In 1768, when Gen. Gage was in command of the British troops in
Massachusetts, one Capt. John Wilson, of the 59th regiment, made an
attempt to excite the few slaves in Boston (about 300) to rise
against their masters. He assured the slaves that the foreign troops
had come to procure their freedom, and that "with their assistance,
they would be able to drive the Liberty Boys to the devil." In
October, the Selectmen made a complaint against him; had him
arrested, and bound over for trial, but by the influence of British
officials, the indictment was quashed, and Wilson fled, satisfied
that Boston would not be a safe place for _him._

In 1765, symptoms of a rebellious and insurrectionary spirit were
manifested in various parts of the thirteen colonies, then nominally
at least subjects of King George. This spirit was aroused by the
passage, by the British Parliament, of the Stamp Act on the 22d of
March of that year. As the British government were unable to enforce
this Act, it was graciously repealed on the 22d of February, 1766,
but coupled with the declaratory Act, that "the Legislature of Great
Britain had authority to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever."
On the 20th of November, 1767, the Act previously passed, imposing a
duty of three pence per pound on tea, was to take effect. From this
Act, with other causes combined, many commotions were excited anew
among the people. On the 5th of March, 1770, the Boston massacre
occurred. The skirmish at Lexington and Concord on the 19th of April,
and the battle on Breed's hill on the 17th of June, 1775, greatly
increased the excitement. About the middle of July, the year Lord
Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, ceased to exercise the
functions of his office, having with his wife and children, for fear
of the people, taken refuge on board the Fowey man of war. With the
hope that he should succeed in reducing the Virginians to subjection,