USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > History of Newton, Massachusetts : town and city, from its earliest settlement to the present time, 1630-1880 > Part 31
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We further instruct you to take particular care that the best prudence may be used in expending the public moneys, that no unaccustomed grant may be made to those who serve the government; and we in general recommend to. your care, that the moneys of the province drawn from the individuals of the people, may not be applied to any other purposes under any pretence whatever of contingent charges, but what are evidently intended in the act for supplying the Treasury.
VOTED, that the foregoing instructions be the instructions to the Represen- tative of this town, and that he is now enjoined firmly to adhere to the same ; also, that the same be recorded in the Town Book, that posterity may see and know the great concern the people of this day had for their invaluable rights and privileges and liberties.
A prominent question, at the commencement of the revolution- ary struggle, was whether the Parliament of Great Britain could legally impose taxes on the American provinces, which were not represented therein, without their consent. But in exercising their
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HISTORY OF NEWTON.
right of supremacy, as they understood it, they enacted, besides other methods of raising a revenue from the Provinces, the Act styled the Stamp Act, with the provision that it should take effect November 1, 1765. The Massachusetts House of Representatives affirmed the American doctrine October 29, 1765, with special reference to this Act, in a series of fourteen Resolutions. We copy three of them.
III. Resolved, that no man can justly take the property of another without his consent ; and that upon this original principle, the right of repre- sentation in the same body which exercises the power of making laws for levying taxes, which is one of the main pillars of the British constitution, is founded.
XII. Resolved, as a just conclusion from some of the foregoing resolves, that all Acts made by any power whatever, other than the General Assembly of this Province, imposing taxes on the inhabitants, are infringements of our inherent and unalienable rights as men and British subjects, and render void the most valuable declarations of our Charter.
XIII. Resolved, that the extension of the powers of the Court of Admiralty within the Province is a most violent infraction of the right of trial by juries,-a right which this house, upon the principles of their British ancestors, hold most dear and sacred, it being the only security of the lives, liberties and properties of his Majesty's subjects here.
Such were the views solemnly expressed by the General Court, and it was not unnatural that the patriotic and liberty-loving citi- zens, if they understood only the first rudiments of statesmanship, should agree with them.
Great riots took place in Boston, in consequence of the passage of the Stamp Act. Lieutenant Governor Hutchinson's house was sacked, and much property was destroyed. The people of New- ton, in town meeting assembled, expressed their abhorrence of all such acts of outrage and violence, and subsequently instructed their Representative to use his influence to have the losses made good to the sufferers out of the public treasury or otherwise, "as should seem most just and consistent." Thus they showed them- selves not only jealous for their own rights, but also for the rights of others.
The passage of the Stamp Act in 1765 awakened such indigna- tion in the American colonies as clearly showed that England must either change her policy, or prepare to enforce it at the point of the bayonet. The violent and protracted struggle following the passage of the Act indicated the determined spirit of the colo- nists, and was the prologue to the drama of the Revolution.
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VOTE AGAINST IMPORTS.
On the 31st of October a meeting was held by the merchants of New York, and it was resolved,-
1. To import no goods from England until the Stamp Act be repealed.
2. To immediately countermand all orders sent for spring goods.
3. To sell no goods from Great Britain on commission.
More than two hundred merchants signed their names to these resolutions. Various popular demonstrations followed, showing that the sentiment of the merchants met the approval of the people.
The following year the Stamp Act was repealed, causing univer- sal joy ; and the popular feeling found expression in the erection, by Act of the Legislature, of a leaden equestrian statue of George III., on Bowling Green in New York city. But if his Majesty was pleased with this demonstration, he soon learned that "the triumph of the wicked is short." A few years afterward, this statue was turned to a purpose which the founders had not dreamed of. In the revulsion of feeling which followed the imposition of a duty on tea, upon the reception in New York of the "Declara- tion of Independence," the horse and rider were dragged from the pedestal, broken in pieces, and sent to Litchfield, the residence of Oliver Wolcott, the patriotic governor of Connecticut, by whose wife and daughters they were run into thousands of bullets, which were distributed among the patriots of the surrounding country. With these bullets hundreds of British soldiers were shot during the subsequent invasion of Connecticut .*
In 1767, it was unanimously voted by the townsmen " strictly to adhere to the late regulation respecting funerals, and not to use any gloves but what are manufactured here, nor procure any new garments upon such occasions, but what shall be absolutely neces- sary.".
