Professor McMasters was lecturing to undergraduates about the events in Boston in the 1700s.
Though it seems the Continental Congress and Jefferson with his lofty Declaration were on the right track to declare independence, the earlier participants were mere rebel rousers. Not happy with Stamp Acts and tea taxes, the Sons of Liberty seem to have harassed simple British officials sufficiently that no Stamp Act was ever put into practice. "They just attacked the officials personally and ransacked their homes till they gave up.
Students were not convinced, and a couple wearing Trump hats walked out.
