aggressive and autocratic nature of the British government. Boston Tea Party ( ) In the wake of the Boston Massacre, around activists dressed like Native Americans, boarded the three ships carrying tea and threw boxes into sea at Boston. This incident came to be called the Boston Tea Party. The British Parliament retaliated with severity.
General Gage was appointed Governor of Massachusetts and troops were dispatched with instructions to bring the colony to heel. Boston Tea Party Intolerable Acts ( ) Angered by the Boston Tea Party, the British parliament passed the Boston Port Bill. The Boston harbour was closed until the colonists paid for all the tea thrown into sea. Then the Parliament passed the Massachusetts Government Act, replacing the elective local council, and enhancing the powers of the military governor Gage.
The third measure, the Administration of Justice Act allowed British officials charged with capital offenses to be tried The Age of Revolutions The French, followed by the Spanish and the Dutch, helped the American colonies in this war of independence. France lent support to the Americans as vengeance against the loss of Canada. The French volunteers who crossed the Atlantic to fight for the colonists returned with ideas of individual liberty which made them intolerant of the restrictions of the Bourbon monarchy. Thomas (Tom) Paine and Common Sense Thomas Paine, an Englishman, wrote the pamphlet titled Common Sense ( ).
In this pamphlet Paine sought to provide arguments to justify the demands of the colonists. He picked up libertarian ideas from Hobbes, Locke, Voltaire and Rousseau and presented them in ways the common people could understand. The pamphlet sold over , copies and had an astounding impact of people. Many of the wealthy merchants and large landowners remained loyal to the British monarchy and influenced a large section of the population especially in New York and Pennsylvania.
The colonists split into two divisions: the Patriots who wanted freedom and the Loyalists who wanted to remain loyal to the British crown. The Loyalists, called Tories, wanted the British