Chapter 4

Although the British founded the colonies, the colonies soon grew farther and farther apart from the British. On the action that caused these two to grow farther and farther apart was the Stamp Act. The colonists believed that they did not need to buy special stamped paper for things such as legal documents. The tension that rose in Massachusetts was one of reasons the colonists grew farther apart from the British. Although only a few people died and tea was dumped, this caused them to grow farther apart. The fighting in Lexington and Concord was one of the major reasons the colonists grew farther and farther apart. These actions and reactions caused the British and colonist to grow farther apart.

One of the actions the British did that caused the colonies and the British to grow farther apart was the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act required colonists to purchase special stamped paper for every legal document, licenses, etc. When the colonists heard about the Stamp Act, they united in their defiance. Due to this incident, the Sons of Liberty was born. They were a group of people who harassed stamp agents and customs workers. On November 1, 1765, the Stamp Act was to be effective, but the colonist protested and prevented the stamps form being sold. On October 1765, delegates from nine different colonies met in New York City, created the Stamp Act Congress. They issued the Declaration of Rights and Grievances. This stated that Parliament lacked the power to impose taxes on the colonies because the colonists were not represented in Parliament. To repeal the Stamp Act merchants in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia decided not to import goods manufactured in Britain until the Stamp Act was repealed. The boycott worked and in March 1766, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act.

The tension that rose in Massachusetts caused the colonist and British to grow farther apart. Whenever a British solider was at Boston, the colonist hated it. On the evening of March 5, 1770, a mob gathered in front of the Customs House and taunted the guards. After the mob had settled, five people were killed. When Samuel Adams and other propagandists heard about this, they labeled this incident as the Boston Massacre. Another tension that rose in Massachusetts was the Boston Tea Party. When the official monopoly on tea imports, the British East India Company, was at a near bankruptcy, Lord Fredrick North set up the Tea Act in order to save the company. This granted the company the right to sell tea to the colonies free of taxes. On December 16, 1773, a large group of Boston rebels disguised as Native Americans dumped 18,000