Chapter 6.4
New Taxes and Tensions
The Townshend Acts
 Writs of Assistance o Special search warrants that allowed tax collectors to search for smuggled goods
 The Townshend Acts, 1767 o Placed duties, or taxes on imported goods, on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. o Money paid for military costs and salaries of colonial governors
Colonial Response
 Colonists again boycotted British goods
 Daughters of Liberty- women who supported the boycott
 Colonial legislatures voted to protest against the tax
The Liberty
 Liberty- John Hancock’s ship; seized by tax collectors o He was a Boston Merchant o Accused tax collectors of punishing him because he opposed the
Townshend Acts o Sons of Liberty supported Hancock; attacked the houses of customs officials o British soldiers were sent to restore order
Boston Massacre
 Propaganda- information that is spread with the purpose of supporting a cause
 Bias- supporting one side, rather than remaining neutral
 British soldiers in Boston were looked down upon; seen as a threat to colonies’ independence
 Name-calling and fights between soldiers and colonists were common
 March 5, 1770- one soldier and a colonist got into an argument
 Colonist crowd began throwing snowballs and shouting insults
 A small group of soldiers then arrived
 Colonists grew restless and angry; soldiers fired into the crowd and killed several colonists
 Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and other colonists used the event as propaganda against the British
 By calling it “The Boston Massacre” they stirred up colonial emotions
 Soldiers were tried in a Boston Court o Six soldiers and an officer were found not guilty of murder due to selfdefense
 Two soldiers were convicted of killing people in the crowd by accident

o Soldiers were branded on the hand, and released
The Tea Act
 To reduce tension, Parliament repealed most of the Townshend acts, except the tea tax
 Tea was in high demand
 Colonies were smuggling in tea, avoiding the tax
 British East India Company offered to sell its tea directly to the colonies for cheaper, so the colonists would pay the tax
 Tea Act was passed
 Colonist merchants and smugglers feared cheap British tea would put them out of business
 Others feared of a tea monopoly- complete control of the entire market
 Colonists were worried other British companies would follow threaten colonial businesses
 Colonists united against the Tea Act
Boston Tea Party
 Ship carrying British tea arrived in Boston Harbor, along with 2 other tea ships
 Sons of Liberty demanded the ships leave immediately
 December 16th 1773, colonists disguised as American Indians snuck onto the ships
 They broke and threw 342 chests full of tea into the harbor
The Intolerable Acts
 Parliament decided to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party
 Passed the Intolerable Acts o A.k.a. Coercive Acts
 Did several things o Boston Harbor was closed until Boston paid for the lost tea o Royal officials were sent to Britain for trial; faced more friendly judge and jury o Quartering Act: forced colonists to house and supply British soldiers
Results of the Intolerable Acts
 Made colonists even more angry
 Colonial leaders in Boston proposed a boycott of all British goods in the colonies
 Leaders of the colonies met to decide the best way to respond to the abuses of the colonists’ rights.