Boston Tea Party (1773), and Boston Massacre (1770).

The Boston Massacre 1770.

Like many others, Boston merchant John Hancock smuggled goods to avoid paying the taxes. When customs commissioners demanded to inspect the cargo of his ship the Liberty, he and his crew locked them in a cabin, landed the smuggled goods and threw the commissioners overboard. It was obvious that customs commissioners and other officials in Boston had to be protected by armed troops. Following Hutchinson's request, four regiments of British regulars began arriving in the city in May 1768. Sam Adams hoped that their presence would create further trouble, from which the Sons of Liberty could make political capital. He was right. Brawling between soldiers and civilians became common. Redcoats (British soldiers) were beaten up by night and hauled into court on trumped up charges by day. By August 1769, the regimental lieutenant was writing to his commander General Gage, "I live in hourly dread of disturbance." "Never", said another officer, "was popular insolence at such a pitch." In early 1770 a customs officer, besieged in his home by rock-throwing youths, opened fire and killed one of them, a young man called Christopher Snider. The incident pushed Boston to the brink of rebellion. Snider's death, announced the Boston Gazette, cried for "venege" The violence came to a head on the night of March 5, 1770, in an incident which later became known as the Boston Massacre. Exactly how it happened nobody could say for certain. There had been a brawl between soldiers and a group of rope-makers on March 2, and some citizens claimed that many in the town were looking forward to a further fight with the soldiers. By the morning of March 5, rumours of a showdown were rife.

\
The Boston Tea Party 1773.

Background

Royal Navy Lieutenant William Duddingston was dedicated to catching smugglers near Rhode Island. His efficiency made life for the local merchants and smugglers uncomfortable; hence their pleasure when one evening in March 1772, his ship the Gaspee ran aground near Providence. This meant that he would be unable to refloat it until high tide - at midnight. Before then, Duddingston heard a boat approaching. When he shouted "Who goes there?" His answer came in a hail of bullets. He fell to the deck, wounded. The Americans in the approaching boat then boarded the Gaspee and threatened to finish Duddingston off. When he begged for his life they sent him off in a lifeboat and burned the Gaspee. Afterwards, these attackers could not be identified. No one was punished for the incident. This episode provided encouragement to radical colonists still bitter over the Boston Massacre in 1770 to proceed with a new campaign of direct action against the British. Their actions were to light the fuse of rebellion.

\
The problem over tea.

Tea, "harmless necessary tea, which, with the harmless necessary cat, made up the sweet content of the domestic health", was the factor which finally united the colonies and pitched them into open conflict with Britain.

\
The colonists loved tea, and drank two million cups a day between them. To avoid the Townshend duty, which still applied to this commodity, the colonists drank smuggled Dutch tea. Their refusal to drink the expensively taxed tea shipped by the British East India Company had brought the company to the brink of bankruptcy. In an attempt to make tt financially viable, Parliament decided to allow the East India Company to ship tea directly to the American colonies, thus avoiding the British merchant middleman. This would make the price of the tea to the colonists cheaper than the Dutch tea. But patriots declared that drinking British tea would destroy the colonists' political liberties, and tea became the critical political issue of the day. Broadsheets appeared denouncing the beverage and the Sons and Daughters of Liberty signed pledges against its consumption. In late 1773, a flotilla of British tea ships was sent to the colonies. Some merchants responded by cancelling orders, and some ships' captains sailed home without unloading any cargo. In other ports the tea consignments were locked in warehouses until the political atmosphere cooled. It was in Boston that the arrival of the teaships caused a crisis. Three ships entered Boston harbour in November 1773. Sam Adams and other radicals demanded that the ships return to England with their unwanted cargo, and after considerable argument, the captains agreed to go. At this point, Governor Thomas Hutchinson entered the dispute, pointing out that as the ships had already entered the harbour, their cargo was liable to taxation. If the duty was not paid within 20 days (by December 16), customs men would legally be entitled to confiscate the cargo.

\
The patriots feared that if the cargo was confiscated it would be distributed and sold in the colony. A series of town meetings was held on the issue. On the morning of December 16th, the last day before the tea would be landed, 7,000 Bostonians gathered at the Old South Meeting House and heard of Governor Hutchinson's renewed refusal to give permission for the ship's leave. The citizens voted that tea should not be landed. Amid shouts and cheers, Sam Adams dismissed the crowd with the words, "This meeting can do nothing more to save the country." The crowd recognised this as a signal for direct action. There were shouts of "Boston Harbour a teapot tonight" and "Hurrah for Griffin's Wharf!" the events that were to follow were all p[art of a prearranged plan.

\
The Tea Party

The plan called for disguise, the use of coded passwords, and for orderly and silent disposal of the tea. The members of the "Tea Party" included several highly regarded citizens, over 15 merchants and about 30 workers. They donned Indegious make-up and blankets and waited until dark. George Hewes, a participant, later said that he recognised John Hancock under this disguise and exchanged the password with him, "Ugh, me know you". In light rain that evening, the blanketed "Mohawks" marched quietly to Griffin's Wharf. Calmly they boarded the Dartmouth and demanded the keys to the holds from Captain Hall. Warning him and the customs officers to stay clear, they brought the tea chests up from the holds, hacked them open and dumped the cargo into the sea. They disposed of 342 chests, a quantity worth 18,000 pounds, and then, their work complete, went home quietly. "The next day", said one newspaper, "joy appeared on almost every countenance, some on occasion of the destruction of the tea, others on account of the quietness with which it was effected." Other "parties'' followed - in Annapolis, Maryland and Greenwich, New Jersey.

\
Response and crisis.

The British government could not ignore this defiant challenge to its authority Benjamin Franklin, then in England, was publicly denounced before the British Cabinet. In 1774 Parliament passed Lord North's Boston Port Bill which ordered the city closed to all shipping until it paid for the destroyed tea. "We must master them," said George the Third. Boston's radicals wanted to reply with another trade embargo. Conservative colonists, becoming worried by the Bostonians' lack of caution, suggested an intercolonial congress instead. But the British government had not finished. Once again the ill-judged actions of British ministers would cause further trouble. Parliament next passed three "coercive acts" on Massachusetts to tighten control on the colony and its troublesome citizens. Boston patriots called these the "intolerable acts" and hostility to the British became even more intense. Crown officers frequently had to go into hiding in the countryside. To make things worse, Parliament chose this time to pass another new measure, the Quebec Act, which extended Quebec's borders and gave the French Canadians living there freedom to worship in their Catholic religion. Although in many ways a liberal and humane act, its timing was poor. It ended the dreams of some colonists for further territorial expansion into French Canada and ruined many land speculation companies in which colonial merchants had invested. This act made even conservative colonists hostile and alienated, especially the merchant classes. It was against this background that delegates gathered for the first intercolonial congress in Philadelphia on September 5th, 1774, "ripe for any plan the congress (may) advise, should it be war itself". The resistance movement was no longer merely a rabble of Sam Adams' creation. It now contained many of the "ableist and wealthiest men in America". This movement was prepared, in the interests of both freedom and monetary gain, to go further than any previous group to challenge British authority in the colonies.