<P> A large colonial molasses trade had grown between the New England and Middle colonies and the French, Dutch, and Spanish West Indian possessions . Molasses from the British West Indies, used in New England for making rum, was priced much higher than its competitors and they also had no need for the large quantities of lumber, fish, and other items offered by the colonies in exchange . The British West Indies in the first part of the 18th Century were the most important trading partner for Great Britain so Parliament was attentive to their requests . However, rather than acceding to the demands to prohibit the colonies from trading with the non-British islands, Parliament passed the prohibitively high tax on the colonies for the import of molasses from these islands . Historian John C. Miller noted that the tax: </P> <P>... threatened New England with ruin, struck a blow at the economic foundations of the Middle colonies, and at the same time opened the way for the British West Indians--whom the continental colonists regarded as their worst enemies--to wax rich at the expense of their fellow subjects on the mainland . </P> <P> Largely opposed by colonists, the tax was rarely paid, and smuggling to avoid it was prominent . If actually collected, the tax would have effectively closed that source to New England and destroyed much of the rum industry . Yet smuggling, bribery or intimidation of customs officials effectively nullified the law . Miller wrote: </P> <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>

What was the colonial response to the molasses act
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