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If you sometimes don’t want to do what your parents tell you to do, you have an idea of how Great Britain’s 13 American colonies felt in the 1770s. Since 1607, people had been leaving the motherland to come to America for a variety of reasons.
These included religious freedom, economic gain, and a new life, among others. Many of these colonists had their differences with Britain. But most still considered themselves loyal subjects of the Crown.
Starting around 1763, however, after the end of the French and Indian War, conflict increased between Britain and the colonies. Great Britain had fought the war to drive the French from the continent and had come away victorious—but with huge war debts. Parliament (the lawmaking body of Britain) felt the colonies should help pay these war debts. The Americans resisted. They claimed they shouldn’t be taxed because they had no representation in Parliament. The British offered a plan to let the colonists elect representatives to Parliament. The colonists rejected that plan, believing they would never have enough votes to wield any real power. Conflict between the colonists and Britain escalated until, on April 19, 1775, armed revolt broke out.
◀ On March 5, 1770, in Boston, Massachusetts, a group of colonists began heckling some British soldiers guarding the customhouse. The mob threw snowballs, rocks, and chunks of ice. One of them clubbed a British soldier. The British retaliated with gunfire. The first of five colonists to die was Crispus Attucks (pictured), a runaway slave. At the soldiers’ trial, future president of the United States John Adams successfully defended the British soldiers against a murder charge. He argued that they had been provoked by an unruly mob of rabble-rousers. Adams later changed his opinion of the conflict, now known as the Boston Massacre.
▲ By 1773, Britain had removed all taxes on the colonies except a symbolic one on tea. This tax wasn’t an economic hardship on the colonists. But it was a hated symbol of Britain’s power. On the night of December 16, 1773, 50 leading citizens of Boston dressed as Mohawk Indians. They boarded three British ships and threw 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. That was worth about $2 million in today’s money. Britain responded by closing the port of Boston and placing Massachusetts under military control. In protest, representatives from every colony except Georgia met in Philadelphia to form the First Continental Congress. They also agreed to end trade with Britain.
Their protests against British taxation might lead you to believe the American colonists struggled financially. But the fact is they had the highest per capita (per person) income of any people in the world.
