Chapter 7 Section 3

 To spread news about the British threats to the rights of the colonists, Sam Adams organized a group of letter writers called the Committees of Correspondence.  Sam Adams was waiting for a big issue to “arouse the continent.”

 In 1773 Adams got the issue he wanted when Parliament passed the Tea Act.  This law gave the British East India Company a monopoly, or complete control, of sales of British tea in the colonies.  Colonial merchants thought this would put many of them out of business. They also feared monopolies on other products to follow.  monopoly- complete control

 The Tea Act only allowed the British East India Company to import and sell tea in the colonies.  The colonists responded to the Tea Act with a boycott.  Boycott- refuse to buy  In Boston, on the night of December 16, 1773, the Sons of Liberty staged the Boston Tea Party.  Disguised as Mohawk Indians they boarded 3 British East India Company ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor.

 To Punish Massachusetts, Parliament passed a series of laws called the Coercive Acts.  The Coercive Acts 1774-closed Boston port until the destroyed tea was paid for. It also suspended town meetings. It also appointed a military governor of Massachusetts.  The colonists called the Coercive Acts the Intolerable Acts.

 At last the colonies united sending representatives to a Continental Congress in September 1774, in Philadelphia, PA. They met to “consult upon the present unhappy state of the colonies.”  There the representatives of the First Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Rights and Grievances which condemned the Coercive Acts and affirmed the rights of life, liberty, and property. The declaration denied Parliament’s right to tax the colonies. The Congress recommended that the boycotts on British goods continue.  The colonies now stood on the brink of war.