USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume I > Part 8
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The rioting was later repeated, but few of the better class of Boston's patriots seem to have been involved in these affairs. Samuel Adams wrote of it as "high-handed outrages," and gave his attention to more effective measures. In the Massachusetts Assembly, Adams introduced a series of fourteen resolves, asserting the inherent and inalienable rights of the people. "These resolves met with great favor, and were exten- sively printed and quoted throughout the country." On October 7, the first American Congress ever held, composed of delegates from the dif- ferent colonies, met in New York to take into consideration their rights, privileges and grievances. This congress passed several resolutions, the gist of which were that Americans ought to be given the right to trial by jury, and the right to freedom from taxation except through the colonial assemblies. It also consummated what was a virtual union of the colonies. To James Otis must be given the credit for proposing the calling of the congress.
Rejoicing Over the Repeal of the Stamp Act-When, in November, the attempt was made to enforce the stamp act in spite of the objections which had been made, rioting broke out again. In Boston the church bells were tolled, the vessels in the harbor hung their flags at half-mast, effigies, this time of Grenville and Huske, were hanged on the Liberty Tree. A general boycott was proclaimed, clearance papers were refused to shipmasters, and courts of law suspended. The example set by Bos- ton was followed by the colonies in general. The depression which hung over America was soon dissipated. The venerable Pitt rose in the House
JOHN ADAMS (Portrait by Copley)
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of Commons and made his famous plea for the repeal of the act; peti- tions were sent to the House from merchant organizations in the English cities who quickly realized the harm being done to their business; and Benjamin Franklin was summoned before the bar of the Commons and for ten days and examined on colonial affairs. The upshot of the proceed- ings was the repeal of the Stamp Act, March 17, 1766. London was delighted and Boston received the news with every demonstration of joy. "The Liberty Tree was decked with lanterns; bells and guns, flags and music, illuminations and fireworks, proclaimed in unmistakable lan- guage the gratitude and loyalty of the people."
Depression Caused by the Declaratory Act-The joy of the people over the repeal of one act blinded them to the full meaning of another which accompanied. To save the face of the English Government the Declaratory Act had been passed, which asserted the right of Parliament to tax the American colonies "in all cases whatever." This was precisely the principal against which the colonies were arrayed. The act, once its significance had been realized, aroused in Massachusetts a new and greater apprehension and resentment. One historian dates the revolt of the colonies from 1766, the year of the Declaratory Act. How it was to be applied to colonial affairs was soon made manifest. Charles Town- shend, by a change in the British ministry, selected as chancellor of the exchequer, managed to push through Parliament his famous "revenue bill," which provided for taxes on certain articles of import, including tea. The pill was sugar-coated, by making the taxes small, and by directing that the proceeds should go toward the payment of the salaries of governors and judges in America. But the medicine was refused. All over the colonies rose the cry, "No taxation without representation." At a town meeting of Boston it was declared "We will form an immediate and universal combination to eat nothing, drink nothing, wear nothing, imported from Great Britain ..... Our strength consists in union ; let us above all be of one heart and one mind; let us call our sister colonies to join us in asserting our rights." English exports to New England dropped forty-eight per cent. in one year.
The merchants of England failed to come to the aid of the provinces this time as they had before. Instead, sailors and soldiers were sent to enforce the law, or at least to overawe the colonials into submission. Two regiments with artillery arrived in Boston in September of 1768. The selectmen, acting within the law, refused to provide any other quar- ters for the troops than the regular barracks on Castle Island. They were marched to the common and for the most part encamped there or in Faneuil Hall. Boston was a garrisoned town from this time until Wash-
Met. Bos .- 5
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ington forced the British to leave eight years later. The presence of the soldiers was a source of continual irritation to the inhabitants of the town. Clashes between the troops and the townspeople were frequent. The climax was reached in a riot of March 5, 1770, the date of the "Bos- ton Massacre." The tale of this is told elsewhere in this work and needs no repetition. The influence of this event upon the growing sentiment for complete colonial independence was very great. "On that night," wrote John Adams, a year later, "the formation of American Independ- ence was laid." Webster says of the incident: "From that moment we may date the severance of the British empire."
