Townshend Acts

About Townshend Acts

The Townshend Acts of 1767 imposed duties on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea imported to the colonies. Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend argued that the acts would pay colonial governors salaries, making them independent of colonial assemblies. The acts were met with colonial boycotts of British goods. John Dickinson wrote Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania arguing that the duties were unconstitutional. In 1770, Parliament repealed all the Townshend duties except the tax on tea, which was retained to maintain the principle of parliamentary taxation. The remaining tea duty led directly to the Boston Tea Party. The Townshend Acts demonstrated that any British attempt to tax the colonies would meet resistance.