USA > Pennsylvania > The history of Pennsylvania from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 15
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Our space does not permit us to go over the familiar history of American remonstrance, in which every colony, except those just acquired from France and Spain, united. Pennsylvania saw in such a mode of raising revenue the de- claration of a principle which would deprive the people of their most essential rights as British subjects, and the assembly instructed their agent in London to remonstrate. Dr. Franklin, as speaker, signed these instructions, not foresceing
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1765.
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that he would be the agent to be guided by them. But at the next election Franklin sustained his first popular defeat, being left out of the house by a majority of about twenty-five votes in four thousand. The proprietary interest, and pro- bably the enmity he had incurred by his bold words on the Paxton massacre, occasioned this result. But the average complexion of the legis- lature was little changed; and the mortification of Franklin was relieved by his appointment by the assembly, by a large majority, as their agent, to proceed to England and take charge of the petition in relation to the change of government, and the remonstrance against the Stamp Act. The former was lost in the importance of the latter.
In spite of remonstrance, without indeed for- mal hearing of it, the British House of Commons, on the 27th of February, 1765, passed the Stamp Act. It was read on the 13th, when first intro- duced, without a word of debate. West India merchants in London petitioned against it, and were told that it was a rule of the house to re- ceive no petitions against a money-bill. The
same fate awaited the petitions of the colonies which the British ministry had invited, by delay- ing the act for a year to admit of the colonies "being consulted." Being insulted proved the real fate of the colonies in the matter. There were conferences with the Board of Trade, and
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257
1765.] STAMP ACT PASSED.
some informal conversation between the friends of America and members of the ministry. There were some noble efforts made in the Commons to arrest the measure. But in the House of Lords, on the 8th of March, the bill which divided an empire passed without a dissentient vote, and without having called out the proposition of an amendment-without even the formality of a division. Subsequent events were a surprise to every body out of America. Resistance was not dreamed of in Europe. The English people were apparently more unanimous than the Par- liament, for the nation looked for an abatement of its internal taxes in the taxation of America. And thus was passed a law which it was thought would compel its own collection, by giving the royal exchequer a percentage on every mercan- tile transaction, and a share of every lawyer and litigant's costs ; a tax on every printer's profit ; a percentage upon marriage certificates, apothecaries' prescriptions, birth registers, and burial fees. Even the agents of the colonies dreamed of no resistance, and were induced to make nominations of fit persons in America as stamp officers, on the principle, as was coarsely but wittily said, that when a man is hanged, it is better to keep the executioner's fee in' the family. .
The inhabitants of the colonies universally refused to permit the Stamp Act to go into
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1765.
operation. The day fixed in the act for the duty to go into effect was the 1st of November. But the legislatures of the provinces, Virginia taking the lead in a series of resolutions offered by Patrick Henry, pronounced against the act. The Pennsylvania assembly, accustomed to define its position, was temperate but firm. A congress of delegates from the several assemblies was called, on the suggestion of Massachusetts, to meet in New York in October. The speech of Colonel Barre, a member of the British Com- mons, who had served in America with Wolfe, furnished a key-note for the Americans in their resistance. He opposed the measure in spirited and eloquent language, which found its way into the American newspapers, and has since been stereotyped in the popular selections of speeches for declamation. No village declaiming club for the half century following Colonel Barre's first utterance, failed to have in its programme the stirring speech of the friend of America. He spoke of the colonists as "Sons of Liberty." The Young America of that day caught at the appellation ; and while older and more cautious patriots reasoned and remonstrated, the "Sons of Liberty" burned and hanged stamp-officers in effigy, and destroyed the property of ob- noxious individuals. No man who had accepted the office in America ever performed its func- tions. Mr. Hughes, the stamp-officer for Phila-
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259
ARRIVAL OF STAMPS.
1765.]
delphia, Franklin's appointee, was dangerously ill when the stamps arrived. Muffled bells tolled, flags floated at half-mast, and an immense con- course of citizens assembled at the state-house. In deference to the condition of Mr. Hughes, a committee of gentlemen waited upon him in his sick room. He gave them assurance th would not attempt to exercise his office until the Stamp Act should be generally submitted to in the other colonies. They required a written promise. He repeated his verbal assurance. With this, the declaration of a man who seemed upon the brink of the grave, the people contented themselves. But when Mr. Hughes became con- valescent, he was compelled to enter into a pub- lic engagement that he would not assume his office until required to do so by the people. The stamps were placed on board of a vessel of war then lying in the harbour. Some of these revo- lutionary memorials are still in existence, or were until recently, among the unconsidered lumber of the British public offices.
