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SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
ADAMS, JAMESTRUSLOW .- Revolutionary New England, 1691-1776 (Boston, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1923)-Attempt to apply the new "psychologi- cal" school of history, to do which often has to resort to assertion and personal opinion. Usually anti-colonial, but frequently enough not so to prove that he is attempting to be fair. Copious foot-note references make a useful guide to the sources.
ALBION, ROBERT GREENHALGH .- Forests and Sea Power. The Timber Problem of the Royal Navy, 1652-1862 (Cambridge, Harvard Univ. Press, 1926)-See chap. VI, "The Broad Arrow in the Colonies." This is the only study yet made of the question of mast trees. An exhaustive and scholarly contribution.
ALMON, JOHN, compiler .- A collection of interesting, authentic papers, relative to the dispute between Great Britain and America; shewing the causes and progress of that misunderstanding, from 1764-1775 (London, J. Almon, 1777)-The "Prior Documents." Contains much detail. A contemporary contribution.
BANCROFT, GEORGE .- History of the United States; author's last revision (6 vols., N. Y., Appleton, 1887)-Volume III includes the period covered by this essay. Pro-colonial. An old history, but a monumental work in its day. Its author was very influential with the historians of his time.
BARRY, JOHN STETSON .- The History of Massachusetts (3 vols., Boston, Phillips, Sampson & Co., 1855-1857)-A narrative history, giving much of the detail. Pro-colonial. The period covered in this essay is in Vol. II.
BEER, GEORGE LEWIS .- British Colonial Policy, 1754-1765 (N. Y., Macmillan, 1907)-A scholarly work, devoted to the economic aspects of the relations between England and her colonies. Fair and impartial. Brings out many facts not usually known.
BURNS, JOHN F .- Controversies between Royal Governors and their As- semblies in the Northern American Colonies (Boston, Wright and Potter Printing Co., 1923)-Contains much material on the Stamp Act controversy.
CHANNING, EDWARD .- History of the United States (6 vols., N. Y., Mac- millan, 1919-1925)-Probably the most remarkable history of the United States yet produced. Especially strong on the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A wealth of references, mostly to sources. Origi- nal yet sound conclusions. As this is a general history, necessarily it cannot give full attention to any one colony. For the "Albany plan" see Vol. II, pp. 569-571, and Vol. III, p. 445. See Vol. III, pp. 1-53, for general treatment of this period.
CHANNING, EDWARD, HART, A. B., AND TURNER, FREDERICK JACKSON-Guide to the Study and Reading of American History (Boston, Ginn, 1912) -See pp. 291-297. An exhaustive reference of the material bearing upon the period published up to 1912.
FISKE, JOHN .- The American Revolution (2 vols., Houghton Mifflin, 1896) -See Vol. I, chap. I. Told with the literary freshness and vigor characteristic of this famous author. In general pro-colonial rather than critical.
485
486 CONTROVERSIES OVER BRITISH CONTROL
FROTHINGHAM, RICHARD .- The Rise of the Republic of the United States (Boston, Little, Brown, 1872)-Chapters Iv, v. A scholarly narra- tive with a wealth of detail. Exhibits painstaking research, the author apparently having exhausted what material was available a half- century ago. Extremely pro-colonial.
GRAY, HORACE .- "Notes on the Writs of Assistance" (Josiah Quincy, Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Superior Court of Judicature of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, between 1761 and 1772 (Boston, Little, Brown, 1865)-See Appendix I. An exhaustive treatment of the writs of assistance from a legal point of view, with research into the precedents. It still remains the outstanding con- tribution on the subject.
GREENE, EVARTS BOUTELL .- Provincial America, 1690-1740 (American Na- tion : a history, Vol. VI, N. Y., Harper, 1905)-Very useful for an understanding of the colonies in the eighteenth century, although the events included do not come down to the period covered by this essay.
GREENE, EVARTS BOUTELL .- The Provincial Governor in the English Colo- mies of North America (Harvard Historical Studies, Vol. VII, N. Y., Longmans, Green, 1898)-A constitutional study topically arranged, ending with 1763.
HALIBURTON, THOMAS CHANDLER .- The English in America (2 vols., London, Colburn & Co., 1851)-Its wealth of detail makes this an excellent narrative of the events connected with the Stamp Act and following. Written from the colonial standpoint.
