They were General Gage's troops.
Spain hoped to spread Catholicism in its American colonies. Spain was a very Catholic country at the time and remained very religious for centuries later. One of the main goals of colonization other than taking over and extracting the riches from the countries was to Christianize the population and convert them. This actually proved largely successful as an overwhelming majority of countries who were colonized by the Spanish identify as Catholic or a Christian denomination.
Thee of the main reasons why the Industrial Revolution occurred in America were because 1) there was a large labor force ready to work, 2) there were lots of coal and fossil fuel deposits that were used to power many of the engines in the factories, and 2) a democratic capitalist system was ideal for allowing businesses to thrive without much government oversight.
Democratic Party favors government regulation of the economy and favors high taxes for high income earners.
