sed to recognize the adoption by the Congress of a petition of rights, privileges, and grievances, the Stamp Act was repealed in 1766 (Encarta: Stamp Act, 1999).After a change in leadership in the British government, the policy of imposing direct taxes on the American colonies was revised in 1767. Parliament approved a series of measures, that were known as the Townshend Acts, which among other things, levied modest customs duties on tea, paper, lead, paint, and glass (Encarta: Boston Massacre, 1999). Colonial resistance to the Townshend Acts included, boycotts of British goods, intercolonial expressions of disapproval, and in Massachusetts, open defiance of the British government by the town of Boston and the General Court (Encyclopedia.com: Boston Massacre, 1994). In 1768 Great Britain transferred two regiments of troops to Boston in response to the seditious sentiments prevalent in Massachusetts. However, this action merely served to intensify the anti-British feelings there (Encarta: Boston Massacre, 1999). Finally, on March 5, 1770, a group of British soldiers who were protecting the King’s tax collectors from being tarred and feathered, fired on a hostile crowd, producing the first bloodshed of the struggle (Encyclopedia.com: Boston Massacre, 1994).Primarily due to changed political circumstances in Great Britain, Parliament in 1770 repealed all the Townshend Act duties except the tax on tea, which was retained to uphold Great Britain’s right to levy taxes on its subjects. The Americans then dropped all non-import measures except for a tea boycott, kept up to maintain their objections to taxation without representation (Knowledge Adventure: Boston Tea Party, 1998). Relations returned to normal until 1773, when Parliament tried to save the English East India Company from bankruptcy by granting it a monopoly on the tea sold to America. Known as the Tea Act, this measure precipitated a new crisis for the colonies....