HARLOW, RALPH VOLNEY .- Samuel Adams; promoter of the American Revolution. A Study in Psychology and Politics (N. Y., Holt, 1923) -An attempt to psycho-analyze Samuel Adams and his colleagues in the "radical" cause, as it is called by the author. Extremely unfavor- able to him and them. There being so little material upon which to base a psycho-analysis of men so long past, the author has continually to resort to assumptions which cannot be verified.
HART, ALBERT BUSHNELL, AND CHANNING, EDWARD .- James Otis's Speech on the Writs of Assistance (American History Leaflets, No. 33, N. Y., Lovell, 1902)-Contents : (1) Extracts from Gray's article in Quincy's Reports; (2) John Adams's contemporary notes of the speech; (3) Gridley's arguments from Keith's Note-Book; (4), (5), (6) Extracts from Tudor's Otis. This last was drawn almost entirely from John Adams's writing in his old age and hence not reliable.
HERTZ, GERALD BERKELEY .- The Old Colonial System (Publications of the Univ. of Manchester, Historical Series, No. III, Manchester, Eng., Manchester University Press, 1905)-An interesting treatment of the economic aspects of the imperial relationship. Being a British pro- duction, it inclines to stress the difficulties of the home government. But the colonial point of view also is presented and with fairness.
HOSMER, JAMES K .- Samuel Adams (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1900)- Favorable, but critical. The author too frequently reads his own opinions into the material without supporting it from the sources.
HOWARD, GEORGE ELLIOTT .- Preliminaries of the Revolution, 1763-1775 (American Nation : a history, Vol. VIII, N. Y., Harper, 1905)-See chaps. I-VIII. An excellent account of the period. Should be read for what was being done in the other colonies besides Massachusetts.
HUTCHINSON, THOMAS .- History of the Province of Massachusetts-Bay from 1691. Until 1750 (Boston, Thomas and John Fleet, 1767).
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SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
HUTCHINSON, THOMAS .- History of the Province of Massachusetts-Bay from 1749 to 1774 (London, John Murray, 1828)-Hutchinson's his- tories are valuable as contemporary material for the period covered by this essay. Scholarly, although necessarily from the aristocratic point of view. Treatment not as full as could be wished.
KNOX, WILLIAM .- The Controversy Between Great Britain and the Colo- nies Reviewed (London, J. Almon, 1769)-"Perhaps the ablest state- ment of the case against the colonies" (Lecky IV, 69, n.). The author was under-secretary of state and one of Grenville's confidential writers.
LECKY, WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE .- History of England in the Eighteenth Century (8 vols., N. Y., Appleton, 1888-1891)-See Vol. IV, chaps. XI and XII for the English relations with America, 1763-1776. An English history devoted primarily to events in England. Impartial and ob- jective, but with full understanding for the colonial point of view. OSGOOD, HERBERT LEVI .- The American Colonies in the Eighteenth Century (N. Y., Columbia Univ. Press, 1924)-Good for the Albany Plan, although it does not go into detail as to the connections of Massa- chusetts with it. In general, the treatment of Massachusetts history stops before the time covered by this essay.
PALFREY, JOHN GORHAM .- History of New England (5 vols., Boston, Little, Brown, 1858-1890)-Well balanced and impartial.
PORTER, EDWARD GRIFFIN .- "The Beginning of the Revolution" (JUSTIN WINSOR, Memorial History of Boston, 4 vols., Boston, Osgood, 1882- 1886)-See Vol. III, pp. 1-66. Strongly pro-colonial, but with a wealth of detail.
SHIRLEY, WILLIAM .- Correspondence (N. Y., Macmillan, 1912)-Edited by C. H. Lincoln. Source material for the Albany Conference.
TUDOR, WILLIAM .- Life of James Otis, of Massachusetts; containing also, Notices of some Contemporary Characters and Events, from the Year 1760 to 1775 (Boston, Wells and Lilly, 1823)-Represents what was known a century ago of the Revolutionary period, before critical his- torical research had been brought to bear upon it.
WEEDEN, WILLIAM BABCOCK .- Economic and Social History of New Eng- land, 1620-1789 (2 vols., Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1891)-See Vol. II, chap. XVIII, for writs of assistance. Strongly pro-colonial, but views the acts of England more in sorrow than in anger. Nevertheless, there is a touch of the newer historical philosophy, which understands that much of the course of history lies outside of the control of human beings, at least as they are at present constituted.