Being an economical and prudent people, believing in the protec- tion of home manufactures, and no less in the development of home industry, and moreover not willing to be dependent on foreign na- tions in case of war, at a town meeting held November 13, 1767, they voted unanimously,-
That this town will take all prudent and legal measures to encourage the produce and manufactures of this province, and to lessen the use of super- fluities, and particularly the following enumerated articles imported from abroad, viz. : loaf sugar, cordage, anchors, coaches, chaises, and carriages * Hon. E. C. Cowdin's speech at Lexington.
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HISTORY OF NEWTON.
of all sorts, horse furniture, men's and women's hats, men's and women's apparel ready made, household furniture, gloves, men's and women's shoes, sole leather, sheathing, duck, nails, gold and silver, and thread lace of all sorts, gold and silver buttons, wrought plate of all sorts, diamond, stone and paste ware, snuff, mustard, clocks and watches, silversmiths' and jewelers' ware, broadcloths that cost above ten shillings per yard, muffs, furs, tippets, and all sorts of millinery ware, starch, women's and children's stays, fire en- gines, china ware, silk and cotton, velvets, gauze, pewterer's hollow ware, linseed oil, glue, lawns, cambrics, silk of all kinds for garments, malt liquors. and cheese.
This action of the citizens was provoked by the Navigation Act, so called, of the British Parliament, which restricted home indus- try in the colonies, and tended to destroy their commerce. In consequence of the passage of this Act, they were not allowed to trade with any foreign country, nor export to England their own merchandise except in British vessels. Iron abounded in the colo- nies, but not an article could be manufactured by the people ; all must be imported. Wool was abundant; but no cloth could be manufactured, except for private use, and not a pound of the raw material could be sold from town to town ; but all must be sent to England, to be ultimately returned as manufactured cloths, bur- dened with heavy duties. Beavers were plenty all along the streams ; but no hatter was permitted to have more than two ap- prentices, and not a hat could be sold from one colony to another. These are specimens of that vast network of restrictions upon trade and commerce, in which Great Britain encircled the thirteen colonies.
This was not alone. The Parliament added humiliation to ex- tortion. Naval officers, acting under the law, were insolent towards colonial vessels. They compelled them to lower their flags in token of homage, fired on them at the slightest provoca- tion, and impressed their seamen whenever they chose.
The Mutiny Act, as it was called, required the inhabitants of the colonies to furnish quarters, and to some extent, supplies, for all the soldiers that might be sent over from England to oppress them .*
Newton had not yet become, to any great extent, a manfactur- ing town, though something had been done, both at the Upper and Lower Falls, to meet the demands of home consumption, for more than half a century. But the people understood the principles * Hon. E. C. Cowdin's speech at Lexington, April 19, 1875.
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RESOLUTIONS.
that underlie a free government, and were resolved not to yield their rights to a foreign oppressor.
At a town meeting held September 22, 1768, the citizens unan- imously chose Abraham Fuller, to join with others as soon as may be, in a Convention to be held in Faneuil Hall, Boston, in order that such measures may be consulted and advised, as the peace and safety of the subjects in the province may require.
"In the succeeding years, " says Mr. Paige, in his "History of Cambridge," " the conflict between arbitrary power and the rights and privileges of the people became more and more earnest. The British Government insisted on its right to bind the colonies in all cases, to impose taxes without their con- sent, to place over them rulers not of their own choice, to overawe them by the presence of foreign troops, and to supersede established laws and cus- toms by 'Royal Instructions.' On the other hand, while the people professed loyalty to the Crown, they protested against this invasion of their inalienable rights as freeborn Englishmen, and indicated a determination to resist to the last extremity. Among other methods for the accomplishment of this pur- pose, at a town meeting held in Boston, Nov. 2, 1772, upon the motion of Samuel Adams it was voted 'that a Committee of Correspondence be ap- pointed, to consist of twenty-one persons, to state the rights of the colonies and of this province in particular, as men, as Christians, and as subjects; to communicate and publish the same to the several towns in this province and to the world, as the sense of this town, with the infringements and violations thereof that have been, or from time to time may be made; also, requesting of each town a free communication of their sentiments on this subject.'
