Grievances Then, Responses Now

Two Ways People Respond to a Problem

At the Northstar History Center, a display compares a colonial dispute with a present-day school problem. The colonial dispute began partly because Parliament in Great Britain placed taxes on people in the American colonies. The Stamp Act of 1765 required colonists to pay for stamps on many printed items. Colonists used printed materials every day, but they did not elect members of Parliament. Many colonists argued that a government should not tax them without giving them a voice in the lawmaking body.

Colonial resistance took several forms. People spoke at meetings, wrote petitions, and sometimes refused to buy goods from Britain. In 1770, British soldiers fired during a tense crowd gathering in Boston, killing five colonists. The event, later called the Boston Massacre, increased anger even though people disagreed about what had happened. In 1773, Parliament kept a tax on tea while allowing the East India Company to sell tea in the colonies. Some colonists saw the tea policy as another example of taxation without their consent.

In December 1773, people in Boston boarded tea ships and dumped tea into the harbor. This protest became known as the Boston Tea Party. The protest damaged property, so Parliament responded with laws that closed Boston Harbor and limited local self-government. Many colonists called these laws the Intolerable Acts. Instead of ending resistance, the punishments led colonies to share news and cooperate more closely.

In April 1775, British soldiers marched toward Concord, Massachusetts, to seize colonial military supplies. Colonial militia members met them at Lexington. Gunfire there killed eight militia members, and later fighting at Concord and along the road back to Boston caused deaths on both sides. Lexington and Concord did not create every disagreement, but they marked a major change: a conflict that had included arguments, petitions, boycotts, and protests had become armed fighting.

The display also describes a school problem today. Students at Northstar notice that a new activity fee makes it harder for some classmates to join an after-school program. They collect information, write a respectful petition to the school board, and ask for a meeting. The board reviews the request and considers a sliding fee. The students are using a lawful process to seek a change. Their situation is not the same as the colonial dispute, but both examples show people identifying a policy they think is unfair and choosing how to respond.