ABSTRACT
The ideal of British planters, as revealed in the Molasses Act, came therefore as a challenge to the future progress of the whole region from Portland to Baltimore. In view of the aspect of the subject a history of West India commerce in the generation following the Molasses Act becomes of more than local importance. Many officials and merchants in England were undoubtedly impressed by the arguments and their influence deprived the Molasses Act of the necessary public support for its enforcement. Evasions of the Molasses Act became, almost immediately after its passage, a matter of common knowledge. The Commissioners of the Customs informed the Board of Trade that, so frequent was opposition met in enforcing the Molasses Act, they desired the governors to be instructed to cooperate further in the execution of the law. From New York, flags of truce occasionally sailed with provisions to Santo Domingo and returned with sugar and molasses.
