ABSTRACT
This war, like so many others, was set off by a misunderstanding. In 1773, Boston was having another dispute with the English government over the tax on tea. One night a group of some fifty Bostonians, disguised as Indians, boarded three English tea ships at anchor in the harbor and dumped their cargoes into the sea. The incident, childish as it undoubtedly was, roused general indignation throughout the Colonies. Boston itself was preparing to apologize and make amends to the Crown, but Parliament, in its hasty reaction, brought on disaster. To punish one instance of sabotage it passed the so-called “Intolerable Acts,” which closed Boston harbor. It sent Lieutenant General Gage with five thousand men to see that the Acts were enforced. This was a serious miscalculation. One of the most deeply rooted and tenacious characteristics of Americans is to rush to the defense of the underdog. The Colonies which, on the very eve of this move, had still been deploring and disclaiming the drastic action of the sham Indians, hastened to the rescue of Boston now that the mother country was attempting to starve it.
