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.
Nine provincial legislatures in America protested the passage of the Sugar Act, but seven of these objected on narrow grounds. Though many colonists objected to the act's revenue-raising taxation and regulation, opposition was minor, due to a lack of organization and the hesitancy of the legislatures to take a stand against Parliament.