"At an adjourned meeting, November 20, the report of this committee was accepted and ordered to be printed in pamphlet form, and distributed agree- ably to the original vote."
On the fourth of January, 1772, Edward Durant, Charles Pel- ham, Esq., Alexander Shepard, William Phillips and Noah Hyde were chosen a committee " to consider and report what it may be proper for the town to do, relating to the present unhappy situ- ation this country is reduced to, by some late attacks made on our constitutional rights and privileges."
This committee presented the following brave and earnest report :
I. We judge it just and expedient, and do recommend it to the town, as a testimony of their due sense of the invaluable rights and privileges belonging to them, both as men and as members of the British Empire, and as colonists, to come into the following resolves :
Resolved, that no good man can be silent and inactive in the cause of liberty at this alarming period, when such arbitrary measures are taken as tend to destroy that glorious Constitution which has cost the labors of ages and the blood of thousands, and that all who abet tyranny merit the detestation of this people and the contempt of mankind.
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HISTORY OF NEWTON.
Resolved, that we ever did and now do bear true loyalty to the king and affection to our brethren in Great Britain, and shall ever contribute, to the utmost of our ability, to promote the honor and dignity of the Crown and the prosperity of the parent state, as far as may be consistent with our rights and privileges as colonists.
Resolved, that no civil officer, who, properly considered, is a servant of the people, can constitutionally or with safety to themselves, be dependent on the Crown for his support,-therefore, any grant or grants made by the Crown to the Judges of our Superior Court, must naturally, at least here- after, tend to destroy all confidence in those Judges, and change the courts of justice into engines of slavery.
Resolved, that all taxation imposed on the inhabitants of the colonies without their consent or representation in Parliament, for the purpose of raising a revenue, is unconstitutional and oppressive.
Resolved, that it is the firm opinion of this town that the establishment of a Board of Commissioners, with a great number of officers under them at an enormous and unnecessary expense, that the large extension of the powers of the Courts of Admiralty, whereby the lives and liberties of his Majesty's subjects in the colonies are rendered precarious and unsafe,-that the intro- ducing and keeping a military force in our metropolis in a time of profound peace, to the great disturbance and injury of the people,-that the pro- viding for the support of the Governor in any other way than by grants of our General Court, thereby rendering him entirely independent of the people over whom he presides,-and many other late proceedings of his Majesty's ministers, are grievances of which we justly complain, and must, in faith- fulness to ourselves and our posterity, continue so to do until they are redressed.
II. We judge it necessary at this time, and do recommend it to the town, to give the Representative of the town the following instructions, viz. :
To Abraham Fuller, Esq., Representative of Newton in General Assembly :
SIR, -At this alarming era, when the British-American subjects are loudly complaining of arbitrary and unconstitutional measures and innovations, the town of Newton judge it altogether improper to be wholly silent. We therefore, his Majesty's most loyal and dutiful subjects, the freeholders and other inhabitants of said town, in town meeting legally assembled on Monday, the fourth day of January, 1773, by adjournment from the 28th of December last, judge it not only proper, but absolutely necessary to impart to you our united sentiments, being as on the one hand ever ready to give all due as- sistance for encouraging and supporting the exercise of government in a constitutional manner, so on the other hand deeply concerned that the rights and privileges of British subjects,-that best birthright and noblest inheri- tance of mankind, may be securely enjoyed by us and transmitted to our pos- terity,-cannot but express how greatly our fears have been increased respect- ing the late alarming report, added to the other grievances under which this people have for a number of years groaned, viz. : that stipends are affixed, by order of the Crown, to the offices of the judges of the Superior Court of
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LETTER TO THE SELECTMEN OF BOSTON.
