They were known for forcing stamp agents to resign their posts. In the summer of 1766, King George III of England replaced Prime Minister Rockingham with William Pitt. Pitt was interested in the colonists and believed that all colonists should have the same rights as English men. William Pitt suddenly came sick and Charles Townshend took over the government. He was not interested in what was good for the colonists, but what would give more power to the royal officials. He convinced the Parliament to pass a series of laws imposing new taxes on the colonists. These laws included special taxes on lead, paint, paper, glass and tea imported by colonists. The colonists were made and responded with boycott. They agreed to reestablish their idea on not importing British goods. This idea worked and all the colonies, except New Hampshire, were not importing goods from the Crown. British importation in the colonies dropped half in just a year's time because of the action taken. In 1768, in response to the protests and actions taken by the Sons of Liberty, the British sent 4,000 troops to the colonies to restore order. The conflicts between the British troops and the colonists only worsened the situation. On March 5, 1770, a crowd of sixty town's people surrounded British troops guarding the customs house. They started to trough snowballs at the guards and shots rang out. In the end, 11 colonists were hit and five died. This became known as the Boston Massacre. The British government repealed the Townshend Act except for the tax on tea. They kept this tea tax in order to underscore the supremacy of parliament. The colonists were enraged because they did not want any taxes from the Crown. In 1774, the British government passed the Tea Act, which granted a monopoly of tea trade in the Americas to the East India Tea Company. On the evening of December 16th, the Sons of Liberty dressed up like Indians and went to Boston harbor.
