Customs Commissioners

Overview

Established in 1673, the British Customs Commissioners were responsible for enforcing the rules and regulations found in the Navigation Acts, including the Grenville Acts and the Townshend Acts. One of these acts, the Commissioners of Customs Act (1767), established the American Board of Customs Commissioners in Boston. Although this helped the Customs Commissioners collect more money, it also increased resentment from American merchants, such as John Hancock. As British laws expanded the authority of the commissioners, Americans viewed them as being rife with corruption and symbolic of the slogan, “Taxation Without Representation is Tyranny.” The Customs Commissioners were involved in key incidents that fueled the American Revolution, including the Liberty Affair (1768), the Attack on James Otis (1769), and the Gaspee Affair (1772).

Essential Facts

• The Navigation Act of 1673 created Customs Commissioners in the American Colonies.
• They were supervised by the Treasury Board, not the Board of Trade.
• Most commissioners lived in Britain and hired subordinates to carry out their duties.
• In 1767, Parliament passed the Commissioners of Customs Act, which created the American Board of Commissioners of the Customs in Boston, Massachusetts.
• The board had the power to take action without consulting the Treasury Board.
• The commissioners are often accused of loosely interpreting the Navigation Acts to justify the seizure of ships and their cargoes.
• Customs officials sold seized vessels and cargoes, dividing the proceeds among themselves, the British Treasury, and the Governor.

Key Dates

• 1768, June 10 — The Liberty Affair took place when Customs Commissioners seized one of Hancock’s ships, the Liberty, which caused a riot. The commissioners fled to Castle William for safety.
• 1769, September 5 — One of the Customs Commissioners, John Robinson, attacked James Otis and left him with a serious head wound. Otis, a Patriot leader at the time, was never the same.
• 1772, June 10— The Providence Sons of Liberty attacked and burned a British ship, the Gaspee, after it pursued a merchant vessel that had cleared customs. In the aftermath, British officials investigating the incident wanted to arrest the men responsible and take them to Britain to stand trial. After witnesses refused to provide relevant details about the burning of the Gaspee, the investigation was closed.

Significance

The Customs Commissioners are important to American History because they actively enforced the Navigation Acts, often to their own benefit, contributing to the tensions that grew during the American Revolution over Taxation Without Representation. Further, their involvement in the Liberty Affair, the Attack on James Otis, and the Gaspee Affair pushed more Americans toward supporting the Patriot Cause.

History

Establishment

• The Navigation Act of 1673 created Customs Commissioners in the American Colonies.
• The Treasury Board, not the Board of Trade, controlled the Customs Commissioners.
• Customs Commissioners supervised collectors, searchers, and Surveyors of Customs.

Agents

• Most Customs Commissioners lived in England and hired agents to do the actual work.
• Colonial agents often made arrangements with local merchants, including accepting bribes.

Salutary Neglect

Salutary Neglect was a period in the early to mid-18th Century when British officials were more focused on affairs in Europe than they were on strict oversight of the North American Colonies. This unwritten policy is often associated with Robert Walpole, who became First Lord of the Treasury in 1721.

• Walpole is often considered to be the first Prime Minister of Britain.
• Walpole sought to expand the British Empire through trade and understood that American merchants were generating profits that benefited Britain, even if they were doing so by violating the Navigation Acts.
• Another member of the King’s cabinet, Thomas Pelham-Holles, the Duke of Newcastle, supported Walpole and helped shape Britain’s policy toward the American Colonies.

The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was expensive and forced British officials to look for new ways to raise money to pay off debts and fund the British Treasury. 

In 1763, George Grenville became First Lord of the Treasury and issued orders to the British Navy and colonial Governors to start enforcing the Navigation Acts.

• Salutary Neglect started to end with the Rule of 1756.
• Under Grenville, a series of new laws was enacted, which are known as the Grenville Acts. They included the Sugar Act (1764) and the Stamp Act (1765).

AHC Notes

• Salutary Neglect was not a written policy, so it was unofficial, but it was given a name on March 22, 1775, in a speech delivered to Parliament by Edmund Burke.
• He argued that “wise and salutary neglect” was significant to the economic success of the American Colonies. 
• Burke wanted Parliament to repeal many of the laws that levied taxes on the colonies.