The "Tea Party"-Another crisis came in the affairs of Boston in 1773 with the arrival of ships from England with cargoes of specially priced teas. There had been such an accumulation of tea in England owing to the refusal of American merchants to import it, that The East India Company, which had a practical monopoly of the sea trade, obtained the right to remit the export duty from England of one shilling per pound on teas exported to America. But the King, "who had Boston on the brain," had insisted on the retention of a three pence duty to be paid by the colonial receivers. The East India Company, since, even with the duty, it could sell tea in this country at a lower price than to other coun- tries, thought to unload its accumulations in America. The attempt was resented in all the entry ports. Boston expressed its displeasure with a "Tea Party." A party of Bostonians disguised as Mohawk Indians boarded three tea ships and tossed three hundred and forty-two chests of tea into the harbor.
This violent rejection of the only tax now remaining not only stirred America to greater efforts for independence, but it aroused a more deter- mined spirit in England that the authority of the Crown should be main- tained at all costs, and that any act in violation of this must be punished. Boston as the ringleader had to bear the brunt of the punishment which followed. The Boston Port Act was passed by Parliament in March, 1774, which provided that Boston should cease to be a port of entry, after the first of June, unless the town would indemnify the East India Com- pany for the loss of its teas; and furthermore, that the administrative offices of the colony should be removed to Salem.
The Port Bill-The Port Act was followed by the Regulating Act, which abrogated the charter given by King William III, in 1692. Under its regulations the councillors were made the appointees of the Crown and paid by it; the town meeting was practically abolished and with it passed all semblance of legal local self-government. "The effect of the changes would be to concentrate all the power in the hands of the Gov-
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ernor, leaving no check to his arbitrary will. It would, in short, trans- form Massachusetts into an absolute despotism such as under which no Englishman had ever lived." A third act provided for the trial abroad of anyone questioning the new laws. The fourth provided for the quarter- ing of troops upon the inhabitants of towns, and was evidently intended to establish a military government over Massachusetts. The fifth had to do with the government of Canada. To enforce these coercive measures, General Gage, the commander-in-chief of his Majesty's troops in America, was sent to Boston. He set up the tents of his regiments upon the com- mon, mounted cannon on the surrounding hills, and renewed the forti- fications at the Necke. The Siege of Boston is usually written of as an affair of eleven months' duration. It actually began when Gage took possession of the town in May, 1773, and did not end until March, 1776. Gage was the appointee as Governor of the province of Massachusetts, but he never ruled a region larger than the ground upon which his sol- diers were stationed.
Meanwhile, the Port Bill, which went into effect on June 1, 1774, brought Boston face to face with ruin. Not only was its commerce at an end, but so drastic were the provisions of the act that the movement of boats from wharf to wharf, or to the islands in the harbor, was inter- dicted. Even the ferry to Charlestown was stopped, nor could a scow go to Dorchester. Business was prostrated; all classes felt "the scourge of the oppressor." The town meeting took measures to meet the exigency. "A committee of Ways and Means was appointed to succor the poor of the town, and various public works to provide them with employment were authorized." Through a Committee of Correspondence an appeal was made to the other colonies "to stop all Importations from Great Britain and Exportations to Great Britain and every part of the West Indies till the Act for Blocking up this Harbor be repealed." Expres- sions of sympathy poured in from other sections. Supplies of food and money were sent by the other colonies as well as the nearby districts. Salem and Marblehead scorned to profit by the sufferings of their neigh- bor, and offered the free use of their wharves and stores.
