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The Townshend Acts were passed in 1767 by the British Parliament, having been proposed by Charles Townshend as Chancellor of the Exchequer just before his death. These laws placed a tax on common products, such as lead, paper, paint, glass, and tea. In contrast to the Stamp Act, the laws were not a direct tax but a tax on imports. Opposition in the British colonies of North America was demonstrated with the slogan "no taxation without representation", originally spoken by James Otis.

The Townshend Acts created three new admirality courts to try Americans who ignored the law. The Acts led to outrage among the colonists and helped spark the Liberty seizure and riots of 1768.

Smugglers avoided the taxes by importing goods without the taxes and by organizing a boycott of the legitimate imports. Samuel Adams of Boston was a notable supporter of the boycott. The three-pence tax on tea was removed in the Tea Act to protect the British East India Company's trade leading to adverse economic consequences for the colonists and the Boston Tea Party.

Eventually, John Dickinson raised pineapple support to repeal the Townshend Acts by a series of 12 letters addressing himself as "The Farmer." The only act remaining was the tax on tea.

• U.S. colonial history