51-455: The Tea Act 1773 ( 13 Geo. 3 . c. 44) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain . The principal objective was to reduce the massive amount of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses and to help the struggling company survive. A related objective was to undercut the price of illegal tea, smuggled into Britain's North American colonies. This
102-695: A burgeoning surplus of the tea in the company's English warehouses. By 1773 the Company was close to collapse due in part to contractual payments to the British government of £400,000 per year, together with war and a severe famine in Bengal which drastically reduced the Company's revenue from India, and economic weakness in European markets. Benjamin Franklin was one of several people who suggested things would be greatly improved if
153-546: A duty which averaged two shillings and six pence per pound. Tea destined for the North American colonies would be purchased by merchants specializing in that trade, who transported it to North America for eventual retail sale. The markups imposed by these merchants, combined with the tea tax imposed by the Townshend Acts of 1767 created a profitable opportunity for American merchants to import and distribute tea purchased from
204-741: A number of conciliatory proposals presented to the Second Continental Congress by the Carlisle Peace Commission . The commission's proposals were rejected. The Act effectively became a "dead letter", but was not formally removed from the books until the passage of the Statute Law Revision Act 1861 . In the 1760s and earlier the East India Company had been required to sell its tea exclusively in London on which it paid
255-657: A province of the Mughal empire from the 16th century and was ruled by a nawab , or governor. In early 18th century, as the Mughal empire started collapsing, the nawab became effectively independent of the Mughal rule. In the 17th century, the English East India Company was granted the town of Calcutta by the Mughal Prince Shah Shuja . During the following century, the company obtained sole trading rights for
306-466: A revisionist history of the economy of Bengal Province, claimed these figures to be "inflated" and carry "little conviction"; a revised toll of 1.2 million dead (~ 4-5% of the population) was put forward. Tim Dyson supports Dutta's claims of inflation, and notes the "popular" figure of ten million, indicative of at-least a 500% increase in annual death rate, to be "barely credible". However, Dyson refrains from making any specific estimate. Highlighted are
357-674: A seer of rice a day per head. The proposal was approved and the Council borne about 46% of the expenditure, the remaining sum were paid by Nawab Najabat Ali, Khan himself, Rai Durlabh , and Jagat Seth . One distribution center was opened by Reza Khan at his palace of Nishat Bagh. The Murshidabad model was later emulated in Calcutta and Burdwan to feed about 3000 men every day — at a daily expenditure of about 75 rupees — since early April. Rice were also charitably distributed at Purnea, Bhagalpur, Birbhum, Hugli and Jesore. Overall, about 4000 pounds of rice
408-548: A shortage of trained administrators, and the prevailing uncertainty may have worsened the famine's impact. Other factors adding to the pressure were: grain merchants ceased offering grain advances to peasants , but the market mechanism for exporting the merchants' grain to other regions remained in place; the East India Company purchased a large portion of rice for its army; and the Company's private servants and their Indian Gomasthas created local monopolies of grain. By
459-552: The British tea was more appealing in flavor, some Patriots like the Sons of Liberty encouraged the consumption of smuggled tea as a political protest against the Townshend taxes. In 1770 most of the Townshend taxes were repealed, but taxes on tea were retained. Resistance to this tax included pressure to avoid legally imported tea, leading to a drop in colonial demand for the Company's tea and
510-522: The Mughal emperor in Delhi , but before it had wrested the nizamat , or control of civil administration, which continued to lie with the Mughal governor , the Nawab of Bengal Nazm ud Daula (1765-72). Crop failure in autumn 1768 and summer 1769 and an accompanying smallpox epidemic were thought to be the manifest reasons for the famine. The East India Company had farmed out tax collection on account of
561-579: The list of acts of the Parliament of England and the list of acts of the Parliament of Scotland . See also the list of acts of the Parliament of Ireland . For acts passed from 1801 onwards, see the list of acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . For acts of the devolved parliaments and assemblies in the United Kingdom, see the list of acts of the Scottish Parliament , the list of acts of
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#1732837178816612-436: The 67th act passed during the session that started in the 39th year of the reign of George III and which finished in the 40th year of that reign. Note that the modern convention is to use Arabic numerals in citations (thus "41 Geo. 3" rather than "41 Geo. III"). Acts of the last session of the Parliament of Great Britain and the first session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom are both cited as "41 Geo. 3". Acts passed by
