I am a colonist who was happy when the Stamp Act was repealed after rebelling against the Parliament. I was overjoyed when it was repealed since many others around me weren’t pleased. There was a chancellor during the time named Charles Townshend who managed the empire’s finances. As I lived in the colony, I heard that there was soon going to be a Townshend Act. The Townshend Revenue Act of 1767 was to place duties on consumer items like paper, paint, lead, tea, and glass. During the time, the British goods had to be imported to other colonies which caused distress among other colonists and myself. Townshend hoped that colonists understood that they were external taxes not internal taxes. The Parliament did not want to cause more violence like with the Tea Act. I was angry that I had to pay taxes for useful materials I use in my daily life. The money was used to help support the British army in America.
Paying for the taxes would only benefit the soldiers and people who had higher positions. However, the Townshend Act produced controversy and had protests around the colonies. It is true that people weren’t going to be happy if they had to pay taxes for paper and lead not benefiting themselves. I and many other colonists were not happy as they taxed us without representation. Especially when colonists heard that the revenue would only pay royal governors when being promoted. It made me feel irritated and annoyed as they were paying people who were rich and making the poor pay for the money given to them. Even if Great Britain saw the disobedience happening, it led me and others to unite to fight for what was not right. The Daughters and Sons of Liberty supported and promoted the boycott of the British goods calling merchants names if needed. The Massachusetts Circular received Parliament’s attention sending troops to Boston to deal with rebellion happening. I was eager to have the act repealed by Parliament as they saw us disobeying what they wanted us to do. We had to smuggle goods to maintain our boycott of British goods.
As a colonist, we came as a group and rioted against custom officials and attacked houses where officers lived. As riots still continued to occur, violence between British officials and colonists was very common. One cold night, I woke up to the sound of a loud crowd throwing snowballs and rocks at British soldiers. This deadly conflict was known as the Boston Massacre. I went out after it was quiet and saw that the British soldiers had shot and killed five innocent people causing a bloodshed in the colony. I saw that the Sons of Liberty said the British soldiers were murderers as they shot people whoever they wanted to. The Boston Massacre killed many people as the colonists were not obeying what the Parliament wanted us to do. By the late 1760s, the American boycott of British goods drastically reduced British trade. The Parliament partially repealed the Townshend Act. As I saw the rebellion, it was a lot of violence against the British soldiers and the partial repeal appeared to be a victory. The Boston Massacre was not fun to see but it lead to a victory for the colonists which I was joyful since I didn’t have to pay taxes for materials like paper, glass, and lead.
