Sowing the Seeds of Revolution
By Prof. Charles Morris
CHAPTERS IN UNITED STATES HISTORY.* NO. 8.
Sowing the Seeds of Revolution.
The Tax on Tea—Troops Sent to Boston—The "Boston Massacre"—The "Boston Tea Party"—Boston Punished—Sentiment of Rebellion—Preparation for War—The Verge of Revolution. HERE was taxation without representation in a new shape, and a fresh opening for tyranny to invade the colonies. It was no more welcome than the stamp act, and was resisted as vigorously. Samuel Adams and others vowed to "eat nothing, drink nothing, and wear nothing" that came from England until the obnoxious duties were removed. The people were in a ferment of opposition. So general was the resistance to the law that the king, instead of taking warning as a wiser man would have done, determined to carry it through by force, and sent for this purpose two regiments to Boston, which city was most violent in opposition. He could have done nothing more likely to provoke rebellious feeling. The troops, on entering the town, marched through the streets like conquerors, with flying banners and beating drums, while the citizens looked on with barely repressed wrath. Quarters were refused the soldiers, and the bulk of them were obliged to encamp on the commons. Here they planted cannon, posted sentinels, and challenged passing citizens, adding daily to the irritation of the incensed Bostonians. A climax came in March, 1770, when the city guard was insulted by an unruly mob of men and boys. The soldiers fired in return, and killed and wounded a number of citizens. This affair, which was widely denounced as the "Boston massacre," created an intense excitement. The bells were rung; the citizens gathered in multitudes; the country people flocked to the streets; a dangerous outbreak was threatened. An immense meeting was held, and Samuel Adams, in the name of the people, ordered the governor to remove the soldiers from the town. If they remained he would not answer for the consequences. The governor obeyed, and sent them to one of the islands of the harbor. Meanwhile importation of British goods had largely ceased in America. Homespun cloth generally replaced foreign fabrics. Raspberry leaves and other substances were used as substitutes for tea. The spinning-wheel and the loom hummed in many households. A single family is said to have spun and knit in eighteen months 487 yards of cloth and 36 pairs of stockings. The law was a flat failure, and the colonies were on the verge of rebellion. An outbreak took place in North Carolina, and blood was shed in its suppression. In Rhode Island the revenue cutter Gaspee was seized and burnt by a secret party. In Massachusetts it had been ordered that the judges should be paid by the Crown. They were threatened with impeachment if they should accept a penny from this source. The Legislature of Massachusetts sent a circular letter to other Legislatures, asking them to concert measures of resistance. The king, in a rage, dissolved the assembly, and all others which favored its action. It was replaced in 1772 by "committees of correspondence" between the towns. In 1773 similar committees were formed to act between the colonies. This was the first step towards a colonial congress. Finally, in 1773, the king, still resolved to tax the colonists without their consent, but at his wits end how to do it, devised a new plan. The duties were taken off all articles except tea, and the price of this was purposely lowered, so that the tax would add nothing to its cost. This was necessary, for at that time nine-tenths of all the tea that entered America was smuggled from Holland, and if English tea was to be sold it must undersell the smuggled article. It was supposed the people would buy it because of its cheapness, and thus be cheated into paying the tax. The event proved that George III. did not know the Americans. They were more interested in saving their liberty than saving their money. In the autumn of 1773 shiploads of tea were sent to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. They were everywhere rejected. In three of the cities the consignees were frightened by the temper of the people, and resigned. Philadelphia and New York sent the ships home again. In Charleston the tea was landed, but was stored in damp cellars, where it rotted. A ship sent to Annapolis with a private consignment of tea was burned, and a similar consignment sent to New York was emptied into the harbor. In Boston the excitement reached its climax. The governor and the collector of the port were determined that the tea should be landed. The people were equally determined that it should not. On Dec. 16, 1773, the trouble came to a head. The collector was prepared to land it by force the next day. A great town meeting of 7,000 citizens was held in and around the Old South Meeting House. The governor had been appealed to to intervene. He refused. When, in the evening, word of this refusal was brought to the meeting, Samuel Adams, the leader of the populace, rose and solemnly said, "This meeting can do nothing more to save the country." The words were a signal. They had hardly been spoken before a loud war-whoop was heard in the street before the church, and a party of young men disguised as Indians, rushed past on their way to the wharves. Here they boarded the tea ships, ripped open the chests of tea, 342 in all, and poured their contents into the water of the bay. In a few hours $100,000 worth of tea was consigned to the fishes. It was the most costly tea party the world had ever known. News of this violent proceeding in due time reached the king, and converted his anger to fury. Boston was the offender, and he resolved that Boston should pay the penalty. Its port was ordered to be closed until the tea had been fully paid for. The charter of Massachusetts was annulled, and General Gage, the commander of the troops, was appointed governor with despotic powers. As Boston would not pay for the tea, it suffered severely. Its business was ruined, its working people were thrown out of employment, and only the active aid of the other colonies saved many of the citizens from starvation. But the Americans retaliated. "There is no longer any room for hope," thundered Patrick Henry, "we must fight." A Continental Congress was convened, and met September 5, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia. It was respectful, but resolute in tone. It did not ask for representation in Parliament. The colonies had gone beyond that. It demanded the right to make all laws and levy all taxes in the colonial assemblies. Massachusetts went still farther. The authority of Gage as governor was ignored. A provincial congress was called, with John Hancock for its president. It took the significant step of preparing for war. Colonial troops were enlisted, and military stores collected. Twelve thousand volunteers were raised, of which one-third were "minute men"—men ready to march and fight at a minute's notice. It was too late now to recede, even had king and Parliament so desired. Independence, not redress, was now demanded. General Gage, alarmed by the spirit of the people, fortified Boston Neck, and seized all the powder he could find. Finally, on the night of April 18, 1775, he sent a secret expedition from Boston to seize or destroy some military stores which had been collected at Concord, twenty miles away. It was this act that ended the season of suspense, and transformed rebellion into revolution.