Molasses Act

January 1, 1733

Parliament, responding to sugar-lobby pressure, slapped a duty of sixpence a gallon on foreign molasses entering British colonies. Rum-distilling New Englanders simply bribed customs officers. The act was widely ignored but set a precedent. When Britain began enforcing its successors thirty years later, American tempers would remember. The molasses trade taught colonists that imperial law was negotiable, a lesson London would later regret.