A School History of the United States. John Bach McMaster
motto, "Expiring in the hopes of a resurrection to life again." In one corner was a coffin, and the words, "The last remains of the Pennsylvania Journal, which departed this life the 31st of October, 1765, of a stamp in her vitals. Aged 23 years." The Pennsylvania Gazette, on November 7, the day of its first issue after the Stamp Act became law, published a half sheet, printed on one side, without any heading, and in its place the words, "No stamped paper to be had." During the next six months, every scrap of stamped paper that was heard of was hunted up and given to the flames. Thus, when a vessel from Barbados, with a stamped newspaper published on that island, reached Philadelphia, the paper was seized and burned, one evening, at the coffeehouse, in the presence of a great crowd. A vessel having put in from Halifax, a rumor spread that the captain had brought stamped paper with him, and was going to use it for his Philadelphia clearance. This so enraged the people that the vessel was searched, and a sheet of paper with three stamps on it was found, and burned at the coffee-house.
%118. Non-importation Agreements.%—Meantime, the merchants in the larger towns, and the people all over the country, had been making written agreements not to import any goods from England for some months to come.
The effect of this measure was immense. Not a merchant nor a manufacturer in Great Britain, engaged in the colonial trade, but found his American orders canceled and his goods left on his hands. Not a ship returned from this country but carried back English wares which it had brought here to sell, but for which no purchaser could be found.
%119. Stamp Act repealed.%—When Parliament met in December, 1765, such a cry of distress came up from the manufacturing cities of England, that Parliament was forced to yield, and in March, 1766, the Stamp Act was repealed. In the outburst of joy which followed in America, the intent and meaning of another act passed at the same time was little heeded. In it was the declaration that Parliament did have the right to tax the colonies "in all cases whatsoever."
%120. The Townshend Acts.%—If the people thought this declaration had no meaning, they were much mistaken, for next year (1767) Parliament passed what have since been called the Townshend Acts. There were three of them. One forbade the legislature of New York to pass any more laws till it had provided the royal troops in the city with beds, candles, fire, vinegar, and salt, as required by what was called the Mutiny Act. The second established at Boston a Board of Commissioners of the Customs to enforce the laws relating to trade. The third laid taxes on glass, red and white lead, painter's colors, paper, and tea. None of these taxes was heavy. But again the right of Parliament to tax people not represented in it had been asserted, and again the colonists rose in resistance. The legislature of Massachusetts sent a letter to each of the other colonial legislatures, urging them to unite and consult for the protection of their rights. Pennsylvania sent protests to the King and to Parliament. The merchants all over the country renewed their old agreements not to import British goods, and many a shipload was sent back to England.
%121. Colonial Legislatures dissolved.%[1]—The letter of Massachusetts to the colonial legislatures having given great offense to the King, the governors were ordered to see to it that the legislatures did not approve it. But the order came too late. Many had already done so, and as a punishment the assemblies of Maryland and Georgia were dismissed and the members sent home. To dissolve assemblies became of frequent occurrence. The legislature of Massachusetts was dissolved because it refused to recall the letter. That of New York was repeatedly dissolved for refusing to provide the royal troops with provisions. That of Virginia was dismissed for complaining of the treatment of New York.
[Footnote 1: One of the charges against the King in the Declaration of
Independence.]
%122. Boston Riot of 1770.%—And now the troops intended for the defense of the colonies began to arrive. But Massachusetts, North Carolina, and South Carolina followed the example of New York, and refused to find them quarters. For this the legislature of North Carolina was dissolved. Everywhere the presence of the soldiers gave great offense; but in Boston the people were less patient than elsewhere. They accused the soldiers of corrupting the morals of the town; of desecrating the Sabbath with fife and drum; of striking citizens who insulted them; and of using language violent, threatening, and profane. In this state of feeling, an alarm of fire called the people into the streets on the night of March 5, 1770. The alarm was false, and a crowd of men and boys, having nothing to do, amused themselves by annoying a sentinel on guard at one of the public buildings. He called for help, and a corporal and six men were soon on the scene. But the crowd would not give way. Forty or fifty men came armed with sticks and pressed around the soldiers, shouting, "Rascals! Lobsters! Bloody-backs!" throwing snowballs and occasionally a stone, till in the excitement of the moment a soldier fired his gun. The rest followed his example, and when the reports died away, five of the rioters lay on the ground dead or dying, and six more dangerously wounded.[1]
[Footnote 1: The soldiers were tried for murder and were defended by
John Adams and Josiah Quincy. Two were found guilty of manslaughter. The
rest were acquitted. On the massacre read Frothingham's Life of Warren, Chaps. 6, 7; Kidder's The Boston Massacre; Joseph Warren's Oration on March 6, 1775, in Library of American Literature, Vol. III., p. 256.]
This riot, this "Boston Massacre," or, as the colonists delighted to call it, "the bloody massacre," excited and aroused the whole land, forced the government to remove the soldiers from Boston to an island in the bay, and did more than anything else which had yet happened, to help on the Revolution.
%123. Tea sent to America and not received.%—While these things were taking place in America—indeed, on the very day of the Boston riot—a motion was made in Parliament for the repeal of all the taxes laid by the Townshend Acts except that on tea. The tea tax of 3d. a pound, payable in the colonies, was retained in order that the right of Parliament to tax America might be vindicated. But the people held fast to their agreements not to consume articles taxed by Great Britain. No tea was drunk, save such as was smuggled from Holland, and at the end of three years' time the East India Company had 17,000,000 pounds of tea stored in its warehouses (1773). This was because the company was not permitted to send tea out of England. It might only bring tea to London and there sell it at public sale to merchants and shippers, who exported it to America. But now when the merchants could not find anybody to buy tea in the colonies, they bought less from the company, and the tea lay stored in its warehouses. To relieve the company, and if possible tempt the people to use the tea, the exportation tax was taken off and the company was given leave to export tea to America consigned to commissioners chosen by itself. Taking off the shilling a pound export tax in England, and charging but 3d. import tax in America, made it possible for the company to sell tea cheaper than could the merchants who smuggled it. Yet even this failed. The people forced the tea commissioners to resign or send the tea ships back to England. In Charleston, S.C., the tea was landed and stored for three years, when it was sold by South Carolina. In Philadelphia the people met, and having voted that the tea should not be landed, they stopped the ship as it came up the Delaware, and sent it back to London.
%124. The Boston Tea Party.%—At Boston also the people tried to send the tea ships to England, but the authorities would not allow them to leave, whereupon a band of young men disguised as Indians boarded the vessels, broke open the boxes, and threw the tea into the water.
%125. The Five Intolerable Acts.%—When Parliament heard of these events, it at once determined to punish Massachusetts, and in order to do this passed five laws which were so severe that the colonists called them the "Intolerable Acts." They are generally known as
1. The Boston Port Bill, which shut the port of Boston to trade and commerce, forbade ships to come in or go out, and moved the customhouse to Marblehead.
2. The Transportation Bill, which gave the governor power to send anybody accused of murder in resisting the laws, to another colony or to England for trial.
3. The Massachusetts Bill, which changed the old charter of Massachusetts, provided for a military governor, and forbade the people to hold public meetings for any other purpose than the election of town officers, without permission from the governor.
4. The Quartering Act, which legalized the quartering