![the british east india company’s monopoly on tea especially harmed colonial the british east india company’s monopoly on tea especially harmed colonial](https://clairepetras.com/images/EIC/henryecclessonata.jpg)
These committees, which had between seven and eight thousand members in all, identified enemies of the movement and communicated the news of the day. Soon towns all over Massachusetts had formed their own committees, and many other colonies followed suit. Samuel Adams, along with Joseph Warren and James Otis, re-formed the Boston Committee of Correspondence, which functioned as a form of shadow government, to address the fear of British overreach. This attack provoked the British government to convene a Royal Commission of Inquiry some regarded the Commission as an example of excessive British power and control over the colonies. This 1883 engraving, which appeared in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, depicts the burning of the Gaspée. Some colonial protestors saw this new ability as another example of the overreach of British power. This Commission had the authority to remove the colonists, who were charged with treason, to Great Britain for trial. Colonists had attacked or burned British customs ships in the past, but after the Gaspée Affair, the British government convened a Royal Commission of Inquiry. Violence continued to break out on occasion, as in 1772, when Rhode Island colonists boarded and burned the British revenue ship Gaspée in Narragansett Bay ( Figure). The Sons of Liberty issued propaganda ensuring that colonists remained aware when Parliament overreached itself. Philosopher John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, published almost a century earlier, influenced political thought about the role of government to protect life, liberty, and property. In public houses and squares, people met and discussed politics.
![the british east india company’s monopoly on tea especially harmed colonial the british east india company’s monopoly on tea especially harmed colonial](https://www.history.com/.image/t_share/MTc2MzA1ODgxNzkxNjAzODg1/east-india-company-bengal-gettyimages-2673553.jpg)
This was especially true in port cities like Boston and New York, where British customs agents were a daily irritant and reminder of British power. The Destruction of the Tea and the Coercive Acts OverviewĮven after the partial repeal of the Townshend duties, however, suspicion of Parliament’s intentions remained high. Disaffection: The First Continental Congress and American Identity.The Destruction of the Tea and the Coercive Acts.
![the british east india company’s monopoly on tea especially harmed colonial the british east india company’s monopoly on tea especially harmed colonial](https://sites.google.com/site/britisheastindiacompanyhist106/_/rsrc/1470268627476/config/customLogo.gif)
![the british east india company’s monopoly on tea especially harmed colonial the british east india company’s monopoly on tea especially harmed colonial](https://www.bostonteapartyship.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/boston-tea-party.jpg)
Political Storms at Home and Abroad, 1968-1980.Contesting Futures: America in the 1960s.Post-War Prosperity and Cold War Fears, 1945-1960.Fighting the Good Fight in World War II, 1941-1945.Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-1941.Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? The Great Depression, 1929-1932.The Jazz Age: Redefining the Nation, 1919-1929.Age of Empire: American Foreign Policy, 1890-1914.Leading the Way: The Progressive Movement, 1890-1920.The Growing Pains of Urbanization, 1870-1900.Industrialization and the Rise of Big Business, 1870-1900.Go West Young Man! Westward Expansion, 1840-1900.Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses, 1820–1860.Cotton is King: The Antebellum South, 1800–1860.A Nation on the Move: Westward Expansion, 1800–1860.Industrial Transformation in the North, 1800–1850.Growing Pains: The New Republic, 1790–1820.Creating Republican Governments, 1776–1790.America's War for Independence, 1775-1783.Rule Britannia! The English Empire, 1660–1763.Creating New Social Orders: Colonial Societies, 1500–1700.Early Globalization: The Atlantic World, 1492–1650.The Americas, Europe, and Africa Before 1492.Imperial Reforms and Colonial Protests, 1763-1774.