The historiography of the Gaspee affair examines the changing views of historians and scholars with regard to the burning of HMS Gaspee, a British customs schooner that ran aground while patrolling coastal waters near Newport, Rhode Island and was boarded and destroyed by colonists during the lead up to the American Revolution in 1772. Though scholars agree that the incident sparked a period of renewed tension between Great Britain and its colonies in North America, they disagree as to the specific long and short-term impacts of the attack on British and colonial policies and attitudes.
