TEXT:Nowhere more so than Boston. May 9, 1768. Seven generations after John Rolfe's first tobacco harvest, the British want a bigger piece of the action.A British customs official springs a surprise raid on The Liberty, a ship belonging to John Hancock, one of the richest men in Boston. But Hancock's crew has other ideas. They're carrying 100 casks of imported wine and don't want to pay duty.

It's a radical act of rebellion against taxes imposed by a king 3,000 miles away. To the British, they're just common smugglers. This mall skirmish changes everything. The British seize Ha ncock's ship, triggering riots that sweep through Boston.

We didn't wanna pay taxes to a king and to a parliament where we didn't have a voice, and we didn't have any representation. We have a natural resentment toward government, which was how we were bor n. The king sends 4,000 redcoats to Boston to enforce his laws.

Boston was a city of commerce, culture, civilization, and revolution, unfolding right before the eyes of the colonists and the eyes of the British.

October 1768. British soldiers clamp down on Boston, a port crucial to the British Empire...and a hub of global trade and commerce.

Its dockyards are some of the busiest in the world, producing 200 ships a year from America's vast timber reserves. 1/3 of all British shipping is built in the colonies.

Timber fuels the global economy...much like oil does today. Across New England, marks identify the tallest, strongest trees selected by the crown for British ships. England has lost most of its forests. It wants American wood.

译文:这一现象在波士顿尤为突出。1768年5月9日，到了约翰·罗尔夫首次烟草收成以来的第七代，英国人想要分更大的一杯羹。英国海关官员发动了对"自由号"的突袭，它是约翰·汉考克的船，他是波士顿最富有的人之一，但汉考克的船员另有企图。他们偷运了100桶进口酒，不想交税。

对于远在3000英里以外的国王，此举不啻于公然的抗税，对于英国当局来说他们就是走私，这场贸易前哨战改变了一切。英国当局扣押了汉考克的船，此举引发了整个波士顿的骚乱。

[剧作家]阿伦·索尔金：“我们不想缴税给国王，不想缴税给一个我们没有发言权，也没有任何议员代表我们的议会。我们美国人天生就对政府有种怨恨，也正因此我们才得以独立。英国国王派了4000名士兵到波士顿去执法。

[哈佛大学非洲和非裔美国人研究所所长]小亨利·路易斯·盖茨：“波士顿是贸易之城，文化之城，文明之城，也是革命之城，就是在殖民者到来之后，英国人到来后发展起来的。

1768年10月，英国士兵紧紧钳制着波士顿，它是通往大英帝国的关键港口也是全球商业贸易的枢纽。

它的造船厂是世界最繁忙的船厂之一，利用美国海量的木材储备年产200艘船，英国1/3的船都是在殖民地建造的。

木材供给支持着全球经济的发展，就像当今的石油一样，整个新英格兰境内，最高最粗壮的树都被做上了记号，他们将被用来建造英国船只。英国的大部分森林已不复存在，所以把目光投向了美国的森林。