Due to the French and Indian War, the British govt was in debt so King George III passed acts like the Stamp and Tea acts to gather revenue. Protests by Americans erupted which lead to the Boston Tea Party with their main motivation being "taxation w/o representation." They felt that it was highly unfair since they did not receive any representation from the British Parliament but still had to pay taxes. To punish America for the Boston Tea Party, King G enacted the Intolerable Acts; this drew outrage b/c it basically took away Massachusetts self-governing rights. This resulted in delegates from each state convening (called the first continental congress) and drafting a petition to King George; he never gave a formal reply.
