USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume I > Part 7
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
The English Crown had an opportunity covering a period extending over more than three-quarters of a century to win Massachusetts to the fold from which it had wandered. At the end of that period the province not only was to break entirely her connection with England, but was to be the leader in a revolt that took from her thirteen colonies, the only colonies that ever revolted from the authority of the parent country. There is no question that England had been remiss in her care of the early settlements, allowing them to grow up under a self-government which practically taught and anticipated independence. It is conceivable that, wisely guided and permitted to retain the freedom which she enjoyed under the first charter, Massachusetts might never have revolted. The French and Indian wars, with their dangers to the settlements here, might have been used to win a closer allegiance to the King. It is use- less, however, to speculate on the "might have been." When the King of England "assumed again the government of New England," it was too late, and the methods used were ill fitted to their purpose. The inhabi- tants had come to believe in their natural right to self-government; they had no use for King or royal governors. It was impossible to send offi-
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cials who could be pleasing to a people who, without guidance or assist- ance from abroad, had proven by sixty years of trial, that they were capable of managing their own affairs.
The Provincial Governors-Ten royal governors were sent to Boston by various Kings. Ten men of differing types who were arbitrarily appointed as magistrates to lead and rule the Puritan colony. Four of the ten were natives, the first was proposed by Increase Mather; several were really great men, all seem to have been honest in the discharge of what they considered their duty. Not one of them was successful, the native New Englanders least of all. Not one found pleasure in his task, nor did any of them fail to be the subjects of complaints. It would be difficult to find on the pages of history the record of so complete a failure as that of the royal governors of Massachusetts. Their services to their King were a complete loss. Of the legislation instituted and signed by them during eighty-two years, there are practically no traces in the gov- ernmental institutions of the present Commonwealth. The principal memorial of the royal governors now extant is the beautiful window in the State House with its stained glass replicas of their personal coat-of- arms which had been used as privy seals. The names of these men, and the dates of their rule, are as follows :
Sir William Phipps. 1691-1694
William Stoughton (Lieutenant-Governor, Acting Governor) 1694-1699
Richard Coote, Earl of Bellomont .. 1699-1701
Joseph Dudley 1702-1715
Samuel Shute 1716-1722
William Dummer (Lieutenant-Governor, Acting Governor) 1723-1728
William Burnet 1728-1729
Jonathan Belcher
1730-174I
William Shirley
1741-1757
Thomas Pownall
1757-1760
Francis Bernard
1760-1769
Thomas Hutchinson
1769-1774
General Thomas Gage might be included, but he was but a temporary substitute for Hutchinson, who it was intended to return; he was appointed with reference to military rather than to civil functions; and he never really governed, his authority being thwarted from the first. Of the thirteen mentioned above, only ten exercised full functions as royal appointees.
Results of the Period of Provincial Government-No attempt will be made to recount the events of the successive administrations of the gov- ernors. Aside from wars, the tale would be one of bickerings and petty strife. The main difficulties grew out of the fact that while the King made the appointment, the Colonial Assembly paid the salary, or was supposed to. More time was wasted in the Legislature over this one item than over the many far more important affairs. Never was a defi-
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nite amount promised, and seldom was more than one thousand pounds voted for this purpose in any one year. It is not to be expected that a Governor could be either defiant or persistent in the advocacy of any specific act, while he was dependent upon the good will of a political body for the means to pay his bills. As one writer words it, "They were little more than the paid clerks of the General Court."
Nearly all of the governors had something to do with the conduct of the almost continuous war with the French and their Indian allies waged during the provincial period. Some took prominent parts in the cam- paigns, but won little personal glory or peace in the fulfillment of their duties. The victories were won almost unaided by the colonies, with Massachusetts bearing the brunt of the burden. The story of this almost century of border conflict is told in another chapter. All that need be recalled here is that the greatest prize of the years was not the fall of Quebec and Montreal in 1759 and 1760, with the end of French dominion in America, but what the colonies learned about themselves, and about the so-called great nations of Europe, including England. They were taught warfare; that there was strength in union, at least for military purposes ; that united they need fear no foe of any nationality. The cost of the wars to Massachusetts was very great in men and money. The cost was repaid later in the residue of trained soldiers and com- manders who were to serve in the armies of thirteen united colonies.