WELLS, WILLIAM VINCENT .- The Life and Public Services of Samuel Adams, Being a Narrative of his Acts and Opinions, and of his Agency in Producing and Forwarding the American Revolution. With Extracts from his Correspondence, State Papers, and Political Essays (3 vols., Boston, Little, Brown, 1865)-The author was a great-grand- son of Adams. Painstaking minutia. Many extracts from his writings.
WOOD, GEORGE ARTHUR .- Life of William Shirley, Governor of Massachu- setts, 1741-1756: Vol. I (Columbia Studies in History, Economics and Public Law, Vol. XCII, Whole No. 209, N. Y., 1920).
CHAPTER XVI
MASSACHUSETTS IN FERMENT (1766-1773)
BY VIOLA F. BARNES Professor of History, Mount Holyoke College
REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT (1766)
Distressing reports concerning colonial opposition to the Stamp Act in the autumn of 1765 struck the English ministry with surprise and consternation. Here and there frenzied mobs had violently destroyed the stamps and forced the col- lectors to resign, making it impossible for the act to go into operation. Petitions, memorials and resolutions were arriv- ing on every boat, denying the right of parliament to tax the colonies; and worst of all, the colonial merchants had banded together in "illegal and hostile combinations" to stop importa- tion of British goods, thereby threatening the ruin of British merchants and manufactures. Parliament was forced to give heed to these portents, and to consider whether the Stamp Act should be forcibly put into operation or abandoned.
During the debate in the House of Commons, Benjamin Franklin was called and questioned on the colonial point of view. When asked what had been the opinion in America before 1763 on parliamentary taxation he claimed never to have heard objection to the imposition of duties for regulat- ing commerce, "but a right to lay internal taxes was never supposed to be in Parliament, as we are not represented there." Pitt supported this argument. "Taxation" he declared, "is no' part of the governing or legislative power. . . . The Com- mons of America, represented in their several assemblies, have ever been in possession of the exercise of this, their constitu- tional right, of giving and granting their own money." At the same time England, "as the supreme governing and legislative
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REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT
power," could bind the colonies "in everything, except that of taking their money out of their pockets without their consent." This distinction between external and internal taxation Gren- ville and his followers were not willing to accept. They in- sisted that England "has the sovereign, the supreme legislative power over America," and that "taxation is a part of that sovereign power."
In the House of Lords there were advocates of both points of view. Lord Mansfield claimed that the colonies were as much represented in Parliament as the greatest part of the people of England were, and proceeded to expound the theory of virtual representation. Believing the Stamp Act unimpeach- able constitutionally, he disapproved of its repeal on grounds of expediency. England must proceed with spirit and firmness and when her authority was established it would then be time to show leniency. On the other hand Lord Camden declared the "distinction of a virtual representation so absurd as not to deserve an answer." He believed that "taxation and repre- sentation are inseparable," and that "whatever is a man's own, is absolutely his own; no man hath a right to take it from him without his consent, either expressed by himself or representa- tive."
The outcome of the parliamentary debates was a compro- mise. Both houses voted to repeal the Stamp Act because its continuance "would be attended with many inconveniences," and might be "productive of consequences greatly detrimental to the commercial interests of these kingdoms." At the same time a Declaratory Act was passed asserting that parliament "hath . . . full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies and people of America . . . in all cases whatsoever." The Sugar Act was later modified in accordance with this principle, but with respect to the demand for economic redress. The duty of three pence a gallon on foreign molasses was lowered to a penny, but placed on all molasses imported into the colonies. It became thereby a duty levied for revenue purposes and not for regulation of trade. By these new measures Parliament, while abandoning the obnoxious economic features of the Stamp and Sugar Acts, not only declared its right to tax for
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MASSACHUSETTS IN FERMENT
revenue, but exercised that right by leaving on the statute books a revenue law.
COLONIAL RECEPTION OF REPEAL (1776)
The colonists everywhere received the news of repeal with joy. For the most part they gave little thought to any other aspect of the matter than that the hated measure no longer existed ; although copies of the Declaratory Act arrived with those of the act repealing the Stamp Act. A few people somewhat uneasily recognized the fact that the mother country had not conceded the principle at stake; but consoled them- selves with the thought that it little mattered so long as no attempt was made to put that principle into practice. The spectacular support of the colonial cause by men in high places in England had much to do with convincing Americans that the mother country would never again tax them. Strangely enough, they seem to have overlooked the full significance of the change in the character of the Sugar Act.
