Cause And Effect Of The Boston Massacre

In the 1760s, many colonists were becoming frustrated with Great Britain. After the French and Indian War, where the colonists fought with the French settlers for control of the Ohio River valley, Great Britain began enforcing new taxes on the colonies. These taxes included the Stamp Act, which levied a tax on the paper used to print newspapers and official documents, and the Townshend Acts, which taxed goods such as glass and paint that only wealthy colonists could afford. To help enforce these laws, the King sent British soldiers to the colonies to monitor trade and other activities. The colonists were required by the Quartering Act to house the soldiers, which sparked anger among the colonists. This growing unrest among the colonists led

to the forming of the Sons of Liberty, a quasi-terrorist that attacked British tax collectors, burned homes of Loyalists, and raided merchants’ shops.

Further incidents with the British Regulars fueled the colonists’ anger.

In one event known as the Boston Massacre, shooting broke out between the British soldiers outside the custom-house and a group of angry colonists throwing rocks at the soldiers. Tensions finally broke in Boston in response to the Tea Act, which mandated that the colonists only buy Tea from the British East India Company. This made merchants angry because many colonists refused to drink the British tea. The Boston Sons of Liberty dressed as Mohawks (who were loyal to the British) and boarded British tea vessels and dumped hundreds of pounds worth of tea into the harbor. When the British heard of this incident, they passed the Intolerable Acts, which closed the Boston harbor, abrogated the Massachusetts charter, and gave the royal governor control over the Massachusetts executive council. Soon there was war. A group of British troops were marching to Concord to capture the colonists’ store of ammunition. The troops also stopped in Lexington to look for two Sons of Liberty members who were wanted by the King. However, they encountered a group of militiamen waiting for them in Lexington. It is unclear who fired the “shot heard round the world”, but this battle was the beginning of the American

Revolution.

At first the Americans were simply fighting out of anger towards Great Britain. However, as the war progressed, many colonists began to think of Independence. In 1776, Thomas Paine published Common Sense, a pamphlet that explained in everyday language why the colonies should be independent from England. This pamphlet put forth key ideas about democracy and republicanism. Also, two counties in North Carolina, Mecklenburg and Halifax, published resolves that effectively declared their independence from the King. These resolves helped to inspire the Declaration of Independence, a document that set forth specific transgressions of the King and stated that the colonies considered themselves to be free and independent states. With this personal motivation, the colonists were able to defeat the larger and better trained British force at the Battle of Saratoga, earning them an alliance with France. With the help of the French, the colonists were finally able to defeat the British at the Battle of Yorktown, where General Cornwallis surrendered to Washington.