USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lexington > History of the town of Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1868, Volume I > Part 10
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est, at least in many Cases, to be Unfaithful & partial in their Administration with regard to the People. - And considering the Imperfections of human Nature, it is scarcely possible it should be otherwise, even though the best of Men were in Authority. For Interest will have its Influence to blind the Eyes and pervert the Judgment of the Wisest and most upright.
We have been certified in Form, that this is the Case with the Gentleman in the Chief Seat of Government, & at the Head of the Province, And from the best Intelligence we are able to obtain, we have but too much reason to fear, that the Same Plan has taken Place with respect to a Number of others in Places of Trust & Power, of no small Importance to the well being of this People. Particularly we have Reason to think this to be the Fact with Respect to the Judges of the Superior Court; the highest Court of Justice in the Province, the Court upon the Decisions and Deter- minations of which, all our Interests Respecting Property, Liberty or Life, do Chiefly, if not Ultimately depend; And what adds to the Indignity of this Measure is, that it is carried into Effect, as we have just Reason to suppose at our Expense at the Same Time that it is against our Consent. Thus the Plan of Oppression is begun, & so far carried on, that if our Enemies are still Successful, and no Means can be found to put a Stop to their Career, no Measures contrived for a Restoration of our affairs to a Constitutional Course, as pointed out in our Charter; we have just Reason to fear, That the Eyes of the Head of Government being blinded, the Sources of Jus- tice poisoned, and Hands of Administration bribed with Interest, the System of Slavery will soon be compleat. These things are of so Interesting a Nature, so deeply affecting, & so big with the Ruin of all our Rights & Liberties, both Civil & religious, that we readily acknowledge, that we cannot so much as transiently view them without a Mixture of Horror, Indignation, & Grief.
"But this is not all. - Our Charter knows no such thing as In- structions to Governors; and yet what have not Instructions done to distress this People! - and if in Addition to these, it should be found, upon the Enquiry of the Guardians of the Province in Gen- cral Court assembled, (and they have a right to Enquire,) that the Law has not, in all Instances had its Course, or that at any Time Measures have been Successful, to Stay Justice from Offenders - it seems as if it was Time to be Alarmed, & provide for our Safety; or else tamely to bow to the Yoke, & forever hereafter be silent. - Whether this representation be just, is submitted, And must be left to Time & Facts to discover. - But that these among other things are worthy most Serious attention, as Subjects of Enquiry and deeply Interesting can't be disputed.
"And therefore to You, Sir, whom we have Chosen to represent Us in the Great Court of Inquest for this Province, We do most ear-
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nestly recommend it that You use your utmost Influence, that these as well as all other Matters, in which the Rights and Liberties of this People are concerned; are impartially enquired into, and dis- passionately considered by the General Assembly, and that Meas- ures be pursued, by Petition to the Throne, or otherways as the Court in their Great Wisdom shall see Meet, for a Radical & lasting Redress. That thus, whether Successful or not, Succeeding Genera- tions might know that we Understood our Rights & Liberties, and were Neither afraid nor ashamed to assert & maintain them; and that we ourselves may have (at least) this Consolation in our Chains, that it was not through our Neglect, that this People were enslaved. "WILLIAM REED, Per Order."
At the same meeting the town took into consideration a communication from the town of Boston on the same general subject, and
"Voted, That this Town entirely concur with them in their senti- ments, both as to the Nature of our Rights, and the high Infraction of them, by the late Measures of Government; and with pleasure embrace this Opportunity, to express the great Sence they have of the Vigilance & Patriotick Spirit they (& our Brethren in many other Towns) have discovered upon this and Various Occasions, for the preservation of Our Rights, &c. -
"Voted also That this Town has a Right to Correspond with other Towns, Upon Matters of Common concern-and that a Committee be accordingly Chosen, to transmit the Proceeding of this Meeting, to the Gentlemen of the Committee of Correspondence in Boston; and further to Correspond with them as well as the Committees of other Towns Upon Matters of Common concern as Occasion may require."
The town then proceeded and chose the following named gentlemen, as their Committee of Correspondence: Captain Thaddeus Bowman, Deacon Jonas Stone, Ensign Robert Harrington, Deacon Benjamin Brown, and Deacon Joseph Loring.
