Excerpt from History of the American Wars: Comprising the War of the Revolution and the War of 1812; Being a Complete History of the United States; From the Year 1775 to 1815; With a Historical Introduction But, in an inauspicious moment, the British ministry con ceived the idea of taxing the colonies, under the pretence of providing for their protection, but in reality to relieve the nation from the immense debt, the weight of which hung heavily upon it. This impolitic scheme, originating with the cabinet, was easily introduced into parliament; and, in March, 1764, as a prelude to the memorable stamp act, the house of commons resolved, That towards defraying the necessary expenses of protecting the colonies, it may be necessary to charge certain stamp duties upon them, and this resolution was followed by what was commonly called the sugar act, passed on the 5th of April, and introduced by the following truly alarming preamble: Whereas it is just and necessary that a revenue be raised in America, for defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the same; we, the commons, towards raising the same, give and grant unto your majesty, after the 29th day of September, 1764, on clayed sugar, indigo, and coffee, of foreign produce, and various other articles, the sum of, (see. This was the first act adopted by parliament for the avowed object of raising a revenue in the colonies. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy.

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