The Revenue Act of 1764

“...whereas it is just and necessary that a revenue be raised in your Majesty's said dominions in America for defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing...be it enacted...there shall be raised, levied, collected, and paid unto his Majesty, his heirs and successors, for and upon all white or clayed sugars of the produce or manufacture of any colony or plantation in America, not under the dominion of his Majesty...for and upon indigo, and coffee of foreign produce or manufacture...wrought silks, bengals, and stuffs, mixed with silk or herbs, of the manufacture of Persia, China, or East India, and all calico painted, dyed, printed, or stained there; and for and upon all foreign linen cloth called cambric and French lawns which shall be imported or brought into any colony or plantation in America...And for the better preventing frauds...every person or persons loading...shall before the clearing out of the said ship or vessel, produce and deliver to the collector...and affidavit signed and sworn to before some justice of the peace in the British colonies or plantations, either by the grower, maker, or shipper of such goods, or his or their known agent or factor, expressing in words at length and not in figures, the quality of the goods so shipped, with the number and denominations of the packages, and describing the name or names of the plantation or plantations, and the name of the colony where the same grew or were produced and manufactured.” 

George III, April 5, 1764