Night after night as the people passed his window they saw by his lamp that he was busy with his pen, and said to one another: "Samuel Adams is hard at work writing against the Tories." People in England and America who took the king's side in these disputes were called Tories.
Conflicts between people and soldiers
The king now sent two regiments of soldiers to Boston to force the people to pay the Tea Tax. There were frequent quarrels between the soldiers and the people. One evening in a street quarrel the soldiers killed three men and wounded eight others (1770). Immediately the fire bells rang and great crowds of angry people filled the streets. The next day they filled to overflowing Faneuil Hall, the "Cradle of Liberty." A still larger meeting in the Old South Church cried out that both regiments of soldiers must leave town.
Samuel Adams and the people drive the soldiers out of Boston
Adams and other leaders were sent to the king's officers to tell them what the people had said. Before the governor and the general, backed by the king's authority and by two regiments, stood plain Samuel Adams, with only the voice of the people to help him.
The governor, unwilling to obey the demand of the people, said he would send one regiment away. But Samuel Adams stood firm, and said: "Both regiments or none!" The governor finally gave up, and Samuel Adams, the man of the people, was a greater leader than ever before.
The king now tried to trick the Americans into paying the tax by making tea cheaper in America than in England, but leaving on the tax. But the people everywhere declared that they did not object to the price, but to the tax.
The tea ships guarded while town meetings are held
87. The Boston Tea Party. When the ships carrying this cheaper tea arrived in Boston, Samuel Adams set a guard of armed men to keep the tea from being landed.