The opposition to the Stamp Act was such that Parlia- ment was induced to repeal it, which they did in 1766. But this was a change rather than an abandonment of their policy. They repealed an act which they saw that they could not en- force, for the purpose of adopting other measures which they deemed more artful and seductive, and hence more likely to bring the colonists to their feet. The sequel will show their measures, and the manner in which they were met by the people of America.
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In December, 1773, the inhabitants were called together to consider the state of public affairs, and especially the subject of the tea, sent over by the East India Company; when the whole subject was referred to the Committee of Correspond- ence, who subsequently submitted the following Report, which was unanimously adopted: -
"That from the Intelligence transmitted by the Committee of Correspondence in the Town of Boston, to the Committee of Corre- spondence for this Place, and by them Communicated to the Town, it appears, that the Enemies of the Rights & Liberties of Ameri- cans, greatly disappointed in the Success of the Revenue Act, are seeking to Avail themselves of New, & if possible, Yet more de- testable Measures to distress Enslave & destroy Us. - Not enough that a Tax was laid Upon Teas, which should be Imported by Us, for the Sole Purpose of raising a Revenue to support Task Masters Pensioners, &c., in Idleness & Luxury; But by a late Act of Parlia- ment, to Appease the Wrath of the East India Company, whose Trade to America had been greatly clogged by the operation of the Revenue Acts, Provision is made for said Company to export their Teas to America free and discharged from the Payment of all Du- ties, & Customs in England, but liable to all the same Rules, Regu- lations, Penalties & Forfeitures in America, as are Provided by the Revenue Act, as much as if the Above mentioned Act had never been passed. -
"Not to say anything of the Gross Partiality herein discovered in favour of the East India Company, and to the Injury & oppression of Americans; - We are alarmed at this masterly Effort of Iniqui- tous Policy, as it has the most gloomy Affect on the Trade of these Colonies, and gives an Opening to the East India Company, or others (under the covert of an Act of Parliament, & for the unright- eous Purpose of raising & securing a Revenue to the Crown, out of the Purses of Industrious Americans) to monopolize one Branch after another, untill in Process of Time, the whole Trade will be in their Hands, and by their Consignees, Factors, &c., they will be the sole Merchants of America. -
"And further, we are more especially Alarmed, as by these Crafty Measures, the Revenue Act is to be Established, and the Rights and Liberties of Americans forever Sapped & destroyed. These appear to Us, to be Sacrifices we must make, and these the costly Pledges, that must be given Up into the Hands of the Oppressor, The mo- ment we receive this detested Article, by which the Tribute will be established upon Us. - For nothing short of this will ever fill the Mouth of Oppression, or gorge the insatiate appetite of Lust & Ambition! - Once admit this subtle, wicked Ministerial Plan to take Place - Once permit this Tea thus imposed upon Us by the
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East India Company to be landed, received & Vended by their Con- signees, Factors, &c., the Badge of Our slavery is fixed, the Founda- tion of Ruin is surely laid, and unless a wise & Powerful GOD, by some Unforeseen Revolution in Providence, shall prevent; we shall soon be obliged to bid Farewell to the once flourishing Trade of America, and an everlasting Adieu to those Glorious Rights & Liberties, for which our Worthy Ancestors, so earnestly prayed, so bravely fought, so freely bled !! -
"This being the Light in which we View These Measures of Ad- ministration in their Nature and Tendency, . We cannot but be Alarmed, especially when we see our Danger so great, our Ruin so nearly effected - The Ship with the detested tribute TEA in the Harbour, and the Persons Appointed to receive, & sell the same, unnaturally refusing to resign their Appointment, though by carry- ing it to Effect, they should procure their Country's Ruin. - As therefore we should be wanting to ourselves, to Our Country and Posterity, to be silent upon such an Occasion as this, and as we have no reason to expect that GOD the Supreme disposer of all things will work Miracles for Us, while we neglect Ourselves, we do with the greatest seriousness & Sincerity, come into the following
RESOLVES
"1. That as the Revenue Act, and the Act allowing the East India Company to export Teas into the Colonies Subject to Duties, with all the Measures of the Ministry and Administration, whether by secret Craft, or open Violence to Carry Said Acts into Effect; appear to Us, to be a direct Violation of our Charter Rights & Liberties, We are determined, to the Utmost of our Power, in every rational Way, upon this, and all proper Occasions to Oppose them, and use our most Vigilent & Resolute endeavors to prevent their taking Place among Us. -
"2. That we will not be concerned, either directly or indirectly, in landing, receiving, buying or selling, or even Using any of the Teas sent out by the East India Company, or that shall be Im- ported Subject to a Duty, imposed by Act of Parliament, for the Purpose of raising a Revenue in America.
