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RARE BRITISH PARLIAMENTARY ACTS OF PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE TO THE AMERICAN COLONIES BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Collection of 125 Acts. Folio. Royal coats of arms, headpieces, and ornamental initial letters. All general title leaves are present. Neatly extracted from bound volumes and expertly mended. Scattered light spotting, toning, tide marks, and offsetting. In very good to fine condition. Housed in a pair of custom green morocco and linen clamshell boxes with elaborate gilt-decorated spines. THE CENTRAL EVENTS LEADING TO THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (1775-1783) WERE PROVOKED ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY BY THESE BRITISH PARLIAMENTARY STATUTES DESIGNED TO IMPOSE AND MAINTAIN AMERICAN COLONIAL SUBSERVIENCE TO GREAT BRITAIN. The American colonies were managed according to strict mercantilist economic policies of the day, and British attempts to assert ever-greater control over a wide range of colonial affairs caused growing tension between the Thirteen Colonies and the British government. That tension soon erupted into full-scale war, and led to the self-declared independence of the American colonies and creation of the United States of America as a federal republic. The French and Indian War (1754-1763) in America had resulted in the conquest of a vast new territory for Great Britain. The conflict left Britain deeply in debt and unable to cover the expenses for administering military protection of the American colonies from Native attacks along western frontier border regions. British Prime Minister George Grenville worked to revise and extend the scope of taxation of the American colonies with the aim of raising funds directly from the colonies to pay for the expanded colonial administration and necessary British military protection. In addition to new tax laws, a flood of other legislation specifically aimed at managing American colonial affairs was planned. Imperial authorities also sought to mandate the billeting of British troops in the colonies. These new initiatives were met with heated protests from colonists who resented the lack of proper representation in British Parliament and demanded the same rights and freedoms as other British subjects. Funds raised by the SUGAR ACT, 1764 were used for defending, protecting, and securing the colonies. The STAMP ACT, 1765 levied taxes on all legal and commercial papers, pamphlets, newspapers, almanacs, cards, and dice by means of printed or embossed revenue stamps. Outrage against the stamp tax legislation was immediate and universal, and was accompanied by acts of civil disobedience and rioting. When the STAMP ACT, 1765 was repealed in 1766, it was replaced by the DECLARATORY ACT, 1766 which stated that the colonies in America were subordinate to, and dependent upon, the British government. In 1767 and 1768, five TOWNSHEND ACTS were passed to raise revenue from the American colonies to pay the salaries of governors and judges, create a more effective means of enforcing compliance with trade regulations, punish the colony of New York for failing to comply with regulations for quartering soldiers, and to clearly re-establish the precedent that Parliament had the right to tax the colonies. The TOWNSHEND ACTS were met with huge resistance, and prompted the occupation of Boston by British troops in 1768, which eventually led to the Boston Massacre of 1770. Colonists were further aggravated when the TEA ACT, 1773 allowed the financially-troubled East India Company to ship their excess tea holdings to America at a reduced tax rate, thereby undercutting American importers. Resistance to the law culminated in the Boston Tea Party of 16 December 1773, which prompted the passing of five INTOLERABLE ACTS in 1774, which further infuriated colonists. As tensions escalated, war soon broke out and the American Revolution had begun. A flood of additional legislation followed. A full inventory and detailed description of the collection is available.
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