Boston in 1760-At the close of the French War in 1763, in spite of the tremendous toll of both men and means taken by the long struggle, the province had grown greatly in population and prosperity. Massachu- setts-it then included Maine and New Hampshire-consisted of thirteen counties, and there were two hundred and forty towns within its limits. The number of inhabitants was given as 245,000, Boston accounting for 15,500 of these. The figures are probably less than the truth, for the province was too suspicious of the mother country to desire the full extent of her strength known. Commerce had increased greatly, six hundred vessels were known to be engaged in trade. Manufacturing consisted of little more than ship building, for England discouraged the making of anything that her workmen could turn out. There was wealth enough in Massachusetts to import what she needed in made goods, wealth drawn from her fisheries, the soil, and her ships. The exports exceeded the imports, a condition that worried the authorities in Eng- land, for it was not to their purpose that the colonies should become inde- pendent of that country. The relatively close union of the French wars was now ended, and the last strong tie between the two broken. England was to try methods of securing money from the colonies and at the same time reduce them to dependency. To this end native manufactures had
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been discouraged, restrictions had been placed on commerce, and taxes were to be laid. If ever there was a time when delicacy and care should have been used in the treatment of the province it was then. The last chance had come to bind the lusty but discontented child to its mother's apron strings. Through the irony of fate a stupid King was placed upon the throne, and a foolish ministry took up the task of training the chil- dren. They made the mistake of trying to spank the whole thirteen, not realizing that the thirteen sons had almost reached manhood. The result was disastrous.
The Provincial Years in Boston-Before leaving the provincial period some of its effects upon Boston should be recorded, and some of the phases in its development as the principal town in this country noted. Boston as the capital of a great province was vastly different from the Boston and chief settlement of the Puritans. It became the seat and center of a miniature court, with a royal Governor and his gay retinue of subordinates. A knight, a baronet, and even an earl were among the King's appointees. The dull colors of the Puritan were replaced by scarlet and lace. The newcomers were not only disinclined to adopt any of the manners or ways of the natives, but emphasized and flaunted their different customs and dress. The Rose and Crown Inn and the Royal Exchange taverns became the rendezvous of the new elements. The streets were filled with the gay uniforms of British naval officers and army commanders all through the French and Indian War period. The old religion was discarded. The new King's Chapel, which Andros had started building, was made the official church, and on its walls and pillars were hung the escutcheons of the King and the governors. The North End was the "court" section of the town, with many fine houses, usually of brick and surrounded with spacious grounds and gardens. The Prov- ince House was in this district, and the place in which was staged the pageantries, gayeties and formalities of the King's vice-court in Boston.
Probably the old régime, if they had not been above making a play on words, would have said that the Province House was the scene of the court's vices. Certain it was that the fathers of the town frowned upon the frivolity introduced, and mourned sadly over the changes which were taking place. The most determined had no fellowship with those who introduced old English sports on holidays, and kept on with their daily tasks on Christmas Day, which the newcomers observed with some degree of religion as well as gayety. The nucleus of that element which continued the fight against royal rule always remained separate from both the "oppressor" and his adherents. It must be confessed, however, that the native population were not untouched by the presence of so much of what was new and attractive. Secretly or openly, many of the
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native stock joined hands with those of the royal government, and from these evolved that class which, in the Revolution, were known as Royal- ists of "Tories." A glance at the population figures of Boston in this period is enlightening. The first enumeration made by the town was in 1722, when 10,567 persons were found. As the growth of the place was no longer by emigration, it shows how attractive Boston had become to people from the surrounding districts, men of wealth who ranked well in commerce and social position. By 1750 the population had increased to 15,730. Compare these figures with the provincial census of 1776, which reported on 6,573 inhabitants in the town. Not all, or even the larger part, of this loss in population is to be credited to the absence of the patriots from Boston, but rather, as some authorities insist, to the hurried departure of the royalists.
