Ship money refers to a tax that Charles I of England tried to levy without the consent of Parliament. This tax, which was applied only to coastal towns during a time of war, was intended to offset the cost of defending that part of the coast, and could be paid in actual ships or the equivalent value. The collection of the tax inland during peacetime started in 1634 and provoked increasing resistance by 1636. This conflict was one of the causes of the English Civil War.
Read more about Ship Money: Opposition
Famous quotes containing the words ship and/or money:
“A ship is a bit of terra firma cut off from the main; it is a state in itself; and the captain is its king.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Just what is the civil law? What neither influence can affect, nor power break, nor money corrupt: were it to be suppressed or even merely ignored or inadequately observed, no one would feel safe about anything, whether his own possessions, the inheritance he expects from his father, or the bequests he makes to his children.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)