The Siege of Boston-General Gage soon realized the futility of trying to pacify a now thoroughly incensed town. The time for reason- ing was past. He applied for more troops, strengthened his fortifications, seized the powder and arms belonging to the town, all he could find, and from his position in Boston reached out to take any and all military sup- plies in the province. He reached out once too often and too far, and precipitated at Lexington and Concord the strife which neither King nor Province desired. Parliament had thought that "By punishing Boston, all America would be struck with a panic." Edmund Burke assured that
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body that "the cause of Boston is become the cause of all America. By these acts of oppression, you have made Boston the Lord Mayor of America."
The events at Lexington and Concord, and the Battle of Bunker Hill, are matters of military history, and will not be related here. After them, Boston became a beleaguered town, and suffered as only such a place could suffer. Washington one hot day in July of 1775 took over the com- mand of the "embattled farmers" who had shut Gage within the town. It was long months before he could build, or make over, a force suffi- ciently strong to drive the British troops from the peninsula. General Howe had been sent to the aid of Gage, but he did not fight his way out, neither could Washington fight his way in, or perhaps he would not, lest Boston be destroyed. It was not until March 17, 1776, that the long siege of Boston came to its undramatic end.
The changes wrought in Boston by the "Siege" were both many and dire. As the largest, most prosperous, most prominent place in America, it had provided the stage, the actors, and the inspiration of the opening scenes in the drama of the Revolution. Says Cabot: "The heroic period in the history of the town in its corporate capacity closed when Wash- ington marched in at the head of his army, and Lord Howe sailed out of Boston Harbor. In the years preceding that event Boston had been the most important name in the long list of English possessions. It had figured in the newspapers, in the conferences of cabinets and the debates of Parliament, with unrivalled frequency. It had lighted the flame of resistance, endured the first stroke of angry rulers, and had witnessed the first disaster to the British arms. During the Revolution, Boston- untouched after the first shock of war had passed away-had her share of glory and suffering; but she ceased to be the central point of resist- ance, or to attract further the attention of England and Europe."
The Beleaguered Town-The Siege of Boston, following closely as it did upon the heels of a series of reprisals which had completely checked commerce, reduced Boston to the lowest depths of weakness and despond. The population that had approached twenty thousand was little more than six in 1775, and the census taken by the colony in 1776 showed but two thousand seven hundred and nineteen. It was more than a decade before the number of inhabitants reached former numbers. The destruc- tion of commerce was but one of the factors in the depletion of Boston's population. Disease had been prevalent, famine played some part ; but the principal cause had been the hegira of the patriots in the Colonial Army and to the parts of the country where they could be free to serve against England, and the hurried departure of the Loyalists to Halifax and elsewhere at the close of the siege, which left Boston inhabited by
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so few. Horace E. Scudder explains that: "The population which remained in Boston, when the town was fully beleaguered, consisted of the garrison and its immediate camp-following; the Crown officers with their households; a society of Tories, rich and well bred, many of whom had sought refuge in the town; a considerable body of poor people, whose sympathies were principally with the Patriots; and a few citizens who, belonging to the popular party, remained either to perform their offices as ministers or doctors, or to protect, as far as possible, their own property and that of their connections. Our sources of information regard- ing the common life of the town are derived from letters, journals, from representatives of these several classes, and from the scanty chronicles preserved in the meagre 'Boston News-Letter,' the only paper published during the siege, which was in the Tory interest. . . In the matter of shelter, the gentlemen and ladies of the Royal cause took possession of houses which had been deserted by prominent citizens, or were welcomed by those who remained with satisfaction in their own homes. Hancock's house was occupied by General Clinton; Burgoyne was in the Bowdoin mansion ; and Lord Percy in the Gardiner Greene house; Gage and his successor, Howe, took possession, in turn, of the Province House. The officers found lodgings in the aristocratic boarding-houses, which long after this period were the resort of persons who wished a more dignified and comfortable resting place than the taverns afforded. The troops were disposed in barracks in different parts of the town ; and the general aspect of the place was altered by the exigencies of the situation. A num- ber of buildings were taken down near old Hay-Market .... the old South church was used as a riding-school for the light dragoons, and other meeting-houses for barracks. The Old North Meeting-house was pulled down for fuel, and over a hundred houses were destroyed for the same purpose."