The delegates of the colonies who met in New York on the second Tuesday in October, adopted a declaration of their rights and grievances, a petition to the king, and a memorial to Parlia- ment. Non-importation was agreed upon, form- ally and informally, throughout the colonies. Homespun suits became the fashion; and the graduating class of Harvard College, Massa-
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
[1765.
chusetts, took their degrees in domestic suits. Where homespun suits could not readily be had, the old ones were worn on and on; and fashion made threadbare garments the evidence alike of position and of patriotism.
These formidable demonstrations were not without their weight, though the people of Eng- land, as we have already said, and the majority of her statesmen, contended for the supremacy of Parliament. The Grenville ministry went out, not from any condemnation of their colonial policy, but from causes upon which we have no need to dilate. The Stamp Act had been en- tirely nugatory in the United States. The courts and public offices were closed, or else opened without regard to the provisions of the act. In Philadelphia a semi-sheet of the Gazette was issued on the 1st of November, without title, and the words "No Stamped Paper to be had," sup- plied the place of the head of the paper. On the 14th, a sheet was issued, headed " Remarkable Occurrences." On the 21st the regular publica- tion was resumed. It became evident that no- thing but force could compel the observance of the act which it had been supposed would en- force itself; and it was a troublesome problem to determine how that force could be applied. The new ministry did not feel disposed to inherit the difficulties of their predecessors, or to attempt to carry out a measure which, while in the oppo-
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261
1765.] REPEAL OF STAMP ACT.
sition, they had denounced. A project for the repeal was brought forward by the new ministry, and carried; in the Commons by a vote of two hundred and seventy-five against one hundred and sixty-seven ; in the Lords by a vote of one hundred and five against seventy-one. The dis- senting lords recorded their protests. The trad- ing portion of the nation who had begun to feel the loss of their business, rejoiced at the close of the struggle, in the hope of new orders. Frank- lin, who had been heard before a committee of the whole house upon the subject, and whose clear statements and pointed replies had done no little to produce the result, sent to his wife Deborah, with the tidings of the repeal, a new dress of Pompadour satin.
The act of repeal was received in America with rejoicings. Philadelphia was illuminated. Barrels of beer were placed on tap. The princi- pal inhabitants gave an entertainment, at which the civil and military officers, royal and provin- cial, were guests, and it was determined to cele- brate the coming royal birth-day in new suits of British manufacture. And so it was done. Other colonies erected statues of the king and of Pitt. The leaden George III. placed by New York in the Bowling Green in that city, was a few years subsequently cast into bullets.
But the exultation at the passage of the re- peal was not intemperate or excessive. It was
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
[1767.
coupled with a declaration of the right of Parlia- ment to tax the colonies in all cases whatsoever, and followed by a resolution requiring the colo- nies to make indemnity to those who had suffered losses in the Stamp Act riots. Pennsylvania had no restitution to make, having had no de- struction of property. New York complied, and so did Massachusetts; but the same act in the latter state granted a free pardon to the rioters.
The persistence of the ministry in affirming the right to tax was evinced to be no mere form. Acts were passed in 1767, levying duties on articles imported into America, establishing a board of revenue commissioners for that country, providing for the standing army in the colonies, and fixing permanent salaries for the governors and judges, and paying them from the royal exchequer ; thus making the executive and judi- ciary independent of the colonial legislatures, and holding a force in reserve to compel obedi- ence. The colonies would be thus effectually deprived of even the semblance of freedom. In the enforcement of the revenue laws jurisdiction was given to Admiralty courts, without the right of jury trial; and for offences against public property it was enacted that the offenders should be transported to England for trial. Pennsyl- vania instantly took the alarm. Her agents in London were directed to unite with the agents of the other colonies in any decent application
263
PETITIONS TO PARLIAMENT.
