USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 2 > Part 14
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The period of twenty years between the appointment of Governor Shirley and that of Sir Francis Bernard (1741- 1760) was momentous in the development of the country; for in it those forces germinated which caused the final contro- versy that separated the colonies from the mother country. Yet those years were singularly peaceful in Massachusetts so far as the relations of the Royal Governors and the Assem- blies were concerned. Nevertheless when England and France at last locked themselves in a final struggle for the domination of North America, Massachusetts, as well as the other Colo-
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nies, made such strides in internal development and material advancement, as to render it more impatient than ever of ex- ternal control. Yet this was just at the moment when the mother country, for very obvious and far from unjust reasons, sought to reassert her long neglected control.
Hitherto the great world struggle for commercial empire between France and England had been carried on, so far as America was concerned, by the people of New France and those of New England in a very local and inefficient manner. Up to this time England had given little or no direct aid to her New England children in their land wars with New France, which had been fought largely by the Massachusetts frontiers- men, aided by the local militia. With the ambitious designs of France for cutting off the English from the West, which the French had begun to penetrate, the war assumed a continental aspect which brought the Colonies into closer relations, and tended to create a feeling of new and common nationality, apart from that of race, and founded upon a community of in- terest. The conquest of the French possessions, removing the dread of France from the frontiers, gave a great impulse to the desire of the Colonies for independence, and urged on the spirit of national expression. At the same time the great ef- forts made by England in the war brought the colonials in closer contact with the English armies than ever before, and made them conscious of the differences in view point that a century and a half had brought about between the two branches of the race.
GOVERNOR SHIRLEY (1741-1757)
The new Governor, William Shirley, was an English lawyer of an old Sussex family, but of small fortune, who had been settled for some years in Boston. He was ambitious, tactful and greatly interested in the struggle for the Anglo-Saxon domination of North America. He has often been belittled, but his long administration, free from the bitter controversies of his predecessors, shows him to have been tactful and sa- gacious in his dealings with the Province. To be sure much of the contentious energy was absorbed by the contest with the French; but it was Shirley who succeeded in inspiring the people and the Assembly with zeal for the war and confidence
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in himself. Therefore until the end he remained exceedingly popular in the Province. There is no doubt that Shirley's great interest was the war: in constitutional matters he fol- lowed a well defined policy of avoiding trouble with the legis- lature, even at the expense of the Prerogative. Hence his long administration was marked by gradual encroachments by the Assembly and by the consolidation of its gains in the mat- ter of self-government. As a result of this policy, Shirley se- cured popular approbation, and was able to win the Assembly over to vote supplies for the famous Louisbourg expedition of 1745, the successful result of which greatly enhanced his in- fluence.
Nevertheless, some disagreements arose, but the personality of the governor did much towards minimizing the harmful results. At the beginning of his administration the dispute was revived over the old salary question; and it ended by the governor's acceptance of the salary voted. Some attempt was made on his part to cause the Assembly to take into considera- tion the depreciation in the currency when voting his salary ; but these differences were slight and did not embitter his relations with the House.
The old dispute about the issuance of paper money arose early in his administration; but the politic governor avoided battle by violating his instructions and allowing an issue of £36,000 (with the suspension clause removed) on the ground of the public needs in the new war. He succeeded in getting the Home Government to allow future emissions on grounds of military necessity. It should be noted that after the capture of Louisbourg (1758) the currency dispute was allayed by establishing a silver standard and the calling in of the old bills. This was made possible through generous reimbursement of the Province, by the mother country, for the expenses of the Louisbourg expedition, for which Parliament granted Massa- chusetts £180,000 cash. Henceforth, the finances of the Pro- vince were upon a solid basis, in marked superiority in this respect over her sister colonies. The reorganization of the finances was largely due to the efforts of the Speaker of the House, Thomas Hutchinson.