Royalist Boston-There were more permanent additions to Boston and its life than population during the provincial period. A visitor, in 1760, just before the great fire of that year, wrote of Boston that it had much the air of some of the best country towns of England. Another, writing some years before the Revolution, said: "A gentleman from London would almost think himself at home at Boston, when he observes the number of people, their homes, furniture, tables, dress and conversa- tion, which is as splendid and showy as that of the most considerable tradesman in London. Upon the whole, Boston is the most flourishing Town for trade and commerce in the English America. Near six hun- dred sail of ships have been laden here in a year for Europe and the Brit- ish Plantations. The goodness of the pavement may compare with most in London; to gallop a horse on it is three shillings and four pence forfeit." And a more recent writer remarks: "Much similar evidence might be adduced, if needful, to show that after the alternate storm of a century and a half the wilderness had begun 'to blossom like the rose'; that Provincial Boston with its new churches, its fine public buildings, its stately residences, its nicely paved streets, its Common fenced in and planted with trees, its 'superb pier,' its busy docks and ferries, its forest of shipping, its fine forts and batteries, its spinning, rope-walks and whirling windmills, had already so invaded and transformed the once grand and solitary Tramount, that sturdy William Blackstone would have gazed in bewilderment at the winding shores along which he might have ridden upon his ambling bull, and the worshipful Isaac Johnson might have hunted as vainly for his garden as modern antiquaries have for his grave" (Bynner).
Public Buildings-Of the "fine public buildings," the Town House, Faneuil Hall and some of the twenty churches of a half dozen different
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denominations which graced the streets, were among the more notable. The first Town House, of which the present Old State House is the lineal descendant, had been built in 1657-59 with the provisions of the will of Captain Robert Keayne, founder and first captain of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. His money was not enough for its com- pletion so the townspeople raised the balance and erected a "very sub- stantial and comely" wooden structure. The Town House served the colony and the province for a time. Here sat Governors Endicott, Lev- erett and Bradstreet, Joseph Dudley as president of New England, and Andros as well as some of the royal governors. The "great fire," the eighth so named, burned the house, as well as the nearby meeting-house and a hundred dwellings. A second Town House was built in 1713, but of brick; burned all but the walls, it was rebuilt in 1747-49, and is the present Old State House. The Province House, of which mention has been made, was one of the largest and most elaborate of the private homes of its time. It was purchased for the official dwelling of the royal governors in 1716, although most of these built houses for themselves. The Province House was used for our public business until the building of the present State House in 1796. Faneuil Hall was presented to the town by Peter Faneuil and was one of its finest public buildings. It was burned in 1762, and the present structure built upon its walls the next year. It became the place for town meetings and, as such, the "Cradle of Liberty."
Present Vestiges of Provincial Utilities-The provincial period gave birth to many of our present public utilities. The nucleus of a school system was organized; the town chose a special committee, in 1709, to consider the affairs of the free grammar school (Latin school) and like committees seem to have been continued in office. In 1770, such a com- mittee "found 900 scholars in, 5 schools." The "Selectmen" form of town control developed more fully during this time, several of the governors being selectmen. Watchmen were paid to patrol the streets, their lanterns being the first style of street lighting Boston afforded. Toward the middle of the century public-spirited citizens set lamps outside their homes. There was no town water, unless some of the more public wells may be called such. The frequent fires caused the division of the town into fire wards in 1711, with wardens, whose badge of office was a long staff, and to whom was delegated all the authority in putting out fires. In 1733 there were seven engines for extinguishing fires. The poor were always the care of the rich, and an alms-house was early provided. The prosperity of Boston so drew paupers from all over the country, that by 174I the yearly charge was £5,000, a large sum to be raised in a place of only 2,972 polls. A house of correction was built in 1720, and a few
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years later charity schools, on Fort Hill. one for boys, the other for girls, much after the pattern of the more modern farm school.
