| dbo:abstract
|
- Der Molasses Act („Melassegesetz“) war ein 1733 vom britischen Parlament verabschiedetes Zollgesetz (6 Geo II. c. 13 nach der Zählung der ), das verschiedene Ein- und Ausfuhrbeschränkungen für die britischen Kolonien in Nordamerika und der Karibik festlegte, insbesondere Zölle auf Melasse. Das Gesetz kam durch den Druck der britischen Zuckerrohrpflanzer auf den Westindischen Inseln zustande, die sich auf ihrem Hauptabsatzmarkt Neuengland zunehmend der Konkurrenz französischer und niederländischer Pflanzer ausgesetzt sahen und einen Schutzzoll einforderten. Mit dem Molasses Act wurde den amerikanischen Importeuren ein Einfuhrzoll von 6 d/Gallone auf ausländische Melasse auferlegt – mithin rund 100 % des gängigen Warenwerts; ausländischer Rum wurde mit einem Importzoll von 9 d belegt. Das Gesetz zeigte jedoch kaum Wirkung, da es systematisch durch Schmuggel umgangen wurde; Rhode Island etwa, die Kolonie, deren Wirtschaft am stärksten von der Rumbrennerei abhängig war, wies nach 1744 überhaupt kein Zollaufkommen aus dem Melasseimport aus. Nach dem Ende des Siebenjährigen Krieges wurde der Molasses Act 1764 durch den so genannten Sugar Act verlängert, der den Einfuhrzoll auf 3 d/Gallone halbierte, doch trafen die britischen Anstrengungen, diesen Zoll tatsächlich einzutreiben, auf massiven Widerstand und waren schließlich einer der Gründe für den Beginn der amerikanischen Revolution. (de)
- The Molasses Act of 1733 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain (citation 6 Geo II. c. 13) that imposed a tax of six pence per gallon on imports of molasses from non-British colonies. Parliament created the act largely at the insistence of large plantation owners in the British West Indies. The Act was passed not to raise revenue but to regulate trade by making British products cheaper than those from the French West Indies. The Act greatly affected the significant colonial molasses trade. Merchants purchased raw sugar (often in its liquid form, molasses) from plantations in the Caribbean and shipped it to New England and Europe, where it was sold to distillery companies that produced rum. Merchant capitalists used cash in New England from the sale of sugar to purchase rum, furs, and lumber, which their crews shipped to Europe. With the profits from the European sales, merchants purchased Europe's manufactured goods, including tools and weapons and on the next leg, shipped those manufactured goods, along with the American sugar and rum, to West Africa where they bartered the goods for slaves seized by local potentates. The crews then transported the slaves to the Caribbean and sold them to sugar plantation owners. The cash from the sale of slaves in Brazil, the Caribbean islands, and the American South used to buy more raw materials, restarting the cycle. The full triangle trip took a calendar year on average, according to the historian Clifford Shipton. The first leg of the triangle was from a European port to Africa, in which ships carried supplies for sale and trade, such as copper, cloth, trinkets, slave beads, guns and ammunition. When the ship arrived, its cargo would be sold or bartered for slaves. On the second leg, ships made the journey of the Middle Passage from Africa to the New World. Many slaves died of disease in the crowded holds of the slave ships. Once the ship reached the New World, enslaved survivors were sold in the Caribbean or the American colonies. The ships were then prepared to get them thoroughly cleaned, drained, and loaded with export goods for a return voyage, the third leg, to their home port, from the West Indies the main export cargoes were sugar, rum, and molasses; from Virginia, tobacco and hemp. The ship then returned to Europe to complete the triangle. The Molasses Act 1733 provided: ... there shall be raised, levied, collected and paid, unto and for the use of his Majesty ..., upon all rum or spirits of the produce or manufacture of any of the colonies or plantations in America, not in the possession or under the dominion of his Majesty ..., which at any time or times within or during the continuance of this act, shall be imported or brought into any of the colonies or plantations in America, which now are or hereafter may be in the possession or under the dominion of his Majesty ..., the sum of nine pence, money of Great Britain, ... for every gallon thereof, and after that rate for any greater or lesser quantity: and upon all molasses or syrups of such foreign produce or manufacture as aforesaid, which shall be imported or brought into any of the said colonies or plantations ..., the sum of six pence of like money for every gallon thereof ... ; and upon all sugars and paneles of such foreign growth, produce or manufacture as aforesaid, which shall be imported into any of the said colonies or plantations ... a duty after the rate of five shillings of like money, for every hundred weight