Townshend Acts

[ toun-zuhnd ]

plural noun

, American History.

1. acts of the British Parliament in 1767, especially the act that placed duties on tea, paper, lead, paint, etc., imported into the American colonies.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Townshend Acts¹

Named after Charles Townshend (1725–67), English statesman, their sponsor

Example Sentences

The British statesman William Pitt, first Earl of Chatham, was a fervent champion and defender of the young American colonies in the late 18th century, but when gout confined him at home, less sympathetic members of Parliament took advantage of his absence to rally support for the Stamp Act of 1765, imposing the first direct tax on the colonists, and then the infamous Townshend Acts, which taxed tea, among other goods.

From New York Times

We all learned about the different taxes, the sugar tax and the Townshend Acts, etc., but what people don't really think about is how frustrated the British were at the time as well.

From Salon

The Boston Tea Party wouldn’t have happened without the Tea Act in 1773, which was meant to stop tea from being smuggled into America by granting the British East India Company the right to export tea from Britain duty-free to North America — which the colonists still had to pay tax on, according to the Townshend Acts.

From The Verge

The second attempt at raising revenue was a series of acts which came to be known as the Townshend Acts of 1767.

From Forbes

Writers Stephen David, David C. White and Kirk Ellis don't bother explaining the many laws and policies that caused people like Adams to organize and agitate — presumably the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts seem too much like school.

From Los Angeles Times