Political Quotes

“Every student of American history knows the story of the Boston Tea Party, the men who crept onto British ships moored in Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773, to destroy shipments of tea that the English sought to tax. They were patriots who yearned for liberty, for "no taxation without representation," and who stepped into history. Only a few miles south and more than a year earlier, however, another group of men had engaged in another act of patriotism--yet these men are largely forgotten outside my home State of Rhode Island. Every year, in their memory, Rhode Islanders celebrate Gaspee Day. This is their story. During the buildup to the Revolutionary War, as tensions between England and its American colonies grew increasingly strained, King George III stationed the HMS Gaspee, under the command of LT William Dudingston, in the waters off Rhode Island. Its mission was to search incoming ships for smuggled goods and enforce the payment of taxes.”