Dear John,

How has your life been going in this new world? Mine is not going as well as I hoped it would. It has been two weeks since I have last had a cup of tea. I thought when I came over here I would be able to escape the taxes and religious limits set by the king. Up here in Boston the King George has been taxing us poor colonists to our limits. First he taxed us on all the printed stuff we needed but we were able to get him to remove the tax. It wasn’t long after this that the king put another tax on many of our necessities such as glass, paint, and tea. My funds are running extremely low and I have had to give up on my favorite beverage, tea. Once again we attempted to persuade the king to remove this tax but this time he wasn’t as cooperative as before and instead of removing the tax he sent over troops to “Keep the Peace.” I don’t know what we should do John many of the colonists are talking of revolts. They are all talking about how wrong “taxation without representation” is and how we should have some say in our taxes. I don’t know about you John but I agree with this point and am strongly against the high taxes that have been placed on the things we need.

The town’s hostility is growing as the temperature is falling. As the winter is hitting it’s worst the anger of the citizens toward the local troops is also hitting it’s worst. The citizens seem to be angered by the action the king had taken and have become more irritated by the soldiers that have acquired jobs, taking them away from the other citizens of the town. Every day seems to become worse, the kids are constantly picking on the soldiers calling them names and throwing stuff. There are bar fights almost every night and gangs wonder the streets looking for fights. I just hope that this predicament doesn’t have to end in tragedy and can be resolved peacefully. These soldiers have been sent to keep the peace but if they remain here much longer this will not be accomplished. Write soon John because I have no idea of what is going to happen here, I just hope all will turn out well.

Sincerely,

Jarrod Cook