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.

譯文:這一現象在波士頓尤為突出。1768年5月9日，到了約翰·羅爾夫首次煙草收成以來的第七代，英國人想要分更大的一杯羹。英國海關官員發動了對"自由號"的突襲，它是約翰·漢考克的船，他是波士頓最富有的人之一，但漢考克的船員另有企圖。他們偷運了100桶進口酒，不想交稅。

對于遠在3000英里以外的國王，此舉不啻于公然的抗稅，對于英國當局來說他們就是走私，這場貿易前哨戰改變了一切。英國當局扣押了漢考克的船，此舉引發了整個波士頓的騷亂。

[劇作家]阿倫·索爾金：“我們不想繳稅給國王，不想繳稅給一個我們沒有發言權，也沒有任何議員代表我們的議會。我們美國人天生就對政府有種怨恨，也正因此我們才得以獨立。英國國王派了4000名士兵到波士頓去執法。

[哈佛大學非洲和非裔美國人研究所所長]小亨利·路易斯·蓋茨：“波士頓是貿易之城，文化之城，文明之城，也是革命之城，就是在殖民者到來之后，英國人到來后發展起來的。

1768年10月，英國士兵緊緊鉗制著波士頓，它是通往大英帝國的關鍵港口也是全球商業貿易的樞紐。

它的造船廠是世界最繁忙的船廠之一，利用美國海量的木材儲備年產200艘船，英國1/3的船都是在殖民地建造的。

木材供給支持著全球經濟的發展，就像當今的石油一樣，整個新英格蘭境內，最高最粗壯的樹都被做上了記號，他們將被用來建造英國船只。英國的大部分森林已不復存在，所以把目光投向了美國的森林。