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 British Parliament became determined to enforce the new sugar act of 1764. When the British suddenly stiffened enforcement of the law, the colonists resented it. The British used naval patrols and royal inspectors to search colonial warehouses and even private residences, thus angering the colonists further.