The Boston Massacre

The late 1700s led to many changes in the way Britain ran the colonies. England was piled with debt and new western lands in the colonies were left undefended. Soon the stamp act, along with other taxes, were enacted to raise revenue to pay off the debts, as well the Mutiny Act which required colonists to keep British troops in their homes. The Townshend Acts of 1767 brought about a tax on all imports, hoping that an external tax would not infuriate the colonists like the internal stamp tax did. It also established a new board of customs commissioners in America, along with disbanding the New York Assembly for refusing to provide troops with supplies as required in the Mutiny Act. The Townshend Acts, coupled with the Stamp Act, Mutiny Act, and other Acts, led to resentment towards the British by the colonists. This resentment was most notable in Massachusetts, the colony that suffered the most repression from the British government. Tensions continued to rise in Massachusetts (and other colonies) following the passing of the Townshend Acts, which led to the Boston massacre, a scuffle that turned into propaganda for the colonists, this led to even more hatred by the colonists towards the British.

There was a strong response from the colonists following the Townshend acts. In late December 1767, John Dickinson wrote “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania” in which he argued that there was no difference between internal and external taxation. Since this was a published work, it was circulated around, and brought many other colonists to believe this as-well, it showed what the colonists were thinking about the Townshend acts, and it foreshadowed that there could be conflict ahead. After the passing of the Acts, the Massachusetts House of Representatives wrote to King George to repeal the act, as-well as to the other colonies asking them to join in the resistance movement. England responded by saying that all colonial legislatures who support it would be dissolved; Massachusetts still supported it 92 to 17, they were promptly dissolved. This not only showed how dedicated the people of Massachusetts were to their cause, but it also angered the citizens, because now what little self government they had was now gone. Colonial boycotts began holding a role in the response, as not only Massachusetts merchants boycotted English goods, but also merchants from New York and Philadelphia also joined in; their agreement was to simply not import anything, and make/use only “American” made products. For one of the first times, colonies started to join together in their resistance to the British government. The colonists showed that once again, they will resist the British despite the hardships that they might experience, and would even loose rights in order to take a stance against oppression.