In the period from 1822 to the Civil War anti-slavery is the most striking feature of Boston’s annals. Garrison established the Liberator in 1831; W.E. Channing became active in the cause of abolition in 1835, and Wendell Phillips a little later. In 1835 a mob, composed in part of wealthy and high-standing citizens, attacked a city-building, and dragged Garrison through the streets until the mayor secured his safety by putting him in gaol. But times changed. In 1850 a reception was given in Faneuil Hall in honour of the English anti-slavery leader, George Thompson, whose reported intention to address Bostonians in 1835 precipitated the riot of that year. In 1851 the Court House was surrounded with chains to prevent the “rescue” of a slave (Sims) held for rendition under the Fugitive Slave Law; another slave (Shadrach) was released this same year, and in 1854 there was a riot and intense excitement over the rendition of Anthony Burns. Boston had long since taken her place in the very front of anti-slavery ranks, and with the rest of Massachusetts was playing somewhat the same part as in the years before the War of Independence.
Later events of importance have already been indicated in essentials. On the 9th-10th of November 1872 a terrible fire swept the business part of the city, destroying hundreds of buildings of brick and granite, and inflicting a loss of some $75,000,000. Within two years the whole area, solidly rebuilt and with widened and straightened streets, showed no traces of the ruin except an appearance superior in all respects to that presented before the fire. The expense of this re-creation probably duplicated, at least, the loss from the conflagration. Since this time there has been no set-back to the prosperity of the city. But it is not upon material prosperity that Boston rests its claims for consideration. It prides itself on its schools, its libraries, its literary traditions, its splendid public works and its reputation as the chief centre of American culture.
Authorities.—See the annual City Documents; also Justin Winsor (ed.) The Memorial History of Boston, including Suffolk County ... 1630-1880 (4 vols., Boston, 1880-1881), a work that covers every phase of the city’s growth, history and life; S.A. Drake, The History and Antiquities of ... Boston (2 vols., Boston, 1854; and later editions), and Old Landmarks and Historic Personages of Boston (Boston, 1873, and later editions); Josiah Quincy, A Municipal History of ... Boston ... to ... 1830 (Boston, 1852); C.W. Ernst, Constitutional History of Boston (Boston, 1894); H.H. Sprague, City Government in Boston—its Rise and Development (Boston, 1890); E.E. Hale, Historic Boston and its Neighbourhood (New York, 1898), and L. Swift, Literary Landmarks of Boston (Boston, 1903). A great mass of original historical documents have been published by the registry department of the city government since 1876 (34 v. to 1905). Boston has been described in many works of fiction, and the reader may be referred to the novels of E.L. Bynner, to L. Maria Childs’ The Rebels, to J.F. Cooper’s Lionel Lincoln, to the early novels of W.D. Howells (also those of Arlo Bates), to O.W. Holmes’ Poet and Autocrat, and Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, as pictures of Boston life at various periods since early colonial days.
[1] On the alteration of streets alone $26,691,496 were expended from 1822 to 1880.
[2] Faneuil Hall is the headquarters of the Ancient and Honourable Artillery Company of Boston, the oldest military organization of the country, organized in 1638.
[3] The dam is 1250 ft. long, with a maximum height of 129 ft., only 750 ft. having a depth of more than 40 ft. from high water to rock. The entire surface of the basin was scraped to bed rock, sand or mineral earth, this alone costing $3,000,000. Connected with the reservoir is an aqueduct, of which 2 m. are tunnel and 7 m. covered masonry. The metropolitan system as planned in 1905 for the near future contemplated storage for 80,000,000,000 gallons, reservoirs holding 2,200,000,000 gallons for immediate use, aqueducts capable of carrying 420,000,000 gallons daily, and a minimum daily supply of 173,000,000 gallons.
[4] In 1851 the mayor of the English Boston sent over a copy of that city’s seals, framed in oak from St Botolph’s church, of which John Cotton, the famous Boston divine (he came over in 1633) had been vicar. The seals now hang in the city hall. In 1855 a number of Americans, including Charles Francis Adams and Edward Everett, and also various descendants of Cotton, united to restore the south-west chapel of St Botolph’s church, and to erect in it a memorial tablet to Cotton’s memory. The total amount raised by subscription for this purpose was £673.
BOSTON, a game of cards invented during the last quarter of the 18th century. It is said to have originated in Boston, Massachusetts, during the siege by the British. It seems to have been invented by the officers of the French fleet which lay for a time off the town of Marblehead, and the name of the two small islands in Marblehead harbour which have, from the period of the American Revolution, been called Great and Little Misery, correspond with expressions used in the game. William Tudor, in his Letters on the Eastern States, published in 1821, states somewhat differently that “A game of cards was invented in Versailles and called in honour of the town, Boston; the points of the game are allusive, ‘great independence,’ ‘little independence,’ ’great misery,’ ‘little misery,’ &c. It is composed partly of whist and partly of quadrille, though partaking mostly of the former.” The game enjoyed an extraordinary vogue in high French society, where it was the fashion at that time to admire all things American. “The ladies... filled my pockets with bon-bons, and ... called me ‘le pétit Bostonien.’ It was indeed by the name of Bostonian that all Americans were known in France then. The war having broken out in Boston and the first great battle fought in its neighbourhood, gave to that name universal celebrity. A game invented at that time, played with cards, was called ‘Boston,’ and is to this day (1830) exceedingly fashionable at Paris by that appellation” (Recollections of Samuel Breck, Philadelphia, 1877). There was a tradition that Dr Franklin was fond of the game and even that he had a hand in its invention. At the middle of the 19th century it was still popular in Europe, and to a less degree in America, but its favour has steadily declined since then.