Townshend Acts (15 juin 1767 – 2 juill. 1767)

Description:

The Townshend Acts imposed new duties in colonial ports on tea, paper, glass, lead, and paints. At the same time, some duties on tea were removed. The Acts’ main goal was to pay the salaries of governors and judges in the colonies so that they stayed independent of the assemblies. The new duties will hurt my business, but I support their passage. The government must pay its debts, and many of those debts were generated because of the costs of colonial defense. I vehemently oppose the Patriots’ exaggerated reactions, especially their insistence on nonimportation. Those policies would further damage relations between the colonies and the mother country, thereby upsetting the economy.