<P> Against the Molasses Act, Americans had only their smugglers to depend upon--but these redoubtable gentry proved more than a match for the British . After a brief effort to enforce the act in Massachusetts in the 1740s, the English government tacitly accepted defeat and foreign molasses was smuggled into the Northern colonies in an ever - increasing quantity . Thus the New England merchants survived--but only by nullifying an act of Parliament . </P> <P> 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 eventually led to the American Revolution in 1776 . This Act was replaced by the Sugar Act in 1764 . This Act halved the tax rate, but was accompanied by British intent to actually collect the tax this time . </P>

What would a british sugar plantation owner think of this law