From the outset, Massachusetts was the leader of the anti-British protests for a few reasons. First and foremost, the British establishment of the Dominion of New England- which combined the colonies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut into a single province headed by a Royal governor (Edmund Andros)- angered the Massachusetts colonists and created a tense relationship between Great Britain and the colony early on. In addition, there was a growing colonial merchant class in Massachusetts whose wealth and prosperity was threatened by the slew of taxes that the British enacted, particularly the Navigation, Sugar, Stamp and Tea acts. The Massachusetts colony was also the chief center of resistance; serving as the home
