Townshend Acts - wikipedia Townshend Acts Charles Townshend spearheaded the Townshend Acts, but died before their detrimental effects became apparent. This article is part of a series about the American Revolution 1765 -- 1783 Origins Sugar Act Currency Act Quartering Acts Stamp Act 1765 Declaratory Act No taxation without representation Townshend Acts Tea Act Boston Massacre Boston Tea Party Intolerable Acts Revolutionary War Continental Army Continental Navy Minutemen Battles Intelligence Treaty of Paris Costs Declaration of Independence Continental Congress Committee of Five Lee Resolution Articles of Confederation United States Constitution Philadelphia Convention Annapolis Convention The Federalist Papers Bill of Rights A New Republic Republicanism American Enlightenment Liberalism First Great Awakening Role of Women Legacy Atlantic Revolutions Bicentennial The Townshend Acts were a series of British acts passed beginning in 1767 and relating to the British American colonies in North America. The acts are named after Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who proposed the program. Historians vary slightly as to which acts they include under the heading `` Townshend Acts '', but five acts are often mentioned : The Revenue Act of 1767, the Indemnity Act ( 1767 ), the New York Restraining Act ( 1767 ), the Commissioners of Customs Act ( 1767 ), and the Vice Admiralty Court Act ( 1767 ). The purpose of the Townshend Acts was to raise revenue in the colonies to pay the salaries of governors and judges so that they would remain loyal to Great Britain, to create a more effective means of enforcing compliance with trade regulations, to punish the province of New York for failing to comply with the 1765 Quartering Act, and to establish the precedent that the British Parliament had the right to tax the colonies. The Townshend Acts were met with resistance in the colonies, prompting the occupation of Boston by British troops in 1768, which eventually resulted in the Boston Massacre of 1770. The Townshend Acts placed an indirect tax on glass, lead, paints, paper and tea. These goods were not produced within the colonies and had to be imported from Britain. This form of generating revenue was Townshend 's response to the failure of the Stamp Act, which served as the first form of direct taxation placed upon the colonies. However, the import duties proved to be similarly controversial. Colonial indignation over the Townshend Acts was predominantly driven by John Dickinson 's anonymous publication of Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, as well as the Massachusetts Circular Letter. As a result of widespread protest and non-importation of British goods in colonial ports, Parliament began to partially repeal the Townshend duties. In March 1770, most of the indirect taxes from the Townshend Acts were repealed by Parliament under Frederick Lord North. However, the import duty on tea was retained in order to demonstrate to the colonists that Parliament withheld the sovereign authority to tax its colonies an accordance with the Declaratory Act of 1766. The British government continued in its attempt to tax the colonists without their consent. Retaining the Townshend Acts ' taxation on imported tea, re-enforced by the Tea Act of 1773, subsequently led to the Boston Tea Party in 1773, which in turn sparked the Intolerable Acts in 1774. The American Revolution soon followed. Contents 1 Background 2 Townshend 's Program 2.1 Raising revenue 2.2 American Board of Customs Commissioners 3 Reaction 3.1 Boycotts 3.2 Unrest in Boston 4 Partial repeal 5 Notes 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links Background Following the Seven Years ' War ( 1756 -- 1763 ), the British Empire was deep in debt. To help pay some of the costs of the newly expanded empire, the British Parliament decided to levy new taxes on the colonies of British America. Previously, through the Trade and Navigation Acts, Parliament had used taxation to regulate the trade of the empire. But with the Sugar Act of 1764, Parliament sought, for the first time, to tax the colonies for the specific purpose of raising revenue. American colonists argued that there were constitutional issues involved. The Americans claimed they were not represented in Parliament but the British government retorted they had `` virtual representation, '' a concept the Americans rejected. This issue, only briefly debated following the Sugar Act, became a major point of contention following Parliament 's passage of the 1765 Stamp Act. The Stamp Act proved to be wildly unpopular in the colonies, contributing to its repeal the following year, along with the lack of substantial revenue being raised. Implicit in the Stamp Act dispute was