The elation of the radicals in Massachusetts during the month of May was caused as much by their local party victory as by the repeal of the Stamp Act. In 1765 and 1766 two distinct groups can be easily distinguished ; first, friends of ex- isting government, English and colonial, the most prominent of whom were Governor Bernard and Thomas Hutchinson, lieutenant governor and chief justice; and second, the aggres- sive radicals, led by James Otis and Samuel Adams. In the General Court these two hostile parties worked in almost continual opposition; but in the Merchants' Club where the emphasis was primarily economic the line of differentiation was not always so easily discernible. The radicals fought for leadership here also, and ultimately won. Back of the radical party of the General Court was the town of Boston, whose meetings were dominated by the Caucus Club. It is apparent, therefore, that all the important political and economic organi- zations of Massachusetts sooner or later came under the leadership of a small but powerful group. This group took advantage of the Stamp Act controversy to campaign for control of the legislature. In the spring elections of 1766 an increase in the number of radicals in the House made pos-
491
SAMUEL ADAMS AS THE LEADER
sible the elimination of six conservatives of the Council, in- cluding Hutchinson, Oliver and other friends of government, and the selection of that number of radicals. Of these Gover- nor Bernard negatived five, besides James Otis, Sr., a council- lor of three years' standing; but he could not thereby prevent radical control of the Council. This change in personnel was to have important influence in the development of the revolu- tionary movement in its next phase.
SAMUEL ADAMS AS LEADER (1750-1766)
The effectiveness of radical control of Boston in 1766 and the years immediately following was naturally dependent upon the nature of the leadership of this group. From the standpoint of the revolutionary movement it was fortunate that there was at hand a leader with the peculiar genius of Samuel Adams. At the time of the repeal of the Stamp Act he was a man of forty-four years of age; and, if appraised by the standards of success of his fellowmen, up to this point a failure in life. He had inherited from his father a home and a well-established business, but it took him only a short time to run through his property. He had served the town of Boston as tax collector for a number of years, but in the end his lack of business ability brought him into the embarrassing position of a technical "defalcation." It was a strange situa- tion in which he found himself in 1766, a man of good social standing, educated at Harvard, prominent in local politics as a leader in Boston town affairs, respected in his clubs for the fertility of his ideas and liked because of his persuasive per- sonal magnetism; yet at the same time, unable to make a liv- ing, untrustworthy in responsibility of the practical sort, and lacking in definite aim and ambition. England's unwise policy of 1764 and 1765 gave him a purpose in life and prepared the way for his important part in the Revolution.
His first opportunity for leadership came in the autumn of 1765 when the town of Boston elected him representative to the General Court to fill out the unexpired term of Oxenbridge Thacher. The Boston delegation, particularly Otis and Thacher, had up to this point struggled for control of the House in order to force on the province government a radical
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MASSACHUSETTS IN FERMENT
program of resistance against England's new policy. When the General Court met in the autumn of 1765, Thacher's death and Otis's absence at the Stamp Act Congress left an opening for Adams. A dual role gave him opportunity to voice his sentiments forcibly against the new measures. Adams was ap- pointed by the town of Boston member of a committee to draft the instructions to the four representatives in the General Court. He therefore was enabled to map out his radical program and present it in the House with the authority of his constituents' support. The important feature of these in- structions was that the representatives were "by no means to joyn in any publick Measures for countenancing & assisting in the Execution" of the Stamp Act. Boston then tried to persuade all the towns in the colony to adopt instructions supporting this suggestion. Adams was very thorough in his propaganda campaign and succeeded in stirring up most of the towns to pass similar resolutions.
From this time Sam Adams (as he was frequently called, then and since) remained in the limelight. During the winter and spring of 1765 and 1766 he, in conjunction with Otis, dominated the radicals in the Caucus Club, in Boston town meeting and in the General Court. Moreover, Otis at least had had a taste of success in influencing the course of events outside of the province of Massachusetts by his activities at the Stamp Act Congress. A danger point of the Revolution for the future lay in the quality of leadership of these two men. Unforeseen causes of trouble might suddenly arise in some other province and force it into the lead ; barring such accident, Massachusetts was the colony destined by political background and tradition, and now by the serious commercial situation, to point the way to independence. The colony had at hand leaders of potency, of little continental reputation, but bent on direct forceful-perhaps forcible-action.
