On this day 250 years ago, the Connecticut Gazette published a report on the shipwreck of the William and its cargo of East India Company tea off Cape Cod.
Source: Norton, Mary Beth, 1774 the Long Year of Revolution at 364 n. 48
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On this day 250 years ago, the Town of Newton, Massachusetts held a town meeting that adopted unanimously Resolves drafted by a Committee of Five led by Charles Pelham, Esq. The Newton Resolves included:
2. That in justice to ourselves, our fellow-colonists and our posterity, we cannot, nor will, voluntarily or lamely, submit to . . . any tax laid on us for the express purpose of raising a revenue, without our consent, given by ourselves or our Representatives.
3. That as part of the Colonies laboring under oppression, we are determined to join the rest, in all and every lawful and just method of obtaining redress, or preventing the oppression, even to the risk of our lives and fortunes.
As readers of this blog know, the revolt against the British Parliament’s tax on tea effected by the Boston Tea Party and actions by communities like the Town of Newton all across Massachusetts and the other American colonies, was not a protest against taxation. These communities in America had long governed themselves through town meetings and the election of representatives to the assemblies in each colony, and the Patriots refused to allow Parliament to override their self-governance.
Because I know the real history, it is especially abhorrent to me that three years ago today, symbols of the Revolution, including the “Tea Party” name and the Gadsden (“Don’t Tread on Me”) Flag, were used by a mob intent on overthrowing our democratically elected government. Real American Patriots should reclaim the symbolism of the Revolution and reject its misappropriation by a movement seeking to restrict the American electorate and override the self-governance of the American people, missing the very point of the Tea Party and our American Revolution.
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On this day 250 years ago, 54 chests and one barrel of tea salvaged from the William were unloaded to Castle William in Boston Harbor. This tea was from the fourth ship with East India Company tea headed to Boston that had shipwrecked off Cape Cod. Aware of the fate of the tea from the previous three ships and threats from the Patriots in Boston, in the coming days the intended consignees of the tea would refuse to accept delivery of the tea.
Source: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5309/willmaryquar.73.4.0681?read-now=1&seq=8#page_scan_tab_contents
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On this day 250 years ago, the Pennsylvania Packet published lyrics to a song celebrating the Boston Tea Party. Patriots in all the colonies celebrated the action of the Boston “Sons of Freedom” to ensure that their “rights shall ne’er be lost!”
Source: http://www.protestsonglyrics.net/Historic_Songs/Ballad-the-Tea-Party.phtml
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On this day 250 years ago, war parties of Coweta Creek Indians were roaming the Georgia frontier attacking settlements that encroached on Creek lands. At this point the Georgia colonists looked to Royal Governor James Wright for protection but within a couple of years the Cowetas would be allied with the British in attacking the Georgia frontier
Source: Cashin, Edward J., William Bartram and the American Revolution on the Southern Frontier at 71-72.
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On this day 250 years ago, in Massachusetts Hannah Winthrop wrote Mercy Otis Warren that:
“The Union of the Colonies, the firm & sedate resolution
of the People is an Omen for good unto us. And be it
known unto Britain, even American daughters are Politicians
& Patriots and will aid the good work with their Female
Efforts.”Source: https://www.masshist.org/database/viewer.php?item_id=3330
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On this day 250 years ago, Samuel Adams wrote Arthur Lee in London to tell him about the Boston Tea Party. Adams summed up his enthusiasm for the Patriots’ action opposing the Tea Act: “You cannot imagine the height of joy that sparkles in the eyes and animates the countenances as well as the hearts of all we meet on this occasion.”
Source: https://genius.com/Samuel-adams-statesman-letter-to-arthur-lee-december-31-1773-annotated
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On this day 250 years ago, the town of Medford, Massachusetts adopted resolutions in support of the Patriots of Boston that asserted the British Government intended “to fasten the Chains of Slavery upon a burden’d and distressed people” and that “We wish to maintain Constitutional Liberty ourselves,” The Medford Resolves, however further objected to the “Iniquitous practice of enslaving the Affricans.” The Resolves declared it “Greatly absurd for us to plead for Liberty and yet patronise the most Cruel Servitude and Bondage” to those who “have not the least Shadow of Liberty Remaining.”
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On this day 250 years ago, one thousand Patriots gathered in the Market Square of Charlestown, Massachusetts, to burn the tea they had collected in the town.
Source: https://www.revolution250.org/250th-commemorations/250th-anniversary-of-the-boston-tea-party/
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On this day (or really yesterday since I am posting this after midnight) 250 years ago, another mass meeting of Patriots was held in Philadelphia to deal with the tea aboard the Polly. Reports state that 8000 people attended and the reports of the meeting of 6000 the day before may be conflating the two meetings. Although the captain of the Polly had already agreed not to unload the tea, the meeting adopted resolutions that “the TEA onboard the ship Polly, Capt. Ayres, shall not be landed” and that he shall “be obliged to leave this town and proceed to his vessel, and make the best of his way out of our river and bay.” The Polly departed for England the next day.
Source: https://imlive.com/webcam-girls/mylist/recently-visited/#:~:text=Recently-,Visited,-Private%20Chats
On This Day In The Revolution 