1767.]
to Parliament. Massachusetts addressed a cir- cular letter to the other colonies, pointing out the evil effects of the late parliamentary mea- sures. This circular was entered on the journals of the Pennsylvania assembly. Another from Virginia of similar tenor recommended a union of the colonies. To this by resolution the house assented, and appointed a committee to memorialize the king and Parliament. These petitions were written' in a clear and forcible, yet respectful tone. Governor Penn laid before the house at the same session a letter from the secretary of the colonies, in which it was said that no doubt existed of the loyalty of Pennsyl- vania, and that her assembly would treat the Massachusetts circular "with the contempt it deserved;" but in case a disposition were shown by the assembly to countenance the Massachu- setts sedition, the governor of Pennsylvania was commanded to prorogue or dissolve it. The house answered this ministerial mandate with a resolu- tion that they had the right to sit on their own adjournments, and that the governor had no power to prorogue them ; and that they had fur- ther an undoubted right to correspond with the representatives of the freemen of any of his ma- jesty's colonies on the subject of the public grievances.
Among the many able political writings which marked this period were. " Letters from a Farmer
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1770.
in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies." They were written by John Dick- enson, and republished in every colony. Dr. Franklin republished them in London with a preface. The people everywhere came again into non-importation agreements. Even the English manufacturers and traders were brought to memorialize Parliament to repeal the acts which caused the suspension of all colonial trade. Again the ministry ungraciously receded, re- pealing the obnoxious duties on every thing but tea, and keeping it upon that solely to defend the principle. The colonists modified their non- importation agreements to have effect upon tea alone, and the drinkers of the beverage solaced themselves with a smuggled article. Duty was paid in Pennsylvania on one chest of tea only.
The first blood had been shed in the dispute between the colonies and the mother country. In January, 1770, a collision occurred between the British troops and some of the citizens of Boston, which caused the death of three persons and the dangerous wounding of five others. For a year and a half troops had been quartered in the city, and treated by the inhabitants as foreign enemies rather than as fellow-subjects. There was great difficulty in finding quarters for them; nobody being willing to assume the unpopular office of providing for those who were deemed the public enemies. The governor's council re-
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265
BORDER DISPUTES.
1770.]
ferred General Gage to the selectmen. But as the Act of Parliament named only justices, the selectmen referred General Gage to them. The justices declined, and the general was compelled to hire houses, and furnish firing and bedding from the military chest. Mobs constantly as- saulted the soldiers, and at last an affray occurred with the result above mentioned. The troops were removed to the castle; the soldiers who fired were tried, and had as their counsel John Adams and Josiah Quincy. All were acquitted except two, who were found guilty of man- slaughter, and subjected to a slight punishment. This was a most honourable act in a Boston jury.
We must now turn aside for a moment to no- tice Indian difficulties and border disputes. In doing this we must review events to make the narrative intelligible. There seems no doubt that the lavish original grant of Connecticut co- vered a part of the land afterward granted to William Penn, namely, a degree of latitude, and four or five of longitude. It was held by the proprietaries that the adjustment of the bounda- ries of Connecticut with New York cut off the claims of Connecticut to the West. But the Susquehanna company, formed by certain men in Connecticut, insisted that Connecticut held, under her charter « from the Atlantic to the Pa- cific," a claim to the lands west of the corner of
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1770.
New York which separates Pennsylvania and Connecticut. The Susquehanna company pur- chased of certain Indian chiefs at Albany, in 1754, the Indian title to a tract including the sadly celebrated Wyoming Valley ; and the pro- prietaries of Pennsylvania made a like ill-starred purchase, as we have already recounted. The Indians uniformly denied the fact of the Con- necticut sale as they did the justice of that to the Pennsylvanians. In 1763 the Pennsylva- nians having receded from their purchase, the Connecticut men still claimed theirs, and had cleared a large space in the valley of Wyoming. The chieftain Teedyuscung resided there, and protested against this invasion of the ground which had been restored to the Indians by the treaty of 1758. But the whites persisted. Some warriors of the Six Nations murdered Teedyus- cung, setting fire to the old man's house while he slept, and he perished in the flames. The murderers had furthermore the wicked address to induce the Delawares to believe that the whites had killed their chief. In revenge, the Indians in October, 1763, fell upon the Wyoming settlement, and butchered thirty of the whites in cold blood. The survivors attempted to reach the denser settlements. Some succeeded, many perished. Their houses were burned, and the whole tract desolated. A party of Moravian Indians, dreading lest in the vengeance of the
267
BORDER DISPUTES.
