USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lexington > History of the town of Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1868, with a genealogical register of Lexington families > Part 10
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" 4. That the conduct of Richard Clarke and son, the Governor's two sons Thomas and Elisha Hutchinson, and other consignees, in refusing to resign their appointment as factors, or vendue masters for the East India Company, when repeatedly requested by the town of Boston, has justly rendered them obnoxious to their fellow citizens, to the inhabitants of this town, and to the people of the Province, and America in general ; and as
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upon this occasion they have discovered, not only want of due affection for their native country, but also from selfish views, (as we think,) a strange disposition to accelerate its ruin - we cannot but consider them as objeets of our just resentment, indignation, and 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 and malicious, and designed at the same time to deceive and delude the people into a compliance with measures of their enemies, and to prevent the good effect of the honest and patriotic endeavors of so valuable and powerful part of the community to rescue the trade and 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 coneur with them in every rational measure that may be necessary for the preservation or recovery of our rights and 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, and 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, without a dissenting voice :
" That if any head of a family in this Town, or any person shall from this time forward, and until the duty be taken off, purchase any Tea, or sell or consume any Tea in their families, such person shall be looked upon as an enemy to this town, and to this country, and shall by this town be treated with neglect and contempt."
At a meeting of the inhabitants of Lexington, duly warned, on the 26th of September, 1774, Dea. Stone was chosen to repre- sent the town in the General Court. A committee, consisting of Capt. Bowman, Dea. Brown, and Lieut. Edmund Munroe, was chosen to prepare Instructions, who reported the following draft, which was adopted :
" The alarming situation of our public affairs being so distressing as at present, and our Council being chosen by a mandamus from the King, whose authority as a Council we cannot own, nor consent to, -
"We, therefore, the inhabitants of the town of Lexington, being assem- bled at the Meeting House in said Town, on Monday the 26th day of
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September instant, to make choice of a Representative, and having made choice of Dea. Stone as our Representative, we, putting the fullest confi- dence in your integrity and ability, do instruct you, Sir, in the following manner -- to use your utmost influence at the Great and General Court, that nothing there be transacted as a Court, under the new Council, or in conformity with any of the late Acts of Parliament."
ยท At the same meeting they chose Dea. 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 principles of liberty, like men who knew what they said, and said what they meant, the inhabitants of the town made preparation for the last resort of oppressed subjects. Consequently, at meetings held in No- vember and December, they voted " to provide a suitable quantity of flints,"- " to bring two pieces of cannon from Watertown and mount them," - "to provide a pair of drums for the use of the military company in Town,"- "to provide bayonets at the town's cost for one third of the training soldiers," -" to have the militia and alarm list meet for a view of their arms," &c. And that these votes should not prove a mere dead letter, com- mittees 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 organizing 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 recommendations, and committees were appointed for that purpose. As the Con- gress 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 Gen- eral ; the people directed their collectors 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 for any emergency, and firmly resolved to
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maintain their rights by the sword, if remonstranee 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 character- ized our people at the period immediately preceding the open rupture. I have been thus particular in order to present 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 appreciations of rational and constitutional liberty. It is an easy thing in times of excitement to arouse the pas- sions of men, and nerve their arms for battle -'to teach their hands to war and their fingers to fight.' But to instil 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 docu- ments 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 recollections 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 devel- opments 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 Lexington had
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been subjected in their service in the French war, we can easily account for the firm and manly resistance made by them on the 19th of April, 1775. It was not mere military ardor, thirsting for renown on the field of battle - it was not that spirit of adventure which frequently leads to deeds of noble daring in the face of an enemy - nor was it a thirst of conquest for the hope of gain, that animated the breasts of the citizens of Lexington on that memorable day. No, it was the higher and holier aspi- rations of patriotism that fired their bosoms, and led them into the face of danger ; it was a love of liberty, guided by reason and sanctified by religion, that gave them firmness, and made them steadfast and immovable in the cause they had espoused. They knew in whom they trusted, and the charge they had to keep ; they knew that they stood the defenders of human rights - the protectors of their wives and children. And though the odds were fearfully against them, they looked to that Power to whom their devoted pastor had so often pointed them, and had confidence that the justice of their cause would bring down the sustaining aid of the " Lord of Sabaoth."