Ferries gave access to Charlestown until a bridge was erected after the Revolution. The Long Wharf of 1710 was the most important public enterprise up to that date. It is described as "a noble pier 1,800 or 2,000 feet long, with a Row of Warehouses on the North Side for the use of Merchants. The Pier runs so far into the Bay that Ships of greatest Burthen may unlade without Help of Boats or Lighters. From the head of the Pier you go up the chief Street of the Town." (King or State Street). Boston Harbor was well fortified by 1763, as was befitting a town which had been the center from whence had sailed so many war expeditions. Boston, from the first, was blessed more than any other colony with close intercommunication with those nations reached by water. During the provincial area, the coach and the post road were per- fected to a fair degree, and the town was noted for the number of its horses and vehicles. Douglas, in his valuation of 1742, mentions 418 horses in Boston. Post letters had been enjoyed from an early time; a regular postmaster was appointed in 1677, and a post office established in 1704. In 1710, under an Act of Parliament, which established a Gen- eral Post Office in North America, the rate upon letters to England was one shilling, a rate which was not changed until seventy-five years ago. It is quite natural that the Boston Post Office should have been the place where the first American newspaper to be permanently established was published. This was the Boston "News-Letter," founded in 1704, by John Campbell, the postmaster at that time. In 1719 a second news sheet was launched, both of which lived through the whole of the provincial period, the former continuing until 1776, the latter to 1780.
The picture of Boston in 1763, the wealthy capital of a vast province, is a pleasing one, but there were clouds hanging over its future. Its political position was strong, but the political relations with England were going from bad to worse. There had been a progressive increase in the pressure placed upon the province, through the administrations of the governors, to make it more amenable to autocratic control. The Peace of Paris (1763) gave England a place of undisputed supremacy among the powers of Europe. It was unlikely that she would longer bear with the insubordination of one of her colonies. Then, too, the suprem- acy had been secured at the expense of an exhausted treasury. The American colonies were known to have gained in population and means ; they had the ability to pay large sums to the Crown. They were con- trary and complaining, but believed to be loyal. America must be made to pay the war bills of the King. Boston, for the most part, was loyal, more so than many parts of the province. There was a large party in the town committed to the idea of a government under the direct authority
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of the Crown. The opposing element went no further than to insist on the right to self-government under the Crown. The inhabitants were English in birth or descent and sincerely cherished an affection for the mother country which was not reciprocated. The province might be persuaded to pay large sums to England, but it could not be forced, cer- tainly not while it was unrepresented in the Parliament which imposed taxes.
Commercial Competition Takes a Hand-The difficulties might have been adjusted had not the commercial element entered so deeply into the political. There are some historians who insist that the Revolution was mainly a commercial affair, and put forth many facts to bolster up their contention. The prosperity of Boston was based on its commerce, that is certain. The Massachusetts Company, which founded the town, was a business concern. Boston, as the years went by, grew rich from her ships and her shipping. The Earl of Bellomont, the second of the provincial governors, made the statement that "there were more ships belonging to the town of Boston than to all Scotland and Ireland." A report of 1750 mentions "900 vessels engaged in the various branches of their trade at sea." The town and the province manufactured but little, partly because they could afford to buy what they needed, but more because they were prevented from doing so by English restrictions. What was grown or what was taken from the sea was in demand by all nations. It is not to be overlooked that ships were built in this country, and that manufacturing was being tried out in many places. England had a Board of Trade, a powerful organization devised originally by Charles II and reestablished by William III, which, although but an advisory council, did regulate colonial commerce. It was appointed and intended to make the colonies "auxiliary to English trade; the English- man in America was to be employed in making the fortune of the Eng- lishman at home." There is no question of the mischief caused by this Board of Trade in the affairs of the colonies. Nor can one doubt that the repressive acts which preceded and led to the Revolution were "acts in the restraint of trade." But that the Revolution was mainly a "trade war," a "strife for commercial supremacy," has yet to be proven.
