Covers key events in Boston preceding the War of Independence, including the passage of the Townshend Acts, the British occupation of Boston, the Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party. Also covers the Gaspée Affair and introduces John Adams.

1. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 1: Colonialism and Nationhood
Part 13: Civil Unrest in Boston

2. THE TOWNSHEND
ACTS OF 1767
• After repealing the Stamp Act in
1766, the British Government
needed to find new ways of
raising revenue from its North
American colonies.
• In 1767, the British Parliament
passed several laws imposing
new taxes on the colonies and
improving the enforcement of
existing taxation laws.

3. THE TOWNSHEND
ACTS OF 1767
• These laws were known as the
Townshend Acts, after British
Chancellor Charles Townshend.
• The most contentious was the
Revenue Act, which placed new
customs duties on the colonial
importation of simple products
such as paper, glass, and tea,
and also reaffirmed the legality of
the writs of assistance.

4. • Boston had the largest port of all
the colonial cities.
• The city’s economy was hit the
hardest by new taxes on colonial
imports and exports.
• Through protests and boycotts,
the people of the city resisted
British Government efforts to
collect those taxes.
CIVIL UNREST IN BOSTON

5. • The use of writs of assistance
was a large part of the British
Government’s collection efforts.
• In Boston, as public opposition to
writs of assistance strengthened
while the economy weakened,
the British Government used the
standing army to enforce law and
order and to prevent civil unrest.
CIVIL UNREST IN BOSTON

6. • The first British soldiers arrived in
Boston on October 1, 1769.
• Boston was under occupation by
soldiers who came from overseas
although they officially belonged
to the same nation as the people.
• The Journal of Occurrences kept
a weekly record of clashes
between soldiers and citizens.
CIVIL UNREST IN BOSTON

7. February 22, 1770.
Citizens protest outside
a shop whose owner is
defying a general
boycott of British goods
and selling items
imported from Britain.
The protest is broken up
by a customs officer and
the protesters leave.
Later that night, the
customs officer finds an
even larger protest
taking place outside his
home. When his wife is
injured by protesters
throwing rocks at his
house, he fires a gun
into the crowd and kills
an eleven-year-old boy.
1770: BLOODSHED IN FEBRUARY, MASSACRE IN MARCH

8. 1770: BLOODSHED IN FEBRUARY, MASSACRE IN MARCH
The boy’s funeral turns
into a huge public event
organized by Samuel
Adams and the Sons of
Liberty. Some two
thousand Bostonians
attend it, transforming it
into a general protest
against the British
militarization of Boston.
March 5, 1770.
A British soldier on duty
outside the Custom
House is taunted by a
young man and strikes
him with his musket. As
the young man cries
out in pain, a large
crowd of spectators
surrounds the soldier.

9. A captain and six more
British soldiers are sent
to guard the Custom
House. Protesters throw
objects at them and
dare them to fire their
weapons. One of them
fires into the crowd, and
his shots cause the
others to fire as well.
Eleven men are injured.
Three die on the site. A
fourth is wounded and
dies the next day. A fifth
dies two weeks later.
Their funerals are
attended by thousands
of Bostonians, again
thanks to the efforts of
the Sons of Liberty.
1770: BLOODSHED IN FEBRUARY, MASSACRE IN MARCH

10. JOHN ADAMS
• Well-respected Boston lawyer
and cousin of Samuel Adams.
• Later observed that “the
foundation of American
independence was laid” with
the Boston Massacre.
• Agreed to defend the British
soldiers when they were
charged and tried with murder.
• Incurred the disapproval of the
people of Boston, but believed
that everyone accused of a
crime has the right to a fair trial.

11. THE GASPÉE AFFAIR
• On June 10, 1772, the Sons of
Liberty in Providence, Rhode
Island, approached a British
customs ship called the HMS
Gaspée and set it on fire after
shooting its captain.
• The Gaspée belonged to the
Royal Navy and ultimately to
King George III. The British
Government thus argued that an
attack on the ship was
tantamount to an attack on the
King. For that reason, the men
responsible for the attack were
charged with treason and sent
to Great Britain to stand trial.

12. THE TEA ACT AND
THE TEA PARTY
• In May 1773, the British
Parliament passed the Tea Act.
This act effectively reduced the
price of tea in the colonies in
order to entice people to
purchase it and thereby pay
customs duties on it.
• From mid-1773, protestors
obstructed the unloading of tea.
In October, the Sons of Liberty
in Philadelphia successfully
turned around a ship that was
transporting tea. In November,
several similar ships arrived in
Boston Harbor…

13. THE TEA ACT AND
THE TEA PARTY
• Samuel Adams convened a
public meeting in Boston to
turn those ships around.
• The Governor of Massachusetts
refused to let them turn around.
• On the night of December 16,
one hundred men stormed the
three ships in Boston Harbor.
Some of them were dressed in
disguise as Mohawk Indians.
Under cover of darkness, they
destroyed more than three
hundred chests of tea by
dumping them into the water.

14. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 1: Colonialism and Nationhood
Part 13: Civil Unrest in Boston