Editing Gaspee affair (section)

{{Short description|1772 burning of a British navy schooner}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Gaspee'' affair}}
{{Redirect|Gaspee|the British Royal Navy shipname|HMS Gaspée (1773)|the Rhode Island peninsula|Gaspee Point|similar names|Gaspé (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2012}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox civil conflict
| title        = ''Gaspee'' affair
| partof       = the [[American Revolution]]
| image        = Destruction of the schooner gaspee.jpg
| caption      = An 1886 engraving of the burning of ''Gaspee'' by the [[Sons of Liberty]]
| date         = June 9, 1772
| place        = Near [[Gaspee Point]], [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations|Rhode Island]]
| causes       = Opposition to the [[Royal Navy]]'s enforcement of custom laws in Rhode Island ports
| goals        = 
| methods      = [[Arson]]
| status       = 
| result       = ''Gaspee'' burnt
| side1        = {{flagicon image|US Sons OfLiberty 9Stripes Flag.svg}} [[Sons of Liberty]]
| side2        = {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Great Britain}} 
| leadfigures1 = {{flagicon image|US Sons OfLiberty 9Stripes Flag.svg}} [[Abraham Whipple]] <br /> {{flagicon image|US Sons OfLiberty 9Stripes Flag.svg}} [[John Brown (Rhode Island politician)|John Brown]]
| leadfigures2 = {{flagd|Kingdom of Great Britain|naval}} [[William Duddingston]]
}}

The '''''Gaspee'' affair''' was a significant event in the lead-up to the [[American Revolution]]. HMS ''Gaspee'' was a [[Royal Navy]] revenue [[schooner]] that enforced the [[Navigation Acts]] around [[Newport, Rhode Island]], in 1772.<ref>[http://gaspee.org/BartlettGaspee.html Bartlett: Destruction of the ''Gaspee''] – "His Britannic Majesty's Schooner Gaspee."  Accessed June 9, 2009.</ref> It ran aground in shallow water while chasing the [[packet boat]] ''Hannah'' on June 9 off [[Warwick, Rhode Island]]. A group of men led by [[Abraham Whipple]] and [[John Brown I]] attacked, boarded, and burned the ''Gaspee'' to the waterline.<ref>{{cite web |title=John Brown, American Raider on English Ship ''Gaspee'' |url=http://www.gaspee.info/GaspeeRaiders/Brown_John.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105182832/http://gaspee.info/GaspeeRaiders/Brown_John.htm 
|archive-date=January 5, 2009 |url-status=dead |publisher=Joseph Bucklin Society (Gaspee.Info) |access-date=2009-05-27 |df=mdy-all }} This version of the story is told by Ephraim Bowen and John Mawney in William R. Staples' ''The Documentary History of the Destruction of the Gaspee''. The only other testimony from a contemporary is that of Aaron Biggs (sometimes Briggs), an escaped slave who told a slightly different version of the story. His telling of the events was later discredited, however, when it was found that it had been given under duress. (Bartlett, John Russell. ''A History of the Destruction of His Britannic Majesty's Schooner'' Gaspee, ''in Narragansett Bay, on the 10th of June 1772'' (Providence, RI.: A. Crawford Greene, 1861), pp. 84–87). There is also testimony from the crew and officers of the ''Gaspee'', who reported a larger number of attackers and more boats.</ref>

The event sharply increased tensions between American colonists and Crown officials, particularly given that it had followed the [[Boston Massacre]] in 1770. Crown officials in Rhode Island aimed to increase their control over the colony's legitimate trade and stamp out [[smuggling]] in order to increase their revenue from the colony.<ref name="StaplesP3">{{Cite book|title=The Documentary History of the Destruction of the Gaspee|last=Staples|first=William|publisher=Knowles, Vose, and Anthony|year=1845|location=Providence|page=3 |url=http://gaspee.org/StaplesForwardIntro.htm}}</ref> Concomitantly, Rhode Islanders increasingly protested the [[Stamp Act 1765|Stamp Act]], the [[Townshend Acts]] and other British policies that had interfered with the colony's traditional businesses, which primarily rested on involvement in the [[Triangular trade|triangular slave trade]].