Equal Protection and Race........................................................................................................ 1839. Overview..............................................................................................................................
Sugar cane plantations in the colonies of the West Indies. The older Sugar and Molasses tax charged the customer a duty of 6 pence per gallon of molasses. The bribe to customs officials per gallon of smuggled molasses was 1.5p. The new Sugar Act lowered the duty to 3p per gallon.
The Sugar Act was the first attempt England made to tax the  colonies. The act put heavy taxes on goods that merchants imported  into the colonies and it enforced harsh puniâ¦shments for those who  smuggled against England. In short, it hurt the colonial merchants  business and crippled the economy of the colonies.