Grenville Acts

In the fall of 1763, Grenville issued orders to several Royal Governors to enforce the rules and regulations of the Navigation Acts, especially the Molasses Act (1733). He did this to increase revenue while he started working on an extension of the Molasses Act and other new measures. On October 4, 1763, Grenville overhauled the British customs service in three key areas: 

• Grenville required the Customs Commissioners to reside in the American Colonies. Grenville hoped this would improve the enforcement of the Navigation Acts and the collection of customs duties.
• He authorized British Navy officers to help enforce the Navigation Acts. 
• Grenville gave the Vice-Admiralty courts jurisdiction over cases involving smuggling and violations of the Navigation Acts.

Following the war, British officials realized that American merchants were engaged in practices that enabled them to avoid paying the full amount of customs duties. Parliament levied new taxes on shipping with the Sugar Act and then tried to enforce the Stamp Act (1765). After these initiatives largely failed due to riots and written protests. Parliament enacted the Townshend Acts (1767) to strengthen the customs system and apply taxes to the American Colonies.

AHC Notes

• Grenville Acts (1763–1765) — The Grenville Acts were a series of British laws enacted by Parliament under the leadership of Prime Minister George Grenville. The acts included: the Sugar Act, the Currency Act, and the Stamp Act. Some critics of the acts also include the Proclamation of 1763 and the Quartering Act (1765). Collectively, the acts are considered to be a primary cause of the American Revolution.
• Sugar Act (1764) — Also known as the American Revenue Act, it was passed by Parliament on April 5, 1764. The goal of the act was to raise revenue for Britain to help pay for a standing army in North America. It is most famous for starting the controversy over Taxation Without Representation, a direct cause of the American Revolution.
• Stamp Act (1765) — The Stamp Act was a law passed by Parliament to raise money from the American Colonies. It required printers and publishers in America to use stamped paper for legal documents and printed materials. The Stamp Act led to the Stamp Act Crisis and the Stamp Act Congress, which resulted in organized protests and communication among colonial leaders that laid the foundation for resistance to British rule during the American Revolution.

Townshend Acts

The Townshend Acts were a series of acts passed by the British Parliament in 1767 and 1768 to establish a revenue stream from the colonies to Britain and tighten Britain’s control over colonial governments. Before 1767, merchants smuggled an estimated £700,000 worth of goods into the colonies every year.

• Customs officials collected only about £2,000 a year in duties on legally imported goods before 1767.
• The government spent more than £8,000 a year to collect those duties.

Due to the Townshend Acts, customs officials collected an average of £30,000 a year between 1768 and 1774. The cost of collection also rose to roughly £13,000 per year.

• While the Townshend Acts increased the amount of revenue that was collected, they also created resentment among Americans toward British officials.
• Americans believed the entire system was inherently corrupt because the Sugar Act established rules allowing Customs Commissioners to profit from the sale of seized ships and cargoes.

American Board of Customs in Boston

One of the Townshend Acts, the Commissioners of Customs Act, established a new American Board of Commissioners of the Customs in Boston. The act was passed on June 29, 1967, and was officially called “An Act to Enable His Majesty to Put the Customs, and Other Duties, in the British Dominions in America, and the Execution of the Laws Relating to Trade There, under the Management of Commissioners to be Appointed for that Purpose, and to be Resident in the Said Dominions.”

• The five members answered directly to the Treasury Board.
• The Board of Commissioners was given the authority to make decisions without first consulting the Treasury Board.

The commissioners are widely accused of using the provisions of the Navigation Acts to their advantage. Because of this, many historians have accused the commissioners of corruption, which increased resentment against Parliament and Taxation Without Representation.

• The commissioners accused ships of smuggling and seized them.
• If the accused (either the captain or the owner) were found guilty of violating the law, the ship and cargo were sold.
• One-third of the money from the sale went to the British Treasury.
• One-third went to the Governor of the colony.
• One-third went to the customs officers who made the seizure.

Liberty Affair

During the crisis caused by the passage of the Townshend Acts, an incident took place in Boston known as the “Liberty Affair.” On May 9, 1768, the merchant ship Liberty arrived in Boston. It was owned by John Hancock and was carrying casks of Madeira Wine. 

• According to Thomas Kirk, one of the customs officials responsible for inspecting ships, they could not inspect the cargo right away because it was too dark. Further, they reported that they told the crew that they would return the next day to perform their duties.
• The customs officials suspected the ship was carrying more casks than listed on the manifest, suggesting Hancock was smuggling them to avoid paying taxes.
• When the cargo of the Liberty was inspected on the morning of May 10, customs officials found 25 casks of wine, far fewer than the 125 they expected. 
• They informed the Board of Commissioners that they could not explain where the rest of the casks went, stating they watched the Liberty all through the night of the 9th but did not see any cargo removed.

After the arrival of the man-of-war HMS Romney, Kirk changed his story, likely believing that the presence of the Romney made him believe he would be protected from reprisal. 