His Excellency William Shirley Cag Captain General & Governoy in Chief & of the Province ofthe Malsuchusetts Bayin New England, & Colonel of one of his IlGajesty's Regiments of font Towhomthis Platedone from the Original Painted by ME Imibert atthe request of several Merchants & Gendemenin Boston usa Semor ralf their Grateful Olchingwtedyments tohis Coxcellepay forlus Signal Servicesin Du lescuating I bova Scotia from falling into the Enemy's hands in 17 ag & the Reduction of the Island of Cape Bretonische Chedience of his Majesty in 1746, Humbly Dedicated by his Excellency Obedient Jer Chelham
From the Pelham Club engraving in the private collection of John H. Edmunds, Esq.
WILLIAM SHIRLEY
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GOVERNOR POWNALL
QUESTION OF REPRESENTATION (1741-1757)
One other minor source of trouble arose out of the admis- sion of new towns. It had always been the custom to allow two representatives to each town admitted. At this time the colony was rapidly developing and the Crown was alarmed by the admission of new towns with the resultant addition of weight to the Assembly, to the detriment of the power of the Governor and Council. Hence Shirley boldly vetoed the admission of several towns. This executive interposition, which with a less popular governor would have raised a fierce storm, was effected without much trouble; thereafter the Governor, who had the Council behind him, admitted several new towns without any right of representation.
In spite of all this tactfulness and avoidance of trouble Shirley had his difficulties, for in 1750 we find him writing to Newcastle, then English Prime Minister, as follows: "Ex- perience of the bad influence, which the mobbish factious Spirit of the Town of Boston occasion'd by all points being carried by the Populace at their Town Meetings, have ever had upon other Towns in the government and upon their own Members, which are generally leading men in the Assembly, is the reason of this Alteration being propos'd." It is evident that the social revolution of the poorer classes against the merchant oligarchy, as well as against the government, was already begun. However unpopular Boston might have been with the country members, its representatives on account of the importance of their town, were wielding great influence in the House.
GOVERNOR POWNALL (1757-1760)
Shirley's military ambitions caused him to accept the post of "Commander in Chief of the English Armies in North America" for which he was unfitted in spite of his great ser- vices as an originator of large plans. The eventual result was his recall in 1757. Thomas Pownall, an English gentle- man, who had spent much time in America and who under- stood its problems and its people, was appointed Governor in 1757. His administration was essentially a continuation
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of that of Shirley and he left the Province in 1760 with the best wishes of the Assembly.
The only important constitutional question raised during this time, arose from the demand of the Earl of Loudon for quarters for his troops, upon the ground that the Act of Parliament authorizing such quartering, extended to the col- onies. This construction was denied by the House, though in a time of public peril it could hardly dispute the need. Accordingly a provincial act was passed authorizing the quartering of troops, upon the theory that the Act of Parlia- men did not extend to Massachusetts.
No doubt during and at the close of Pownall's adminis- tration the Province was in a generally good condition. The war was a period of great expansion and large increase in wealth in spite of the great expense of the campaign. The cost of the war in the end was borne largely by the British tax payers. Notwithstanding the losses of men and money, the finances of the Province were at last on a sound basis, while the people enjoyed a larger degree of personal liberty than did those of England itself. Nevertheless, the new conditions, the new born consciousness of American nationality, the impa- tience at the restraint of such powers as the Crown still retained, and the aggressive spirit that had won victory after victory against the Prerogative, together with the memories of the old disputes, all these combined to urge the people to demand a complete independence. Above all, the social revolt of the lower classes against the controlling plutocracy filled the masses with a spirit of unrest. The social revolt against the propertied class became merged with the political one against the Crown. The Colony was approaching the last stage of English rule in America.
RISE OF AMERICAN SPIRIT (1760-1774)
One of the things that most sharply strikes the historian in the "Memorials" and "Resolves" of the next period in the development of Massachusetts is the more mature, dignified and parliamentary tone that pervades their composition, as compared with the Assembly's utterances in the time of Belcher. The change marks the coming of the people to their
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maturity. It is true that the documents were largely composed or inspired by a trained lawyer, the younger Otis. The proof that the public mind was maturing is brought out by the fact that the Province now was provided with a body of trained lawyers; and that their influence in the affairs of the House was great. It must be remembered also that the House now represented and reflected the more solid portion of the com- munity of the middle class; so that throughout the struggle that was about to commence, they fought along parliamentary and constitutional lines.
