The following is also from
Samuel Adams, one of the
leaders of the Sons of
Liberty.
Now it is our chance to
show the British once and
for all that we are serious
about our freedom! We
will do whatever is
necessary to get
Parliament off our backs.
The Sons of Liberty have
gotten rid of British taxes
before. First, we got rid of
the Stamp Act by
boycotting1 British
products. Then, after the
British passed the Townshend Acts, we boycotted British products
again, and guess what, they got rid of the hated taxes.
Samuel Adams
But, again, we didn’t celebrate for long. Parliament did agree to get rid
of the Townshend Acts, but they kept the tax on tea. Obviously we
weren’t happy about this. We wanted all the taxes gone, and
Parliament didn’t listen to us. We made them pay.
1
boycotting: refusing to buy
The Sons of
Liberty in
Boston heard
that a British
tea ship was
coming into
Boston Harbor2.
A bunch of us
dressed up as
Indians, went
The Boston Tea Party
onto the ship,
and dumped all of the tea from the ship, 342 chests worth, into the
ocean. We called the event the Boston Tea Party.
Well, obviously the British were extremely angry at us, but we did not
expect them to overreact the way they did. They majorly freaked out
and passed a bunch of terrible laws called the Intolerable Acts. First,
they closed Boston Harbor until the city of Boston paid for all the
wasted tea that the colonists threw in the ocean. Then, they forced us
to take British soldiers into our homes again. And last, if any British
soldier committed a crime here in the colonies, they would send that
soldier back to England, and usually they wouldn’t be punished.
We can’t deal with the British taking away our rights like this anymore.
Parliament and the king will not listen to us, and since we can’t choose
who is in Parliament, we can’t change the laws.
2
harbor: a place where ships park
We created a group of people, with representatives3 from every colony,
to discuss what to do about our problems with the British. We called
this group the Continental Congress. Some people in the Continental
Congress think that we should fight a war against England.
The colonists have a shed full of weapons in town called Concord,
Massachusetts. A few days ago, we heard that the British soldiers want
to take those weapons from us. We will not let them! We also heard
that they want to come to Lexington, where I am now, and arrest me.
Last night, some people in the Sons of Liberty saw the British moving
toward Concord, so my friend, Paul Revere, rode his horse to tell the
people in Concord that the British were coming.
Now, today the people in Concord are ready for them. The British
soldiers are marching toward Concord, but our soldiers are there, with
guns in their hands, just waiting. What will happen when the British get
there? I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.
3
representative: someone who represents the people of a certain colony