• Kirk told Joseph Harrison, the Collector of the Port of Boston, that he had been forcibly held in the hold of the Liberty on the night of May 9–10, while cargo was removed. 
• Kirk believed the cargo removed while he was being held in the hold was illegal and had been offered a bribe by the ship’s captain to keep quiet, which he refused. After speaking with Kirk, Harrison reported this information to the Board of Commissioners.

Based on Kirk’s revised testimony, Harrison and Benjamin Hallowell, the Comptroller of the Port of Boston, seized the Liberty on June 10 and had it towed out into Boston Harbor, where it was anchored near the Romney.

• Moving the Liberty away from the wharf outraged Bostonians.
• The Sons of Liberty responded by forming a mob, rioting, and destroying the homes of Harrison and Hallowell. 
• Fearing for their safety, Harrison and Hallowell fled to Castle Island in Boston Harbor.

The Board of Commissioners sent a letter to London expressing concerns to the Treasury that an uprising was imminent.

• The commissioners accused the local assemblies of coordinating efforts to resist British policies.
• They suggested that if there was an uprising in Boston, it would spread to other colonies.
• The only way to prevent this from happening was to send troops to Boston to occupy the city.
• Francis Bernard, the Governor of Massachusetts, also warned Wills Hill (Lord Hillsborough), the Secretary of State for the Colonies, that he believed Americans were capable of an insurrection.

British officials responded to the Liberty Affair and the concerns of the Board of Commissioners and Governor Bernard by sending British troops to occupy Boston. They entered the city on October 1, 1768, and their presence led to the Boston Massacre in March 1770.

Attack on James Otis

James Otis was a prominent lawyer and a leading Patriot in Boston. Otis was a member of a committee that produced the Massachusetts Circular Letter, which protested the Townshend Acts and questioned Parliament’s authority to levy taxes on the colonies.

In the summer of 1769, Otis suspected that members of the Board of Customs Commissioners and the Customs Collector, Joseph Harrison, had accused him of treason in letters they had sent to London. At this time, the commissioners were James Robinson, Henry Hulton, Charles Paxton, and William Burch.

On September 2, Otis was in a local coffeehouse when Robinson entered. The two sat down together to discuss their differences.

• Otis told him he had been informed that some of the commissioners had referred to him as a rebel and a traitor.
• Robinson denied the allegations.

Despite Robinson’s denial, Otis published an article on September 4 that said he had “full evidence” that the commissioners, including Robinson, had “treated the character of all true North Americans in a manner that it not to be endured, by privately and publickly representing them as Traitors and Rebels, and in a general combination to revolt from Great Britain.”

The next day, September 5, Otis and Robinson crossed paths again at a coffeehouse. They started shouting at each other, and a fight broke out between British officers and others who supported Otis, including merchant John Gridley.

• Otis received a serious blow to the head, and blood ran from it immediately. Gridley was struck on the head and wrist by people in the crowd.
• Eventually, the fight broke up. Otis and Gridley were carried out. Robinson and his friends, supposedly the other commissioners, left the coffeehouse.

Otis eventually sued Robinson and won the case; however, the blow to his head continued to affect him. In February 1770, John Adams wrote that Otis was “raving mad,” and he was living with his sister, Mercy Otis Warren, by 1775.

Gaspee Affair

Following the Boston Massacre, most of the taxes in the Townshend Acts were repealed, but enforcement of the Navigation Acts continued. The only tax that remained was the tax on tea, which was a popular beverage in the colonies.

• In Rhode Island, merchants continued to smuggle goods.
• The British Navy responded by sending ships to patrol the waters of Narragansett Bay to help enforce the Navigation Acts.

One of the British ships was a schooner, the Gaspee, under the command of Lieutenant William Dudingston, who used his position to harass American merchant ships, often after they had been cleared by customs officials working in the port towns.

• The Gaspee was a two-masted ship with eight cannons.
• It had a crew of about 26 men.

On June 9, 1772, the Gaspee attempted to stop and search the Hannah as it left Newport, Rhode Island, bound for Providence. The Hannah was under the command of Captain Benjamin Lindsey, and his ship had been cleared by customs officials in Newport and given permission to set sail.

• Lindsey refused to stop and deliberately sailed into shallow waters off Namquid Point (now Gaspee Point).
• The Gaspee followed and ran aground, while the Hannah continued to Newport.
• Because of shallow water, the crew of the Gaspee was unable to free the ship.
• They were forced to wait until high tide returned, which would not be until the next day.