Another and less respectable element was now becoming articulate in public affairs, namely the lower class, many of them without the provincial franchise. They voiced their will especially in the Boston Town Meeting; and they found a leader in that born political genius, Samuel Adams. An austere and personally honest man, devoid of practical business ability, save in the field of political organization, Adams was subject to violent personal animosities and was embittered by his failure in life prior to his entry into politics. As an organizer of a political machine he has had few equals. It is not unfair to call him the "first boss of American politics." Whatever his deficiencies in statesmanship, in the higher sense of the word, of broad farseeing views he is the most striking figure on the popular side in the ante-Revolutionary epoch, and had more influence than any other man in bringing on the crisis of the Revolution in Massachusetts. Alongside the longdrawn constitutional movement for greater freedom rose an extra-legal revolt against social conditions.
Just at this moment the British Government decided to assert more influence in colonial affairs than had hitherto been thought expedient. Their point of view was general and im- perial, and so came into conflict with the local development that had been going on in various British colonies. The colonies, in spite of their war debt, were prosperous; and it seemed only fair that they should take over, from the already heavily burdened British tax payer, some portion of the debt incurred in a war waged largely on their behalf. Even though these contri- butions were to be devoted only to purely American expendi- tures of defense, this policy was highly indiscreet. It collided
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with the state of public opinion in the Colonies, flushed with military triumph over their old enemies, the French, and burst- ing with a sense of their own importance, due to their great development and general prosperity. Thus the stage was set for a highly exciting drama; but it must be remembered throughout the constitutional contest thus begun that the acts of the British Government, however unwise or inexpedient were usually strictly legal in the constitutional doctrine which had been held in England for a century.
GOVERNOR BERNARD (1760-1769)
The new Governor, Sir Francis Bernard, an Englishman of family, who had had a successful career as Governor of New Jersey, was a good type of colonial official. Pleasant and polished in his manner, and easygoing by disposition, his chief desire was to get along in peace and make enough money to support his large family. He was, however, a man of very moderate capacity, utterly unable to deal with the tremendous problems facing him. He had in his nature an unfortunate streak of contentious obstinacy when crossed, which prevented him from taking any broad views of a question. He had likewise a streak of cowardice that caused him to run from great difficulties rather than grapple with them. In view of subsequent developments, there is irony in the words that he wrote on his appointment : "As for the people, I am assured that I may depend upon a quiet and easy administration. I shall have no points of government to dispute about, no schemes of self-interest to pursue." It was upon such a man that the task fell of reasserting the rights of the Prerogative that had been long lost and of stemming the most determined effort yet made in America to wring from the Crown what- ever colonial authority was still left it.
Trouble loomed from the first. Parliament, under the pressure of the West Indian lobby, had reenacted the Sugar Act in 1764; and steps were taken to enforce it, after many years of neglect, during which a system had been developed under which the merchants evaded the duty on molasses (the vital import of the colony) by bribes to Customs Officials.
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The enforcement of this act at once aroused the antagonism of the merchant oligarchy, where the principal strength of the Crown lay; and caused them to join forces for the time being with the opposition.
The first trouble was not a great one, but it gave Bernard a bad start. A bill of the House authorized the Provincial Treasurer to bring action against a Customs Official for fines due the Province on smuggled molasses. Bernard opposed the bill on the ground that the Attorney General should bring it, but he soon gave way. The suit was brought before the new Chief Justice, Thomas Hutchinson, who was also Lieuten- ent Governor and a strong Prerogative man. The case was decided against the Province; again the decision by the Chief Justice was on sound legal reasoning ; but it caused bad blood, as did the allowance of the writs of assistance for general search, issued to customs officials in 1761, in opposing which Otis made his great name.