"3. That all such Persons as shall directly or indirectly Aid and Assist in landing, receiving, buying, selling or Using the Teas sent out by the East India Company, or imported by others, Subject to a Duty, for the Purpose of a Revenue, shall be deemed, & treated by Us as Enemies of their Country. -
"4. That the Conduct of Richard Clark, & Son, the Governour's Two Sons Thomas & Elisha Hutchinson, and the other Consignees, in refusing to resign their Appointment, as Factors, or Vendue Masters for the East India Company, when repeatedly requested by
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the Town of Boston, has justly rendered them Obnoxious to their fellow Citizens to the Inhabitants of this Town, and to the People of this Province & America in General, and as upon this Ocasion they have discovered not only want of due affection for their Native Country, but also from selfish Views, (as we think,) a strange dispo- sition to accelerate its Ruin, We cannot but consider them as Ob- jects of our just Resentment Indignation & contempt.
"5. That as it has been basely insinuated, that the Measures taken to prevent the Reception of the East India Company's Teas, are the Effect of a Scheme of the Merchants, to advance their own Interest; it is the Opinion of this Town, that the Suggestion is false & Malicious, and designed at the same time, to deceive & delude the People into a Compliance with the Measures of their Enemies, and to prevent the good Effects of the honest Patriotic Endeavours of so Valuable and powerful Part of the Community, to rescue the Trade & Liberties of their Country from impending Destruction.
"6. That as with Gratitude to our Brethren in Boston, and other Towns, we do express our satisfaction in the Measures They have taken, and the struggles they have made, upon this, as well as many other Occasions, for the Liberties of their Country, and America, We are ready and resolved to concur with them, in every rational Measure, that may be Necessary for the Preservation or Recovery of our Rights & Liberties as Englishmen and Christians; and we trust in GOD That should the State of Our Affairs require it, We shall be ready to Sacrifice our Estates, and every thing dear in Life, Yea & Life itself, in support of the common Cause.
"The above Resolves being Passed, a Motion was made that to them, another should be added, accordingly it was Resolved nem, con.
"That if any Head of a Family in this Town, or any Person shall from this time forward; & untill the Duty be taken off; purchase any Tea, or Use, or consume any Tea in their Famelies, such person shall be looked upon as an Enemy to this Town, & to this Country, and shall by this Town be treated with Neglect & Contempt."
At a meeting of the inhabitants of Lexington, duly warned, on the 26th of September, 1774, Deacon Stone was chosen to represent the town in the General Court. A committee, con- sisting of Captain Bowman, Deacon Brown, and Lieutenant Edmund Munroe, was chosen to prepare Instructions, who reported the following draft, which was adopted: -
"The Alarming Situation of Our Public Affairs, being So dis- tressing, as at present, and our Council being chosen by Man- damus from the King; whose Authority as a Council we cannot Own, nor consent to,
"We therefore the Inhabitants of the Town of Lexington, being
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Assembled at the Meeting House in Said Town, on Monday the 26 Day of September Instant, to Make Choice of a Representative, and having made choice of Dea. Stone as our Representative, We putting the firmest Confidence in Your Integrity & Abilities, do Instruct You (Sir,) in the following Manner, to Use Your Utmost Influence at the Great & General Court, that nothing there be transacted as a Court, under the New Council, or in Conformity to any of the late Acts of Parliament."
At the same meeting they chose Deacon Stone a delegate to the Provincial Congress. Having repeatedly denounced the acts of the Ministry and Parliament, as acts of oppression, designed to rob the people of the Colonies of every right which they held dear; and having pledged their fortunes and their lives, should the occasion require, in defence of the great prin- ciples of liberty, like men who knew what they said, and said what they meant, the inhabitants of the town made prepara- tions for the last resort of oppressed subjects. Consequently, at meetings held in November and December, they voted to provide "a suitable Quantity of Flints," - "to bring the Two pieces of Cannon from Watertown & Mount them," - "to provide a Pair of Drums for the Use of the Military Com- pany in Town,"-"to provide Bayonets at the Town's Cost for One Third Part of the Training Soldiers," - "to have the militia and alarm list meet for a view of their arms," etc. And that these votes should not prove a mere dead letter, committees were chosen to carry them into effect.
