colonists. With the intensification of the British conflict, the colonial leaders started to think of ways to unify themselves with the rioters to handle the British. But the Regulators, laborers, petitioned the government on their grievances and as a result a large riot broke out in 1770 in a court. Riots against the Stamp Act swept Boston in 1767. The leaders instigated crowd action and at this time, 10% of the taxpayers accounted for 66% of the taxable wealth. This riot made leaders realize the dilemma and so the Loyal Nine was formed, a group of skilled laborers, and a procession, of two or three thousand, against the Stamp Act was organized in August 1765. Still the leaders denounced the procession's actions and even when the act was repealed, a celebration was only attended by the non-processioners. In Britains next attempt to tax the colonists, troops were sent and friction grew. On March 5, 1770 British soldiers killed workers in a fight known as the Boston Massacre and anger mounted quickly. This led to the removal of the soldiers form Boston. There had also been soldier-worker skirmishes elsewhere. In 1772 the Boston Committee of Correspondence was formed to organize anti-British actions. With the Boston Tea Party of 1773, an action against the tea tax, the Parliament proposed the Coercive (Intolerable) Acts which closed the Boston port dissolved the colonial government in Massachusetts and led to the importing of troops. In other colonies it was clear to the leaders that they needed to persuade the lower class to deflect their anger against British and join the revolution. Men like Patrick Henry, an orator, and Tom Paine, author of Common Sense, relieved the tension between classes although some aristocrats were angered by the idea and didn't want the patriot cause to go too far into democracy. However, Paine strongly believed that such a "democratic" government could represent some great common interest. ...
