Edmund Morgan found that a " Puritan Ethic " was still guiding many of New England 's colonists in the 1760s and 1770s . In their nonimportation and nonconsumption rhetoric , and in their attacks on luxury and idleness , colonists coalesced around a shared set of American values . Morgan tied the Boston Massacre and the '' Gaspee '' to the corrupt American Board of Customs Commissioners . Despite all the varieties and differences among the Patriot leadership , Morgan argued that they had a consensus at a more basic , world-view level . A frugal , hard-working , and virtuous people were not going to stand by while Britain imposed a non-productive class of idle placeholders over them . Dickerson found this " corrupt class " among some of the " King ’s Friends " who were personally profiting from American ships , merchants , and seafarers through the American Board of Customs , causing irreparable harm to a century of successful navigation laws . Republican virtue , it seemed , would be the guiding principle for America 's founders
Boston Massacre
Boston Massacre
Historiography of the Gaspee affair