assigned taxes on items such as tea, paper, lead, and glass. The act only assigned taxes on items that came from Great Britain, which "directly contradicted mercantile theory". The acts are named after a prime minister, Charles Townshend, who was the treasurer of England and believed in demanding taxes of the colonies. Charles Townshend suggested the acts after he replaced William Pitt in 1766, who was a well-known prime-minister. There are five common acts that are included under the heading of the Townshend Acts; there are “ the Revenue Act of 1767, the Indemnity Act, the Commissioners of Customs Act, the Vice Admiralty Court Act, and the New York Restraining Act.” Out of the five acts, the most popular acts are the Revenue Act of 1767 and the New York Restraining Act. The New York Restraining Act is the Act in which Townshend appended the New York representative government for declining to follow with the Quartering Act in 1765 in which firewood and candles, as well as housing, were forced to be granted to soldiers who were placed in the colonies. The British government had gotten the impression that because the colonists had objected to the Stamp Act taxes, colonists would therefore accept the” external taxes” of the Townshend Acts, such as taxes on goods that came from Britain. || == ==

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 * **Why was the Acts Created?**

The purpose of the Townshend Acts was to gain money from the colonies to pay off the free of governors and judges, so they would be free of colonial rule. In the 1760s, people in the British government in the American colonies left and arrived often. This made it hard for Britain to create or demand a persistent American guideline. So that is why Charles Townshend proposed the acts of putting taxes on items such as tea, paper, lead and glass. With a high unemployment rate and high debt, Charles Townshend thought that it would make more sense to please the people in Britain, than to be concerned about the colonists who were far way . Large landowners in Britain demanded a 25% tax cut for themselves. Charles Townshend collected taxes on the colonies, which could bring them near revolution and independence. The Townshend Act also created an American board of procedure administrator courts at Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston, which angered the merchants more. The merchants were angered because of the harsh demanding of taxes, and at the British using the taxes that were collected for their benefit .  But mostly the Townshend Acts were created to collect revenue from the colonists in America, by putting taxes on goods of glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea that came from Britain. || ==== ====

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 * **How did the colonists react to the Townshend Acts? **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The colonists definitely overreacted to the Townshend Act. When Parliament put the Townshend act in action the colonists were outraged. They were outraged because they didn’t have someone representing them in government. The colonists and a man named Samuel Adams took action and wrote a circular letter. The circular letter stated that it wasn’t fair that British government was taxing them without a representative. Both the colonists and England were both annoyed at each other. The colonists expressed their anger by protesting by boycotting British goods. The colonist also tarred and feathered people who got in their way during their protesting. Tar and feathers were a penalty that was often used during protesting or other situations that led to disagreements. Tar is a hot liquid that is often used on roads or pavements, when someone is covered in tar they would often also be covered in feathers as a punishment. Even though the colonists reacted badly they still got their message across to Britain. ||

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 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">How did the colonist’s reaction affect the British? **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The British were outraged when they realized the colonists were protesting against them. King George asked Wills Hill to make a response letter to the circular letter written by Samuel Adams. Wills Hill then sent out a British circular letter to show the colonies their supremacy. Britain thought the colonies would give up right away and surrender but the colonies did the opposite. The colonies became united. When the British realized what the colonists were doing they complained very loudly. The British complaints later led to the British war ships. The British war ships sailed to Boston and blocked the harbor. Since the British blocked the harbor merchants couldn’t bring in goods or send them out. This later led to the Boston tea party. The British didn’t succeed in the Townshend Act. The British didn’t show the colonies who were in charge. || //http://www.history.org// || media type="file" key="Untitled (6).wma" width="300" height="300" ||
 * **How did their reaction affect themselves?**

The reaction to the Townshend Acts affected the colonists greatly. The first way is that since the colonists began to boycott British goods, the whole trade system died down. This eventually led to the colonists relying on each other for food and other resources. Since the colonists were now relying on each other instead of England, Parliament removed all the taxes except for the one on tea in 1770. Although Parliament removed almost all the taxes the fact that they left the one on tea lead to a controversy of tea drinking in America, and the Boston Tea Party. ||

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 * **What followed?**

Many things followed the Townshend Acts. The first thing that followed the Townshend Acts was the protesting against the Acts. The colonists protested in numerous ways such as making petitions, boycotting British goods, and fighting with violence. In order for the colonists to succeed they needed to unite and protest against Parliament together. So, the Massachusetts Assembly sent a letter to the colonial government telling them that they need to unite to protest against the Townshend Acts. Also John Dickenson, a Pennsylvania lawyer made a speech which including him stating that it was okay for Parliament to control the trade but not for them to make new taxes for the colonists. || ==========

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=//Charles Townshend//. N.d. //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Dec. 2011. Web. 4 Dec. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org>.=
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