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Why Did American Colonists Become United Against England

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According to historian Eric Foner, “Parliament had inadvertently united America.”<ref>Foner, 173.</ref>Rather than seeing themselves as separate entities, the colonies were cooperating instead of competing with one another. In October 1765, the colonies became more unified when the Colonial Congress met to discuss the Stamp Act in New York. Colonial leaders convened and formally advocated the boycott of British goods. The boycott posed a formidable economic threat to London merchants, who successfully persuaded Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act just one year after its issuance.
==== Boston ====The growing trend of unification among colonists and dissention towards the British came to a violent climax on On March 5, 1770 in an event known as , the Boston Massacrepushed the colonists closer together and increased the level of dissent against the British across the colonies. A The Massacre was a confrontation between colonists and British soldiers on the streets of Boston that escalated to violence resulting in the death of five Bostoniansby British soldiers. The details of the event were (and still are) blurred and biased, yet Massachusetts silversmith Paul Revere created an etching that depicted British soldiers executing unarmed Bostonians. This type of propaganda escalated anti-British sentiment, which in turn bolstered colonial pride and the determination to gain and hold liberty. The quest for liberty and equal justice was exemplified by the action of John Adams when he chose to defend the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre. Adams held that in order to fight for justice and equality, all were due to a fair trial, including the British soldiers. His loyalty to the Patriot cause was well known, thus affording him the ability to emerge from this endeavor unscathed and with his esteemed reputation intact.
With the new taxes imposed and continued Crown intervention, Americans became more ardent in their resolve that they would not become enslaved to a distant government. Liberty was on the minds of patriots while the idea of independence from the British Empire crept into the discussions of colonial leaders. The climactic event which propelled the final split with England came on December 16, 1773 , when certain colonists engaged in what became to be known as the Boston Tea Party. Sam Adams supposedly instigated the act of disposing of a shipment of British tea into Boston Harbor; which cost the Crown over ten thousand pounds in revenue. The Tea Act issued earlier in the year agitated rebellious colonists to the point of destructive and violent action.
[[File:bostonteaparty.jpg|thumbnail|250px|Image depicting the Boston Tea Party, 1773.]]
The subsequent reaction from London was to further oppress the colonists through a stringent new set of laws Americans called the Intolerable Acts. King George’s wrath was aimed at New England, thus . Thus he closed the port of Boston until compensation was made for the lost tea revenue. Through these acts, town meetings in Massachusetts were stifled; the British government appointed council members in New England and lodged soldiers in private homes.<ref>Foner, 180.</ref>Outrage swept not only through New England but throughout all American colonies.
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