THE PRICE OF LIBERTY
By 1776, many of the people in the colonies had grown indignant about the unjust taxes England was levying upon them and the harsh measures she was taking to collect them. But not all of the colonists, by any means, wanted to divorce themselves from the Mother Country. They were eager to get rid of the despised taxes but they didn’t want to throw out the baby with the bathwater. For their loyalty to England these “Loyalists” paid a terrible price. A number lost their homes. Many fled to Canada. Some were shot. The scorn in which they were held by the “Revolutionists” is indicated in a speech Samuel Adams made, in which he told them, “If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home! Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our…
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