Pay attention because this is going to be short.  Great Britain kept soldiers lurking around the colonies, but that’s all they did: lurk.  General Gage and the British leadership were wary of using force against the colonists.  The Boston Massacre sits as the most famous case of violence against the colonists.  During the incident, a Boston crowd overran a group of British Regulars and began throwing things at them.  The Regulars responded by firing into the crowd, killing five colonists.  Patriots seized this moment to gain support for independence, while the British backed off even more.  On the opposite side of the spectrum, in one instance Regulars went to shut down a political meeting at a local church and the colonists simply barred the door.  The Regulars, not being able to take any real action, left confused.  This second example explains how colonists were allowed to board three ships and spend a few hours breaking open crates and dumping tea into Boston Harbor.  They met no resistance on the night of the Tea Party.  A different storyline emerged after the Tea Party, but that is for the end of this topic.  This military dilemma highlights a serious problem that Great Britain faced in occupying the colonies.  If the colonists did not want to act the way the British wanted, they were often free to do so.