This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.

The first sparks of revolution in the American colonies were not ignited on a single day, but rather fanned over years of growing tension between Great Britain and its American subjects. Following the costly French and Indian War, Britain sought to replenish its treasury by imposing taxes on the colonies, such as the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts. These measures were met with fierce resistance, not because of their economic burden alone, but because they were implemented without colonial representation in Parliament. The phrase "no taxation without representation" became a rallying cry, embodying the colonists' desire for political autonomy and fairness.

As protests intensified, so too did the British response. The Crown dispatched troops to enforce order, particularly in Boston, a hotbed of revolutionary fervor. Events such as the Boston Massacre in 1770 and the Boston Tea Party in 1773 escalated the conflict, turning public opinion further against the British. The Intolerable Acts, a series of punitive measures passed in response to the Tea Party, aimed to crush dissent in Massachusetts by closing Boston Harbor and restricting self-government. Instead of quelling rebellion, these actions united the colonies in defiance, prompting the formation of the First Continental Congress.

Massachusetts, and specifically the countryside surrounding Boston, became the epicenter of colonial resistance. Militia groups known as Minutemen began drilling and stockpiling weapons, preparing for the possibility of armed conflict. British officials, alarmed by these developments, viewed the province as being in open rebellion. The growing divide between colonial defiance and imperial authority made violent confrontation seem inevitable.