Things Leading Up to the Boston Tea Party
The Stamp Act- The Stamp Act happened because after the French and Indian War, Britain needed to pay for the soldiers who were still in America. British leaders thought that the colonists should help pay for the troops who were protecting them. In 1765, Parliament made a new tax law called the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act said that the colonists would have to pay a tax on printed paper. To prove the tax had been paid, it needed a large blue stamp. Newspapers, pamphlets, marriage licenses,and playing cards were taxed. The news of taxes made the people really mad! They did not want to pay for things they did not use every day, especially since the money went to the British government. They were really mad because they were not allowed to help make the law. There were different ways colonists showed their anger. Some would not buy the stamps, others protested in the streets, and some tried to chase the tax collectors away. Some people got together and said not to buy British goods.
In 1765, nine of the colonies sent people to a special meeting in New York. The meeting was called the Stamp Act Congress. They thought that Britain could not make laws without there approval. They called this “taxation without representation”. The king was shocked that the colonists were so mad. Then he realized there was no way he could make them obey the Stamp Act. In March 1766, Britain repealed the law. Repealed means that to take back the law.
The Boston Massacre- In 1770 the colonists and the British army were angry at each other. The colonists were angry because the soldiers were living in their town and they were stealing their jobs. The British soldiers were not happy because the soldiers were far from home and the colonists made their jobs harder. As time went on it got worse. Researchers think that if the soldiers and the people got along the Boston Massacre would of never happened. The colonists started to make fun of the soldiers by calling them names like “lobsterback” because they had red coats. Also they were throwing snowballs at them.
On March 5,1770 the fighting was the worst it had ever been. A soldier was standing guard in front of the Customs House. A Customs House was a place where the British kept their taxes. The colonists did not like the building because they had no say in the taxes. The guard was guarding the house and then a group of people came over and started to throw rocks and snowballs at him. Then Captain Thomas Preston came over to help with 7 other men and then they loaded their muskets. A musket was a gun similar to a rifle. The soldiers just stood there with there guns out. That made the colonists angrier and they kept throwing snowballs at the soldiers and started to insult them. They do not know what really happened for sure. Some people say that Captain Preston said not to fire, but one of the soldiers said that he heard someone said fire, so he did. If one of the colonist never said to fire, then the lobsterbacks would not have fired. When the solder shot his gun, the people started to come closer so the rest of the soldiers shot their guns. When it was over there were 5 people dead on the ground.The colonists called it the Boston Massacre. A massacre is the murder of people who cannot defend themselves.
The Boston Tea Party- The Boston Tea Party happened three years after the Boston Massacre. The people of England were only buying tea from the Native Americans and the tea stores in England were losing money. So the king said that the people could only buy tea from the stores in England and the king put taxes on the tea. The people of England dressed up as Native Americans and went on board the tea ship and threw away 90,000 pounds of tea in the Boston Harbor. The king was really mad at the people so he made new laws on the people and he closed the port of Boston. I think the people had the right to throw the tea away because the king was making the people buy tea from only England. It must of been really stressful for the people because the king wasmaking more law said I wonder how they got things.