an issue more fundamental than taxation and representation : the question of the extent of Parliament 's authority in the colonies. Parliament provided its answer to this question when it repealed the Stamp Act in 1766 by simultaneously passing the Declaratory Act, which proclaimed that Parliament could legislate for the colonies `` in all cases whatsoever ''. Townshend 's program Raising revenue The first of the Townshend Acts, sometimes simply known as the Townshend Act, was the Revenue Act of 1767. This act represented the Chatham ministry 's new approach for generating tax revenue in the American colonies after the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766. The British government had gotten the impression that because the colonists had objected to the Stamp Act on the grounds that it was a direct ( or `` internal '' ) tax, colonists would therefore accept indirect ( or `` external '' ) taxes, such as taxes on imports. With this in mind, Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, devised a plan that placed new duties on paper, paint, lead, glass, and tea that were imported into the colonies. These were items that were not produced in North America and that the colonists were only allowed to buy from Great Britain. The colonists ' objection to `` internal '' taxes did not mean that they would accept `` external '' taxes ; the colonial position was that any tax laid by Parliament for the purpose of raising revenue was unconstitutional. `` Townshend 's mistaken belief that Americans regarded internal taxes as unconstitutional and external taxes constitutional '', wrote historian John Phillip Reid, `` was of vital importance in the history of events leading to the Revolution. '' The Townshend Revenue Act received the royal assent on 29 June 1767. There was little opposition expressed in Parliament at the time. `` Never could a fateful measure have had a more quiet passage '', wrote historian Peter Thomas. The Revenue Act was passed in conjunction with the Indemnity Act of 1767, which was intended to make the tea of the British East India Company more competitive with smuggled Dutch tea. The Indemnity Act repealed taxes on tea imported to England, allowing it to be re-exported more cheaply to the colonies. This tax cut in England would be partially offset by the new Revenue Act taxes on tea in the colonies. The Revenue Act also reaffirmed the legality of writs of assistance, or general search warrants, which gave customs officials broad powers to search houses and businesses for smuggled goods. The original stated purpose of the Townshend duties was to raise a revenue to help pay the cost of maintaining an army in North America. Townshend changed the purpose of the tax plan, however, and instead decided to use the revenue to pay the salaries of some colonial governors and judges. Previously, the colonial assemblies had paid these salaries, but Parliament hoped to take the `` power of the purse '' away from the colonies. According to historian John C. Miller, `` Townshend ingeniously sought to take money from Americans by means of parliamentary taxation and to employ it against their liberties by making colonial governors and judges independent of the assemblies. '' Some members of Parliament objected because Townshend 's plan was expected to generate only £ 40,000 in yearly revenue, but he explained that once the precedent for taxing the colonists had been firmly established, the programme could gradually be expanded until the colonies paid for themselves. According to historian Peter Thomas, Townshend 's `` aims were political rather than financial ''. American Board of Customs Commissioners To better collect the new taxes, the Commissioners of Customs Act of 1767 established the American Board of Customs Commissioners, which was modeled on the British Board of Customs. The Board was created because of the difficulties the British Board faced in enforcing trade regulations in the distant colonies. Five commissioners were appointed to the board, which was headquartered in Boston. The American Customs Board would generate considerable hostility in the colonies towards the British government. According to historian Oliver M. Dickerson, `` The actual separation of the continental colonies from the rest of the Empire dates from the creation of this independent administrative board. '' The American Board of Customs Commissioners was notoriously corrupt according to historians. Political scientist Peter Andreas argues : merchants resented not only the squeeze on smuggling but also the exploits by unscrupulous customs agents that came with it. Such `` customs racketeering '' was, in the view of colonial merchants, essentially legalized piracy. Historian Edmund Morgan says : In the establishment of this American Board of Customs Commissioners, Americans saw the extension of England 's corrupt system of officeholding to America. As Professor Dickerson has shown, the Commissioners were indeed corrupt. They engaged in extensive `` customs racketeering '' and they were involved in many of the episodes of heightened the tension between England and the colonies : it was on their request that troops were sent to Boston ; The Boston Massacre took place before their headquarters ; the `` Gaspee '' was operating under their orders. Historian Doug Krehbiel argues : Disputes brought to the board were almost exclusively resolved in favor of the British government. Vice admiralty courts claimed to prosecute vigorously smugglers but were widely corrupt -- customs officials falsely accused ship owners of possessing undeclared items, thereby seizing the cargoes of entire vessels, and justices of the juryless courts were entitled to a percentage of the goods from colonial ships that they ruled unlawful. Writs of assistance and blanket search warrants to search for smuggled goods were liberally abused. John Hancock, the wealthy New England merchant, had his ship `` Liberty '' seized in 1768 on a false charge, incensing the colonists. Charges against Hancock were later dropped and his ship returned because of the fear that he would appeal to more scrupulous customs officials in Britain. Another measure to enforce the trade laws was the Vice Admiralty Court Act of 1768. Although often included in discussions of the Townshend Acts, this act was initiated by the Cabinet when Townshend was not present, and was not passed until after his death. Before this act, there was just one vice admiralty court in North America, located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Established in 1764, this court proved to be too remote to serve all of the colonies, and so the 1768 Vice Admiralty Court Act created four district courts, which were located at Halifax, Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston. One purpose of the vice admiralty courts, which did not have juries, was to help customs officials prosecute smugglers, since colonial juries were reluctant to convict persons for violating unpopular trade regulations. Townshend also faced the problem of what to do about the New York Provincial Assembly, which had refused to comply with the 1765 Quartering Act because its members saw the act 's financial provisions as levying an unconstitutional tax. The New York Restraining Act, which according to historian Robert Chaffin was `` officially a part of the Townshend Acts '', suspended the power of the Assembly until it complied with the Quartering Act. The Restraining Act never went into effect because, by the time it was passed, the New York Assembly had already appropriated money to cover the costs of the Quartering Act. The Assembly avoided conceding the right of Parliament to tax the colonies by making no reference to the Quartering Act when appropriating this money ; they also passed a resolution stating that Parliament could not constitutionally suspend an elected legislature. Reaction Townshend knew that his program would be controversial in the colonies, but he argued that, `` The superiority of the mother country can at no time be better exerted than now. '' The Townshend Acts did not create an instant uproar like the Stamp Act had done two years earlier, but before long, opposition to the programme had become widespread. Townshend did not live to see this reaction, having died suddenly on September 4, 1767. Dickinson 's Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania The most influential colonial response to the Townshend Acts was a series of twelve essays by John Dickinson entitled `` Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania '', which began appearing in December 1767. Eloquently articulating ideas already widely accepted in the colonies, Dickinson argued that there was no difference between `` internal '' and `` external '' taxes, and that any taxes imposed on the colonies by Parliament for the sake of raising a revenue were unconstitutional. Dickinson warned colonists not to concede to the taxes just because the rates were low, since this would set a dangerous precedent. Dickinson sent a copy of his `` Letters '' to James Otis of Massachusetts, informing Otis that `` whenever the Cause of American Freedom is to be vindicated, I look towards the Province of Massachusetts Bay ''. The Massachusetts House of Representatives began a campaign against the Townshend Acts by first sending a petition to King George asking for the repeal of the Revenue Act, and then sending a letter to the other colonial assemblies, asking them to join the