A large trade has grown between the New England and Middle colonies and the French, Dutch, and Spanish West Indian possessions.

Molasses from the British West Indies, used in New England for making rum, which is experiencing rapidly increasing consumption in the West, is priced much higher than its competitors.

The West Indian planters also have no need for the large quantities of lumber, fish, and other items offered by the colonies in exchange.

The British West Indies in the first part of the eighteenth century are the most important trading partner for Great Britain, so Parliament is attentive to their requests.

However, rather than acceding to the demands to prohibit the colonies from trading with the non-British islands, Parliament passes the prohibitively high tax on the colonies for the import of molasses from these islands.

The Molasses Act of 1733, created largely at the insistence of large plantation owners, levies a heavy tax—six pence per gallon—on molasses coming from anywhere except Britain’s Caribbean sugar islands.

The Act is not passed for the purpose of raising revenue, but rather to regulate trade by making British products cheaper than those from the French West Indies.

Largely opposed by colonists, who profit from a lucrative trade with the French sugar islands, the tax will be rarely paid, and smuggling to avoid it will become prominent.

If actually collected, the tax would have effectively closed that source to New England and destroyed much of the rum industry, yet smuggling, bribery or intimidation of customs officials will effectively nullify the law.

The growing corruption of local officials and disrespect for British Law caused by this act and others like it, such as the Stamp Act or Townshend Acts, will eventually lead in 1776 to the American Revolution.