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.
However colonists did agree that Parliament had the power to enact measures to benefit trade but not to legislate and internal American tax. External taxes, such as the Sugar Act, Navigation Acts or Molasses Act had all been accepted as tax affecting trade, a simple import duty.