Besides, as the Provincial Congress had recommended to the people to put themselves in a state of defence by organiz- ing military companies, to be armed and equipped, and to be ready to march at the shortest notice, it was voted by the inhabitants of Lexington that they would carry out these rec- ommendations, and committees were appointed for that pur- pose. As the Congress had also chosen Henry Gardner, Esq., of Stow, to be Receiver-General of all province taxes which should be collected, and requested the several towns to pay their respective portions of the taxes, when collected, over to him, instead of paying them over to Harrison Gray, Esq., His Majesty's Receiver-General, the people directed their col- lectors to pay the province tax, when collected, over to Henry Gardner, Esq., and assured them by solemn vote that the town would see them harmless for so doing. These "awful notes of preparation" showed that the people were prepared
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for any emergency, and firmly resolved to maintain their rights by the sword, if remonstrance and entreaty should prove ineffectual. We do not claim for the town of Lexington any exclusive honor in this respect. But we do say that no town, under all the circumstances, is deserving of more praise. No town was more ready to resolve, and no town backed up her declarations with more promptitude, or made greater sacrifices in the cause than the town of Lexington. Her population was small, being only about seven hundred, and her means were limited; but like the woman in Scripture, "she did what she could" in the cause of the Colonies - the cause of freedom.
I have been thus particular in presenting the acts and doings of the inhabitants of Lexington, preparatory to the opening of hostilities; for, after all, we are to contemplate the American Revolution, not so much in the strife upon the ensanguined field as in the cool deliberation and the firm resolve which characterized our people at the period immediately preceding the open rupture. I have been thus particular in order to pre- sent to the public those valuable state papers, written by the Rev. Jonas Clarke, which prepared our people, not only for the contest, but for the just appreciation of rational and con- stitutional liberty. It is an easy thing in times of excitement to arouse the passions of men, and nerve their arms for bat- tle - "to teach their hands to war and their fingers to fight." But to instill into their minds the great principles of civil and religious liberty, and make them realize their duty as citizens, is a more difficult task. But this has been done in a clear and able manner in the documents above cited. So fully and so clearly are the grievances under which our fathers labored, and the causes which gave rise to the American Revolution set forth, that if all other records were destroyed and all recol- lections blotted from the memory, the faithful historian could, from the Instructions given to the Representatives of Lexington, and the other papers found in our Records, emanating from the pen of Mr. Clarke, trace the develop- ment of oppression from year to year, and state the true causes of that mighty struggle.
With the master mind of this pious divine, operating upon and almost controlling the people of his charge, and with the military discipline to which some thirty of the citizens of Lex- ington had been subjected in their service in the French wars,
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we can easily account for the firm and manly resistance made by them on the 19th of April, 1775.
As the feelings and sentiments which prevailed among the people of Lexington pervaded the whole community on the opening of the year 1775, an open rupture was a mere ques- tion of time. With such haughty pretensions as were put forth by the Ministry and Parliament of Great Britain on the one side, and the calm but resolute determination of the colo- nists to enjoy the rights and maintain the privileges of British subjects on the other, it was certain that this controversy could not end in words.1 There was too much pride on the one hand, and too much principle on the other, to justify the belief that England would abandon her policy, or the col- onists their rights.
Those, therefore, who contemplate the Revolution as com- mencing on the 19th of April, 1775, must look at effects rather than at causes; and suffer their minds to rest upon the out- ward and visible, rather than to penetrate the great moral causes operating by fixed and certain laws, which had been developing themselves for more than a century. The rash act of Pitcairn at Lexington Common was by no means the cause of the Revolution. It was merely the accidental occurrence which opened the drama at that time and place. The tragedy had been written, the great parts assigned, and the grand result penned by the recording angel, and if the first act had not been opened at Lexington and Concord, it must have tran- spired on some other field. Otis and Adams opened the battle of the Revolution, long before the bayonet was fixed or the sword drawn. Clarke's Instructions to our Representatives did as much to make the patriots stand firm on the Common in the very face of a superior force, as did the stern command of the gallant Parker.
