The biggest revolt against the Parliament due to unnecessary taxing was after the tea act of 1773. This act infuriated the people of America and put many merchants out of business, they were not only enraged because it cost them a lot of money but they were taxed without being consulted, again. So a very large group of colonists boycotted the purchasing and drinking of tea, this was one of the first mass protests in American history. One of the largest and most famous riots was the Boston tea party, during the riot men and women rushed an English boat importing tea to the harbor and threw over all the tea they could find. The British merchants were not pleased with the colonists" behavior and they retaliated with what is known now as the Boston massacre. They killed 5 colonists" when firing aimlessly into the crowd. The brutal killing of the innocent American men was used as "pro-revolutionary propaganda" as concrete evidence proving the cruel punishment Britain used against the colonists and reason why they should not have absolute power over the American people. Paul Revere and Samuel Adams informed the masses of the brutal killing of innocent men and they explained how corrupt the English government really was, they developed a large and loyal following. Many Americans yearned to be free from the English and they knew they would have to fight for it. .
The colonists believed that their natural rights as "English men" were being violated, and they wanted to do something about it. John Locke, an English philosopher from the Enlightenment era, stated that all citizens were entitled at birth to life, liberty and property. Locke also stated that if the government revoked any of these natural rights at any point it was the peoples" duty to rebel, it was unjust cruelty. And so the American Revolutionary war began in 1775. These rights are our natural rights as American citizens today, as the declaration of independence states.