CONSERVATIVE PARTY IN MASSACHUSETTS (1765-1766)
The path of the Boston radicals was not without obstruc- tions, for that town was also one of the strongholds of local conservatism and loyalty toward England. The small circle of best families formed an aristocracy of wealth, education
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MERCHANTS AND RADICALS
and social position, which had given its members political prominence and established them as a strong conservative bulwark against the rising tide of political and social de- mocracy. Typical of this group was Thomas Hutchinson, of an old and well-known family whose wealth had been acquired chiefly in commerce. Because of the nature of their bus- iness interests the connection of this group with the mother country was naturally very close. In legal and political as well as in commercial traditions these men were in sympathy with the mother country, although for the most part opposed to England's new policy. In the trying period of the Stamp Act controversy they found themselves in danger of being ground between the upper and the nether millstones. On the one hand they disapproved of the new commercial measures because of the effect on their trade; on the other hand they feared the levelling political and social process which the radicals were forcing on the colony through the lever of England's unwise policy. Of the two dangers they feared the local menace more. For the most part, then, throughout the whole revolutionary movement the Massachusetts mer- chant class followed either a hesitating policy or one of ob- struction ; although at times a part of the group came under the control of the political agitators.
MASSACHUSETTS MERCHANTS AND RADICALS (1766)
In 1766 the merchants and the political radicals reacted quite differently to the ministerial decision. The business depression of the last few years had not passed away and the merchants could see little hope that it would under the existing conditions. Their dissatisfaction antedated the meas- ures of 1764 and 1765, which they looked upon rather as an accentuation of a bad situation than as the chief cause of their troubles. A careful examination of the whole commercial system had opened their eyes to the need of reform along many lines. For the purpose of presenting to Parliament a constructive program of reform they had organized the Merchants' Society in 1763; and this body drew up a report objecting to the restrictions placed on the molas- ses trade, on the export of foreign logwood, and of flax seed,
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MASSACHUSETTS IN FERMENT
lumber and potash to Ireland, on the importation of fruit, and wines of Spain and Portugal, on extension of the courts of vice-admiralty. Particularly they were incensed at the vast amount of red tape connected with shipping and inspection of cargoes. Even before this report was ready, two new economic grievances were added, the enforcement of the act for encouraging the Newfoundland trade and the revised Sugar Act of 1766. Furthermore, already convinced of the economic unfairness of certain features of the commercial system, the merchants were kept continually on edge by the seizure of their vessels through the increased vigilance of the customs officials and by the surly and overbearing manner of these servants of the Crown. From the standpoint, then, of economic grievances, the year 1766 did not bring relief, but left the merchants in a state of dissatisfaction, unrest and un- certainty. Herein lay a great danger. The economic situation offered opportunity to the political radicals to seize the leader- ship in the Merchants' Society as they had in the General Court.
The joy of the Boston radicals over the repeal of the Stamp Act was somewhat modified by the request of the Governor and later of the British Secretary of State that the colony indemnify the sufferers from mob violence. This request placed the leaders in a most uncomfortable position. They did not wish to block it in the Assembly lest the colony lose the support of their English sympathizers. On the other hand to advocate it would jeopardize either Boston's leadership in the Assembly, or their own leadership of the town of Boston. Since the representatives from the other towns believed that Boston should bear alone the expense of compensation, it took considerable manoeuvering to get the burden foisted on the colony as a whole. At the same time these clever manipula- tors managed to turn the irritation of the out-of-town repre- sentatives from Boston to the mother country, who had de- manded this sacrifice.
DECLARATORY ACT AND TOWNSHEND ACTS (1766-1767)
The Declaratory Act may have been overlooked by the exultant popular leaders of Boston and their disciples in the other towns, and ignored by the preoccupied merchants; but
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DECLATORY AND TOWNSHEND ACTS
its significance as regards the constitutional aspect of the revolutionary movement cannot be underestimated. In fact, if one were looking for a turn in the course of that unhappy struggle, what more critical stage could be selected? The optimistic belief held by so many colonists that the Declara- tory Act was merely England's last word flung out to save the face of government in a humiliating defeat, was not justified; for on its firm foundation of supreme legislative authority Parliament proceeded to build a new policy of legislative con- trol.
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