663-610: The Act resulted in the return of tea delivered there back to Britain. In Charleston, the colonists left the tea on the docks to rot. Governor Hutchinson in Boston was determined to leave the ships in port, even though vigilant colonists refused to allow the tea to be landed. Matters reached a crisis when the time period for landing the tea and paying the Townshend taxes was set to expire, and on December 16, 1773, colonists disguised as Indians swarmed aboard three tea-laden ships and dumped their cargo into
714-569: The American radicals. Parliament enacted the Boston Port Act , which closed Boston Harbor until the dumped tea was paid for. This was the first of the so-called Coercive Acts, or Intolerable Acts as they were called by the colonists, passed by Parliament in response to the Boston Tea Party. These harsh measures united many colonists even more in their frustrations against Britain and were one of
765-464: The Board that land taxes be remitted by about seven percent in afflicted areas on grounds of widespread suffering. Ten days later, Cartier reversed his stance noting that the revenues kept on being paid despite significant distress. On 28 February, the Council proposed that husbandmen who failed to pay the taxes be treated with leniency due to overbearing conditions of a poor harvest. Overall, no relief plan
816-486: The Company had been granted rights of taxation in 1764 and within a few years, had raised land revenue collections by about 30%. The famine came in the backdrop of a multitude of subsistence crises that had affected Bengal since the early eighteenth century. A failure of monsoon in Bengal and Bihar had led to partial shortfall of produce in 1768; market prices were higher than usual in early 1769. With usual rains in 1769,
867-594: The Company requested that storehouses be constructed in Patna and Murshidabad; city officials were instructed to prevent monopoly of trade and have farmers raise "every sort" of dry grain, that was possible. The orders were largely unsuccessful; many Company officials along with their Indian assistants ( Gomasthas ) would exploit the famine to create grain-monopolies. On 13 February, Khan and Becher proposed that six rice-distribution centers be opened in Murshidabad to provide half
918-505: The Company was allowed to export its tea directly to the colonies without paying the taxes it was paying in London: "to export such tea to any of the British colonies or plantations in America, or to foreign parts, import duty of three pence a pound." The administration of Lord North saw an opportunity to achieve several goals with a single bill. If the Company was permitted to directly ship tea to
969-476: The Council chose to inform the Court of Directors in London about impending famine-like conditions in Bengal — a century later, W. W. Hunter would note this letter to be the "only serious intimation" about the approaching famine, and find the absence of President Verelst's affirmation to be striking. Other letters sent in the same month to the Board speculate about potential loss in revenue collection but do not discuss
1020-556: The Dutch in transactions and shipments that violated the Navigation Acts and were treated by British authorities as smuggling . Smugglers imported some 900,000 pounds (410,000 kg) of cheap foreign tea per year. The quality of the smuggled tea did not match the quality of the dutiable East India Company tea, of which the Americans bought 562,000 pounds (255,000 kg) per year. Although
1071-496: The East India Company, but more because it seemed to validate the Townshend Tax on tea. Merchants who had been acting as the middlemen in legally importing tea stood to lose their business, as did those whose illegal Dutch trade would be undercut by the Company's lowered prices. These interests combined forces, citing the taxes and the Company's monopoly status as reasons to oppose the Act. In New York and Philadelphia, opposition to
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#17328371788161122-550: The Northern Ireland Assembly , and the list of acts and measures of Senedd Cymru ; see also the list of acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland . The number shown after each act's title is its chapter number. Acts are cited using this number, preceded by the year(s) of the reign during which the relevant parliamentary session was held; thus the Union with Ireland Act 1800 is cited as "39 & 40 Geo. 3. c. 67", meaning
1173-518: The Parliament of Great Britain did not have a short title ; however, some of these acts have subsequently been given a short title by acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (such as the Short Titles Act 1896 ). Before the Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act 1793 came into force on 8 April 1793, acts passed by the Parliament of Great Britain were deemed to have come into effect on the first day of
1224-512: The colonies, this would remove the markups of the middlemen from the cost of its tea. Reducing or eliminating the duties paid when the tea was landed in Britain (if it was shipped onward to the colonies) would further lower the final cost of tea in the colonies, undercutting the prices charged for smuggled tea. Colonists would willingly pay for cheaper Company tea, on which the Townshend tax was still collected, thus legitimizing Parliament's ability to tax
1275-554: The colonies. The Act, which received the royal assent on May 10, 1773, contained the following provisions: Proposals were made that the Townshend tax also is waived, but North opposed this idea, citing the fact that those revenues were used to pay the salaries of crown officials in the colonies. The Company was granted a license by the North administration to ship tea to major American ports, including Charleston , Philadelphia , New York City , and Boston . Consignees who were to receive