Next the Governor aroused the opposition of the House by expending money for military purposes without consulting it, which caused a remonstrance against this usurpation of "their most darling Privilege," although, as we have seen, it was their predecessors in Shute's time, who had usurped the right of directing the expenditure of the Province money. As yet the House acknowledged its subordination to an Act of Parliament. As late as June 27, 1761, it could still write to the Governor that "every act made by the general court or assembly of this province is voidable, because the same may be disallowed by his majesty. Every act we make, repugnant to an act of parliament extending to the plantations is ipso facto null and void."
Soon a more menacing tone appears and in a joint address of both Houses to the Crown, the Assembly demanded that the word "rights" be substituted for "privileges"; a compro- mise was reached by using the word "liberties." When rumors that a stamp tax was contemplated reached the House, it drew up a memorial for the Home Government, boldly denying the right of the English Parliament to tax the Province. A debate of the limits of the Parliament's authority then began. It should be noted that at this time the House first began to instruct the Colonial Agent, without consulting either the
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Governor or the Council. Its language grew always more independent and it began to refer to itself as a "Parliament."
THE STAMP ACT CRISIS (1765-1766)
When news of the passage of the Stamp Act (elsewhere described) arrived, in the summer of 1765, Governor Bernard irritated the angry Assembly by urging "respectful submission." Considering the tumult caused among the people by the Act, the House drew up a remarkably temperate memorial, ad- dressed to the Assemblies of the other Colonies, the first time that such an intercolonial step was taken. Still bolder, the House advocated the calling of a general convention to con- sider the situation and to present an address to the Crown for relief.
The conduct of the House on this momentous occasion was singularly restrained and in striking contrast with that of the Boston mob, which under the manipulation of the agitators broke out into acts of outrageous lawlessness and terrorism against the supporters of the Prerogative and their property.
At the next meeting of the Assembly the Governor admitted the situation was beyond him, and asked the assistance of the House,-law and order in the town being at an end, and the Executive powerless to enforce not only the Stamp Act but all law. Boston was in the possession of a carefully manipu- lated mob. The House in its reply pointed out that the author- ity of Parliament over them was limited (a very different attitude from that of 1761) ; and begged to be excused from assisting in any way the execution of the Act. It also adopted a resolution that the imposition of taxes, by any power but the General Court, violated the people's rights as "men and British subjects; " and also voted that the Governor in paying certain military expenses, without its consent, had been guilty of "an High infraction of the Rights of the House." The poor Governor, as he himself says, found himself detested for having to enforce an Act with which he had nothing to do and for which he was not to blame. The House also informed him that its prorogation by him at this time amounted to "an undue Exercise of the Prerogative."
The English ministry, which understood the situation but
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END OF THE BERNARD REGIME
imperfectly, was astounded by the storm that had been raised, and promptly repealed the Act (1766) in an endeavor to con- ciliate American opinion, as Bernard had advised; but the House expressed strong resentment against him because he had urged the repeal as a concession and not as a right. For the moment, in spite of bad feeling between the House and the Governor, there was an interval of quiet. The recent riots in Boston alarmed the merchants, while the reduction of the molasses duty removed their great irritation at the interference with trade. The result was that their temporary alliance with the lower, lawless classes ended for the time being. Sam Adams had to work alone in keeping the Boston Town Meeting up to the requisite pitch of resentment.
END OF THE BERNARD REGIME (1767-1769)
It might have been expected that the unhappy Governor would now have some respite of quiet, but the Assembly still pushed its quarrel with him. The session of 1766 was a stormy one and commenced with a wrangle over the choice of Councillors, the House dropping Hutchinson and the Gov- ernor vetoing Otis. Long wrangles followed over the compen- sation of the riot victims and the reductions at the fortresses. The next year the House ungraciously granted the desired compensation on condition of pardon for the rioters. Matters were made worse by the reckless passage of the Townshend Act in England (1767), imposing duties on glass, lead, tea and painter's colors, on the theory that Parliament could im- pose external, but not internal taxes. This assertion of imper- ial authority once more stirred up the merchants and caused them to draw closer to the radicals. The House had also refused at the request of the Crown, to retract the circular sent to the other colonies; and the Coucil, which had hitherto usually been conservative, now passed into the control of the opposition.
