<P> The new act listed specific goods, the most important being lumber, which could only be exported to Britain . Ship captains were required to maintain detailed manifests of their cargo and the papers were subject to verification before anything could be unloaded from the ships . Customs officials were empowered to have all violations tried in vice admiralty courts rather than by jury trials in local colonial courts, where the juries generally looked favorably on smuggling as a profession . </P> <P> Historian Fred Anderson wrote that the purpose of the Act was "to resolve the problems of finance and control that plagued the postwar empire ." To do this "three kinds of measures" were implemented--"those intended to make customs enforcement more effective, those that placed new duties on items widely consumed in America, and those that adjusted old rates in such a way as to maximize revenues ." </P> <P> The Sugar Act was passed by Parliament on April 5, 1764, and it arrived in the colonies at a time of economic depression . It was an indirect tax, although the colonists were well informed of its presence . A good part of the reason was that a significant portion of the colonial economy during the Seven Years' War was involved with supplying food and supplies to the British Army . Colonials, however, especially those affected directly as merchants and shippers, assumed that the highly visible new tax program was the major culprit . As protests against the Sugar Act developed, it was the economic impact rather than the constitutional issue of taxation without representation that was the main focus for the colonists . </P> <P> New England ports especially suffered economic losses from the Sugar Act as the stricter enforcement made smuggling molasses more dangerous and risky . Also they argued that the profit margin on rum was too small to support any tax on molasses . Forced to increase their prices, many colonists feared being priced out of the market . The British West Indies, on the other hand, now had undivided access to colonial exports . With supply of molasses well exceeding demand, the islands prospered with their reduced expenses while New England ports saw revenue from their rum exports decrease . Also the West Indies had been the primary colonial source for hard currency, or specie, and as the reserves of specie were depleted the soundness of colonial currency was threatened . </P>

Why did colonists view the sugar act as a violation of their rights be specific
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