13 civil unrest in boston

A SURVEY OF AMERICAN HISTORY

Unit 1: Colonialism and NationhoodPart 13: Civil Unrest in Boston

THE TOWNSHEND ACTS OF 1767

• After repealing the Stamp Act in 1766, the British Government needed to find new ways of raising revenue from its North American colonies.

• In 1767, the British Parliament passed several laws imposing new taxes on the colonies and improving the enforcement of existing taxation laws.

THE TOWNSHEND ACTS OF 1767

• These laws were known as the Townshend Acts, after British Chancellor Charles Townshend.

• The most contentious was the Revenue Act, which placed new customs duties on the colonial importation of simple products such as paper, glass, and tea, and also reaffirmed the legality of the writs of assistance.

• Boston had the largest port of all the colonial cities.

• The city’s economy was hit the hardest by new taxes on colonial imports and exports.

• Through protests and boycotts, the people of the city resisted British Government efforts to collect those taxes.

CIVIL UNREST IN BOSTON

• The use of writs of assistance was a large part of the British Government’s collection efforts.

• In Boston, as public opposition to writs of assistance strengthened while the economy weakened, the British Government used the standing army to enforce law and order and to prevent civil unrest.


• The first British soldiers arrived in Boston on October 1, 1769.

• Boston was under occupation by soldiers who came from overseas although they officially belonged to the same nation as the people.

• The Journal of Occurrences kept a weekly record of clashes between soldiers and citizens.


February 22, 1770. Citizens protest outside a shop whose owner is defying a general boycott of British goods and selling items imported from Britain. The protest is broken up by a customs officer and the protesters leave.

Later that night, the customs officer finds an even larger protest taking place outside his home. When his wife is injured by protesters throwing rocks at his house, he fires a gun into the crowd and kills an eleven-year-old boy.

1770: BLOODSHED IN FEBRUARY, MASSACRE IN MARCH


The boy’s funeral turns into a huge public event organized by Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty. Some two thousand Bostonians attend it, transforming it into a general protest against the British militarization of Boston.

March 5, 1770.A British soldier on duty outside the Custom House is taunted by a young man and strikes him with his musket. As the young man cries out in pain, a large crowd of spectators surrounds the soldier.

A captain and six more British soldiers are sent to guard the Custom House. Protesters throw objects at them and dare them to fire their weapons. One of them fires into the crowd, and his shots cause the others to fire as well.

Eleven men are injured. Three die on the site. A fourth is wounded and dies the next day. A fifth dies two weeks later. Their funerals are attended by thousands of Bostonians, again thanks to the efforts of the Sons of Liberty.


JOHN ADAMS

• Well-respected Boston lawyer and cousin of Samuel Adams.

• Later observed that “the foundation of American independence was laid” with the Boston Massacre.

• Agreed to defend the British soldiers when they were charged and tried with murder.

• Incurred the disapproval of the people of Boston, but believed that everyone accused of a crime has the right to a fair trial.

THE GASPÉE AFFAIR

• On June 10, 1772, the Sons of Liberty in Providence, Rhode Island, approached a British customs ship called the HMS Gaspée and set it on fire after shooting its captain.

• The Gaspée belonged to the Royal Navy and ultimately to King George III. The British Government thus argued that an attack on the ship was tantamount to an attack on the King. For that reason, the men responsible for the attack were charged with treason and sent to Great Britain to stand trial.

THE TEA ACT AND THE TEA PARTY

• In May 1773, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act. This act effectively reduced the price of tea in the colonies in order to entice people to purchase it and thereby pay customs duties on it.

• From mid-1773, protestors obstructed the unloading of tea. In October, the Sons of Liberty in Philadelphia successfully turned around a ship that was transporting tea. In November, several similar ships arrived in Boston Harbor…

THE TEA ACT AND THE TEA PARTY

• Samuel Adams convened a public meeting in Boston to turn those ships around.

• The Governor of Massachusetts refused to let them turn around.

• On the night of December 16, one hundred men stormed the three ships in Boston Harbor. Some of them were dressed in disguise as Mohawk Indians. Under cover of darkness, they destroyed more than three hundred chests of tea by dumping them into the water.

A SURVEY OF AMERICAN HISTORY

Unit 1: Colonialism and NationhoodPart 13: Civil Unrest in Boston

13 civil unrest in boston

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