Before we condemn too severely these depredations it is well to recall that this is the picture of a besieged town. Colonial troops hedged in a population of perhaps twenty thousand people, garrison and townsfolk. The control of the harbor outlets by the British vessels was one in theory rather than in fact, for the naval ships had hovering about them pri- vateersmen who greatly harassed all entering shipping. To supply food for so many was beyond the capacity of the military authorities; as for fuel, none arrived and the winter was bitter, the older houses had to go to keep folk warm and to cook their food. There were many disgraceful, wanton acts of oppression and destruction, characterizing the occupa- tion of the town by Gage, but it was war, and the general was too busy with his troops, a turbulent, lawless lot, to have much time for the pro- tection of the material affairs of the town.
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The Havoc Wrought by the Revolution-There were further scenes of destruction during the hasty departure of the British Army and the Tories. The deserted Boston was sadly unlike its former busy pros- perous self. Church life was revived almost at once, but commercial, populous Boston was not. Washington and his army had to hasten else- where. The town could not be properly garrisoned or protected. None knew how soon the enemy might return with an increased force and the later condition be worse than the former. Whatever the reasons, few returned to Boston during the war. Although the Revolution brought no further warfare to Boston, the city was subject to more than one alarm, and did not settle down to peace and work until Rochambeau with his fleet and forces entered the place after the surrender at Yorktown. With that year, 1781, began the revival of Boston's interests, and the beginning of that steady growth in population which has continued unto the present day.
All through the Revolution, the political leadership, or actual govern- ment of Massachusetts, was resident in other towns than Boston. The first Provincial Congress was held in Concord and Cambridge in October, 1774, after having waited at Salem the week before for the Governor to meet with the council. John Hancock was chosen president and Benja- min Lincoln secretary. This body voted that no more taxes should be paid to the Royal treasury ; assessments were arranged for the payment of the military preparations made for opposition to the further rule of the King. Although war had not begun, the province was really already in a state of rebellion, and without any legal civil government. This Con- gress, like the second (February I, 1775, at Cambridge), and others, was merely a body making suggestions, but whose suggestions had the force of laws. If one were to summarize the political status of Mas- sachusetts during the Revolutionary period, from 1775 to 1780, one must characterize it as being in a state of armed rebellion, with adher- ence given to the Declaration of Independence, with a revolutionary gov- ernment carried on by a Council and House of Representatives, the members of which were elected annually by the people; the seat of government being located in the most conveniently located place.
The Town Meeting Revived-The Regulating Act of 1774 had for- bidden the holding of town meetings without the written consent of the royal Governor, so that such meetings were comparatively rare for the following few years. One held in Boston on May 23, 1776, voted :
"That if the Honble Continental Congress should for the safety of the Colonies, declare them Independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, they, the Inhabitants, will solemnly engage with their Lives and For- tunes to support them in the Measure."
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Three days more than a complete year later, May 26, in reply to the recommendation of the House of Representatives that the town instruct its representatives to act with the council in forming a Constitution of Government, Boston unanimously voted contrary-wise, desiring that "This matter at a suitable time will properly come before the people at large to delegate a select number for that purpose, and that alone." The form of Government, known as the Constitution of 1778, when submitted to the voters of Boston, was rejected unanimously at the town meeting, because it had not been framed by a convention chosen by the people for that purpose. One thing was made clear, Boston, and Massachusetts was with it, was determined that while a new Constitution was desired, only one formed by an enlarged town meeting which included delegates from the whole province would be accepted.
