ongress, it was decided that laws were
made in England that were unjust to America, that the colonists objected
to taxes that were fixed by Parliament and would buy no more goods from
England while a tax was upon them; and that they objected to the support
of a large British army in the colonies.

And this First Continental Congress sent a petition to King George III.,
saying that the unjust laws should be done away with.

How the King received this petition is soon told.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE SONS of LIBERTY at TURTLE BAY

Now in New York almost everybody was anxious to carry out the decision
of this First Continental Congress.

But the Assembly said that the Congress had not been a lawful gathering
and must not be obeyed. The colonists replied that they would do as they
thought best, no matter what the King's Assembly ordered.

You must know that some of the people supported the royal cause and were
called Royalists or Tories. The others were called Patriots or Whigs.
The English called the patriots rebels.

It had now come to be the year 1775, and matters in Boston where the
port had been closed were growing worse and worse. In the month of April
some British soldiers passing through Lexington shot down a number of
patriots. Messengers on horseback sped through the colonies carrying
news of this massacre. It was the first serious encounter of the
Revolution and the colonists realized that they were now at war with the
British. Men rushed to arms. Farmers left their homes. Professional men
hurried from the towns. Within a few days an army surrounded Boston and
penned in the British troops there.

When the messenger reached New York with the news of the Lexington
massacre, a Provisional Assembly was formed which was to look after the
city without regard to the Assembly which already existed. And this is
the way it came about that there was a king's government and a people's
government. Shops were closed and armed citizens paraded the streets.
Matters went on in this fashion for a month, when a Second Continental
Congress met at Philadelphia.

As it was now seen that there was to be a serious conflict with Great
Britain, the army gathered about Boston was adopted as the beginning of
the forces to be assembled and was termed the Continental Army, and
George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief.

[Illustration: East River Shore, 1750, from an Old Print.]

Knowing that they would soon need guns a