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.
Also known as the American Revenue Act of 1764, this act was just a harsher reinforcement of a previous act, the Sugar and Molasses Act that was passed in 1733. The Sugar Act of 1764 was established because the old act was about to expire and many colonists were avoiding the tax because of corruption.