1770.] .
whites they should be included, removed to Gnadenhutten, and were thence taken to Phila- delphia after the Paxton massacre, as previously stated ; but with difficulty saved, even there.
In 1768, finding that the Connecticut settlers would not respect the reservation made to the Indians, the proprietaries purchased the Indian title, and prepared to defend it. They laid out the territory in manors, and by offering favour- able terms, induced settlers to occupy the ground. The Susquehanna company also took steps to occupy the tract; and the two interests came into troublesome and even hostile collision. And thus the quarrel continued; the Connecticut set- tlers obtaining possession until 1802, when the dispute was terminated by the decision of Con- gress in favour of Pennsylvania, and by subse- quent laws of the state the matter was adjusted. The Wyoming Valley furnished its quota for the Connecticut line during the Revolution; and was the scene of another fearful tragedy, of which notice will be taken in its place.
Richard Penn was governor of Pennsylvania for two years previous to September, 1773, by the absence of John Penn in Europe. His admi- nistration was popular and conciliatory. In 1774 occurred an unfortunate collision with Vir- ginia, as to the western boundary, Virginia claiming all west of the Alleghanies. This dis- pute was adjusted in 1780, and the present
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
. [1770.
western boundary of Pennsylvania was fixed. - But during the disputes, as seems to have been usually the case when the whites contended for territory, Indian murders and revengeful reta- liations were frequent. In the course of these frays the family of the famous chief Logan were murdered. This chief, who had hitherto been the friend of the white man, took up the hatchet with his countrymen. Lord Dunmore of Vir- ginia, who conducted the war, compelled the In- dians to capitulate. Logan would not attend the convention, but sent in his speech. "There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge; I have sought it; I have killed many ; I have glutted my vengeance ! For my people, I rejoice at the beams of peace; but do not harbour a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life! Who is there to mourn for Logan ? Not one !"
Shattered in reason-become intemperate in his habits-the wreck of a noble chieftain-Lo- gan wandered away into the wilderness. He was murdered by some of his savage race, but where or how are matters of uncertainty. Who shall say that the love of kindred glows not in the dusky breast ! that the savage of the wilderness is insensible to sorrow !
269
TEA DIFFICULTIES.
1772.]
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CHAPTER XVI.
The tea difficulties-Indignation of the colonists-Destruction of the obnoxious article-Meeting in Philadelphia-Retalia- tory acts of the British Parliament-Quebec Act-Meetings in Philadelphia-Provincial conference-Instructions to state assembly-Continental Congress-Massachusetts sup- ported-Declaration of rights-Articles of association-Pe- titions and memorials-Committee of correspondence- Action of state assemblies-Governor Penn's remonstrance -Proceedings of the British ministry-More oppressive acts-Lord North's plan of conciliation-Provincial conven- tion-Testimony of Friends-Thomas Mifflin-Lord North's proposal rejected-Affair of Lexington-Excitement in con- sequence-Military association-Quaker Blues-Continental Congress-Franklin appointed postmaster-general-Penn- sylvania assembly-Committee of safety-Governor Penn- Bunker Hill-Pennsylvania committee of safety-State of parties-Instructions to delegates in Congress-Military duty made compulsory-Evacuation of Boston-Popular excite- ment in favour of change-Congress resolve away allegi- ance to Great Britain-First war-alarm near Philadelphia -The assembly meet-The people protest-Resolution of Congress in favour of independence-The assembly rescind their instructions-Provincial conference-Declaration of Independence-Pennsylvania convention-End of the char- ter government.
THE affirmation of the right of Parliament to tax the colonies, while it remained a mere declaration, and was restricted to the single article of tea, kept suspicion alive indeed, but offered no opportunity for collision. English merchants forebore to ship, and Americans re- 23*
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
[1772.
fused to order the obnoxious article. Meanwhile smugglers could supply from the continent of Europe sufficient for all the wants of the colonies, and at a rate cheaper than it could reach Ame- rica in the regular trade. Thus the duty re- mained a dead letter.
