On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, The Pennsylvania Magazine publishes an anonymous article titled “African Slavery in America.” This article was one of the first publications in America proposing freedom for African-American slaves and the abolition of slavery. Thomas Paine was the editor of the The Pennsylvania Magazine and is often credited with writing the article because Benjamin Rush many years later identified him as the author. However, modern analysis indicates that Rev. Samuel Hopkins of Newport, Rhode Island was most likely the author.
Sources: https://thomaspaine.org/works/works-removed-from-the-paine-canon/african-slavery-in-america.html;
Also on this day in Boston, Thomas Ditson, Jr. of Billerica, Massachusetts is arrested for attempting to purchase a musket from a British soldier. Instead of being jailed, Ditson was tarred and feathered and then marched around town by soldiers of the 47th Regiment before being released as a warning to other Patriots.
British Lieutenant Frederick Mackenzie recorded in his diary that
This matter was done with the knowledge of the Officers of the Regiment . . . and it gave great Offense to the people of the town . . . . Arms of all kinds are so much sought after by the Country people, that they use every means of procuring them; and have been successful amongst the Soldiers, several of whom have been induced to dispose of Arms, or such parts of Arms, as they could come at. Perhaps this transaction may deter the Country fellows from the like practices in future.
Thomas Ditson’s treatment by the British Army would provoke outrage from the people of his town and other towns across Massachusetts, and was another factor leading to war the following month. It also cemented Ditson’s commitment to the Patriot cause. He would join the fight against the British in their retreat from Concord and at Bunker’s Hill, and then enlist in the Continental Army where he became a Sergeant and fought at the Battles of Long Island, Harlem Heights and White Plains around New York. After losing an eye from smallpox while in Continental Army service he returned to Massachusetts but continued in service in the Corps of Invalids in command of guards for British prisoners until 1780.
Sources: Fischer, Paul Revere’s Ride at 70; https://archive.org/details/ABritishFusilierInRevolutionaryBoston_392/ABritishFusilierInRevolutionaryBoston1775/page/n45/mode/2up; https://allthingsliberty.com/2022/02/thomas-ditson-puritan-to-bumpkin-to-patriot/
Also on that day in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Rev. Oliver Noble delivered “Some Strictures upon the Sacred Story Recorded in the Book of Esther” quoting both the Book of Esther in the Bible and Patriot writer Josiah Quincy:
Awake! arise Americans! and prepare for the event, by no means strike the
first, but be ready to strike the second blow, to advantage. Had we not better die gloriously in the cause of GOD, of Liberty and our Country, than to dishonour GOD and human nature by submitting to ignoble slavery
. . .
“Trials and conflicts you must, therefore, endure;—hazards and jeopardies—of
life “and fortune—will attend the struggle. Such is the fate of all noble exertions for public liberty and “social happiness—Enter not the lists without thought and consideration, lest you arm with timidity “and combat with irresolution. Having engaged in the conflict, let nothing discourage your vigour, “or repel your perseverance:—Remember, that submission to the yoke of bondage is the worst that “can befall a people after the most fierce and unsuccessful resistance” . . .“therefore, dedicate yourselves at this day to the service of your Country;” (and let me add, to the fear and service of your GOD, “and henceforth live A LIFE OF LIBERTY AND GLORY:”
Sources: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&context=etas; Norton at 332-33.
And on that day in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Fielding Lewis wrote his brother-in-law George Washington that he had been informed that Washington could supply the Spotsylvania County Independent Company “with a quantity of Powder having imported more than you had occasion for in your County; I am directed to request that you will reserve Ten Barrells for the use of this County.” Fielding Lewis would go on to serve as member of the Virginia legislature, as a Colonel in the Virginia militia and as a supplier of arms, ammunition and other supplies for the Continental Army but die in 1780 of illness in the service of his country.
Source: “To George Washington from Fielding Lewis, 8 March 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-10-02-0225. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, vol. 10, 21 March 1774 – 15 June 1775, ed. W. W. Abbot and Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1995, p. 297.]
On This Day In The Revolution 
One response to “On this day 250 years ago in the Revolution — March 8, 1775”
Suffering and loss of life of these patriots is saddening. I was not familiar with the word “stricture.” In use above I thought it was perhaps related to religion although it isn’t except in context.
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