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==== Boston ====

On March 5, 1770, the Boston Massacre pushed the colonists closer together and increased the level of dissent against the British across the colonies. 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 Bostonians by 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 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.

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 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.