who depended on it could no longer sell it after they imported it. This still happens in our economy today. An example of this today would be something like Pratt and Whitney closing down a plant; it hurts the rest of the community that once benefited from it. The biggest problem for America was trade with the French. The economy of fishermen started to suffer when “the French stopped permitting fish to be carried by foreigners to any of their islands unless it be bartered of exchanged for molasses” (King, Peter. Petition from the Massachusetts). Not being able to exchange fish for molasses caused the economy to suffer. The British stated that the colonies could only obtain molasses from British sources, which makes this suffering economy evident. The British not allowing fish to be traded with the colonies put the fishermen who depended on this as a livelihood out of business. This started to drive the colonists toward opposition against British involvement in North American affairs. The cause of this opposition was taxation, which was starting to hurt the economy. Another problem plaguing the economy of Britain was that the Americans continued to issue a large amount of paper bills. The British felt the effective way to halt the issuing of the bills was to put in place a Currency Act. They saw the paper money as “greatly depreciating the value of debts that needed to be paid to his Majesty” (The Currency Act). This policy angered the colonists because they already had an act in place to keep them from selling and buying goods at cheap prices. The colonists stated in a petition to the House of Commons, “they will not be able to pay back their debts if they are not allowed to issue currency”. This caused the colonists to become extremely nervous about being hurt economically from taxes being placed on them by a government who did not even know of the conditions in America.The Stamp Act...
