Townshend Act
1767
Townshend Acts summarized
Purpose:
- raise money for governors and judges to keep them loyal to Britain
- enforce compliance with trade regulation
- punish the province of New York for not agreeing with an act
- to give Britain the right to tax the colonies.
Colonies reaction and response
- Did not create an uproar at first
- Most influential response was a series of 12 essays by John Dickinson
- He talked about how there is no difference in internal and external taxes
- In 1768 the resistance in Boston went against the British troops, which resulted in the Boston massacre of 1770