control of the tireless Samuel Adams. Passionate speeches were made, but the dealers stood firm. Soon after nightfall, a wild war-whoop was heard in the street outside the church, and about fifty men dressed as Indians rushed to the wharf, followed by several thousands of their fellow townsmen, and boarded the tea vessels. Here, encouraged by cheers from the people on shore, the masqueraders promptly ripped open three hundred and

forty-two chests of tea, and threw the contents, valued at $90,000, overboard into the harbor. The crowd then quickly dispersed.1

This bold act greatly encouraged the spirit of independence in other colonies and towns. A few months later the first tea ship arrived in New York

Harbor, and was also boarded by a committee of citizens, who quietly dumped the cargo into the water.3

154. The "Intolerable Acts." The King said that Mas

1 The "Boston Tea-Party," as it is called, was held December 16, 1773. In a popular song of that day, Columbia is represented as saying to Britain at this party:

"You may have your tea when 't is steeped enough,

But never a tax from me."

2 Faneuil Hall is a celebrated meeting-place in Boston. It was built in 1742 by Peter Faneuil, a merchant, who gave it to the city. The lower floor was to be used as a market, as it still is, and the second as a town hall. As most of the Revolutionary meetings were held there, it is called the "cradle of liberty." The Old South Church, however, could hold larger audiences.

In Annapolis, Maryland, the same year, a mob burned a tea-laden vessel. A year later a crowd of South Carolinians emptied tea chests into the harbors of Charleston and Georgetown. Some tea that had been landed by Charleston customs officers was about three years later sold for the benefit of the Revolutionary cause.

sachusetts, with her "tea-parties" and other riotous proceedings, was setting a very bad example to the rest of the colonists. He therefore caused Parliament early in 1774 to pass four laws that were meant to hurt all of the colonies in some manner, but particularly rebellious Massachusetts. "The Intolerable Acts," as the angry Americans called them, were:

(a) The Port Bill. This closed the port of Boston against all trade until the destroyed tea should be paid for.

(b) The Regulating Act. This provided that hereafter all Massachusetts judges and sheriffs, and some other officers, should be appointed and paid by the governor, and not by the assembly. Town meetings, in which from the earliest days the inhabitants had met to make laws for themselves, were also abolished in that colony. The King said that these meetings were "hotbeds of disloyalty."

(c) The Quartering and Trial Act. This obliged citizens of Massachusetts to take the King's troops into their houses and board them free. It further provided that when soldiers were accused of killing colonists they should be taken for trial to England. Americans believed that this meant the murderers would in time be set free.

(d) The Quebec Act. This provided that the country west of the Alleghenies and north of the Ohio River should be a part of the Province of Quebec; and therefore be ruled by the old French law, under which there was no representative government. Settlers were forbidden, without leave, to go into this vast region, which was to be kept as a forest for the benefit of the fur trade. American frontiersmen did not obey this command, but nevertheless they were irritated at the King's attempt to prevent them from expanding toward the west.

155. Resisting the new laws. The King now sent to Massachusetts a military governor, General Thomas Gage, who was ordered to use the soldiers in enforcing "the Intolerable Acts," and to send all rebellious persons to England for trial. Committees of correspondence in the other colo

nies sent word to Boston to stand firm to the last, no matter what happened; for if its citizens failed, all would be over.

156. First Continental Congress. The colonists promptly held conventions and elected their most distinguished men 1 as delegates to a Congress to be held in September, 1774, at Philadelphia, to discuss these important matters. In the Virginia convention,

Patrick Henry exclaimed, "There is

no longer any room

for hope. must fight! . know not

We

I

what

course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"

The Congress sent to the King a "Declaration of rights and grievances." In this paper Parliament was plainly told

An old engraving

that it was not supreme over the colonies, which would obey only their own assemblies. The members also arranged to keep the country promptly informed by letters and mounted messengers as to what was occurring in Boston, the center of disturbance.

157. Americans will not yield. The colonies and their many supporters in England enthusiastically approved of these proceedings. George Washington declared, "I will raise one thousand men, subsist them at my own expense, and march myself at their head for the relief of Boston."

1 George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee were among those from Virginia; John and Samuel Adams represented Massachusetts; Roger Sherman of Connecticut was also prominent. Many of these great leaders of the Revolution now met each other for the first time, and in the defense of their country became firm friends.

Pitt told Parliament, "For solidity of reason, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion under a complication of difficult circumstances, no nation or body of men can stand in preference to the general Congress at Philadelphia."

Plans for conciliation were urged in Parliament by him and by Burke, also by Franklin, who was in England as the agent of the colonies. But all their efforts proved vain, for the insolent majority seemed eager to please the hot-headed King. The Americans now saw that nothing remained for them but to follow the example of their ancestors in England, and fight for the cherished principle of self-government.

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

1. What was the argument of the British Government for taxing the colonists?

2. Show that the people of England were not united in their attitude toward the colonists.

3. In what way were the colonists used to representative government? 4. Note that the British Government attempted to make use of two methods of raising money in the colonies. State what these methods were. Show that the United States Government now uses these two methods of raising money.

5. What good effect did the "Stamp Act Congress" have on the colonists?

6. What was the mistake of Parliament after it repealed the Stamp Act?

7. State clearly the history of the "Tea Tax."

8. After the "tea troubles," what was the next step of Parliament which greatly annoyed the colonists? What was the effect in the colonies?

9 When and where was the first Continental Congress held? What was its purpose?

10. What colonies led in opposing the King?

11. If you had lived in the colonies in 1774, what statement would you have made of the grievances against the mother country?

12. Dramatize the meeting in the Old South Meeting-House.

13. Dramatize a meeting of a "Spinning Society." Give an imaginary conversation.

14. Make an outline of the chapter.

COMPOSITION SUBJECTS

1. Write a brief biography of Patrick Henry, James Otis, or Samuel Adams.

2. Write in brief form what might have been an appeal from Franklin to the King, after the Stamp Act Congress.

3. Imagine that you took part in the Boston Tea-Party. The next day you visit your uncle in Cambridge and tell him about it. He thinks you were wrong and you try to convince him of the justness of your course. Write the conversation.

4. "You cannot, my lords, you cannot conquer America. . . . If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop remained in my country I never would lay down my arms; no, never, never, never!" [Extract from a speech by WILLIAM PITT.] Write a brief paper on William Pitt's efforts to prevent war with the colonies.