The Massachusetts Provincial Congress, an illegal assembly, began in Salem on October 5, 1774, in defiance of Gage’s authority.
The British military governor of Massachusetts, General Thomas Gage, moved the state General Court to Salem in June 1774. Salem was a key location in the early days of the Revolution. This rupture deepened until in 1775 war broke out, lasting until 1783 and the creation of The United States of America. Beginning with protests over the Stamp Act in 1765, the colonists in thirteen North American colonies reconsidered their relationship with the British Empire.
