Wednesday, June 25, 2014

What was the Americans' primary way of protesting the Townshend Acts?

The Townshend Acts were placed on the American colonies in 1767. The act placed taxes on common imported goods like paint, glass, lead, and paper. The Townshend Acts were passed in an attempt to less directly tax the colonists in comparison to the Stamp Act, which was extremely unpopular.
In order to protest the Townshend Acts, the colonists took up a strategy known as an agreement of nonimportation. This strategy was eventually undertaken by merchants across the colonies. Through nonimportation agreements, merchants refused to import certain goods from Britain in order to avoid having to pay the tax. This had a significant impact on British trade with the American colonies, which is typically an effective way of bringing about change.
Women were also involved in this form of protest, as they produced clothing and other goods at home. Producing goods at home meant fewer being purchased from the British. With fewer goods being purchased from the British, the British were receiving less tax income, thus making the Townshend Acts less effective.
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=3&psid=137

No comments:

Post a Comment

What is the theme of the chapter Lead?

Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...