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NOTE 34. Aftermath of Repeal

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volume 3 chapter 34 aftermath of repeal the glorious victory over the stamp act

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was of course celebrated throughout the american colonies houses were lit songs composed and toast

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drunk to the english champions of repeal throughout the colonies the sons of liberty

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triumphantly directed the celebrations and in later years were to celebrate the anniversaries

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The victory was generally interpreted as a victory also for the right of the colonists to tax themselves.

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Moreover, the vague declaratory act was not thought to assert the right of taxation over and above the right to legislation and regulation.

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The various colonial assemblies drew up addresses of thanks to the king and parliament for the

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repeal, but did not at all yield their constitutional stands.

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But amidst their rejoicing, the more farsighted colonist saw the evils inherent in the Declaratory

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Act, harbinger of taxation to come.

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George Mason, a leading Virginia planter, replied sharply, intringently to a condescending

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letter by leading English merchants warning the colonists to behave themselves and not

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exalt over their victory.

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The colonists answered Mason, We're tired of being treated as schoolboys who are to

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do what your papa and mama bid you.

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The Americans have been fighting for their birthright as freemen and have only gained

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common justice. Mason reminded the merchants that the stoppage of trade brought by resistance

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was a critical factor in repeal. He also detailed the infinite cost and trouble, perhaps including

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international war, that total military enforcement would have brought. Mason also warned of the

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The suspect vagueness of the Declaratory Act, which failed to exclude taxation from the

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parliamentary domain. In Charleston, Christopher Gadsden and the Sons of Liberty, one of the

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hardest-hitting and most uncompromising Sons groups in the colonies, were not taken in

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by the General Rejoicing. In a prophetic speech to the Sons at Charleston's Liberty

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Gadsen warned of the folly of relaxing their opposition in vigilance, or of indulging the

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fallacious hope that Great Britain would relinquish her designs and pretensions.

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Gadsen noted the ominous implications of the Declaratory Act, and the sons all joined hands

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and swore to eternal defense against tyranny.

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Furthermore, by mid-July, Silas Downer, a lawyer and secretary to the Providence Sons

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of Liberty, was writing to the New York Sons urging the need for maintaining the Sons'

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effective inter-colonial organization, as well as the intra-colonial one, especially

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in view of the Declaratory Act and the consequent need for vigilance to preserve the rights

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of Americans. But men like Downer, Mason and Gadsden, as well as writers in such papers

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as the Boston Gazette, were voices crying in the wilderness. Americans were all too

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willing to relax and abandon themselves to the general rejoicing at victory. The Sons

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of Liberty organization largely evaporated, although the leaders continued to be active,

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especially on ceremonial occasions.

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Despite the general lull among Americans, a strong residue of revolutionary radicalism

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remained from the Stamp Act crisis.

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People began to call into question more examples of existing British tyranny.

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For instance, in New York, some began to call for abolition of the Customs House and the

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The Royal Post Office as being unconstitutional and oppressive.

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And in Massachusetts, the Whigs cemented their political hold on the province.

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The Council was purged of pro-Torres, and a blacklist of thirty-two supporters of the

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Stamp Act in the Massachusetts House was drawn up, men whom John Adams scorned as stamp

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Sam Adams' continuing popularity was shown by his receiving the largest vote of the four

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Boston representatives, and the radical's purge cleansed the council of such Tories

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as Hutchinson, the Olivers and Benjamin Lind.

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The embittered Tories denounced the liberal victors as subverters and scum, while John

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Adams exalted at the total triumph.

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From this point on, the council, dominated by the wealthy liberal merchant James Bowden,

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marched with the House on the side of American liberty.

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In August 1766, trouble flared up with the British.

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The Redcoats summarily cut down the Liberty Pole in New York City.

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Swiftly, the Suns, though largely disbanded, rose to the occasion engaged in a protest

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meeting of several thousand people.

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During the meeting, British troops fired into the crowd, wounding several people.

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Finally, the Suns triumphed by building another pole and refusing to allow the soldiers to

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to patrol the streets, a minor incident perhaps, but indicative of strong, latent resistance

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beneath the new surface of imperial harmony.

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For the moment, however, relations with Britain would continue to look rosy, and the Rockingham

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Ministry spurred on by...

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For the moment, however, relations with Britain would continue to look rosy, and the Rockingham

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The ministry, spurred on by Trichophic, Fuller and the English merchants, managed to lower

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the molasses duty from three pence to one penny a gallon, another great boon to American

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trade and prosperity.

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Export duties on British West Indian sugar were removed, lowering its price on the American

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mainland.

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Still, American trade was at the same time hobbled by requiring that all colonial products

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shipped to Northern Europe had to clear through British ports.

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Free ports were open to colonial trade in the West Indies, but here Alderman Beckford,

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the Fullers and the West Indian merchants, backed as usual by Pitt, sharply opposed the

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The End of Their Monopolistic Privileges. Pitt's maneuverings on this issue, indeed, helped

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to pull down the Rockingham administration. Pitt's enmity was also fueled by his vehement

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opposition to Rockingham's long-run plans for the repeal of the crippling restrictions

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on American trade embodied in the Navigation Acts. The Whig idol of peace and non-interference

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was indeed doomed to be only an interlude, though a highly important one.

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The King, more eager than ever to dump the Whigs, but anxious to avoid the resurgence

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of Grenville, selected William Pitt to head the cabinet in August 1766.

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The King could now select Pitt as head of a Tory imperialist cabinet, while the deluded

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Americans would cheer the appointment of a supposed libertarian and champion of the colonies.

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Pitt's maneuverings and intrigues had finally paid dividends. His appointment was in fact

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hailed by the misguided Americans, but the colonists were not to remain under illusions

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about William Pitt for very long.