The truth is non-partisan

When George III came to power as King of England, he was determined to
regain the previous power English kings once had. Had he retained
William Pitt as Prime Minister problems in the colonies might have
been resolved. Instead he appointed George Grenville, who was
determined to pay off Britain's debt from its wars with France. Who
better to tax than the colonies that the motherland had protected.
Meanwhile in the colonies there was growing unrest among the colonial
legislatures that viewed London as distant and their own power as
equal to the British Parliament.

In Boston, Samuel Adams was building a following among the shopkeepers
and shipworkers. He was a writer and publisher of the weekly Public
Advertiser. Rather than seek after riches, he chose to live an austere
life with little concern for materialism. He mocked men like Thomas
Hutchinson who held to the notion of social divisions in society.
Samuel's father and others in the Massachusetts House had established
the Land Bank as a means of revitalizing the economy. While
Hutchinson demanded payment in gold, the Land Bankers offered a
floating currency backed by their own real estate. In 1741, the
British Parliament declared the Land Bank illegal and charged its
directors with financial crimes. It was this struggle that helped
form Samuel's views about politics.

In 1756 Samuel Adams was elected as one of five general tax collectors
in the colony. When Boston was going through hard times Samuel would
always defer the collections. Soon he was accused of keeping taxes
for himself which was obviously not true because of his frugal way of
life. In the meantime Hutchinson and the other conservatives (dubbed
Tories by the Whigs or patriots) attempted to get rid of the town hall
meetings in Boston. In 1760 the Tories formed a new caucus that
almost defeated the original caucus of patriots in a town hall
meeting. In 1763 the Tories were determined to take over control of
the town hall meeting. However, with Samuel Adam's leadership, eleven
hundred men turned out to vote, soundly defeating the Tories and
saving the town hall meetings. Sam Adams was to play an important
role in bringing the colonies to rebellion.

Source:

Langguth, A.J. Patriots: The men who started the American Revolution.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988.

// posted by John Fisher @ 12:50 PM