Judicature of this province; consequently, instead of receiving their salaries or support, from annual grants, made by the Great and General Court, as heretofore, they are to depend solely on the sovereign will and pleasure of the Crown for their support; this change we cannot but consider as a most important and dangerous change,-creating an undue and unconstitutional dependence, quite repugnant to the spirit of the British constitution, and which will, we apprehend, lay an unhappy foundation for the subverting of public justice.
And we also cannot but take notice how much more hard and grievous it is, that when all possible care has been taken by Acts of Parliament and ex- press desire even from his present Majesty upon his first accession to the throne, to make the judges of England wholly independent of the Crown, that the judges of our Superior Court should be rendered absolutely depen- dent on the Crown in the important article of salaries, whereby we are thus cruelly distinguished from his Majesty's subjects in Great Britain.
We therefore think it proper to instruct you, our Representative in Gen- eral Assembly, that you unite in such measures as shall place the judges of the Superior Court of Judicature of this Province upon a constitutional basis, and make, when that is done, suitable provision for their support, adequate to their merit and station.
We further instruct you that you use your utmost endeavors that all our rights be restored and established as heretofore, and that a decent though manly remonstrance be sent to the king, assuring his Majesty that univer- sal discontent prevails in America, and nothing will restore harmony and insure the attachment of the people to the Crown, but a full restoration of all their liberties.
A circular letter having been received from the Selectmen of Boston, in reference to the state of public affairs, soliciting ad- vice and cooperation, the following answer was sent by vote of the town :
We judge it proper, and think it may answer a good purpose, and so there- fore recommend it to the town to return the following answer to a letter of 20th November last from the town of Boston directed to the Selectmen of this town, viz. :
GENTLEMEN,-We the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town of Newton, in a town meeting legally assembled this day by adjournment, think it incumbent on us to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 20th Novem- ber last past, directed to the Selectmen of Newton. We greatly applaud you, and think ourselves as well as the whole province much obliged to you for your generous exertion of that patriotic spirit for which you stand dis- tinguished. And however unsuccessful may have been the measures you have taken for obtaining redress of sundry grievances of which we justly complain, yet as far as in us lies, we would encourage your hearts to perse- vere in all legal, loyal, regular and constitutional methods for the redress of those grievances we feel, and for preventing those we have reason to fear.
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HISTORY OF NEWTON.
We are greatly concerned at the report which prevails that our judges of the Circuits are to receive their salaries from home, which must render them de- pendent on the Crown, and independent of the people, the natural evil con- sequences of which are too obvious and truly alarming. We regret the odium cast on the respectable town of Boston as being of a faetious spirit, and cannot but think that a properly expressed union of sentiment by the several towns in the Province, when made known to our most gracious Sovereign, must tend to convince him and his ministry that the resentment shown on account of the many uneonstitutional impositions laid on the eoun- try in general, and the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in particular, is not the ravings of a faction, but the eool, dispassionate and just complainings of the generality of his Majesty's dutiful and loyal subjects in this populous Provinee; and we eannot but hope would render his Majesty, in his great wisdom and goodness, still more disposed to grant us all due relief. To pro- mote which valuable purposes, as far as our influence will serve, we have passed a number of resolves, and voted instructions to our representative, -copies of which are inelosed. We heartily commend the present distressed state of this country to the Great and Good King of kings, praying for his blessing on and directions to the whole British empire.
With all due respect and esteem, and in the cause of true liberty, we are,
Gentlemen, Your brethren and most humble servants. By order and in behalf of the Town of Newton, ABR. FULLER, Town Clerk.
To the Gentlemen Selectmen of Boston.
Lastly, we do recommend it to the town, that they order the foregoing re- solves and instructions to the Representative and letter to the town of Boston to be recorded in the Town Book of Records belonging to the town, that pos- terity may see and know the great coneern the people of this day had for their invaluable rights, privileges and liberties.
Thus we think we have completed the business committed to us ; and if we meet with the approbation of the town, we shall think ourselves amply rewarded.
EDWARD DURANT, ALEXANDER SHEPARD, WILLIAM PHILLIPS, CHARLES PELHAM, NOAH HIDE.
CHAPTER XXVII.