As the situation stood, in the later years of the provincial period, there was England supreme in Europe, rich in prestige but poor in means, and New England wealthy but restive under restraint. The commercial classes were becoming increasingly arrayed against each other. The kindling was in place to start a great fire, it needed but a spark to light it. The surprising thing is that the match was applied so often before this country burst into the flames of revolution. The first sparks of the conflagration held little that was extraordinary in them. There had been
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a policy in the treatment of the colonies in force for a long time which had three lines of pressure. There was the "Acts of Trade" rule by which England retained for her merchants the best of commerce and exchange. Again, English troops having been sent to America during the French wars, it was expected that the colonies should provide a part of the cost of this soldiery. And third, there was soon to be practiced the keeping of permanent British garrisons in America.
It is possible that Massachusetts would have borne with these policies had they been enforced in more tactful ways. Navigation laws had inter- fered with its commerce; additional restraints were practiced. Taxes had been paid for years by all of the colonies ; now they were not only to be increased, but England began to emphasize the fact that these taxes were imposed less for the securing of revenue than to make America realize their subservience to England. And, although the French had been conquered in this country, and the powers abroad had been subdued by the British, more troops were sent to America and billeted upon an unwilling people. The Townshend and Grenville ministries both advo- cated the abrogation of colonial charters, and urged a scheme of the taxa- tion of peoples to whom representation was neither granted nor consid- ered. That both ministers proved failures did not offset the bitter hatred the knowledge of their policies aroused on this side of the ocean.
Repressive Measures Leading to Revolt-In 1764, Parliament reën- acted the Molasses Act of 1733, in such terms as to protect the British West Indian planters as against the northern colonies. The Massachu- setts General Court protested the act on the ground that its effect would be to close the markets in both the West Indies and in Europe against New England fish, "thus rendering useless vessels worth £ 100,000, and throwing 5,000 seamen out of work." Boston had become also quite a distillery center, making rum from molasses. This business was greatly injured by the "Sugar Act."
In 1765 the long dreaded stamp act came into effect, an act which came to be the symbol of the usurpation of just rights. This law, although consisting of many parts, had for its essential feature the requirement that all legal and business documents in the colonies must be written on printed or stamped paper, which could be secured only from tax collec- tors. All offenses under the act were to be tried in the admiralty courts, and all taxes were to be collected arbitrarily without trial by jury. Had this act been passed by the colonial assemblies and the duties levied by them, there is little doubt that the American people would have been glad to send to the British government the sums it needed. But the colonies were given no voice in the government which imposed the duties, nor share in the authority which collected them.
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Boston's Reaction to the Stamp Act-Boston was hit hardest of the American settlements by the stamp act and the most riotous in the expression of its objections to it. The birthday of the Prince of Wales, in August, usually celebrated as a holiday, was made the occasion for the first hostile demonstration. Crowds gathered in the street shouting "Pitt and Liberty." Two days later, August 14, the effigies of Andrew Oliver and the Earl of Bute were hanged on the Liberty Tree in the lower part of the town. Bute was the prime minister; Oliver, the son-in-law of Governor Hutchinson, had been appointed stamp distributor. Hutchin- son ordered the removal of the effigies, but nothing was done until eve- ing, when the Sons of Liberty, who had perpetrated the deed, took them down and, at the head of a great mob, marched to the Old State House, where the Governor and his advisers were assembled, shouting a cry which was often to be repeated, "Liberty, Property, and no Stamps." Then the mob proceeded to Fort Hill, where Oliver lived, and burned the effigies. This was but the beginning of a period of rioting which cul- minated in the sacking of Hutchinson's home and the destruction of much that was valuable both to the Governor and to the province.
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