SamuelAdamsa n dtheBoston
Massacre
Samuel Adam sw asa p olit ician andwriter who
organized opposition in Massachusetts TO th e
British taxlaws. He believedinthe ideaof"no
taxation w itho ut rep resen tation. " Inarti clesand
speeches he attac ked rh c British govern me nt 's
claimth at it had therigh ttotaxth e colonis ts.
OnM arch 5. 1 no,a Bo stonm obbegantoshou t
insult s at agroupo f British sold iers. Angrywords
w eree xchanged. St icksandSTOnesbeganto fly
through the air at the soldiers. One o fthecrowd
triedto rake a soldie r'sgun and th esoldiershor
him.Withoutanyo rde r fro mth e officerincharge.
moreshotswerefi redandrhreemore members o f
th ecrowd felld ead. Severalo therswerewounded.
Samuel Adam s used this"BostonMassacre " to
stirupA m erican opin ionagainst theBritish. He
w ro rea letter whic h inaccur atel ydescribed the
happeni ngas an un provoke dattackona peaceful
g rou pofcitize ns. He sen to mcopiesofth e letter
to all the colon ies. To m ake hisaccou n t moreAll this opposi tionfo rcedtheBriti shgovernm entto
withdrawthe StampA ct .But it wasdeterminedTO
showth e co lo nists thatit hadth e rightTOtaxth em.
Parliamentpassedanothe rlawcalledth e D eclaratory
Act.Thisstated thattheBrit ishgovern me n t had
"fi.11Ipowerandaut hority(o ver) th e colo niesand
peopleofAmeri cain all caseswhatso ev er; "
In 1767 theBritishplac.-d newtaxes0 11tea, paper,
paint,andvariousothe r goodsth at the colonie s
importedfromabro ad. Aspecialcustom s o fficew as
set up inBosron to collectth e newduties.Againthe
colonistsrefusedtopay.Riot s bro keoutin Boston
and the British sen tso ldiers tok ee porder.It wasnot
until1770 ,w hen the Brit ishrem oved allthed u ties
C'xceptfor the oneontea,th atthe re waslesst rouble.
Butsome colon ists in Massach usett swer e
determinedtokeepth e quarrelgoing.InDecember
1773,agrou pofth em disguised them selvesas
Mo hawkAmerind ian s. Theyboarde dBritish
merchantshipsin Bo stonharborandthrew3-12cases
of teamroth e sea."lhopeth atKin g George likes salt
Inhis tea;" saido neofthem.
(, T ill.HOOTSOFHE VOLFIIONconvincin g. he askeda Bo stonsilvers m ithnamed
Paul Rever e to makea d ramaticpictu re of th e
"Massacre. "H un dr ed sofcopieswerep rinted.Adams'letterand Rever e's picturewereseen by
th o usan ds of peo ple thr oughou t the colonies.
T ogcrhcr they did a g reat deal to strengthen
oppositiontoB riti sh rule.T he Britishreplyto this"BOSlOlITeaPart y"wasto
passa setoflawsto pun ishM assach usett s.Colo nis ts
soon began callingth eselaw sth e " IntolerableActs."
Bosto n harborwasclosed toall trad euntil thetea
w asp aid for. M or e soldiersweresentth eretokeep
o rde r.T hepower softheco lo nialassemblyo f
M assach usett swacg reatlyred uced.
O njune1,1774,llritishwarships rookup positionat
th e mo ut hofBOSTOnharbo rtomakesurethat no
ships sailed in oro ut. Afewmonth slater,in
Septem ber 1774 ,a g ro upofco lo n ial leaders came
to geth erIIIP hiladelphia. Theyfo rme dthe Fir st
C on tin en talCongressto0 ppOSt'w h at they sawas
Britishoppression.TheContinent alCong ressclaimedtobeloya ltothe
Britishking.But it calleduponall Americansto
supportthe p eop leo f Massachu settsb y refu sin gto
bu y Brit ishgoods. Man y colonis tswentfurtherth an
this.T heybeg anto organize them selves intog rou ps
ofpart-time soldiers.o r"militias,"andTOgather
together w ea.pon sandamm unition.27