1326-470: The colonies. Some American colonists became very frustrated. Ships carrying the company’s tea arrived in Philadelphia and New York but chose to return to England without unloading rather than face angry mobs. 13 Geo. 3 Interregnum (1642–1660) Rescinded (1639–1651) This is a complete list of acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the year 1772 . For acts passed until 1707, see
1377-406: The condition was far worse in the rural hinterlands; cannibalism was apparently on exhibition. Malaria and cholera remained additional factors. A smallpox epidemic that coincided with the start of the pandemic was particularly severe and included Nawab Najabat Ali Khan of Murshidabad among the victims. These figures have been uncritically reproduced by most modern scholars. Rajat Dutta, in
1428-505: The delivery and distribution of the tea. The company's authorised consignees were harassed, and in many colonies, successful efforts were made to prevent the tea from being landed. In Boston , this resistance culminated in the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773, when colonists (some disguised as Native Americans) boarded tea ships anchored in the harbour and dumped their tea cargo overboard. Parliamentary reaction to this event included
1479-427: The end of 1769 rice prices had risen two-fold, and in 1770 they rose a further three-fold. In Bihar, the continual passage of armies in the already drought-stricken countryside worsened the conditions. The East India Company provided little mitigation through direct relief efforts; nor did it reduce taxes, though its options to do so may have been limited. By the summer of 1770, people were dying everywhere. Although
1530-410: The facts that contemporary Bengal lacked any significant demographic data outside Calcutta , the few reliable reports on effects of the famine were based on unrepresentative populations, and many cultivators were mobile settlers who simply migrated to better-off territories. The 1770 monsoons brought some marginal relief, and a perspective on the rampant depopulation — a letter by the Council regretted
1581-411: The famine devastated traditional ways of life in the affected regions. It proved disastrous to the mulberries and cotton grown in Bengal; as a result, a large proportion of the dead were spinners and weavers who had no reserves of food. The famine hastened the end of dual governance in Bengal, the Company becoming the sole administrator soon after. Its cultural impact was felt long afterwards, becoming
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1632-427: The famine. On 23 October, Becher had reported to the Council about "great dearth and scarcity" of food grains at Murshidabad. This prodded the council to purchase 1.2 million maunds of rice for its army, as an emergency measure. Charles Grant, Betcher's agent noted that the first sign of the famine was already visible in northern districts of Bengal by November. By late December, food prices had spiked sharply and
1683-496: The harbour in what is now known as the Boston Tea Party . Similar "Destruction of the Tea" (as it was called at the time) occurred in New York and other ports shortly thereafter, though Boston took the brunt of Imperial retaliation because it was the first "culprit". The Boston Tea Party appalled British political opinion makers of all stripes. The action united all parties in Britain against
1734-541: The many causes of the American Revolutionary War . The Taxation of Colonies Act 1778 repealed the tea tax and others that had been imposed on the colonies, but it proved insufficient to end the war. The Tea Act became a "dead letter" as far as the Thirteen Colonies were concerned, and was formally removed from the books in 1861. This would go against their belief that only colonial governments could tax
1785-456: The monsoon immediately after did bring plentiful rains, it also brought diseases to which many among the enfeebled fell victim. For several years thereafter piracy increased on the Hooghly river delta. Deserted and overgrown villages were a common sight. Depopulation, however, was uneven, affecting north Bengal and Bihar severely, central Bengal moderately, and eastern only slightly. The recovery
1836-643: The passage of the Coercive Acts , designed to punish Massachusetts for its resistance, and the appointment of General Thomas Gage as royal governor of Massachusetts . These actions further raised tensions that led to the eruption of the American War of Independence in April 1775. Parliament passed the Taxation of Colonies Act 1778 , which repealed a number of taxes (including the tea tax that underlay this act) as one of
1887-478: The province and became the dominant power in Bengal. In 1757, at the Battle of Plassey , the East India Company defeated the nawab Siraj Ud Daulah , annexing large portions of Bengal afterwards. In 1764 their military control was reaffirmed at Buxar . The subsequent treaty gave them taxation rights , known as dewan; the East India Company thereby became the de facto ruler of Bengal. In addition to profits from trade,
1938-405: The province ran out of money to pay for the scarce produces and trade effectively ceased. Khan noted that lakhs of people were dying daily, fires were widespread, and the tanks had not a drop of water. These conditions would continue for about three months. The Company provided little meaningful mitigation — there was no reduction in taxation or any significant relief effort. In October 1769,
