What sparked the American Revolution? And why did it ignite in Boston? Those questions are at the heart of a presentation this month by St. Bonaventure University’s Dr. Steven Pitt.

Pitt will present “Why Boston? A New Economic Interpretation of the American Revolution” at 7 p.m. Monday, April 20, in Walsh Auditorium as part of St. Bonaventure’s “America’s 250 Series.” The event is free and open to the public, and light refreshments will be served.

“The sparks of revolution swirled in Boston, and the language of liberty coursed through its streets in the decade leading up to the Declaration of Independence,” said Pitt, an associate professor of History who focuses on colonial and Revolutionary-era America.

According to Pitt, the Stamp Act crisis, Townshend Acts boycotts and riots, the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and the Intolerable Acts reinforced and compounded grievances over economic decline, taxation, Navigation Acts enforcement, impressment, and imperial overreach. The port became the epicenter of resistance with the rise of the Sons of Liberty and eventual converts such as John Adams.

“But why Boston? Why not Philadelphia, New York or Charleston, South Carolina?” Pitt asked. “The answer lies in Boston’s unique and complex religious, political, military and economic trajectory that promised opportunity but led to frequent disillusionment.”

At every turn, Pitt said, Bostonians across social classes tried to escape rigged economic systems — sometimes even systems they created — but conflicting internal desires and external forces thwarted their plans and shifted economic power to neighboring ports. By 1775, economic self-preservation propelled Bostonians onto the revolutionary path.

The final event in St. Bonaventure’s “America’s 250 Series” will be held Monday, April 27: “The Revolution Today,” an open panel discussion. 

The series is sponsored by the History Department, the Jandoli School of Communication, and Emerging Revolutionary War. For more information, contact Dr. Phil Payne at ppayne@sbu.edu.

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure is a community committed to transforming the lives of its students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a commitment to academic excellence and lifelong civic engagement. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #8 for value and #19 overall by U.S. News and World Report (2025).