Chad Savard
American Revolution, was it avoidable?
The Sugar Act was the first fully enforced tax levied in America solely for the purpose of raising
revenue. Americans throughout the thirteen colonies cried out against taxation without
representation and made informal nonimportation agreements of certain British goods in
protest. Several colonial leaders condemned the Stamp Act Congress in New York to petition
Parliament and King George III to repeal the tax. In 1766, Parliament bowed to public pressure
and repealed the Stamp Act. But it also quietly passed the Declaratory Act, which stipulated
that Parliament reserved the right to tax the colonies anytime it chose. In 1767, Parliament
passed the Townshend Acts, which levied yet another series of taxes on lead, paints, and tea
known as the Townshend Duties. To prevent violent protests, Massachusetts Governor Thomas
Hutchinson requested assistance from the British army, and in 1768, four thousand redcoats
landed in the city to help maintain order. Nevertheless, on March 5, 1770, an angry mob
clashed with several British troops. Five colonists died, and news of the Boston Massacre
quickly spread throughout the colonies. In 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act, granting the
financially troubled British East India Company a trade monopoly on the tea exported to the
American colonies. In many American cities, tea agents resigned or canceled orders, and
merchants refused consignments in response to the unpopular act. Governor Hutchinson of
Massachusetts, determined to uphold the law, ordered that three ships arriving in Boston
harbor should be allowed to deposit their cargoes and that appropriate payments should be
made for the goods. On the night of December 16, 1773, while the ships lingered in the harbor,
