Stumbling Policy and
Disparate Responses
Townshend to North, 1767-1770
Colonial Factions
• Pennsylvania—Assembly Party (Franklin
and Galloway) versus Proprietary Party
(John Dickinson)
• Massachusetts—Oliver/Hutchinson versus
Anti-Stamp Act Party (S. Adams/Ebenezer
McIntosh)
• Virginia—Tidewater Elite versus Young
Men on the Make (Patrick Henry)
Charles Townshend (1725-1767)
• Champagne Speech illustrated both his
wit and recklessness.
• Chancellor of Exchequer in 1766
• Townshend Revenue Acts—external
duties on glass, lead, paper, paint, and
tea.
• Some revenue used to pay governors
that used to come from colonial
assemblies.
• 3 new Vice-Admiralty Courts to try
offenders
Massachusetts Circular Letter
• Townshend Acts are unconstitutional.
• Massachusetts not represented in Parliament
• “that the acts made there, imposing duties on the people
of this province, with the sole and express purpose of
raising a revenue, are infringements of their natural and
constitutional rights; because, as they are not
represented in the British Parliament”
• Consequences in Massachusetts: Assembly dissolved
after it refused to rescind the letter; troops sent in 1768;
long-term origin of Boston Massacre.
• Boycotts in New York and Boston.
• Seizure of the Liberty (1768) and riots in Boston
• Dickinson—Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania
Letters from a Farmer in Penn.
• Parliament sovereign in Imperial Affairs. (tax to regulate
trade—dissolved distinction between internal and external
taxes.)
• Colonists loyal.
• Colonial Assemblies sovereign in local affairs. (tax to raise
revenue.)
• Townshend Duties usurp authority of Colonial Assemblies.
• “If at length it becomes undoubted that an inveterate
resolution is formed to annihilate the liberties of the
governed, the English history affords frequent examples
of resistance by force. What particular circumstances will
in any future case justify such resistance can never be
ascertained till they happen. Perhaps it may be allowable
to say generally, that it never can be justifiable until the
people are fully convinced that any further submission will
be destructive to their happiness.”— -Letter III (Ominous
reference to English History)
Boston Massacre
• 4,000 British troops arrive in Boston in
Oct. 1768—Billeted at Boston Commons
• Townshend Acts, save that on Tea,
repealed in 1770.
• Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770.
• 5 colonials killed
• Soldiers defended by John Adams—6
acquitted, 2 convicted of manslaughter.
Capt. Thomas Preston was also acquitted.
John Adams diary entry, 1773
"The Part I took in Defence of Cptn. Preston and the Soldiers, procured me
Anxiety, and Obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant,
generous, manly and disinterested Actions of my whole Life, and one of the best
Pieces of Service I ever rendered my Country. Judgment of Death against those
Soldiers would have been as foul a Stain upon this Country as the Executions of
the Quakers or Witches, anciently. As the Evidence was, the Verdict of the Jury
was exactly right.
"This however is no Reason why the Town should not call the Action of that Night
a Massacre, nor is it any Argument in favour of the Governor or Minister, who
caused them to be sent here. But it is the strongest Proofs of the Danger of
Standing Armies."
Frederick, Lord North (1732-1792)
• Chancellor of Exchequer (1767-1770)
• Formed government on January 28, 1770.