Boston and the American Revolution
The American Revolution lasted from 1775 to 1781. After March 1776, the city of Boston was never again touched by fighting. Yet no other city played as important a role in the struggle for independence. It was events in Boston that led to the revolution.
In the 1760s, England passed laws that imposed taxes on the colonists and limited their rights. Bostonians strongly objected. Riots in 1768 led to the occupation of Boston by British soldiers. From there, problems grew. In 1770, an angry crowd threw snowballs (evidently filled with stones and ice) at some soldiers. The soldiers then fired into the crowd, killing five men; this event became known as the Boston Massacre. In 1773, to protest a new tax, Bostonians, dressed as Indians, threw 400 crates of British tea into the Boston Harbor. In response to the Boston Tea Party, Britain closed the harbor. This response was a severe one, since Boston depended on trade.
Before long, colonists in and around Boston began raising armies and preparing to fight if necessary. The first shots were fired in April 1775, in the nearby town of Lexington. Independence was formally declared, by Massachusetts and the 12 other colonies, on July 4, 1776.
Randee Falk: Spotlight on the USA; Oxford University Press, 1993, page 25 f.