The Cider Bill of 1763 was a proposed measure by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

government of Lord Bute to put a

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

on the production of cider. Britain's

national debt A country's gross government debt (also called public debt, or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit o ...

had reached unprecedented levels during the early 1760s following the country's involvement in the Seven Years War which had been very expensive. Lord Bute proposed a tax of four

shillings The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or ...

which would be levied on every

hogshead A hogshead (abbreviated "hhd", plural "hhds") is a large cask of liquid (or, less often, of a food commodity). More specifically, it refers to a specified volume, measured in either imperial or US customary measures, primarily applied to alcoh ...

of cider made. This produced an instant reaction from the cider-producing areas, particularly in the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glouce ...

which elected many MPs. Riots broke out and there was widespread outrage against the bill. The dispute added to Bute's growing unpopularity and in mid-1763 he stepped down as Prime Minister. His successor

George Grenville George Grenville (14 October 1712 – 13 November 1770) was a British Whig statesman who rose to the position of Prime Minister of Great Britain. Grenville was born into an influential political family and first entered Parliament in 1741 as an ...

pushed through the tax, defeating an opposition motion for

repeal A repeal (O.F. ''rapel'', modern ''rappel'', from ''rapeler'', ''rappeler'', revoke, ''re'' and ''appeler'', appeal) is the removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal; a repeal with a re-enactment is used to replace the law ...

in February 1764. The reaction to the tax has been compared to the similar hostility in the American colonies to the

Stamp Act of 1765 The Stamp Act 1765, also known as the Duties in American Colonies Act 1765 (5 Geo. III c. 12), was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America and required that many printed materials ...

. George Grenville initially went ahead with the Stamp Act because previous bills had not aroused such anger in America as the Cider Tax had in Britain. The tax was repealed in 1766.16 Parliamentary History 207. Some of the strongest words in favour of an individual's privacy from government intrusions into the home were made in the attacks opposing enactment and favouring repeal of this tax because excise taxes allowed warrantless searches. One of William Pitt's best known quotes comes from one of his speeches against this tax. {{Cquote, The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail; its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storm may enter; the rain may enter; but the King of England cannot enter -- all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement! It was noticed in Miller v. United States, 357 U.S. 301, 307 (1958). The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution derives from the debates over this tax and over the general warrants issued to suppress anti-Bute publications, especially by

John Wilkes John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English radical journalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he ...

and John Entick.

References

Bibliography

* Anderson, Fred. ''Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766''. Faber and Faber, 2000. * Lawson, Phillip. ''George Grenville: A political life''. Oxford University Press, 1984. * Parliamentary History of England, London: Hansard, 1813, vol. 16. 1758 in British law Proposed laws of the United Kingdom Alcohol law in the United Kingdom