The Sugar Act imposed duties on goods imported into the American colonies in 1764. Passed by the Parliament of Great Britain on 5 April 1764, it was formally known as the American Revenue Act and focused especially on molasses and other colonial imports.
The act followed the earlier Molasses Act of 1733, whose six-pence-per-gallon duty was widely evaded. The Sugar Act reduced the nominal molasses rate to three pence but strengthened customs enforcement, making Parliament more likely to collect the revenue. It also required detailed cargo manifests and allowed suspected violations to be tried in vice-admiralty courts without local juries.
British officials said the measure would raise money to help pay for imperial defence after the Seven Years’ War. Many colonists, especially merchants in New England, saw it as an intrusive revenue measure imposed without colonial representation. Their protests helped develop the political arguments that later fuelled the American Revolution.
The main mix-up is with the Stamp Act of 1765, which taxed printed materials, or the Townshend Acts of 1767, which placed duties on items such as glass, paper and tea.