Then on a cold March night in 1770 violence erupted in Boston. Under the deft guidance of Sam Adams a band of ruffians assailed a small group of British soldiers with insults and snowballs. The soldiers fired into the mob kiling five and wounding six. While a general calm prevailed for the next few years, the Boston Massacre was the catalyst Adams had sought. What had once concerned the wealthy merchants now concerned the common man. Committees of Correspondence were organized throughout Massachusetts and in June 1772 the British revenue cutter H.M.S. Gaspee was burned off Rhode Island.

Though the mechanics for rebellion were being created, the radicals remained in a minority. There was a strong opposition to a break with England. Then the Tea Act was passed and again Adams had a victory. What he had been trying to do for so long was virtually accomplished overnight. Parliament authorized the influential East India Company to ship tea to the colonies without paying import duties. Colonial opinion was united and within weeks the issue was brought to a head. This time the radicals, calling themselves patriots and dressing as Indians boarded three East India ships in Boston harbor on the night of December 16, 1773, and dumped 342 cases of tea into the sea. This was the "Boston Tea Party."

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