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 question of time. With such haughty pretentions as were put forth by the Ministry and Parliament of Great Britain on the one side, and the calm but resolute determination of the colonists 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. There was too much pride on the one hand, and too much prin- ciple on the other, to justify the belief that England would abandon her policy, or the colonists their rights. To the eye of the enlightened statesman, the Revolution had already com- menced, and the great battle of freedom was being fought. The resolve had been taken, and the armor had been burnished. The magazine had been prepared, the train laid, and the match ignited ; and whenever by design or by accident, the fuse should come in contact with the powder, the explosion must take place.
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 outward
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and visible, rather than penetrate the great moral causes ope- rating 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 Revo- lution. 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 Lex- ington and Concord, it must have transpired 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 Instruc- tions 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 patriot band, which 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 government of laws, which would mete out to every citizen his rights and his priv- ileges, and secure them in their enjoyment. The colonies had outgrown their minority, and, by an irresistible instinct of our nature, felt that they had a right to set up for themselves. The freedom of thought and of speech which had been so long enjoyed in America, had prepared the people for freedom, and that precious boon must be enjoyed. They were no sticklers for forms. They were sober, peaceable, and law-abiding, and had no desire to break off their connection with the mother country, if they could be treated with parental regard. But as the matter then stood, a separation was inevitable. The irrepressible con- flict had commenced, and the work must go on to its completion. The day of debate, must now give place to a day of action ; and any attempt at a peaceable adjustment would be merely a tempo- rary adjournment of the open rupture.
CHAPTER IV.
CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
The 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 ex- tended - The Stamp Act passed - Stamp Officer hung in Effigy - General Congress at New York - Stamp Act repealed - A Ship-of-War sent to Boston - Gov. Bernard dissolved 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 appointed Governor - The Boston Massacre - Hutchinson removes the Troops to the Castle - Boston laid under Martial Law - Committees of Correspondence 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 presented. We have seen in the instructions to their representatives the great doctrines of freedom and good government plainly foreshadowed, and the causes which led to the Revolution, 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. By this view, broader in its territorial application, we shall see that the aspirations and the throbs which swelled the bosoms of the citizens of Lexington, beat in unison with the pulsations throughout the province.
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. The Reformation in the six-
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teenth century, by establishing the right of private judgment, had clothed man with individuality, and taught him to think and judge for himself; and while the consciousness of personal ac- countability had in a degree wrought out spiritual emancipation, the contests growing out of the absurd prerogatives of the crown of England, had prepared the many for political freedom. The most intelligent among the people of Great Britain regarded the infallibility of the Pope in spiritual, and the infallibility of the King in temporal things, as equally absurd. The seeds of civil and religious liberty had in this manner been sown broadcast throughout the realm, and though some had fallen by the way- side, and some in stony places, others had fallen on good ground, and were promising a future harvest. 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 wilderness, 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 they left the Mayflower, declared that they came to this wilderness to pro- mote " the glory of God, the advancement of the Christian faith, and the honor of their king and country." And after they had landed upon these shores, they cherished a fond recollection of the land of their birth. Their memories recurred to the scene of their childhood, and brought up anew all the endearing associa- tions of early life. They remembered with filial gratitude the parents who had reared them, and the friends they had left behind ; and next to the spot which was endeared to them by their trials, their dangers, and their sufferings, their warmest benisons rested upon their native isle. But being separated 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 pur- chase, they could not divest themselves of the conviction that the
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lands they had cleared and the huts they had erected were theirs by no ordinary title. Having set up civil and religious institu- tions for themselves, they had a growing attachment for the work of their own hands, and felt that their wishes should be con- sulted in everything which related to the colonies. Claiming by their Charter, not only their possessions, but all the rights and immunities of Englishmen,-while they acknowledged their alle- giance 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 April were the commencement ; and as the resistance of our fathers to the Aets of Parliament is sometimes appealed to, to justify resistance to our laws at the present day,-it is important 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 representation, a right by the colonial Charters and by the English Constitution, to tax the colonies for the support of the Home Government, or to modify their Charters, without the consent of the colonists ? Great Britain claimed this right, and rested it upon the supre- macy 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 Parliament, being supreme, " had a right to legislate for them in all cases what- soever." 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 im- munities of English subjects ; that on the great principles of natural rights, recognized and secured by the English constitu- tion, all private property was sacred, and hence that all taxes must be granted by the people themselves, or by representatives chosen by them ; that those natural and constitutional rights were not only inherent in the colonists, but were also secured to them in their Charters, which were sacred compacts that no power on earth could rightfully infringe ; that by the fundamental law of the empire, taxation and representation were inseparably
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united, and as the colonies were not, and from the nature of the case, could not be represented in the British Parliament, so Parliament had no right to impose taxes upon them, especially for the maintenance of the Government at home. It was more- over contended that their Charters gave them full powers of legis- lation, and that they had exercised those powers from the first, with the full knowledge and acquiescence of the British Govern- ment. They also declared their willingness at all times, to grant by their own Legislatures, all moneys which they should deem necessary for the support of their own government, and also to defend His Majesty's Colonies in America against the enemies of their king and country. Such was the precise issue made at that time.
