Of course, this stand taken by the colonists angered the King. He called
them rebels and sent soldiers to Boston to help enforce the laws (1768).
From the first the people of Boston felt insulted at having these soldiers
in their midst, and it was not long before trouble broke out. In a street
fight at night the troops fired upon the crowd, killing and wounding a
number of men.
This caused great excitement. The next day, under the leadership of Samuel
Adams, the citizens of Boston demanded that all the soldiers should be
removed. Fearing more serious trouble if the demand was disregarded, the
officers withdrew the soldiers to an island in the harbor.
Still the feeling did not die down. The new taxes were a constant
irritation. "Only slaves would submit to such an injustice," said Samuel
Adams, and his listeners agreed. In Massachusetts and in other colonies
the English goods were refused, and, as in the case of the Stamp Act, the
English merchants felt the pinch of heavy losses, and begged that the new
tax laws be repealed.
SAMUEL ADAMS AND THE "BOSTON TEA PARTY"
Feeling grew stronger and matters grew worse until at length, after
something like three years, Parliament took off all the new taxes except
the one on tea.
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