Course: HIST 1301

Date of Submission: 08/03/2022

[2]Dickinson, John. "Letters from a Farmer in Pennyslyvania.” December 1767: 2-7. Retrieved from https://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/crisis/text4/dickinsonletters1767.pdf.

[3] The Boston Evening Post. "The Liberty Riot". The Boston Evening Post October 10 1768: 14-15. Retrieved from https://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/crisis/text4/townshendactsresponse1767.pdf.

Bubbling hostilities between Boston inhabitants and the British rulers erupted on March 1770 when an altercation between a group of British soldiers and several colonists drew a group of 30-40 colonists (mostly youth) who encircled the British soldiers. The colonists started insulting the soldiers and tossing objects at them. This led to the troops losing control and started shooting at the group. When the dust settled, three colonists were killed, and two others were critically injured. The British soldiers' reaction proved to be a powerful colonists' propaganda weapon, depicting the British as aggressors willing to shed blood to enforce the Stamp and the Townshend Acts, thus further fueling the tension.

[5] The Boston Gazette. "The Boston Massacre.” The Boston Gazette March 12 1770: 7-10.<https://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/crisis/text5/goldenhillseidermassacre.pdf.>

After withdrawing their soldiers from Boston, the Parliament rescinded most of the punitive Townshend laws. Nevertheless, it retained the tea tax and drafted the Tea Act, a new regulation, in 1773 to support the suffering British East India Company (BEIC) financially by extending preferential tax treatment to the company. It would sell tea at a lower price than tea sold by American traders who got their supplies from Dutch importers. This irritated colonists as they felt that the British were favoring their company at the expense of the local merchants. The Sons of Liberty, an
advocacy organization, resolved to challenge the British policies by throwing the BEIC's tea into Boston Harbor as a message to Parliament that they opposed the Townshend Acts (1767) and the Boston Massacre (1770), and the Tea Act (1773). The British authorities were enraged by this act of defiance.


[6] David Ramsay, The History of the American Revolution, 1789.

In the early summer of 1774, Parliament approved the Coercive Acts supplanting the elected council in the colony with only one selected by Parliament; closing Boston Harbor until compensation for the tea thrown into the harbour was paid; expanding General Thomas Gage, the British military governor, powers; and illegalized unapproved town gatherings. Another component was the Quartering Act. The act permitted British soldiers to demand to reside in vacant houses and facilities in towns instead of in the countryside. Therefore, following the Boston Tea Party, the Crown used the Coercive Acts to subdue the rebellions in Massachusetts and other colonies. The acts were also established to punish colonists for their participation in the Boston Tea Party. Parliament did not repeal the Coercive Act despite pressures from colonists to repeal it. These acts' laws played a significant role in the outbreak of the Revolutionary War in 1775.


[7] Eisenhuth, Caroline. The Coercive (Intolerable) Acts of 1774. June 2019. August 3 2022 <https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/the-coercive-intolerable-acts-of-1774/#:~:text=The%20Coercive%20Acts%20of%201774,for%20the%20Boston%20Tea%20Party.>.

Thomas Gage, a British General, led a group of soldiers to Lexington from Boston to capture anti-Coercive Acts radical groups' leaders, and then to Concord, where he would seize their gunpowder. However, colonists’ spies learned of the plot and, sent a message to Lexington to be prepared against the British mission. Thomas Gage’s troops were met by 77 American rebels on the Lexington Common. Each group started firing at each other leading to death of seven Americans, and the repulsion of the British soldiers at Concord by American militias. Eventually, 73 British troops were killed, 174 injured, and 26 went missing. The deadly fight demonstrated to the British that the colonists were determined to defy the Coercive Acts by any means necessary. It was the commencement of the American Revolution.


[8] American Battlefield Trust. Lexington and Concord. 2020. August 3 2022 <https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/lexington-and-concord>.           

Until the harsh British attacks and destruction of Virginia coastal cities including Massachusetts, Falmouth, and Norfolk, the interests of the southern colonies did not coincide with those of the northern colonies regarding the War of independence. Attacks brought the colonies together. General George Washington was outraged by the burning of Falmouth, which he described as surpassing in horror & atrocity every aggressive act perpetrated among civilized nations. The scene of the town's structures on fire startled the southerners. Members of the rebellion realized that in order to prevail against a brutal opponent, the colonists needed to join together and embrace the push for freedom   The British raids on coastal towns were retaliation for the Lexington and Concord episodes. Therefore, while the Revolutionary War began with Lexington and Concord, hostility toward colonizers quickly spread throughout the country, culminating in the Declaration of Independence in 1776.


[9] Nelson, James L. Burning Falmouth. April 18 2018. August 3 2022 <https://www.historynet.com/burning-falmouth/>.

 

Dickinson, John. "Colonists Respond to the Stamp Act." Broadside Philadelphia November 1765: 2.

 

—. "Letters from a Farmer in Pennyslyvania December.” 1767: 2-7. https://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/crisis/text4/dickinsonletters1767.pdf.

 

Eisenhuth, Caroline. The Coercive (Intolerable) Acts of 1774. June 2019. August 3 2022 <https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/the-coercive-intolerable-acts-of-1774/#:~:text=The%20Coercive%20Acts%20of%201774,for%20the%20Boston%20Tea%20Party.>.

 

Nelson, James L. Burning Falmouth. April 18 2018. August 3 2022 <https://www.historynet.com/burning-falmouth/>.

 

Ramsay, David. The History of the American Revolution.” 1789. https://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/crisis/text6/teaactresponse.pdf.

 

The Boston Evening Post. "The Liberty Riot.” The Boston Evening Post October 10 1768: 14-15. https://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/crisis/text4/townshendactsresponse1767.pdf.

 

The Boston Gazette. "The Boston Massacre.” The Boston Gazette March 12 1770: 7-10.<https://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/crisis/text5/goldenhillseidermassacre.pdf.>