The Pine Tree Riot was an act of resistance to British royal authority undertaken by American colonists in Weare, New Hampshire on April 14, 1772, placing it among the disputes between Crown and colonists that culminated in the American Revolution. By the late 17th century the construction and maintenance of the huge number of ships required to build and defend the British Empire left few trees in Britain suitable for use as large spars. Eastern white pines from colonial New England were superior timber for the single-stick masts and booms of the day. To maintain Britain's naval and trading advantage, laws were passed in North America to protect selected white pines for British shipbuilding. British success in the War of Jenkins' Ear (1739–1748) and the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) were due in large part to the control of the seas by the Royal Navy. Mast pines In order to preserve suitable timber for the Royal Navy, the New Hampshire General Court passed an act on May 10, 1708 to preserve all trees in New Hampshire suitable for masts for use by the Royal Navy. The act replicated a 1691 law in England and declared all pines with diameter greater than 24 inches to be property of the Crown. Violators faced a fine of 50 pounds for each illegally harvested tree. In 1722 a new law reduced the diameter to 12 inches. "Surveyors of the King's Woods" were assigned by the Crown to identify all suitable "mast pines" with the broad arrow wherever they were found. The laws contributed to growing discontent with colonial rule, reflected in a series of demonstrations and riots through the 1700s. The 1722 law was not strictly enforced until John Wentworth was appointed governor of the New Hampshire colony in 1766. Although often sympathetic to the colonists, he held firm on this issue. Pine Tree Riot John Sherman, Deputy Surveyor of New Hampshire, ordered a search of sawmills in 1771–1772 for white pine marked for the Crown. His men found that six mills in Goffstown and Weare possessed large white pines and marked them with the broad arrow to indicate that they were Crown property. The owners of the mills were named as offenders in the February 7, 1772, edition of The New Hampshire Gazette. The mill owners hired lawyer Samuel Blodgett to represent them, who met with Governor Wentworth. When the governor offered Blodgett the