ded upon the need for annual inter-colonial congresses.
20/5/1774, Because of the Boston Tea Party incident, London passed the Coercive Acts to punish the American colonies. Boston port was closed down and the powers of the Massachusetts legislature was reduced. The British Parliament passed the Boston Port Act, prohibiting the use by any ships, of the port of Boston, USA. This simply served to inflame the passions of American colonists against the British further in cities from Pennsylvania to New York.
16/12/1773. The Boston Tea Party. See 28/10/1767, 5/3/1770 and 17/3/1776. American colonial rebels, dressed as American Indians, boarded three British tea ships anchored in Boston Harbour, opened 342 tea chests worth UK£ 9,000, and threw their contents overboard. The colonists vowed not to pay the British-imposed tax of 3 pence a pound on tea. This tax was intended to capitalise on a ‘tea mountain’ which had built up in London and threatened to bankrupt the East India Company. The East India Company faced financial problems because British demand for Indian goods exceeded Indian demand for British goods, so there was an outflow of British gold bullion, perceived to be against British interests (mercantilism). The East India Company failed to make money, whereas it had been hoped that the Company would be able to contribute to British public funds. Therefore the East India Company was given permission to export tea directly to the American colonists.
In 1765 the Stamp Act was imposed by Britain to help pay for the costs of the Seven Years War; this was rejected by the American colonists. Repealed, this was replaced by the Townshend Acts, imposing duties on a range of goods including tea, lead, glass, paper and paint. In 1770 the Townshend Acts were in turn repealed, except for the Tea Tax.
9/6/1772, The British schooner Gaspee was set on fire and destroyed by American colonists after it had run aground near Providence, Rhode Island. The schooner had been stationed to prevent a profitable smuggling trade in the region. A British investigation failed to find the culprits.
17/4/1772, Archibald Alexander, US Presbyterian clergyman, was born in Virginia (died 22/10/1851 in Princeton, New Jersey).
12/4/1770. The British Parliament repealed all the taxes on the colonies imposed by Charles Townshend except the tea tax.
5/3/1770. British troops opened fire on a crowd in Boston, Massachusetts, killing five. A crowd had gathered to harass a sentinel on King (now State) street, and he called for help; the troops he called upon fired, killing several men. This incident, later called the Boston Massacre, contributes to the unpopularity of the British regime in America in the years before the American Revolution (see 24/3/1765). Previously, local sailors and workers had harassed British troops quartered in Boston, and the troops were ordered to open fire. See 16/12/1773 and 17/3/1776.
28/1/1770, Lord North, Earl of Guildford, became Prime Minister in Britain. To conciliate the American colonists he abolished all import duties, except the one on tea. This was to establish the British right to tax Americans, see 12/4/1770.
19/1/1770. The Battle of Golden Hill. A group on New Yorkers called the Sons of Liberty engage British troops in pitched battle over British demands for compliance with the Quartering Act.
1/10/1768. Lord Hillsborough, British Secretary of State for the Colonies, sent two regiments to Boston to quell unrest caused by the Stamp Acts.
28/10/1767. Boston led a revival of the boycott of British goods. See 16/12/1773.
4/3/1766. Parliament repealed the Stamp Act which had caused bitter disputes in the colonies, especially North America..
26/8/1765. A major riot broke out in Boston, USA against the Stamp Act. Rioters attacked the house of Thomas Hutchinson, the lieutenant –governor, and burned the house, including the library. Thus many irreplaceable sources of Massachusetts history were lost.
24/3/1765. Britain passed the Quartering Act (see 2/6/1774) requiring the colonies to provide food and shelter for British soldiers and