Boston becomes the center of resistance

After the Stamp Act, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts in 1767, taxing goods including tea, glass, and paper, and stationed British troops in Boston to enforce order amid growing colonial resentment. Tensions boiled over on March 5, 1770: a crowd of colonists taunted and threw objects at a small group of British soldiers, who fired into the crowd, killing five colonists, including Crispus Attucks, a man of African and Native descent often called the first casualty of the American Revolution. Patriots including Samuel Adams and Paul Revere used the event, later known as the Boston Massacre, as propaganda -- Revere's famous engraving exaggerated the scene to stir anti-British anger. In an act of principle worth remembering, however, John Adams -- who would later help lead the fight for independence -- chose to defend the British soldiers in court to ensure they received a fair trial.

In 1773, the Tea Act gave the British East India Company a near-monopoly on tea sales in the colonies, angering colonial merchants. On the night of December 16, 1773, members of the Sons of Liberty boarded ships in Boston Harbor and dumped 342 chests of tea into the water, an act known as the Boston Tea Party. Britain responded harshly with the Coercive Acts of 1774, which colonists called the "Intolerable Acts" -- closing Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for and sharply restricting Massachusetts's own self-government. Rather than isolating Massachusetts as Britain intended, the harsh punishment backfired, uniting the other colonies in sympathy and setting the stage for the colonies to act together.