Adverse colonial reaction to the Stamp Act ranged from boycotts of British goods to riots and attacks on the tax collectors.

Colonists organized boycotts of British goods to pressure Parliament to repeal the Townshend Acts. As British customs officials arrived to collect taxes and prosecute smugglers, colonial opposition intensified, resulting in street demonstrations and protests that sometimes turned violent.

The Boston Massacre had a major impact on relations between Britain and the American colonists. It further incensed colonists already weary of British rule and unfair taxation and roused them to fight for independence.

American colonists responded with protests and coordinated resistance by convening the First Continental Congress in September and October of 1774 to petition Britain to repeal the Intolerable Acts.

The Intolerable Acts were aimed at isolating Boston, the seat of the most radical anti-British sentiment, from the other colonies. Colonists responded to the Intolerable Acts with a show of unity convening the First Continental Congress to discuss and negotiate a unified approach to the British.

The revolution had been stirring for a long time, with tensions rising and finally breaking into armed conflict during the Battles of Lexington and Concord. William Pitt, an American sympathizer in Parliament, rejoiced for the colonists because they had employed military force to defend their beliefs.

The townspeople had to grab their possessions and flee for their lives, northerners had to face up to “the fear that the British would do whatever they wanted to them,”