The colonists, regarding the Tea Act as a measure to induce them to submit to parliamentary taxation, not only intensified the boycott but, in Boston, they destroyed cargoes of tea (Grolier: Boston Tea Party, 1993).Parliamentary reactions to the events in Boston were swift and harsh. By enactment’s adopted in March of 1774, Parliament closed the port of Boston, prohibited town meetings everywhere in Massachusetts, and imposed many other penalties. Inter-colonial resentment greatly increased over this legislation, popularly known as the Intolerable Acts, which paved the way for the First Continental Congress in September 1774 (American Revolution: First Phase, 1998). The Congress sent a petition to the British sovereign, George III, which called for intensification of the boycott on trade with Great Britain, and completed plans for a new Congress to assemble in May 1775, in the event of British refusal to grant its demands (Encarta: American Revolution, 1999).The King of England, George III, rejected the Congress’s petition and characterized the colonial protest movement as a rebellion against Great Britain (American Revolution: First Phase, 1998). Less than four months after the news was received in America, armed conflict broke out in Massachusetts. Then the royal governor, General Thomas Gage, dispatched troops against Concord, where the leaders of the resistance had concentrated arms and ammunition (Encarta: American Revolution, 1999). On April 19, 1775, British soldiers fired on a group of militia members at Lexington, precipitating the first battle of the American Revolution (American Revolution: First Phase, 1998).The Second Continental Congress convened at Philadelphia on May 10, 1775. Although it was a purely extralegal institution, the Congress proclaimed American determination to resist Great Britain’s aggression with armed force, and provided for establishment of a Continental Army. The Congress ap...