The last two years of Bernard's residence in Boston were one long wrangle with the House, in which increasingly inde- pendent and menacing language was used; while the Gover- nor's replies resemble those of a distracted old woman. He was convinced of the need of troops to keep order, but feared
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to take the responsibility of asking for them until they were finally sent in 1768 by order of the Government in England. The Governor's refusal to convene the House brought about an unofficial convention of its members, who remained in Boston until the troops arrived.
In 1769 both Houses were in the hands of the opposition and Bernard's letters to England condemning the course of the House and advising a change in the Charter to permit the Crown to appoint the Council led the House to request, or rather demand, his recall. The entire session was one con- tinuous wrangle, in the course of which the House spent its time abusing Bernard, denying the power of Parliament, con- demning its statutes and abusing the Ministry. In midsum- mer of 1769 the frightened and exasperated Governor, who had received no adequate support from England, at last had his wish and embarked for home, leaving the distracted gov- ernment in the hands of the aged Lieutenant Governor, Thomas Hutchinson. This last of the civil Royal Governors ascended the ancient seat in the Province House in 1769.
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON (1769-1771)
It is always fitting that the last of an ancient regime should be a brave and honorable figure; and the last Royal Governor of Massachusetts possessed the requisite qualities to an emi- nent degree. He was a member of one of the oldest and most important families in the Province, a graduate of Harvard in 1727, and a travelled, widely read and cultivated gentleman. He had gone through a long training in public life ; he had been a selectman of Boston, a member of the Assembly, of which he was Speaker in the stirring days of Governor Shirley, a mem- ber of the Council, Lieutenant Governor and Chief Justice. Before his career ended he became the appointed Governor.
Hutchinson was of scholarly habits, his learning in the law, although not bred to the bar, was highly respectable; and he has left behind him the best contemporary history of his native Province, one which, considering the prominent part he took in these events, is singularly free from bias.
He was an honorable, conservative gentleman; but a strong upholder of the Prerogative and as such had suffered at the
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hands of the Boston mob in the days of the Stamp Act in 1765. His love of his native Province fully equalled that of his great opponent, Sam Adams. As a financier he was easily the foremost man in Massachusetts. His faults were: too great a devotion to the letter of the law, and an inability to grasp the wider and deeper signification of the events in which he played so prominent a part. In the end he left his native land an old heartbroken exile, who never ceased to adore his country until he drew his last breath far over the ocean. It is time that Massachusetts did justice to his memory.
POLITICAL QUESTIONS (1769-1770)
This is the place for a brief view of the political situation in 1769. Great strides had been made in constitutional progress during the governorship of Sir Francis Bernard. The old questions that had agitated the Assemblies of Shute and Belcher as to what powers belonged to the Assembly were left behind. They were merged in the question of what were the rights of Parliament-how far did that body have jurisdiction over the Colonies? However, in the later part of 1769, the Prerogative was in a stronger position than ever before. The partial repeal of the Townshend Acts caused a large part of the merchant aristocracy to swing back towards the Crown, as the protector of property from the restless Boston mob. As yet, the great mass of the people, while exasperated, were not ready for open resistance; only the less responsible element in the Town of Boston had reached that stage ; and five more years of turmoil and political upheaval were needed to bring the great body of the people to their state of mind. No great grievances existed, outside the har- assing presence of the troops; and Sam Adams had a busy winter to keep things going, by inflammatory articles in the Boston Gazette and by stirring up the populace against the soldiers. The ill feeling culminated in the so called "Boston Massacre" (March 1770-elsewhere described) ; and the spirit of discontent was kept alive until the meeting of the Assembly shortly after that event.
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