Nor does this view of the subject lessen the praise due to the band of patriots who rallied in freedom's cause on the 19th of April. On the contrary, it adds greatly to their honor, and reflects imperishable lustre upon their names. It shows that they acted, not from passion, but from principle, and fought not to conquer, but to defend - not to despoil a foe, but to establish for themselves and for their posterity a gov- ernment of laws, which should mete out to every citizen his rights and his privileges, and secure him in their enjoyment.
1 Compare J. Fiske, The American Revolution, Vol. I, pp. 31-45. Ed.
CHAPTER IV
CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
he State of Feeling towards the Mother Country - Allegiance to the Crown - Massachusetts the First to deny the Right of Parliament to legislate for us - Massachusetts Charter annulled - Andros appointed Governor, with Despotic Powers - Andros imprisoned - A New Charter granted - Writs of Assistance issued - Otis opposed them - Admiralty Jurisdiction extended - The Stamp Act passed - Stamp Officer hung in Effigy - General Congress at New York- Stamp Act repealed - A Ship-of-War sent to Boston - Governor Bernard dis- solves the General Court - Refuses to order a New Election - A Convention assembles in Boston - Two Regiments sent to Boston - The People refuse to furnish them Quarters or Rations - Bernard recalled, and Hutchinson ap- pointed Governor - The Boston Massacre - Hutchinson removes the Troops to the Castle - Boston laid under Martial Law - Committees of Correspond- ence organized - The Tea destroyed - Massachusetts the First to deny the Power of Parliament, and the First to baffle the Ministry.
IN the preceding chapter, the state of feeling in the town of Lexington, up to the commencement of the revolutionary struggle, and the measures there adopted have been pre- sented. We have seen in the instructions to their representa- tives the great doctrines of freedom and good government plainly foreshadowed, and the causes which led to the Revo- lution strongly set forth in general terms. In this chapter it is proposed to state these causes on a broader scale, and to trace, from time to time, the developments of oppression on the one hand and of the spirit of freedom on the other.
Springing from a stock proverbial for its loyalty, our fathers were not inclined to revolt from the mother country. On the contrary, they were proud of their ancestry, and claimed nothing but the rights of English subjects. Those who emigrated to these shores were deeply imbued with the spirit of liberty, both civil and religious. They had felt the exactions of the State and the persecutions of the Church in their own country, and rather than submit to these evils, they chose to encounter the perils and privations of a life in a wil- derness, surrounded by savage foes.
But though they had fled from persecution in their native land, they did not design to throw off their allegiance to their rightful sovereign. The first settlers of New England, before
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they left the Mayflower, declared that they came to this wil- derness to promote "the glory of God, the advancement of the Christian faith, and the honor of their king and country." And after they had reached these shores, they cherished a fond recollection of the land of their birth. But being sepa- rated from the parent country by the broad expanse of ocean, they knew that they must rely mainly upon themselves. Realizing that they held their fortunes in their own hands, they naturally felt that they had a right to manage their own affairs in their own way. Holding the country by the double right of charter and of purchase, they could not divest them- selves of the conviction that the lands they had cleared and the huts they had erected were theirs by no ordinary title. Claiming by their Charter, not only their possessions, but all the rights and immunities of Englishmen, - while they ac- knowledged their allegiance to the Crown, they maintained that they had full powers of legislation : and hence they denied all right in Parliament to impose taxes upon them without their consent.
As the controversy, growing in part out of taxation, gave rise to the Revolution, of which the events of the 19th of April were the commencement; and as the resistance of our fathers to the Acts of Parliament is sometimes appealed to to justify resistance to our laws at the present day, - it is im- portant to a just understanding of the issue then, and of our duty now, that the facts be distinctly stated, and the exact issue be kept in view. The precise question was this: Has the British Parliament, in which the Colonies have no representa- tion, a right by the Colonial Charters and by the English Consti- tution, to tax the Colonies for the support of the Home Govern- ment, or to modify their Charters, without the consent of the colonists ? Great Britain claimed this right, and rested it upon the supremacy of Parliament. The Colonies, they said, were of their own planting; and being a part of the British Empire, were subject to all the laws of the realm; and that Parlia- ment, being supreme, "had a right to legislate for them in all cases whatsoever." On the other hand, it was maintained by the colonists that on leaving Great Britain with a Charter from the Crown, they brought with them to this country all the rights and immunities of English subjects; that on the great principles of natural rights, recognized and secured by the English Constitution, all private property was sacred,
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