The Handy Boston Answer Book. Samuel Willard Crompton
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Название: The Handy Boston Answer Book
Автор: Samuel Willard Crompton
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Учебная литература
Серия: The Handy Answer Book Series
isbn: 9781578596171
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Did Copley discriminate between those that turned out to be prominent revolutionaries and others who became ardent Loyalists?
He did not. Copley departed Boston shortly before the Revolution began, and, thanks to his in-law connection with a major merchant family, he was largely Loyalist in sentiment. In portrait painting, however, Copley seemed as interested in the patriots as the king’s loyal friends. Perhaps the two most memorable of his many portraits are those of Paul Revere and John Adams.
Paul Revere appears to us as the successful craftsman, he who has already made good, and whose good-hearted approach to life calls to much that is good within the viewer. Sam Adams comes across as a trifle stern, but his obvious sincerity and intentionality make up for this.
The artist John Singleton Copley painted many prominent Bostonians in the 1760s and 1770s. This is a self portrait.
Speaking of Paul Revere, was he not an artist himself?
Revere was a silversmith, a family man, a dispatch rider, and an engraver of no small skill. His engraving of the British troops landing in Boston in October 1768 brought him to the attention of many colonists; his engraving of the Boston Massacre made him famous.
Do we have any specific information about Boston’s population from the 1770s?
Thanks to a handful of Boston newspapers, we surely do. We know, for example, that between January 1, 1772, and January 1, 1773, there were a total of 595 burials in Boston: 533 whites and 62 blacks. We know that the number of people baptized in the various churches came to 485 for the same period, suggesting that Boston required immigration for its overall population to increase. Moving to the succeeding year, the record states that there were 458 white burials and 59 blacks (for a total of 517) in the year 1773, and that only 393 persons were baptized during that period. We can also state unequivocally that black slavery continued to be a fact of life in pre-revolutionary Boston. The Boston Gazette carried this advertisement on February 28, 1774:
WANTED: A Negro man of an unexceptional character, warranted, for such an one a good price will be given, brought up in a country town, and understands a little of house business will be preferred.
KING GEORGE III AND HIS COLONISTS
History tells us that King George III is responsible for many of the problems between Old England and American colonists. What was he like?
When he ascended the British throne in October 1760, George III was twenty-two years old. He succeeded not his father, who had died, but his grandfather, King George II.
Both to his English subjects at home and the American colonists, George III seemed a big improvement on his grandfather. The “Georges,” as Bostonians sometimes call them, were a German family who inherited the English throne after the death of Queen Anne in 1714. King George I spoke virtually no English, and George II spoke it haltingly. George III, by contrast, was English born and bred, and he was sometimes so well liked in England that his subjects called him “Farmer George,” referring to his love of the land and agriculture. George III had one bad trait, however: he was determined to make the crown more powerful, both in Old England and America. And he had an innate stubbornness that pushed him to move ahead even when he should, by reason, have slowed down.
King George III reigned over Britain during the American Revolution. He was popular in England, but reviled in America.
Did Bostonians and Americans recognize that they were in for a difficult time with George III?
They did not. The succession of George III brought a wave of congratulations and applause from the American colonists. Boston, however, encountered difficulty long before running into any problems with the monarch. In February 1761, the town was hit by another of the “Great Fires” which bedeviled its existence. This fire was so extensive that commerce, as well as individuals, suffered for years to come.
Bostonians had dealt with financial difficulty for so long that it seemed perpetual. Not only had commerce fallen off with fewer ships visiting than in previous decades, but the collection of town taxes was significantly in arrears. Some people blamed the lax tax collectors, one of whom was Samuel Adams.
One normally has the impression of Boston being quite powerful. Could Boston not leverage its position as capital of the Massachusetts colony?
In earlier times that was possible. By 1760, however, the towns of central and western Massachusetts had gained leverage of their own. Though Boston was the capital, the Great and General Court was largely controlled by men from the inland towns. They might sympathize with Boston’s economic woes, but they could not and would not rescue it.
If the American Revolution had not taken place, might Boston’s plight have been even worse?
Yes, indeed. It’s quite possible that the town would have languished for decades.
THE STAMP ACT
How and when did George III act where taxes were concerned?
The American colonists had long paid various kinds of customs duties, but they had never experienced direct taxes from Great Britain. Even the loudest of revolutionary orators, such as Sam Adams and Patrick Henry, admitted that customs duties were lawful because the colonists imported goods from the motherland. But to the notion that England could tax them directly, the Americans nearly always responded with a firm negative.
The first significant test of American resolve came in 1762, when Parliament issued a new version of the Sugar, or Molasses, Act. The colonists did not feel any need to turn out against the king’s officials in part because they were so few in number. But Bostonian James Otis, who was a native of Barnstable, argued long and hard against the Sugar Act and the Writs of Assistance, which were designed to make it easier for royal officials to search colonists’ homes. In 1765, Bostonians learned that Parliament passed and King George assented to the Stamp Act (England already had one of its own). Under this act, colonists had to purchase special paper that carried the king’s stamp for use in all official letters, correspondence, and so forth. Newspapers, and even playing cards had to bear the king’s stamp.
Why was Boston in the forefront of the opposition?
Boston had long been a place of dissent. The original Puritan settlers came to Boston to get away from the king and his established church. Economic factors contributed as well. New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston were all doing reasonably well in the 1760s, while Boston suffered from unemployment inflation, and a host of uncollected property taxes. The economic plight of the town led many people who might otherwise have been quiet to refuse the brand-new Stamp Act.
How rich was John Hancock?
He owned a mansion on Beacon Hill, and for many years his was the only mansion there. Hancock owned a bevy of ships that carried out trade all over the Atlantic world. It’s difficult to measure his wealth against modern-day wealthy Americans; suffice to say that his personal income was probably as large as the treasury of the town of Boston!
Precisely when the “Sons of Liberty” were formed, or who drew up the first list of members is difficult to say, but there is little doubt that СКАЧАТЬ