Volume 3, Chapter 25, Response in Virginia
In some of the colonies, the stamp distributors had not yet arrived at the time of their appointment.
Here, the task of the colonists was to await their arrival with vigilance.
Thus, George Meserve, appointed stamp master for New Hampshire, faced as he sailed into
Boston Harbor, a hornet's nest of trouble.
He found there a letter from the leading citizens of Portsmouth warning him of grave danger
should he attempt to set foot in New Hampshire before resigning his commission. More immediately
he found a Boston mob that prevented his ship from landing for two days until they were
convinced no stamped paper was aboard. It did not take Miser Vlong to size up the situation.
He publicly announced his resignation before going ashore, and was fettered and cheered
by the Bostonians in return. But in New Hampshire, Miserve found less willingness to forgive
and forget. He lived in fear of popular retaliation until he agreed to hand over his royal commission
to be burned publicly by his neighbors. George Mercer, a leading Virginia planter and former
Mercer arrived in Virginia on October 30, shortly before the deadline, to find Virginia in an uproar. In the northern neck, Mercer had been burned in effigy. Upcountry threats abounded of marching in to destroy the stamped paper. And two country justices had already resigned.
Mercer's old friend George Washington, though opposed to the stamp tax as unworkable, was cool to the resistance, calling it ill-judged, but this had no effect in stemming the tide.
When Mercer arrived at Williamsburg, a crowd, which included almost all the leading merchants
and gentlemen of property in the colony, met him on the street and demanded his immediate
resignation.
When Mercer, asking for time to think until November 1, was greeted warmly by Governor
Folkcare, Speaker Robinson and the Virginia Council, the crowd rumbled and demanded an
Under this severe pressure, Mercer reluctantly agreed to give his decision by the next day,
October 31. Despite the urging of Governor Fauquier to stand his ground, George Mercer
reevaluated his position, and by the next morning he assured the large throng that he
He had not approved the Stamp Act, and that he would never, directly or indirectly, help
to enforce it. The gladdened mob feted Mercer and bore him in triumph around the streets
of Williamsburg.