The Handy Boston Answer Book. Samuel Willard Crompton

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      A 1903 postcard commemorating the burning of the Stamp Act declaration by Bostonians.

      I often thought that the “Liberty Tree” was symbolic rather than actual. Am I mistaken?

      Half and half. There was indeed a large elm tree on The Neck, the narrow isthmus that connected Boston to the mainland, at Roxbury. That is where the Sons of Liberty often gathered. Over time, however, the “Liberty Tree” became a symbol that was appropriated by other groups, and eventually it was enshrined in American poetry and literature.

      During the mid-summer of 1765, resistance in Boston grew to such a point that no one wanted even to try to carry out King George’s new law. And in August some of the Sons of Liberty brought Peter Oliver to what they called the Liberty Tree on The Neck and made him swear, over and over again, that he would never attempt to collect Stamp Act taxes. They made him drink to the health of the Sons of Liberty, and it was obvious they would tar and feather him if he refused.

      How inflamed did the situation become?

      Ten days after forcing Peter Oliver to give up his office, the Sons of Liberty attacked the mansion of Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Hutchinson. It seems odd the way the Sons of Liberty persecuted one of their neighbors (Hutchinson was born and raised in town), but Hutchinson’s elegant demeanor and arrogant attitude epitomized, for many of them, the worst qualities of the British aristocrat. Hutchinson got out of the house in time, but the Bostonians torched it; along with many valuable possessions, Hutchinson lost the manuscript for what might have been an enlivening history of early Boston.

      By the end of 1765, no supporter of George III or the Stamp Act dared show his face. The mob, which is what the Sons of Liberty were on their bad days, practically ran the town. Not until the spring of 1766 did Bostonians learn that George III and Parliament had rescinded the Stamp Act.

      Was Boston really strong enough to resist the Stamp Act all on its own?

      Not quite. Boston showed the most powerful resistance of all the American towns, but other coastal towns demonstrated outrage of their own. Americans up and down the coast even sent delegates to the Stamp Act Congress, held in Manhattan. So while Boston was in the forefront, plenty of other American colonists were ready to resist.

      Learning of this, George III and the leaders of the House of Commons decided to revoke the Stamp Act. On the same day this was done, however, Parliament also passed the Declaratory Act, which asserted that the king and Parliament had the right to legislate for the American colonies “in all cases whatsoever.” Bostonians chose to ignore the quiet threat in those words: they simply rejoiced over the Stamp Act’s repeal.

THE DECLATORY ACTS

      Given that the Stamp Act had failed, could England and America go back to previous relations?

      They should have done so. Mutual self-interest was involved. Much of England’s trade derived from the colonies. But in 1767, Charles Townshend (sometimes called “Champagne Charlie”) persuaded George III to create a new set of taxes for the colonies. Known as the Townshend Acts, these regulations imposed taxes on paper, paint, glass, lead, and tea.

      None of these taxes were terrible on their own: it was the combination of five that infuriated many colonists. The tax on painter’s colors and the one on glass caused the most hardship, but the tax on tea created the most dissatisfaction. The American colonists were, by 1767, primarily a nation of tea drinkers.

      How much was the tax on tea?

      It was three pence per pound of tea, and this was enough to discourage quite a few Bostonians from purchasing the bundles of leaves that produced the wholesome beverage. Bostonians were again in the forefront, but other towns and colonists followed in establishing a policy of non-importation of the five taxed goods. Some Americans went even further, boycotting all British goods. And the results were soon felt in London, where merchants complained bitterly about the unpatriotic American colonists.

      How do we know so much about the temper of this time (1768)?

Naturally we don’t wish to rely on the words of the patriots in and around Boston. We turn, therefore, to the diary and letters of Ann Hulton. Presumably she was in her thirties when she came to Boston in 1768, as the unmarried sister of Henry Hulton, the brand-new customs inspector for the port of Boston.

      How do we know so much about the consumption habits of Bostonians in the 1700s?

      Plenty of records of financial transactions exist, but the paintings of John Singleton Copley, for whom Copley Square is named, provide our best glimpse of upper-class Bostonians from the 1760s. Copley painted dozens of portraits, many of individuals but others of whole families. Through his eyes and his exquisite skill with the painter’s brush, we see the Bostonians of the 1760: well-clad, healthy and strong, but above all elegant and self-possessed.

      Whether her brother prepared her or not, Ann Hulton soon found herself in a situation quite unlike any she’d seen in the British motherland. Just three weeks after arriving in Boston, Ann Hulton penned a letter to a friend in London. “Dear Madam,” she began. “I presume it will be agreeable to you to hear that my brother’s family had a good voyage of 5 weeks & arrived all well at Boston the 5^th instant [the fifth of June, 1768]. You will be surprised to hear how we were obliged to fly from the place in six days after & take refuge aboard the Romney, man of war lying in Boston Harbor.”

      How could the Bostonians eject the king’s lawful inspector?

      That was precisely the question that Ann Hulton marveled over. In the letter to her London correspondent, she explained that the Boston crowds—or mobs—were not the same as in Old England.

      Mrs. Burch, at whose house I was, had frequently been alarmed with the Sons of Liberty surrounding her house with the most hideous howlings as the Indians.… The occasion soon happened, when my sister & I accompanied her at 10 o’clock to a neighbor’s house, not apprehending much danger, but we soon found that the mobs here are very different from those in Old England where a few lights placed in the СКАЧАТЬ