Repeal of the Townshend Acts
- When
- 1770
- Where
- House of Commons; British Parliament
- Episodes
- 2
In 1770, Prime Minister Frederick North led the British Parliament to repeal most Townshend Acts, retaining only the tea duty. This legislative action in London followed colonial resistance and the Boston Massacre.
Episodes
- North Motion for Repeal
Lord North proposed partial repeal of Townshend Revenue Act in House of Commons.
- Royal Assent to Repeal Act
The Repeal Act received royal assent, officially repealing most Townshend duties.
Background and detail
Repeal Process. On 5 March 1770, Lord North presented a motion in the House of Commons for partial repeal of the Townshend Revenue Act. Following debate, the Repeal Act received royal assent on 12 April 1770. This legislative move was a direct response to colonial unrest and economic pressure from the boycott of British goods.
Aftermath. The repeal excluded the duty on imported tea, which remained in effect to assert parliamentary sovereignty. This retained tax was later enforced through the Tea Act of 1773. The lifting of the American embargo on British imports is not explicitly detailed in the provided passages.
People involved
- Frederick North · Prime Minister
- British Parliament · Legislative Body
Sources
- Townshend Acts Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-23
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.