ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author discusses observations on several acts of parliament. These Observations on the Sugar, Stamp and Townshend Acts were published and probably written by Bostonian merchants. The authors stress not only the ‘embarrassments’ on trade caused by duties on goods and increased number of articles enumerated under the Navigation Acts, but also, appealing to British interests, their knock-on effects on colonists’ ability to purchase British manufactures, the fact that a good deal of trading profits end up in Britain, plus the financial costs to Britain of administering new and old trade laws. In addition to taxes, the merchants detail the burdens created by ‘the multiplicity of bonds’ required for compliance with the Navigation laws and ‘a sufferance and cocket for every article laden on board’. They also complain of ‘the unlimited power given to officers of the customs’ and ‘the power and extension of the courts of Vice-Admiralty’.
