Building Colonial Unity Chapter 5 Section 2

Trouble begins in Boston By 1768, protests by the colonists had forced Britain to send troops to the colonies to protect British officials. These “Red Coats” angered Bostonians by stealing from their shops and acting rudely towards colonists.

The Boston Massacre On March 5, 1770, a fight broke out between Bostonians and British soldiers. The angry crowd started to throw stones at the soldiers screaming “you dare not fire” When one of the soldiers was knocked over the nervous red coats fired on the crowd A member of the crowd was said to have yelled “Are the inhabitants to be knocked down in the streets? Are they to be murdered…?”

The Tea Act In 1773 Parliament passed the Tea Act which stated that only the British East India Company could import tea to the colonies. Colonists were angry because the act also allowed the company to sell directly to shopkeepers bypassing colonial merchants who normally made money off of the trade.

The Boston Tea Party Shipments of tea that were sent to Philadelphia and New York were being turned back by the colonists, but when three ships filled with tea wanted to leave the Boston harbor in 1773 the royal governor refused to let them leave. On December 16, a group of men disguised as Mohawks boarded the ships at midnight and dumped 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. Word spread that colonists were defying the crown even though most colonists at the time still thought of themselves as British citizens.

The Intolerable Acts After the Boston Tea Party King George III realized that Britain was loosing control of its colonies. He had parliament pass a set of laws called the Coercive Acts in 1774 made to teach the colonists in Boston a lesson.

The Intolerable Acts Closed Boston Harbor until Boston paid for the ruined tea. Forced Bostonians to house or quarter soldiers in their homes. Took away certain rights of Massachusetts citizens, like the ability to hold town meetings