A Brief History of the United States

by Joel Dorman Steele

The houses of British officials were mobbed. Prominent loyalists were hung in effigy. Stamps were seized. The agents were forced to resign. People agreed not to use any article of British manufacture.

[Footnote: The newspapers of the day mention many wealthy people who conformed to this agreement. On one occasion forty or fifty young ladies, who called themselves "Daughters of Liberty," brought their spinning-wheels to the house of Rev. Mr. Morehead, in Boston, and during the day spun two hundred and thirty-two skeins of yarn, which they presented to their pastor. "Within eighteen months," wrote a gentleman at Newport, R.I., "four hundred and eighty-seven yards of cloth and thirty-six pairs of stockings have been spun and knit in the family of James Nixon of this town." In Newport and Boston the ladies, at their tea-drinkings, used, instead of imported tea, the dried leaves of the raspberry. They called this substitute Hyperion. The class of 1770, at Cambridge, took their diplomas in homespun suits.]

Associations, called the "Sons of Liberty," were formed to resist the law. Delegates from nine of the colonies met at New York and framed a Declaration of Rights, and a petition to the king and Parliament. The 1st of November, appointed for the law to go into effect, was observed as a day of mourning. Bells were tolled, flags raised at half-mast, and business was suspended,

[Footnote: The name was assumed from the celebrated speech of Barre on the Stamp Act, in which he spoke of the colonists as "sons of liberty.">[

[Footnote: At Portsmouth, N. H., a coffin inscribed "LIBERTY, aged CXLV years," was borne to an open grave. With muffled drums and solemn tread, the procession moved from the State House. Minute guns were fired till the grave was reached, when a funeral oration was pronounced and the coffin lowered. Suddenly it was proclaimed that there were signs of life. The coffin was raised, and the inscription "Liberty Revived" added. Bells rang, trumpets sounded, men shouted, and a jubilee ensued.]

Samuel and John Adams, Patrick Henry, and James Otis, by their stirring and patriotic speeches, aroused the people over the whole land.

Alarmed by these demonstrations, the English government repealed the Stamp Act (1766), but still declared its right to tax the colonies. Soon, new duties were laid upon tea, glass, paper, &c., and a Board of Trade was established at Boston, to act independently of the colonial assemblies.

MUTINY ACT.—Anticipating bitter opposition, troops were sent to enforce the laws. The "Mutiny Act," as it was called, ordered that the colonies should provide these soldiers with quarters and necessary supplies. This evident attempt to enslave the Americans aroused burning indignation. To be taxed was bad enough, but to shelter and feed their oppressors was unendurable. The New York assembly, having refused to comply, was forbidden to pass any legislative acts. The Massachusetts assembly sent a circular to the other colonies urging a union for redress of grievances. Parliament, in the name of the king, ordered the assembly to rescind its action; but it almost unanimously refused. In the meantime the assemblies of nearly all the colonies had declared that Parliament had no right to tax them without their consent. Thereupon they were warned not to imitate the disobedient conduct of Massachusetts.

BOSTON MASSACRE.—Boston being considered the hot-bed of the rebellion, General Gage was sent thither with two regiments of troops. They entered on a quiet Sabbath morning, and marched as through a conquered city, with drums beating and flags flying. Quarters being refused, they took possession of the State House. The Common was soon crowded with tents. Cannon were planted, sentries posted, and citizens challenged. Frequent quarrels took place between the people and the soldiers. One day (March 5, 1770) a crowd of men and boys, maddened by its presence, insulted the city guard. A fight ensued, in which two citizens were wounded and three killed. The bells were rung; the country people rushed in to the help of the city; and it was with great difficulty that quiet was at last restored.

[Footnote: The soldiers were tried for murder. John Adams and Josiah Quincy, who stood foremost in opposition to British aggression, defended them. All were acquitted except two, who were found guilty of manslaughter.]