Avoirdupois. ... — "Molasses Act Text - December 25, 1733". Revolutionary War and Beyond. Retrieved 18 May 2021. The historian Theodore Draper described British intent on the tax as it would affect the American colonies: Bladen [Col. Main Bladen who was a longtime member of the British Board of Trade] had conceived of the strategy of inflicting a prohibitive duty on imports from the French West Indies instead of simply disabling them. When he was confronted with the argument that the proposed bill would result in the ruin of the North American colonies, he replied, "that the duties proposed would not prove an absolute prohibition, but he owned that he meant them as something that should come very near it, for in the way the northern colonies are, they raise the French Islands at the expense of ours, and raise themselves also [to]o high, even to an independency." — , p. 100: The quote provided by Draper came from , p. 182 A large colonial molasses trade had grown between the New England and Middle colonies and the French, Dutch, and Spanish West Indian possessions. Molasses from the British West Indies, which was used in New England for making rum, was priced much higher than its competitors and they also had no need for the large quantities of lumber, fish, and other items offered by the colonies in exchange. The British West Indies in the first part of the 18th century were the most important trading partner for Great Britain so Parliament was attentive to their requests. However, rather than acceding to the demands to prohibit the colonies from trading with the non-British islands, Parliament passed the prohibitively high tax on the colonies for the import of molasses from those islands. Historian John C. Miller noted that the tax: ... threatened New England with ruin, struck a blow at the economic foundations of the Middle colonies, and at the same time opened the way for the British West Indians—whom the continental colonists regarded as their worst enemies—to wax rich at the expense of their fellow subjects on the mainland. — , p. 95 Largely opposed by colonists, the tax was rarely paid, and smuggling to avoid it was prominent. If actually collected, the tax would have effectively closed that source to New England and destroyed much of the rum industry. However, smuggling, bribery, or intimidation of customs officials effectively nullified the law. Miller wrote: 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 1740s, 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. — , p. 99 The growing corruption of local officials and disrespect for British Law caused by the act and others like it such as the Stamp Act or Townshend Acts eventually led to the American Revolution in 1776. This Act was replaced by the Sugar Act 1764. This Act halved the tax rate but was accompanied by British intent of actually collecting the tax this time. (en)
- El Acta de la Melaza de marzo de 1733 fue una ley aprobada por el Parlamento del Reino de Gran Bretaña que imponía un impuesto de seis peniques por cada galón de melaza de las colonias no-británicas. El Parlamento aprobó la ley en gran parte por la insistencia de los propietarios de grandes plantaciones en las Indias Occidentales británicas. La ley no fue aprobada con el propósito de aumentar los ingresos fiscales, sino más bien para regular el comercio al hacer más baratos los productos británicos en comparación con los de las Antillas francesas. Se considera que esta ley se circunscribe en el conjunto de Actas de Comercio y Navegación, promulgadas desde 1651 con el fin de restringir el uso de barcos extranjeros en el comercio de Inglaterra (más tarde Gran Bretaña) y sus colonias. Los impuestos aprobados por estas leyes son considerados como una de las causas económicas indirectas de la Guerra de Independencia de los Estados Unidos. El origen de esta ley se encuentra en la doctrina económica mercantilista, según la cual las exportaciones de un país debían superar sus importaciones. (es)
- La Sugar and Molasses Act est une loi britannique sur les sucres et mélasses de 1733 imposant une taxe de six cents sur chaque gallon de mélasse entrant aux treize colonies américaines. Elle sera suivie en 1764 par le Sugar Act du premier ministre George Grenville après la victoire britannique lors de la guerre de Sept Ans (fr)
- 당밀법(糖蜜法, Molasses Act)은 영국의 식민지규제입법이다. 뉴잉글랜드를 중심으로 한 아메리카 북부 식민지에서는 서인도 제도에 어류 및 목재를 수출하고 럼주의 원료인 당밀을 수입하는 것이 중요한 무역이었다. 1717년경부터 서인도 제도의 영국령 식민지의 설탕 생산자는 지력 감퇴 및 본국 정부의 자유무역 정책에 의하여 번영하기 시작한 프랑스령 식민지의 설탕 생산자에 대항하기가 어려웠다. 이에 영국령 서인도 제도의 당밀 생산자는 본국 정부와 의회를 움직여 1733년 12월에 당밀법을 발효하는데 성공하였다. 그러나 고율 관세로 미국 식민지 무역업자와 노예주들은 크게 반발하고, 남부 식민지에서는 얼마간 이행되었으나, 북부에서는 밀수로 이에 대항하였다. (ko)
- Ustawa o melasie (ang. Molasses Act), uchwalona przez parlament brytyjski w 1733 roku, wprowadziła podatek w wysokości 6 pensów za każdy galon melasy importowanej na kontynent amerykański z niebrytyjskich wysp cukrowych w Indiach Zachodnich. (pl)
|
