The public feeling was variously expressed. At Boston, on the day the Act was to take effect, the shops were closed, the bells of the churches tolled, and the flags of the ships hung at half-mast. At Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, the bells were tolled, and the friends of Liberty were summoned to hold themselves in readiness for her funeral. At New York, the obnoxious Act, headed "Folly of England and Ruin of America," was contemptuously hawked about the streets. Bodies of patriots were organized everywhere under the name of "Sons of Liberty." The merchants, inspired then by Liberty, resolved to import no more goods from England until the repeal of the Act. The orators also spoke. James Otis with fiery tongue appealed to Magna Charta.
Of all the States, Virginia—whose shield bears the image of Liberty trampling upon chains—first declared herself by solemn resolutions, which the timid thought "treasonable,"[181] but which soon found response. New York followed. Massachusetts came next, speaking by the pen of the inflexible Samuel Adams. In an Address from the Legislature to the Governor, the true grounds of opposition to the Stamp Act, coincident with the two radical objections to the Slave Act, are clearly set forth.
"You are pleased to say that the Stamp Act is an Act of Parliament, and as such ought to be observed. This House, Sir, has too great a reverence for the Supreme Legislature of the nation to question its just authority. It by no means appertains to us to presume to adjust the boundaries of the power of Parliament; but boundaries there undoubtedly are. We hope we may without offence put your Excellency in mind of that most grievous sentence of excommunication solemnly denounced by the Church in the name of the Sacred Trinity, in the presence of King Henry the Third and the estates of the realm, against all those who should make statutes, OR OBSERVE THEM, BEING MADE, contrary to the liberties of Magna Charta.... The Charter of this Province invests the General Assembly with the power of making laws for its internal government and taxation; and this Charter has never yet been forfeited. The Parliament has a right to make all laws within the limits of their own constitution.... The people complain that the Act invests a single judge of the Admiralty with a power to try and determine their property, in controversies arising from internal concerns, without a jury, contrary to the very expression of Magna Charta, that no freeman shall be amerced but by the oath of good and lawful men of the vicinage.... We deeply regret it that the Parliament has seen fit to pass such an act as the Stamp Act; we flatter ourselves that the hardships of it will shortly appear to them in such a point of light as shall induce them, in their wisdom, to repeal it; in the mean time we must beg your Excellency to excuse us from doing anything to assist in the execution of it."[182]
Thus in those days spoke Massachusetts. The parallel still proceeds. The unconstitutional Stamp Act was welcomed in the Colonies by the Tories of that day precisely as the unconstitutional Slave Act is welcomed by large and imperious numbers among us. Hutchinson, at that time Lieutenant-Governor and Chief-Justice of Massachusetts, wrote to Ministers in England: "The Stamp Act is received among us with as much decency as could be expected. It leaves no room for evasion, and will execute itself."[183] Like the Judges of our day, in charges to grand juries, he resolutely vindicated the Act, and admonished "the jurors and people" to obey.[184] Like Governors of our day, Bernard, in his speech to the Legislature of Massachusetts, demanded unreasoning submission. "I shall not," says this British Governor, "enter into any disquisition of the policy of the Act.... I have only to say that it is an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain; ... and I trust that the supremacy of that Parliament over all the members of their wide and diffused empire never was and never will be denied within these walls."[185] The military were against the people. A British major of artillery at New York exclaimed, in tones not unlike those now heard, "I will cram the stamps down their throats with the end of my sword!"[186] The elaborate answer of Massachusetts, a paper of historic grandeur, drawn by Samuel Adams, was pronounced "the ravings of a parcel of wild enthusiasts."[187]
Thus in those days spoke the partisans of the Stamp Act. But their weakness was soon manifest. In the face of an awakened community, where discussion has free scope, no men, though supported by office and wealth, can long maintain injustice. Earth, water, Nature they may subdue; but Truth they cannot subdue. Subtle and mighty against all efforts and devices, it fills every region of light with its majestic presence. The Stamp Act was discussed and understood. Its violation of constitutional rights was exposed. By resolutions of legislatures and of town meetings, by speeches and writings, by public assemblies and processions, the country was rallied in peaceful phalanx against the execution of the Act. To this great object, within the bounds of Law and the Constitution, were bent all the patriot energies of the land.
And here Boston took the lead. Her records at this time are full of proud memorials. In formal instructions to her representatives, adopted unanimously in Town Meeting at Faneuil Hall, "having been read several times, and put paragraph by paragraph," the following rule of conduct was prescribed.
"We therefore think it our indispensable duty, in justice to ourselves and posterity, as it is our undoubted privilege, in the most open and unreserved, but decent and respectful terms, to declare our greatest dissatisfaction with this law: and we think it incumbent upon you by no means to join in any public measures for countenancing and assisting in the execution of the same, but to use your best endeavors in the General Assembly to have the inherent, unalienable rights of the people of this Province asserted and vindicated, and left upon the public records, that posterity may never have reason to charge the present times with the guilt of tamely giving them away."[188]
Virginia responded to Boston. Many of her justices of the peace surrendered their commissions, rather than aid in the enforcement of the law, or be "instrumental in the destruction of their country's most essential rights and liberties."[189]
As the opposition deepened, there was a natural tendency to outbreak and violence. But this was carefully restrained. On one occasion, in Boston, it showed itself in the lawlessness of a mob. But the town, at a public meeting in Faneuil Hall, called without delay on the motion of the opponents of the Stamp Act, with James Otis as chairman, condemned the outrage. Eager in hostility to the execution of the Act, Boston cherished municipal order, and constantly discountenanced all tumult, violence, and illegal proceedings. Her equal devotion to these two objects drew the praises and congratulations of other towns. In reply, March 24, 1766, to an Address from the inhabitants of Plymouth, her own consciousness of duty done is thus expressed.