<P> Implicit in the Stamp Act dispute was an issue more fundamental than taxation and representation: the question of the extent of Parliament's authority in the colonies . Parliament provided its answer to this question when it repealed the Stamp Act in 1766 by simultaneously passing the Declaratory Act, which proclaimed that Parliament could legislate for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever". </P> <P> The first of the Townshend Acts, sometimes simply known as the Townshend Act, was the Revenue Act of 1767 . This act represented the Chatham ministry's new approach for generating tax revenue in the American colonies after the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766 . The British government had gotten the impression that because the colonists had objected to the Stamp Act on the grounds that it was a direct (or "internal") tax, colonists would therefore accept indirect (or "external") taxes, such as taxes on imports . With this in mind, Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, devised a plan that placed new duties on paper, paint, lead, glass, and tea that were imported into the colonies . These were items that were not produced in North America and that the colonists were only allowed to buy from Great Britain . </P> <P> The colonists' objection to "internal" taxes did not mean that they would accept "external" taxes; the colonial position was that any tax laid by Parliament for the purpose of raising revenue was unconstitutional . "Townshend's mistaken belief that Americans regarded internal taxes as unconstitutional and external taxes constitutional", wrote historian John Phillip Reid, "was of vital importance in the history of events leading to the Revolution ." The Townshend Revenue Act received the royal assent on 29 June 1767 . There was little opposition expressed in Parliament at the time . "Never could a fateful measure have had a more quiet passage", wrote historian Peter Thomas . </P> <P> The Revenue Act was passed in conjunction with the Indemnity Act of 1767, which was intended to make the tea of the British East India Company more competitive with smuggled Dutch tea . The Indemnity Act repealed taxes on tea imported to England, allowing it to be re-exported more cheaply to the colonies . This tax cut in England would be partially offset by the new Revenue Act taxes on tea in the colonies . The Revenue Act also reaffirmed the legality of writs of assistance, or general search warrants, which gave customs officials broad powers to search houses and businesses for smuggled goods . </P>

The townshend revenue act allowed british officials to