What was the Townshend Acts

The Townshend Acts (/ˈtaʊnzənd/)[1] or Towshend Duties, were a series of British acts of Parliament passed during 1767 and 1768 relating to the British colonies in America. They 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 are often listed:[2]

The New York Restraining Act 1767 passed on June 5, 1767

The Revenue Act 1767 passed on June 26, 1767

The Indemnity Act 1767 passed on June 29, 1767

The Commissioners of Customs Act 1767 passed on June 29, 1767

The Vice Admiralty Court Act 1768 passed on July 6, 1768

The purposes of the acts were to:

raise revenue in the colonies to pay the salaries of governors and judges so that they would remain loyal to Great Britain

create more effective means of enforcing compliance with trade regulations

punish the Province of New York for failing to comply with the 1765 Quartering Act

establish the precedent that the British Parliament had the right to tax the colonies[3]

The Townshend Acts were met with resistance in the colonies, which eventually resulted in the Boston Massacre of 1770. They placed an indirect tax on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea, all of which had to be imported from Britain. This form of revenue generation was Townshend's response to the failure of the Stamp Act of 1765, which had provided the first form of direct taxation placed upon the colonies. However, the import duties proved to be similarly controversial. Colonial indignation over the acts was expressed in John Dickinson's Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania and in the Massachusetts Circular Letter.

Explanation:

debating and finalizing the detail of the policy