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What british economic policy caused colonists to burn the Gaspee?

What british economic policy caused colonists to burn the Gaspee? Do you think the colonists were justified in their acts of rebellion, or should they have taken some other course of action for this?

Public Comments

1. Taxes we colonists hated taxes for someone else especially without being represented in the english government back home. We were & did the work but were neglected or treated like we still werent part of the UK so we rebelled. We felt that we were still citizens & working for the crown but we didnt get representation back home. It was harder then to live outside the country & still matter back home to the government.
2. The Gaspee was a British schooner patrolling the Rhode Island Bays when it spied a vessel suspected of smuggling. It gave chase but got stuck and men from colonial boats boarded the Gaspee, set the crew ashore, and burned it to the waterline. The colonists were protesting the Navigation Acts that prevented colonial trade with any nation but England. They were also protesting the custom duties they had to pay on bringing items into the colonies. Because the Gaspee was a royal vessel, the attack upon it was an act of rebellion. The colonists had better luck when they used the boycott of British goods to protest British laws.