The Colony of Massachusetts may justly claim the honor of being the first to put forth this doctrine. As early as 1634, attempts were made to vacate the Charter of the Colony, rather for non-conformity in religious matters than any thing else, and the people of Massachusetts distinctly intimated that they had full powers of themselves to make all needful laws for their own preservation. But in 1646, Parliament having asserted full powers over the colonies, the General Court of Massachusetts protested against the doctrine, as one calculated to bring them into a state of vassalage. In a memorial to Parliament they say, "We have not admitted appeals to your authority, being assured that they cannot stand with the liberty and power granted to us by our Charter, and would be destructive of all government." In the same spirit, Winslow, the agent of Massa- chusetts in England, publicly denied the jurisdiction of Parlia- ment over the colonies. "If the Parliament of England," said he, " should impose laws upon us, having no burgesses in the House of Commons, we should lose the liberties and freedom of Englishmen indeed." Thus did Massachusetts, within the first quarter of a century after the first settlement of New England, assert the power of the colonies, and deny the right of Parliament to legislate for them, on the ground that they were not represented in that body-a doctrine on which the colonies finally united, and resisted the acts of the parent country.
The arbitrary claims of Great Britain being persisted in, Massachusetts declared in 1661 that, under God and their Charter,
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they had a right to choose their own officers, to exercise " all power and authority, legislative, executive, and judicial, to defend themselves by force of arms against every aggressor, and to reject, as an infringement of their rights, any parliamentary or royal imposition prejudicial to the country, and contrary to any just act of colonial legislation."
To punish Massachusetts for her bold and independent oppo- sition to the claims of the King and Parliament, a quo warranto was issued in 1683, to annul her Charter ; the King at the same time making a public declaration that pardon would be extended to the colonists, in case they would consent to certain modifica- tions of the Charter. On the receipt of this intelligence in Massachusetts, a general consternation at first prevailed. They knew that many cities in England had been compelled to surrender their charters, and submit to the King and Parliament. The Governor and assistants were persuaded that it was hopeless to resist, and recommended that agents be sent to England " to receive His Majesty's command." This recommendation was sent to the representatives of the people, who returned it with this laconic endorsement " The Deputies consent not, but adhere to their former bills." The Charter, however, was annulled, and the Colony was left to the tender mercy of the corrupt court of Charles II.
The revocation of the Charter was followed by the intro- duction of a despotism, more grievous than anything before known in Massachusetts. Sir Edmund Andros, who had been appointed Governor of New England, arrived in Boston, in 1686, empowered by the new sovereign, James II., to appoint and remove his own council, and with their consent to exercise all powers of legislation, to make laws, lay taxes, control the militia, and to sustain his authority by force. To carry out this arbitrary and despotic system of government, he resolved that no printing presses should be tolerated in the country, and that the people should not be permitted to assemble in town meetings to deliberate upon public affairs. Under his corrupt administra- tion, public schools were neglected, religious institutions were impaired, and the personal rights of the citizens were either disregarded or basely trampled upon. But a despotism like this was not long to be endured. Those who had denied the
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power of the King and Parliament, would not long submit to the imposition of taxes by a subordinate magistrate. And while his monarch was preparing the way for his own overthrow in Great Britain, Andros was laying the foundation for his over- throw in the colonies. When the news reached Boston in the spring of 1689, that James II. had fled his country, and that the Prince of Orange had ascended the throne, the people were determined to imitate the example of their British brethren, and rid themselves of their tyrant. Andros attempted to sustain himself by force ; but the people were too sensible of their rights, and of his weakness, to submit. They seized the sheriff, the military commander, and, at last, the Governor himself, and committed them to prison. The whole town of Boston was in arms, and, actuated by what they declared to be their sense of duty to their God and country, completely overthrew the government of Andros. While the people of Great Britain were rejoicing in the expulsion of the Stuarts, the people of New England were sounding their peans for the overthrow of a subordinate tyrant.
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