The East India Company applied to the Bri- tish government for the repeal of the colonial duty on tea, that their diminished revenue might be restored. The company proposed that the duty of sixpence levied in England upon its ex- portation should be retained, and the duty in the colonies abolished altogether. The company were restricted from importing tea on their own account.' But Lord North, then in the ministry, proposed and carried a measure which he sup- posed would both relieve the company and pur- chase the submission of the colonies. The re- straint on the company in the matter of being their own factors was taken off. The whole English duty on tea exported to the colonies was abolished. The colonial duty was retained. Tea, under these regulations, had they gone into suc- cessful operation, could have been purchased in the colonies cheaper than in England, and at a less rate than it had ever been before. The number of factors through whose hands it must pass would have been diminished, English mer- chants being superseded by a powerful company ; and tea, through the custom-house, would reach
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1773.] MEETING AT PHILADELPHIA.
the American consumer at a less price than even the smuggled commodity. Thus was an effort made to buy the surrender of principle by penny bribes. It was indignantly and boldly met. In Boston, the tea which arrived under these arrangements was thrown into the dock by & party of citizens in disguise. In Charleston, South Carolina, it was landed, and spoiled by storage in damp cellars. The New York and Philadelphia tea ships returned with their car-
goes. Two cargoes were landed in Portsmouth, New Haven, but reshipped. At Annapolis, Mary- land, the vessel in which the tea arrived was burned with her cargo-the owner himself apply- ing the torch, under the pressure of fear of popular violence.
The arrival of the tea ships was not unex- pected. The passage of the measures relative to the importation prepared the Americans for re- sistance. Philadelphia took the initiative, and at a town meeting in October, 1773, passed spi- rited resolutions. In terse but emphatic terms these resolutions pointed out that the effect of the ministerial policy, if pursued, would be to render American legislation useless, and intro- duce arbitrary government, and slavery. Who- ever should countenance the importation was denounced as an enemy to his country. The con- signees of the tea were required to resign. Some did so at once, and all eventually complied.
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
[1774.
The Philadelphia resolutions were adopted in Boston, with a supplement. Committees of cor- respondence were appointed in the several colo- nies, and one sentiment appeared to animate the whole people; that is to say, a controlling ma- jority of the whole, These "rebellious" pro- ceedings were met in Great Britain by several acts of Parliament ; one closed the port of Bos- ton, another subverted the Massachusetts con- stitution ; another authorized the transporta- tion of alleged criminals to England for trial ; another provided the quartering of soldiers upon the inhabitants. In another measure, the minis- try showed some marks of wisdom, which we marvel to find in such a batch of impolitic and rash proceedings. By the famous Quebec Act, the religious freedom and national customs of the Canadians, and the property of their church, were affirmed and restored. Thus were the Ca- nadas saved to the crown; and although the British government took care to give to the people no legislative power, the simple habitans cared nothing about that. It was a something they had never possessed and could not value. Neither addresses nor invasion from the other colonies succeeded in breaking their allegiance.
Virginia proclaimed a fast to be kept on the first day of June, 1774, the day on which the port bill took effect. Throughout the continent · the day was observed. In Philadelphia the
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1774.]
MASSACHUSETTS SUPPORTED.
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measure was adopted in town meeting, the Qua- kers only dissenting, and that upon the grounds of their discipline, while they declared their sympathy. The patriots of Philadelphia called several meetings in relation to the measures taken by the British ministry against Massa- chusetts. At the first of these meetings a pub- lic letter or appeal from Boston was considered. It was replied to in the style characteristic of Pennsylvania policy-yielding as to circum- stances, unyielding as to principle. Payment for the tea was recommended, if thereby the unhappy controversy could be determined, «but the indefeasible right of granting their own money, and not the value of the tea, was the matter in consideration." A Congress of depu- ties from the several colonies was declared neces- sary to devise means for restoring harmony between Great Britain and the colonies; firm- ness, prudence, and moderation were recommend- ed to the Bostonians, and they were assured of the adherence of the people of Pennsylvania to the cause of American liberty.
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