Numerous economic, political, and intellectual factors contributed to the Massachusetts colony becoming a hotbed of revolution (against the British). Economically, Massachusetts was deeply affected by the slew of taxes that the British government implemented after 1763. Taxes such as the Townshend Revenue Act, which placed a levy on various English goods including lead, paint, and paper, the Sugar Act, and the Stamp Act had devastating effects on the entire colony’s population- especially threatening the wealth and prosperity of Massachusetts’ merchants. The Tea Act of 1773 particularly angered many colonists because it exempt the East India Company from navigation taxes; allowing them to undersell colonial merchants, and monopolize the entire