resistance movement. Upon receipt of the Massachusetts Circular Letter, other colonies also sent petitions to the king. Virginia and Pennsylvania also sent petitions to Parliament, but the other colonies did not, believing that it might have been interpreted as an admission of Parliament 's sovereignty over them. Parliament refused to consider the petitions of Virginia and Pennsylvania. In Great Britain, Lord Hillsborough, who had recently been appointed to the newly created office of Colonial Secretary, was alarmed by the actions of the Massachusetts House. In April 1768 he sent a letter to the colonial governors in America, instructing them to dissolve the colonial assemblies if they responded to the Massachusetts Circular Letter. He also sent a letter to Massachusetts Governor Francis Bernard, instructing him to have the Massachusetts House rescind the Circular Letter. By a vote of 92 to 17, the House refused to comply, and Bernard promptly dissolved the legislature. Boycotts Non-importation agreement, dated October 1767, signed by Bostonians including Paul Revere Merchants in the colonies, some of them smugglers, organized economic boycotts to put pressure on their British counterparts to work for repeal of the Townshend Acts. Boston merchants organized the first non-importation agreement, which called for merchants to suspend importation of certain British goods effective 1 January 1769. Merchants in other colonial ports, including New York City and Philadelphia, eventually joined the boycott. In Virginia, the non-importation effort was organized by George Washington and George Mason. When the Virginia House of Burgesses passed a resolution stating that Parliament had no right to tax Virginians without their consent, Governor Lord Botetourt dissolved the assembly. The members met at Raleigh Tavern and adopted a boycott agreement known as the `` Association ''. The non-importation movement was not as effective as promoters had hoped. British exports to the colonies declined by 38 percent in 1769, but there were many merchants who did not participate in the boycott. The boycott movement began to fail by 1770, and came to an end in 1771. Unrest in Boston Paul Revere 's engraving of British troops landing in Boston in 1768. The newly created American Customs Board was seated in Boston, and so it was there that the Board concentrated on strictly enforcing the Townshend Acts. The acts were so unpopular in Boston that the Customs Board requested naval and military assistance. Commodore Samuel Hood complied by sending the fifty - gun warship HMS Romney, which arrived in Boston Harbor in May 1768. On June 10, 1768, customs officials seized the Liberty, a sloop owned by leading Boston merchant John Hancock, on allegations that the ship had been involved in smuggling. Bostonians, already angry because the captain of the Romney had been impressing local sailors, began to riot. Customs officials fled to Castle William for protection. With John Adams serving as his lawyer, Hancock was prosecuted in a highly publicized trial by a vice-admiralty court, but the charges were eventually dropped. Given the unstable state of affairs in Massachusetts, Hillsborough instructed Governor Bernard to try to find evidence of treason in Boston. Parliament had determined that the Treason Act 1543 was still in force, which would allow Bostonians to be transported to England to stand trial for treason. Bernard could find no one who was willing to provide reliable evidence, however, and so there were no treason trials. The possibility that American colonists might be arrested and sent to England for trial produced alarm and outrage in the colonies. Even before the Liberty riot, Hillsborough had decided to send troops to Boston. On 8 June 1768, he instructed General Thomas Gage, Commander - in - Chief, North America, to send `` such Force as You shall think necessary to Boston '', although he conceded that this might lead to `` consequences not easily foreseen ''. Hillsborough suggested that Gage might send one regiment to Boston, but the Liberty incident convinced officials that more than one regiment would be needed. People in Massachusetts learned in September 1768 that troops were on the way. Samuel Adams organized an emergency, extralegal convention of towns and passed resolutions against the imminent occupation of Boston, but on 1 October 1768, the first of four regiments of the British Army began disembarking in Boston, and the Customs Commissioners returned to town. The `` Journal of Occurrences '', an anonymously written series of newspaper articles, chronicled clashes between civilians and soldiers during the military occupation of Boston, apparently with some exaggeration. Tensions rose after Christopher Seider, a