First Constitutional Convention Held-This determined stand brought about the gathering together in 1779 of the first Constitutional Conven- tion to be held anywhere. James Bowdoin, of Boston, was the first presi- dent, and the town was represented by twelve delegates. The first meet- ing was held at Cambridge, September 1, 1779, but the most of the later sessions were held in the Old State House; and it was in this building that the first General Court of the State of Massachusetts was organized, October 25, 1780. Submitted to the people, it was duly ratified, again being unique in that it was the first State Constitution adopted in America by the votes of the people. The Massachusetts Constitution and Declaration of Rights of 1780 is one of the most remarkable documents of its time, "a monument to the intellectual elevation as well as to the wisdom, sagacity, and breadth of view of the statesmen who modeled and the people who accepted it." John and Samuel Adams, Bowdoin, Hancock, Lowell, Parsons, Cabot, Sullivan, Cushing and many others had a part in the creation of this document, but "John Adams was the chief architect." On September 4, 1780, the first State election under the Constitution was held and John Hancock was elected Governor, he, who had been the president of the Continental Congress, and the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, whose bold signature is one of the only two now visible on the original parchment.
The Rehabilitation of the Hub-All this while Boston was valiantly striving to get back some of the former attributes which had made it the most important town in America. The population had increased; it is estimated that its inhabitants numbered 10,000 in 1781 and 15,000 in 1784. Business was waking up, commerce began to brighten the harbor with the sails of ships, there was renewed bustle and life in the streets, but the rehabilitation of the town was to be a long, hard process. The peace
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of 1783 found the town and the State thoroughly disorganized, almost on verge of anarchy. The State was three million of pounds in debt, an enormous amount for the times. Private individuals were almost as badly off, insolvency was general, for the currency had depreciated to the minus point, private credit was crushed, the poor were doubly poor since the methods of forcing them to pay what they owed tended to place them in jail, where they had no prospect of ever paying their debts. The State tax collector claimed priority for State taxes, while the individual creditor sought to force payment through the courts.
The economic conditions after the end of the Revolution were so thoroughly bad as to threaten the stability of the loosely connected National Government. Massachusetts, in this crisis, was again to be the advance guard of revolt, but not with any honor to her name. The so-called "Shays' Rebellion" was the culmination of an insurrection which not only threatened the existence of the Commonwealth, but shook to its foundations the unstable fabric of the confederacy. The "Rebel- lion" was nothing more than a popular uprising of a poverty-stricken people against a State form of government which would not, or could not, come to their aid. It was, to some extent, an outbreak of the agricultur- ist against the monied class, of the State against Boston. The adoption of the State Constitution had been by a vote of only about 13,000; seventy-six towns returned no vote at all, and probably only about one out of five possible voters in Massachusetts exercised his right. One of the objections to the new Constitution was that by doubling the property qualification for voting, a great number had been deprived of the fran- chise, and it was feared with a Legislature making harsh and even unjust laws which "favored the creditor rather than the debtor," a "ruling class" would be created whose tyranny would be worse than that of a King and Parliament.
Shays' Rebellion-The Shays movement started in the western part of the State, and gathered strength as it spread east. At its height, it is estimated that more than half of the residents of the Commonwealth were either actively engaged, or were sympathizers, in the Rebellion. Says Henry Cabot Lodge: "While the storm was gathering, John Han- cock, the popular hero and Governor, not fancying the prospect opening before the State, and the consequent difficulties and dangers likely to beset the chief magistrate, took himself out of the way, and the younger and more conservative element in politics elected James Bowdoin in his stead. Bowdoin was a wise and courageous man, perfectly ready to sacrifice popularity, if need be, to the public good. He was warmly sup- ported in Boston, as the principles and objects of Shays and his followers were peculiarly obnoxious to the business community. The alarm in the
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town was great, for it looked as if their contest for freedom was about to result in anarchy. The young men came forward, armed themselves, and volunteered for service; but the Governor's firmness was all that was needed. General Lincoln, at the head of the militia, easily crushed the feeble mob gathered by Shays."
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