Colonial Resistance Grows

Townshend Acts• New taxes to raise money in the

colonies• Taxed various goods brought

into the colonies (glass, paper, paint, lead, and tea.)

• British officers would use search warrants (writs of assistance) to look for smuggled goods.

• Made the colonists angry and violently protested.

Sons of Liberty

• A secret society in Boston formed by colonists to oppose British policies.

• Lead sometimes violent protests against British acts (Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, etc)

• Most famous member, Samuel Adams

The Boston Massacre• In the fall of 1768, 1,000 British

soldiers arrived in Boston.• Poorly paid British soldiers

would look for side jobs in Boston to make extra money

• Tensions grew between American workers and British workers

• March 5, 1770 tensions exploded into violence

The Boston Massacre• A group of young people and

dock works began fighting.• British soldiers in the area

fired shots and killed four laborers.

• The Sons of Liberty called the shootings the “Boston Massacre.”

• The incident became a tool for anti-British propaganda.

Custom House Today

Tea Act

• British parliament repealed the Townshend Acts, except one, the tax on Tea

• Tea was very popular in the colonies and was often smuggled in from Holland.

• The Tea Act forced colonial merchants only to buy tea from the British East India Company Most colonists were OK with this, but not Samuel Adams and other Sons of Liberty.

Boston Tea Party• The Sons of Liberty organized

the Boston Tea party in response to the Tea Act

• December 16, 1773, men disguised as Native Americans went on 3 tea ships in Boston harbor and dumped 342 chests of tea in the harbor.

• Britain responded with more taxes and tighter control on the colonies.