Boston teenager, was killed by a customs employee on 22 February 1770. Although British soldiers were not involved in that incident, resentment against the occupation escalated in the days that followed, resulting in the killing of five civilians in the Boston Massacre of 5 March 1770. After the incident, the troops were withdrawn to Castle William. Partial repeal On the 5th of March 1770 -- the same day as the Boston Massacre although news traveled slowly at the time, and neither side of the Atlantic were aware of this coincidence -- Lord North, the new Prime Minister, presented a motion in the House of Commons that called for partial repeal of the Townshend Revenue Act. Although some in Parliament advocated a complete repeal of the act, North disagreed, arguing that the tea duty should be retained to assert `` the right of taxing the Americans ''. After debate, the Repeal Act received the Royal Assent on 12 April 1770. Historian Robert Chaffin argued that little had actually changed : It would be inaccurate to claim that a major part of the Townshend Acts had been repealed. The revenue - producing tea levy, the American Board of Customs and, most important, the principle of making governors and magistrates independent all remained. In fact, the modification of the Townshend Duties Act was scarcely any change at all. The Townshend duty on tea was retained when the 1773 Tea Act was passed, which allowed the East India Company to ship tea directly to the colonies. The Boston Tea Party soon followed, which set the stage for the American Revolution. Notes Jump up ^ Dickerson ( Navigation Acts, 195 -- 95 ) for example, writes that there were four Townshend Acts, and does not mention the New York Restraining Act, which Chaffin says was `` officially a part of the Townshend Acts '' ( `` Townshend Acts '', 128 ). Jump up ^ Chaffin, `` Townshend Acts '', 126. Jump up ^ Chaffin, `` Townshend Acts '', 143. Jump up ^ Reid, Authority to Tax, 206. Jump up ^ Leonard W. Levy. Seasoned Judgments. Transaction Publishers. p. 303. Jump up ^ Thomas, Townshend Duties, 10. Jump up ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 21 -- 25. Jump up ^ The Revenue Act of 1767 was 7 Geo. III ch. 46 ; Knollenberg, Growth, 47 ; Labaree, Tea Party, 270n12. It is also known as the Townshend Revenue Act, the Townshend Duties Act, and the Tariff Act of 1767. Jump up ^ Chaffin, `` Townshend Acts '', 143 ; Thomas, Duties Crisis, 9. ^ Jump up to : Reid, Authority to Tax, 33 -- 39. Jump up ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 9 ; Labaree, Tea Party, 19 -- 20. Jump up ^ Chaffin, `` Townshend Acts '', 127. Jump up ^ Reid, Authority to Tax, 33. ^ Jump up to : Thomas, Duties Crisis, 31. Jump up ^ The Indemnity Act was 7 Geo. III ch. 56 ; Labaree, Tea Party, 269n20. It is also known as the Tea Act of 1767 ; Jensen, Founding, 435. Jump up ^ Dickerson, Navigation Acts, 196. Jump up ^ Labaree, Tea Party, 21. Jump up ^ Reid, Rebellious Spirit, 29, 135n24. Jump up ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 22 -- 23. Jump up ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 23 -- 25. Jump up ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 260. Jump up ^ Miller, Origins, 255. Jump up ^ Chaffin, `` Townshend Acts '', 128 ; Thomas, Duties Crisis, 30. Jump up ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 30. Jump up ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 47. Jump up ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 33 Jump up ^ Chaffin, `` Townshend Acts '', 130. Jump up ^ Dickerson, Navigation Acts, 199. Jump up ^ Peter Andreas, Smuggler Nation : How Illicit Trade Made America ( 2012 ) p 34 Jump up ^ Edmund S. Morgan ( 1978 ). The Challenge of the American Revolution. W.W. Norton. pp. 104 -- 5. Jump up ^ Doug Krehbiel, `` British Empire and the Atlantic World, '' in Paul Finkelman, ed., Encyclopedia of the New American Nation ( 2005 ) 1 : 228 Jump up ^ 8 Geo. III ch. 22. Jump up ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 34 -- 35. Jump up ^ Chaffin, `` Townshend Acts '', 134. Jump up ^ 7 Geo. III ch. 59. Also known as the New York Suspending Act ; Knollenberg, Growth, 296. Jump up ^ Chaffin, `` Townshend Acts '', 128. Jump up ^ Chaffin, `` Townshend Acts '', 134 -- 35. Jump up ^ Chaffin, `` Townshend Acts '', 131. Jump up ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 48 ; Thomas, Duties Crisis, 76. Jump up ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 36. ^ Jump up to : Chaffin, `` Townshend Acts '', 132. Jump up ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 50. Jump up ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 52 -- 53. Jump up ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 54. Dickinson 's letter to Otis was dated