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AP U.S. History 2.1 Period 2: 1690-1754. The Sugar Act reflects what shift in relations between Great Britain and its colonies?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:00

[ musical flourish ]

00:03

And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by the Sugar Act,

00:06

Britain's sweet, sweet revenge.

00:09

Check out this excerpt.

00:10

[ mumbles ]

00:13

[ mumbling continues ]

00:19

All right, and the question:

00:20

The Sugar Act reflects what shift in relations between

00:22

Great Britain and its colonies?

00:24

And here are your potential answers.

00:26

[ chewing ]

00:29

What exactly was the Sugar Act?

00:31

Well, if you take out all that legal mumbo jumbo,

00:33

we see that "there shall be... paid... upon every gallon of

00:36

molasses... the sum of three pence."

00:39

That just means the British wanted the colonists to pay a tax

00:42

on all the sugar they imported from other British colonies.

00:45

But what was it that made the British

00:47

put this new tax in place in the first place?

00:50

Did they impose the Sugar Act as a sign of A -

00:53

the strengthening of bonds between the colonists and the British?

00:56

Well, think about it.

00:57

How would you feel if all of a sudden you were told

00:59

you had to pay for something you used to get for free?

01:02

That'd be like your parents saying you need to pay

01:04

them the privilege of eating a family meal.

01:06

So that tax definitely not strengthening any bonds.

01:09

In fact, kind of the opposite.

01:10

Did the Sugar Act have to do with B -

01:12

the burgeoning alliance between British colonies

01:16

against their home country?

01:17

Well, there were definitely rumblings within the North American colonies

01:20

about how much they disliked the British.

01:22

But this question is asking about all the British colonies,

01:25

including the ones all the way in the West Indies.

01:28

It's still a little early for the tweet heard around the world.

01:31

Did this tax reflect D -

01:33

the growing economic dependence of the colonies on Great Britain?

01:37

Well, actually, the colonies were starting to become

01:39

more economically independent from Great Britain,

01:42

and this whole separation anxiety

01:43

on the part of the Brits is what caused such a frenzy in the first place.

01:47

So it ain't D, either.

01:48

That means the Sugar Act reflected C -

01:50

the diverging goals of Great Britain and their North American colonies.

01:54

Well, during this period the New England colonies were sort of like teenagers:

01:57

rebellious, feeling pretty smart, but no longer

02:00

wanting to listen to their stuffy, old British parents.

02:02

The decision to put a tax on sugar was only the beginning, though.

02:05

12 years later, the colonies would be waging

02:07

full-out war against their former masters.

02:09

So C is the right answer.

02:10

They probably should've put a little more thought

02:12

into that whole spoonful of sugar approach.

02:16

[ ding ] [ birds chirp ]

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