By the late 1760s Americans focused on their rights as Englishmen , especially the principle of " No Taxation without Representation , " as articulated by John Rowe , James Otis , Samuel Adams and other Boston firebrands . Boston played the primary role in sparking both the American Revolution and the ensuing American Revolutionary War . The Boston Massacre came on March 5 , 1770 , when British soldiers fired into unarmed demonstrators outside the British custom house , resulting in the deaths of five civilians and dramatically escalating tensions . Parliament , meanwhile , insisted on its right to tax the Americans and finally came up with a small tax on tea . Up and down the 13 colonies , Americans prevented merchants from selling the tea , but a shipment arrived in Boston Harbor . On December 16 , 1773 , 30 – 60 local Sons of Liberty , disguised as Native Americans , dumped 342 chests of tea in the harbor in the Boston Tea Party . The Sons of Liberty decided to take action in order to defy Britain 's new tax on tea , but the British government retaliated with a series of harsh laws , closing down the Port of Boston and stripping Massachusetts of its self-government . The other colonies rallied in solidarity behind Massachusetts , setting up the First Continental Congress , while arming and training militia units . The British sent more troops to Boston , and made its commander General Thomas Gage the governor . Gage believed the Patriots were hiding munitions in the town of Concord , and he sent troops to capture them . Paul Revere , William Dawes , and Dr. Samuel Prescott made their famous midnight rides to alert the Minutemen in the surrounding towns , who fought the resulting Battle of Lexington and Concord in April 1775 . It was the first battle of the American Revolution
Boston Massacre
Boston Massacre
History of Boston