Throughout the colonies, a network of secret organizations known as the Sons of Liberty was created, aimed to intimidate the stamp agents who collected Parliament's taxes. Before the Stamp Act could even take effect, all the appointed stamp agents in the colonies had resigned. The Massachusetts Assembly suggested a meeting of all the colonies to work for the repeal of the Stamp Act. Only four colonies were not represented. The Stamp Act Congress passed a "Declaration of Rights and Grievances, " which claimed that American colonists were equal to any other British citizens. In addition, the colonists increased their no importation efforts.
The repeal of the Stamp Act did not make England surrender any control over its colonies. The Declaratory Act, passed by Parliament on the exact same day (March 18, 1766) the Stamp Act was repealed; it stated that Parliament could make laws binding the "the colonies and people of America . . . in all cases whatsoever " (forner 144). The Townshend Act was passed to help pay the expenses involved in governing the American colonies, which initiated taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. By this measure the newspaper attack the British policies. A famous letter published in newspapers was John Dickinson's who declared that Parliament could not tax the colonies, called the Townshend Acts unconstitutional, and denounced the suspension of the New York Assembly as a threat to colonial liberties. In 1768 Samuel Adams wrote the Massachusetts Circular letter that was approved by the Massachusetts House of Representatives, which attacked Parliament's persistence in taxing the colonies without proper representation, and which called for unified resistance by all the colonies. Many colonies issued similar statements. In response, the British governor of Massachusetts dissolved the state's legislature. British Troops Arrive in Boston. Although the Sons of Liberty threatened armed resistance to arriving British troops, none was offered when the troops were in Boston.