Taxes, The Tea Party and Revolution

“We must indeed all hang together, or assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” - Benjamin Franklin, July 4, 1776

Once the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence had put their names to this “majestic document” on July 4, 1776, they knew that what they were doing was treason and was punishable by death. But how did it come to this? How did this free society become embroiled in an existential struggle with their “Mother Country”?

As the American Colonies grew, and their frontiers expanded, it became more costly for King George III to provide services – particularly in maintaining a large enough army to protect against attacks from the various Native American Indian tribes, as well as constant skirmishes with England's main rival in the New World, France. After the French and Indian War ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763, England received vast expanses of new territory, along with a monstrous war debt. King George felt that it was time for the Colonies to pay more of the cost for their own protection (and, by extension, taxes on the bountiful resources of America could help pay the expenses of the rest of England's far-flung Empire).

"To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” - George Washington, January 8, 1790

But America had existed for several decades under a very loose system of self-rule, and would not take well with new restrictions coming from a Parliament thousands of miles away. England had been reaping the bounty from her distant cousins, and had no real need to interfere, as the Colonies had become more independent and self-sufficient. And their religious freedom, along with the firm belief that their liberties were gifts from God, made them wary of any regulation. If new taxes were to be introduced, then the Colonists needed to have a say in their implementation. There could be no “taxation without representation” in the minds of the Americans. And there could be no such independent spirit in the mind of King George.

“Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of the means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the Holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us” - Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775

The new taxes started almost immediately, with the Proclamation of 1763, which was designed to protect the Colonials living on the frontier from Indian attacks. But it did this by ordering them to move east of the Appalachian Mountains, and the frontier families did not like to be told where they could or could not live. This was quickly followed by the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Quartering Act, Declaratory Act (wherein Parliament reasserted its right of “full power and authority” over the Colonies), and the Townshend Act. These new laws and taxes put a further burden on the American Colonies, leading to a confrontation with British Troops in Boston on March 5, 1770, which came to be known as the Boston Massacre. And the later Tea Act of 1773, would lead directly to the original Boston Tea Party on Dec. 16, 1773, where enraged Colonials dumped into the harbor hundreds of chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company.

In April of 1775, tensions were at the breaking point. British General Thomas Gage, who commanded the Royal troops in Boston, sent one thousand soldiers under Major John Pitcairn to the Lexington area to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams - and to secure a large supply of arms and ammunition secretly stored in nearby Concord. But the Colonials learned of the plan, and two riders, William Dawes and Paul Revere, rode out to warn that “The British are coming! The British are coming!” And, it is no accident that the signal lanterns lit to warn of the British movements (“one if by land, two if by sea”) were placed in the tower of the Old North Church in concert with the church's sexton.

“Courage, then, my countrymen, our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty” - Samuel Adams, August 1, 1776

And so it was, that on the morning of April 19, 1775, when the British marched onto Lexington Green, they were met by a group of Minutemen lead by Pastor Jonas Clark, that prominent member of “The Black Regiment”. No one knows who fired the first round, but when the smoke cleared, the “shot heard 'round the world” had lit the spark that would pit the British Army against a collection of citizens who were not about to give up their God-given rights and freedoms. And by the time General Gage again ordered his men onto the field of battle at Bunker/Breed's Hill, the American resentment could not be contained.

Discussion Questions

1. Why were the Americans angry about the series of new taxes? Was King George being fair in wanting the colonies to help pay for their own protection and to cover the costs of the French and Indian War? Do you think the Colonists thought their tax money was being spent elsewhere in the Empire?
2. Do you think it was good for men like Pastor Jonas Clark to take an active part in the problems affecting the people of his parish and the country? Why or why not? What do you think Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams meant in their quotes above?
3. Is America today still what Sam Adams called “...an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty”? Do you think there is a chance that America might not be an asylum for civil and religious liberty in the future?

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