December 5, 1767. Jump up ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 54. Jump up ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 84 ; Knollenberg, Growth, 54 -- 57. Jump up ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 85, 111 -- 12. Jump up ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 112. Jump up ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 81 ; Knollenberg, Growth, 56. Jump up ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 57 -- 58. Jump up ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 59. Jump up ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 157. Jump up ^ Chaffin, `` Townshend Acts '', 138. Jump up ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 61 -- 63. Jump up ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 63. Jump up ^ `` Notorious Smuggler '', 236 -- 46 ; Knollenberg, Growth, 63 -- 65. Jump up ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 109. Jump up ^ Jensen, Founding, 296 -- 97. Jump up ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 69. Jump up ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 82 ; Knollenberg, Growth, 75 ; Jensen, Founding, 290. Jump up ^ Reid, Rebellious Spirit, 125. Jump up ^ Thomas, Duties Crisis, 92. Jump up ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 76. Jump up ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 76 -- 77. Jump up ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 77 -- 78. Jump up ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 78 -- 79. Jump up ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 81. ^ Jump up to : Knollenberg, Growth, 71. Jump up ^ 10 Geo. III c. 17 ; Labaree, Tea Party, 276n17. Jump up ^ Knollenberg, Growth, 72. Jump up ^ Chaffin, `` Townshend Acts '', 140. References Chaffin, Robert J. `` The Townshend Acts crisis, 1767 -- 1770 ''. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. Jack P. Greene, and J.R. Pole, eds. Malden, Massachusetts : Blackwell, 1991 ; reprint 1999. ISBN 1 - 55786 - 547 - 7. Dickerson, Oliver M. The Navigation Acts and the American Revolution. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, 1951. Knollenberg, Bernhard. Growth of the American Revolution, 1766 -- 1775. New York : Free Press, 1975. ISBN 0 - 02 - 917110 - 5. Labaree, Benjamin Woods. The Boston Tea Party. Originally published 1964. Boston : Northeastern University Press, 1979. ISBN 0 - 930350 - 05 - 7. Jensen, Merrill. The Founding of a Nation : A History of the American Revolution, 1763 -- 1776. New York : Oxford University Press, 1968. Miller, John C. Origins of the American Revolution. Stanford University Press, 1959. Reid, John Phillip. In a Rebellious Spirit : The Argument of Facts, the Liberty Riot, and the Coming of the American Revolution. University Park : Pennsylvania State University Press, 1979. ISBN 0 - 271 - 00202 - 6. Reid, John Phillip. Constitutional History of the American Revolution, II : The Authority to Tax. Madison : University of Wisconsin Press, 1987. ISBN 0 - 299 - 11290 - X. Thomas, Peter D.G. The Townshend Duties Crisis : The Second Phase of the American Revolution, 1767 -- 1773. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1987. ISBN 0 - 19 - 822967 - 4. Further reading Barrow, Thomas C. Trade and Empire : The British Customs Service in Colonial America, 1660 -- 1775. Harvard University Press, 1967. Breen, T.H. The Marketplace of Revolution : How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence. Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 0 - 19 - 518131 - X ; ISBN 978 - 0 - 19 - 518131 - 9. Brunhouse, Robert Levere. `` The Effect of the Townshend Acts in Pennsylvania. '' Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography ( 1930 ) : 355 - 373. online Chaffin, Robert J. `` The Townshend Acts of 1767. '' William and Mary Quarterly : A Magazine of Early American History ( 1970 ) : 90 - 121. in JSTOR Chaffin, Robert J. `` The Townshend Acts crisis, 1767 -- 1770. '' in Jack P. Greene, J.R. Pole eds., A Companion to the American Revolution ( 2000 ) pp : 134 - 150. online Knight, Carol Lynn H. The American Colonial Press and the Townshend Crisis, 1766 -- 1770 : A Study in Political Imagery. Lewiston : E. Mellen Press, 1990. Leslie, William R. `` The Gaspee Affair : A Study of Its Constitutional Significance. '' The Mississippi Valley Historical Review ( 1952 ) : 233 - 256. in JSTOR Ubbelohde, Carl. The Vice-Admiralty Courts and the American Revolution. Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, 1960. External links Text of the Townshend Revenue Act Article on the Townshend Acts, with some period documents, from the Massachusetts Historical Society Documents on the Townshend Acts and Period 1767 -- 1768 British law and the American Revolution Royal Proclamations, Acts of Parliament, and other legal issues relating to the American Revolution Before 1763 Navigation Acts Wool Act ( 1699 ) Hat Act ( 1732 ) Molasses Act ( 1733 ) Iron Act ( 1750 ) Grenville ministry ( 1763 -- 1765 ) Royal Proclamation of 1763 Sugar Act ( 1764 ) Currency Act ( 1764 ) Quartering Act ( 1765 ) Stamp Act ( 1765 ) Rockingham ministry ( 1765 -- 1766 ) Repeal Act ( March 1766 ) Declaratory Act ( March 1766 ) Revenue Act ( June 1766 ) Chatham and Grafton ministries ( 1766 -- 1770 ) Townshend Acts ( 1767 ) North ministry ( 1770 -- 1782 ) Repeal Act ( 1770 ) Tea Act ( 1773 ) Coercive Acts ( 1774 ) Conciliatory Resolution ( February 1775 ) Restraining Acts ( March & April 1775 ) Proclamation of Rebellion ( August 1775 ) Prohibitory Act ( December 1775 ) Taxation of Colonies Act ( 1778 ) Other legal issues Rights of Englishmen Writ of assistance Admiralty courts Parson 's Cause ( 1763 ) Taxation without representation Origins of the American Revolution : writings American resolves, declarations, petitions, essays and pamphlets prior to the Declaration of Independence ( July 1776 ) Following the Stamp Act ( 1765 ) Virginia Resolves ( May 1765 ) Braintree Instructions ( September 1765 ) Declaration of Rights and Grievances ( October 1765 ) An Inquiry into the Rights of the British Colonies ( 1766 ) Following the Townshend Acts ( 1767 ) Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania ( 1767, 1768 ) Massachusetts Circular Letter ( February 1768 ) Journal of Occurrences ( 1768, 1769 ) Virginia Association ( May 1769 ) Boston Pamphlet ( 1772 ) Sheffield Declaration ( January 1773 ) Following the Coercive Acts ( 1774 ) Maryland Chestertown Resolves ( May 1774 ) Bush River Resolution ( March 1775 ) Massachusetts Suffolk Resolves ( September 1774 ) New York Orangetown Resolutions ( July 1774 ) A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress ( December 1774 ) The Farmer Refuted ( February 1775 ) North Carolina Mecklenburg Resolves or Declaration ( May 1775 ) Liberty Point Resolves ( June 1775 ) Tryon Resolves ( August 1775 ) Halifax Resolves ( April 1776 ) Virginia Fairfax Resolves ( July 1774 ) Fincastle Resolutions ( January 1775 ) Virginia Declaration of Rights ( June 1776 ) 1st Continental Congress Declaration and Resolves ( October 1774 ) Continental Association ( October 1774 ) Petition to the King ( October 1774 ) 2nd Continental Congress Olive Branch Petition ( July 1775 ) Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms ( July 1775 ) May 15 preamble ( May 1776 ) Lee Resolution ( July 1776 ) Essays and pamphlets `` Letters to the inhabitants of Canada '' ( 1774, 1775, 1776 ) A Summary View of the Rights of British America ( 1774 ) Novanglus ( 1775 ) Common Sense ( January 1776 ) Thoughts on Government ( Spring, 1776 ) United Kingdom legislation Pre-Parliamentary legislation List of English statutes Charter of Liberties Magna Carta Acts of Parliament by states preceding the Kingdom of Great Britain Parliament of England to 1483 1485 -- 1601 1603 -- 1641 Interregnum ( 1642 -- 1660 ) 1660 -- 1699 1700 -- 1706 Parliament of Scotland to 1706 Acts of Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain 1707 -- 1719 1720 -- 1739 1740 -- 1759 1760 -- 1779 1780 -- 1800 Acts of the Parliament of Ireland to 1700 1701 -- 1800 Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 1801 -- 1819 1820 -- 1839 1840 -- 1859 1860 -- 1879 1880 -- 1899 1900 -- 1919 1920 -- 1939 1940 -- 1959 1960 -- 1979 1980 -- 1999 2000 to date Halsbury 's Statutes Legislation.gov.uk Short titles relating to the European Union 1972 to date Church of England measures List Church of England Assembly ( Powers ) Act 1919 Legislation of devolved institutions Acts of the Scottish Parliament List Acts and Measures of the National Assembly for Wales List Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland Orders - in - Council / Orders in Council Orders - in - Council for Northern Ireland ( 1972 - 2009 ) Orders in Council for Northern Ireland Secondary legislation United Kingdom Statutory Instruments various Scottish Statutory Instruments Acts of Sederunt Acts of Adjournal all others Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Townshend_Acts&oldid=816149363 '' Categories : 1767 in the Thirteen Colonies Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain Great Britain Acts of Parliament 1767 Laws leading to the American Revolution Talk Contents About Wikipedia Čeština Deutsch فارسی Français 한국어 Italiano עברית 日本 語 Polski Português Simple English Suomi Edit links This page was last edited on 19 December 2017, at 16 : 21. 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Question: when did the british parliament pass the townshend acts
Answer: beginning in 1767