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.
This outraged many colonial leaders. However, most colonists were hesitant to claim that the Sugar Act was unconstitutional, because it seemed to be merely an amendment of the Molasses Act of 1733. Additionally, the tax burden fell most heavily upon Massachusetts New York, and Pennsylvania.