Molasses+Act

= //Molasses Act// = === Why? In the 1730's, New England actively traded for molasses with the French sugar islands. This was economically harmful to planters in the British West Indies, who urged Parliament to stamp out this trade. ===

=== Result: Unfortunately for the British planters, this law was not strictly enforced. Instead, the act gave rise to bribery and smuggling. If it had been properly enforced, New England trade would ultimately be ruined. ===

Quotes:
===// "Against the Molasses Act, Americans had only their smugglers to depend upon -- but these redoubtable gentry proved more than a match for the British. After a brief effort to enforce the act in Massachusetts in the 1740’s, the English government tacitly accepted defeat and foreign molasses was smuggled into the Northern colonies in an ever-increasing quantity. Thus the New England merchants survived -- but only by nullifying an act of Parliament" //===