On May 10, 1775, the members of the Second Continental Congress met at the State House. There were new people like: John Hancoc, Thomas Jefferson, and and Benjamin Franklin.
The Second Continental Congress meeting started with the battle of Lexington and Concord. The New England militia were still encamped outside of Boston trying to drive the British out of Boston. The Second Continental Congress established the militia as the Continental Army to represent the thirteen states. They also elected George Washington as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army.

Customs ships continued to patrol the sea off the coast of America. They would regularly stop merchant ships to examine their cargo looking for illegal goods, and enforcing British customs and taxation laws. The Gaspee was a British Royal Navy ship assigned to customs duty.

The Gaspee was chasing a merchant ship believed to be smuggling goods. On June 9, 1772.The next night, a group of men boarded the Gaspee. They were led by John Brown, a wealthy merchant from Providence. They wounded the lieutenant who was commanding the ship, and set the ship on fire.

The British wanted to know the responsables for this act and they made an investigation also the offer a reward but no one came forward so they never found the people that commit this. The British pay the governors' salary, rather than being paid by the colonies. By doing this they thought they would eliminate the colonies ability to control the governor.

In 1767, the British passed new taxes on glass, paper, teas, paints and other goods shipped to the colonies from Britain. Prime Minister Charles Townsend wanted to raise money to cover the cost for defending the colonies, and pay the salaries of governors and judges in the colonies. These were known as the Townsend Acts.

The colonists reacted by refusing to buy British goods. The colonists argued that they shouldn't be taxed since they had no representation in the British government. The colonists rallied behind the phrase, "No Taxation without Representation." Again Britain was forced to remove the taxes, all except for the tax on tea.