When the Hannah reached Providence, Captain Lindsey reported the incident to John Brown, Joseph Bucklin, and other Patriot leaders. Some of them were members of the Providence Sons of Liberty, and they decided they were going to destroy the Gapsee before the crew could free it.

Early the next morning, Abraham Whipple led eight longboats carrying 64 men toward the Gaspee. The British saw them coming and ordered them to stop, but Whipple ignored the order.

• Whipple told the British he was a sheriff.
• He announced they were there to arrest Dudingston and ordered the crew to abandon the Gaspee. 
• Dudingston did not comply, and shots were fired between the crew and Whipple’s men. 
• Dudingston was shot twice and badly wounded.

Whipple and his men pulled up alongside the Gaspee, boarded the ship, and overpowered the crew. The crew was forced to leave the ship, and the Rhode Islanders set it on fire. The Gaspee burned to the waterline when the powder magazine exploded, blowing the remainder of the ship to bits.

A commission was set up to investigate the incident; however, no charges were filed against any of the men who attacked the Gaspee.

• Witnesses were called before the investigators, but none provided tangible evidence.
• Colonial officials, including Stephen Hopkins, questioned the legality of Dudingston’s pursuit of the Hannah.

The commissioners closed their investigation on June 23, 1773. The final report to King George III stated that the Gaspee was destroyed by persons unknown.

Lexicon

People

George III (1738–1820) — George III was King of Great Britain and Ireland during the American Revolution, the American Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812. He succeeded George II in 1760 and worked within the constitutional system rather than seeking absolute rule. He supported taxing the colonies, backed the Intolerable Acts after the Boston Tea Party, and resisted American independence until military and political realities forced change.

Legal System

British Constitution — The British Constitution during the Colonial Era was a collection of laws, customs, and legal precedents that were established over 500 years. The Constitution was significantly affected by the Glorious Revolution, which led to the addition of the English Bill of Rights. Following the French and Indian War, the ideology of the American Revolution developed, based on principles found in the collection.

Enumerated Goods — Enumerated Goods were specific items that the Navigation Acts required to be exported only to England or to another British colony. This was done as part of the British Mercantile System and helped England control imperial trade. Over time, Parliament expanded the list to include products such as sugar, tobacco, rice, molasses, furs, copper, iron, lumber, and raw silk, while regulating the flow of colonial exports.

Navigation Acts — Also known as the Acts of Trade and Navigation, they were a series of laws that controlled trade and shipping in the British Empire. As the American Colonies matured, the laws were expanded to restrict manufacturing in America and enforce the Mercantile System. By the mid-17th Century, the enforcement of the laws had become a primary cause of the American Revolution.

Vice-Admiralty Courts — British maritime courts responsible for enforcing trade and shipping laws during the Colonial Era. The colonial courts were established by the Navigation Act of 1696 and expanded later by laws such as the Townshend Acts (1767). The Vice-Admiralty courts handled cases involving accusations of smuggling and bribery related to violations of the various Navigation Acts. The courts were controversial because the accused were tried by a panel of judges rather than a jury of their peers. Many Americans believed this violated their rights under the British Constitution, and it became one of the primary causes of the American Revolution. The 6th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees the right to trial by a jury of peers, is a direct response to the use of Vice-Admiralty Courts. See Amendments to the United States Constitution for specific details on the 6th Amendment.

Economic System

Mercantilism — Also known as the Mercantile System, it was an economic theory followed by England that allowed the American Colonies to flourish, but also led to the policies that contributed to the unrest that caused the American Revolution and the American Revolutionary War.

Salutary Neglect — An unwritten policy of the British Government that encouraged American officials to neglect the enforcement of laws in Colonial America. The policy allowed both American and British merchants to flourish. However, when the government reversed the policy, it helped cause the American Revolution.

Concepts

Taxation Without Representation Is Tyranny — “Taxation without representation is tyranny” was a political slogan that expressed the American belief that Parliament had no right to levy taxes on the American Colonies because the colonists did not elect members to that body. The dispute grew out of differing ideas of representation, especially Britain’s claim to “virtual representation” and the colonial insistence on direct local representation. The phrase became a powerful Patriot argument during the Stamp Act Crisis (1764–1765).

External and Internal Taxation — This referred to the debate over whether Parliament had the right to tax the American colonies. Before 1765, many Americans accepted trade regulations that raised revenue through import duties, but the Stamp Act led many to reject all parliamentary taxation. British and colonial leaders briefly drew a distinction between internal and external taxes, but many colonists did not accept it. The issue became central to resistance movements such as the Massachusetts Circular Letter.