Chapter 6 Section 2

After the repeal of the Sugar/Stamp Acts the British still need money. The Townshend Act will place a tax on lead, paper, paint, glass, and tea. Also, the New York Assembly will be suspended because the colony has not been paying England for the troops housed in New York. Also, writs of Assistance will be issued giving soldiers the freedom to search homes and businesses for any reason.

John Dickinson, a Pennsylvania Lawyer, writes a series of essays questioning whether Parliament can legally take money from colonists without representation. Dickinson and others believe that the Townshend Acts are a violation of natural rights.

Sam Adams will begin these committees in Boston. The purpose of the committees was to exchange letters on colonial issues. Soon, there will be many of these committees throughout the colonies.

In 1768, more than a 1000 British troops were sent to Boston to squash any protests. These soldiers began taking jobs away from colonials and created a lot of tension. On the night of March 5, 1770, an angry mob of young Bostonians confronted a few British soldiers. The two sides traded insults and a few of the mob threw objects at the soldiers. Eventually, the soldiers fired on the crowd and 5 Bostonians were killed. Paul Revere will make an engraving depicting the soldiers as cruel and vicious murderers. Later, John Adams will defend the soldiers successfully acquitting them of murder.

On the same day the Boston Massacre occurred, the British Parliament began debating the repeal of the Townshend Acts. This act will be repealed except for the tax on tea.

In the colonies, tea had been taxed since the passing of the Townshend Act. However, now the British wanted to strengthen the tax on tea. Many colonists had been smuggling in tea from other countries, therefore avoiding the tax. Now, Britain issued a law that colonists could only buy tea from the British East India Company. Only tea on this companies ships could be brought into the colonies

On the evening of Dec. 16, members of the Sons of Liberty dressed as Mohawk Indians and dumped 342 chests of British East India tea into Boston Harbor.