NEWTON IN THE REVOLUTION .- FURTHER MEASURES .- THE BOSTON TEA PARTY .- THE RECONSTRUCTON ACTS. - GIFT OF MR. PIGEON. MILITARY DRILL .- EAST AND WEST COMPANIES. - ALARM LIST .- MINUTE-MEN.
WE cannot admire too much the energy and spirit manifested by the fathers of the town in the resolutions and instructions quoted in the preceding chapter, the calm, stern determination, the fixed resolve, the sober consideration, the sense of justice, the apprecia- tion of their rights and privileges, and their concern that they should be transmitted, unabridged, to their posterity. They were worthy of the stock from which they came, and worthy to be the fathers of such a republic as they delivered to their successors. The following years of trial, toil and hardship, the patient endur- ance of hunger, cold and poverty, the wasting of their wealth and the sacrifice of their lives were a part of the solemn work they had undertaken ; a portion of the grand enterprise to which they had consecrated themselves. We are not surprised that men so enlightened as to the nature of law and right, and the preroga- tives which were their inalienable due, should have fought out to its issue the battle of freedom. They were equal to the dignity of so great an occasion, and worthy to be entrusted with a govern- ment which they gradually perfected, and delivered unimpaired to their children.
While the colonists sought on the one hand to discourage luxury and extravagance, and to develop home industry, on the other hand they prepared cautiously for the sharp struggle that was be- fore them,- as a ship of war, while the enemy is drawing near and thundering with occasional discharges of cannon, makes all snug, in her sails and rigging, and clears her decks for action.
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HISTORY OF NEWTON.
At a town meeting held December 20, 1773, Charles Pelham, Esq., Mr. Edward Durant, Captain John Woodward, Mr. Joshua Hammond, and Dr. John King were chosen a committee to make a draft of such measures as they shall think best for the town to come into at this emergency, and report at the next meeting.
At the same meeting, Thomas Miller, Captain Ephraim Jackson, Phineas Bond, Lieutenant Jeremiah Wiswall, John Palmer, James Grimes, Deacon David Stone, Deacon William Bowles, Captain Benjamin Hammond, Amariah Fuller, Phineas Cook, Lieutenant Michael Jackson, Captain John Woodward, Joseph Cheney and Ensign Samuel Craft, were appointed a Committee of Fifteen to confer with the inhabitants of the town as to the expediency of leaving off buying, selling or using any of the India teas.
On the sixth of January, 1774, the Committee of Five, above referred to, reported the following preamble and resolves,* which were unanimously adopted by the town :
The freeholders and other inhabitants of the town of Newton, legally as- sembled on Monday, the 20th of December, 1773, and continued by adjourn- ment to January 6, 1774, taking into consideration the present difficulty of our public affairs, are greatly alarmed at the reiterated attempts of the Par- liament of Great Britain to undermine our happy constitution, and deprive us of those rights and privileges which we justly claim as men, as members of the British Empire, and as chartered colonists. And although we always have, and still do, bear true and sincere loyalty and affection to our most gracious sovereign, yet we cannot but consider and regret the great and unduc influence of his ministry both in and out of Parliament, which, espe- cially if corrupt and selfish men should be in place, we look upon as a sore scourge to the nation and all its dependencies.
We do therefore, with firmness of mind, on mature deliberation, establish the following Resolves, viz. :
1. That an Act passed in the last sessions of Parliament, empowering the Hon. East India Company, to export tea to America, subject to a duty upon its arrival in America, is a fresh attack upon our rights, craftily planned by a few of our inveterate enemies in the ministry, in order to establish a tax on us, plainly contrary to the constitution of England itself, and glaringly re- pugnant to our charter ; which we deem a grievance greatly aggravated by the cruel partiality therein shown against millions of His Majesty's loyal and good subjects in America, in favor of a few, very few, opulent subjects in Britain. This we cannot brook, and do therefore solemnly bear testimony against it.
* Charles Pelham, Esq., chairman of the committee, is supposed to have been the author of the resolutions.
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BOSTON TEA PARTY.
2. That in justice to ourselves, our fellow-colonists and our posterity, we cannot, nor will, voluntarily and tamely, submit to this or any tax laid on us for the express purpose of raising a revenue, when imposed without our con- sent, given by ourselves or our Representatives.
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