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NOTE 57. The Other Colonies Resist Tea

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Volume 3, Chapter 57, The Other Colonies Resist Tea

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The rebels had an easier time of it in the other colonies, with no Hutchinson or British

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fleet to hinder them, and with the inspiring example of the Boston Tea Party before them,

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the consignees and tea ships put up little resistance to popular pressure.

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The first public meeting of protest in the colonies against the Tea Act took place in

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in Philadelphia on October 16. The citizens of Philadelphia adopted a comprehensive set

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of resolutions that served as a model for Boston and the other colonies. The Tea Act

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and Tea Duty were denounced, and a committee was appointed to demand resignation of the

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consignees. The consignees, including Thomas Wharton, saw the way the wind blew and soon

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A second public meeting warned against the landing of the T. The T ship sailed up the

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Delaware on December 25. The vessel was stopped four miles from Philadelphia, thus avoiding

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the Boston problem of the customs duty. The captain was deeply impressed with the intense

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feeling of the public against landing the T. Two days later, a huge public meeting of

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In preparation for the tea-ship, an association of the Sons of Liberty was drawn up on November 29, which association called for a boycott against any enemies to its country.

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Enemies were those who might aid in introducing the British tea into the country, or who might buy or sell the tea after it had landed.

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A boycott was also called against those who had failed to boycott the transgressors.

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The association was signed by the leading lawyers, merchants and merchant shipmasters,

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landowners and mechanics of New York.

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A committee of the newly formed sons then pressured the three New York consignees to

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resign, aided by a public threat of violence issued by the radical Mohawks, a direct action

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Group, formed by the Sons of Liberty. Under this pressure, and realizing that mass opinion

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was solidly against them, the Consignees resigned their post on December 1. The Sons then held

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a mass meeting of 2000 on December 17, headed by the veteran radical leader, the merchant

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John Lamb. The meeting denounced the landing of NET and decided to appoint a committee

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of Correspondence to Right to Other Colonies. Harbor pilots were warned against guiding

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any tea ships into port. The meeting derisively spurned the mayor's suggestion that the British

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tea be stored at the local fort. In reaction to this meeting, the conservative Isaac Lowe

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launched a movement to renounce the use of force in opposing the landing of the tea,

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But this movement was swept aside by popular enthusiasm upon receipt of the news of the

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Boston Tea Party.

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When a tea-ship arrived off New York, the following April the captain, heeding the counsel

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of the Committee of Correspondence, promised not to enter the port and sailed away.

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A few days later, however, another sea captain was planning to sneak eighteen chests of tea

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into New York.

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The angry citizens on discovering the ruse emulated the Bostonians by boarding the ship

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and dumping the tea into the sea. The treacherous captain promptly fled to another vessel and

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sailed back to England. The final port to be sent the tea was Charleston. There the radicals

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were in more difficult straits than elsewhere, since Charleston had not been an important

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The centre of the tea trade and the merchants were not as directly threatened.

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The tea ship London arrived on December 2, precipitating a mass meeting the following day.

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The meeting, headed by Christopher Gadsden, succeeded in persuading the tea consignees

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to resign their commissions.

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It further agreed to circulate among the merchants of Charleston a petition pledging the non-importation

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of British Tea.

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Gadson and the others found, however, that while the planters and artisans, soon to form

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a John Wilkes Club, were eager to pledge a boycott of merchants importing doodiable tea,

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the merchants themselves were reluctant to join the ranks.

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A showdown meeting of merchants, planters and mechanics was held on December 17, each

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Each of the three groups having privately caucused in preparation for the critical meeting.

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The radicals passed a resolution for non-importation of dutyed teas, but the conservative merchants

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managed to weaken the resolve by including all teas in the interdict, including smuggled

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Dutch teas, and allowing six months for consumption of their current stocks of dutyable British

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While the struggles continued over a boycott, the tea ships remained in the harbor. The

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20-day period for payment of duty would soon expire, after which non-paying ships were

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subject to seizure. Would the people of Charleston follow the Bostonians in a bold tea party?

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On the contrary, the merchants' opposition discouraged the radicals, and the customs

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Government officials seized and landed the tea on December 22 without any opposition.

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Nothing happened thereafter. However, the easygoing government officials made no attempt

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to sell the tea and it remained safely in the government warehouse until the outbreak

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of the revolution. Thus, in every one of the four colonies, determined action by the resisting

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17 Americans prevented any of the East Indian tea from reaching its consignees. Once again,

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the rebellious Americans had been successful in forcibly thwarting British designs. Moreover,

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tea parties continued during 1774, and the Americans soon radicalized their opposition

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to include the tea tax and therefore all duty to tea, even that of private merchants. A

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group of Boston mohawks destroyed a cargo of tea in March, and tea cargos were burned

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during the year at Charleston, