Massachusetts Circular Letter

The acts placed an import duty on glass, paint, paper, lead, and tea as well as establishing an American Board of Customs.

Massachusetts received positive responses from New Jersey, Connecticut, and the Virginia House of Burgesses.

[3] In the Circular Letter, Samuel Adams argued that the Townshend Acts were unconstitutional because the colony of Massachusetts was not represented in Parliament.

[4] Instead, Adams argued in favor of the previous arrangement, where the colonies were taxed only by their own provincial assemblies in which they were already represented.

Arriving in October 1768, the soldiers only increased the tensions, as recorded in the anonymously penned "Journal of Occurrences", which chronicled the occupation.

A wide view of a port town with several wharves. In the foreground there are eight large sailing ships and an assortment of smaller vessels. Soldiers are disembarking from small boats onto a long wharf. The skyline of the town, with nine tall spires and many smaller buildings, is in the distance. A key at the bottom of the drawing indicates some prominent landmarks and the names of the warships.
Paul Revere 's engraving of British troops landing in Boston in response to events set off by the Circular Letter.