1989-531: The right to the duty-free export of tea from Britain, although the tax imposed by the Townshend Acts and collected in the colonies remained in force. It received the royal assent on May 10, 1773. Colonists in the Thirteen Colonies recognized the implications of the Act's provisions, and a coalition of merchants, smugglers, and artisans similar to that which had opposed the Stamp Act 1765 mobilized opposition to
2040-450: The session in which they were passed. Because of this, the years given in the list below may in fact be the year before a particular act was passed. The fifth session of the 13th Parliament of Great Britain , which met from 21 January 1772 until 9 June 1772. This session was also traditionally cited as 12 G. 3 . The sixth session of the 13th Parliament of Great Britain , which met from 26 November 1772 until 1 July 1773. This session
2091-414: The situation eased for a while and grains were even exported to Madras Presidency . By late September, the situation was again bleak with drought-like-conditions on the horizon. On 18 September 1769, Naib Nazim of Dhaka Mohammed Reza Khan informed Harry Verelst , President of the Council at Fort William about the "dryness of the season". The same month, John Cartier, Esquire (and Second-in-Command) of
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2142-455: The situation — the province had no money to pay for the scarce produces and trade effectively ceased. In May 1770, the Court of Directors estimated that about one-third of the population (approx. ten million) had perished. The estimates were then revised by Becher on 2 June to about three in every eight people. On 12 July, Becher claimed that 500 people were dying in Murshidabad every day and
2193-496: The subject a century later of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee 's influential novel Anandamath . The Bengali name Chiẏāttôrer mônnôntôr is derived from Bengali calendar year 1176 and the Bengali word meaning famine. The regions in which the famine occurred affected the modern Indian states of Bihar and West Bengal in particular, but the famine also extended into Orissa and Jharkhand as well as modern Bangladesh . Among
2244-531: The tea and arrange for its local resale were generally favorites of the local governor (who was royally appointed in South Carolina , New York , and Massachusetts , and appointed by the proprietors in Pennsylvania ). In Massachusetts, Governor Thomas Hutchinson was a part-owner of the business hired by the Company to receive tea shipped to Boston. Many colonists opposed the Act, not so much because it rescued
2295-471: The western districts of Bengal along with Bihar were also in a precarious condition. On 7 December, Reza Khan and Shitab Rai proposed to the Council that they enforce a humane grain collection scheme for the upcoming fiscal year, in proportion to the individual produce of peasants. The proposal was not replied to; W. W. Hunter would later accuse that these people often had their incentives to dramatize general distress. On 25 January 1770, Cartier proposed to
2346-456: The worst affected areas were Central and Northern Bengal, and Tirhut , Champaran and Bettiah in Bihar. South-East Bengal escaped unscathed — it had an excess production in the famine years. The famine occurred in Bengal , then ruled by the East India Company . Their territory included modern West Bengal , Bangladesh , and parts of Assam , Odisha , Bihar , and Jharkhand . It was earlier
2397-427: Was also quicker in the well-watered Bengal delta in the east. Between seven and ten million people—or between a quarter and third of the presidency 's population—were thought to have died. The loss to cultivation was estimated to be a third of the total cultivation. Some scholars consider these numbers to be exaggerated in large part because reliable demographic information had been lacking in 1770. Even so,
2448-442: Was also traditionally cited as 13 G. 3 . Great Bengal famine of 1770 The Great Bengal famine of 1770 struck Bengal and Bihar between 1769 and 1770 and affected some 30 million people, which was about ⅓ of the current population of the area. It occurred during a period of dual governance in Bengal. This existed after the East India Company had been granted the diwani , or the right to collect revenue, in Bengal by
2499-459: Was arranged by the Company over six months. Those in the employment of Company and Nizamat were especially favored. Becher obtained a total of 55,449 maunds of rice from Barisal, which was dispatched for Company troops and their dependents across Bengal. Districts which exceeded a death-toll of twenty thousand per month were granted packages of 150 Rupees. Export-import embargoes were set up to check prices but they only contributed to worsening
2550-466: Was supposed to convince the colonists to purchase Company tea on which the Townshend duties were paid, thus implicitly agreeing to accept Parliament's right of taxation. Smuggled tea was a large issue for Britain and the East India Company, since approximately 86% of all the tea in America at the time was smuggled Dutch tea. The Act granted the Company the right to directly ship its tea to North America and
2601-455: Was yet designed by February. Despite initial hopes of a reversal in fortunes, there were no rains and the spring harvest was scanty; acting upon the advice of Reza Khan, the Council chose to increase taxes by 10% to meet revenue targets. Grain prices had kept rising across the year. By middle of May, the distress had exploded into a full-blown famine marked with mass-starvation, beggary , and death . The prices of food would skyrocket, as
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