George III, King of England during the War for Independence, was the focus of colonial hatred.
The Revolutionaries utilized this exaggerated version of the Boston Massacre (1770) by Paul Revere to nourish resentment of British troops.
“The Bostonians Paying the Excise-Man or Tarring & Feathering,” a British cartoon satirizing colonial methods of protest.
In various places, peaceful protest and harassment of tax and customs collectors gave way to rioting and mob violence. In New York and Massachusetts, clashes with British troops culminated in bloodshed. Realizing that some of these disturbances stemmed from agitation in the colonial assemblies, which had enjoyed wide autonomy, the Crown tightened its control over them. Disputes between legislators and the King’s officials, once spasmodic, became commonplace. In some instances, notably in Virginia and Massachusetts, the Royal Governors dissolved the assemblies. In these and a few other provinces the Whigs separated from their Tory, or Loyalist, colleagues, met extralegally, and adopted retaliatory measures. Nearly all the Colonies formed special “committees of correspondence” to communicate with each other—the first step toward unified action.
In retaliation for the Boston Tea Party (1773), the Crown imposed rigid limitations on the freedom of Massachusetts citizens.
In May 1774, in retaliation for the “Boston Tea Party,” Parliament closed the port of Boston and virtually abolished provincial self-government in Massachusetts. These actions stimulated resistance across the land. That summer, the Massachusetts lower house, through the committees of correspondence, secretly invited all 13 Colonies to attend a convention. In response, on the fifth of September, 55 Delegates representing 12 Colonies, Georgia excepted, assembled at Philadelphia. They convened at Carpenters’ Hall and organized the First Continental Congress.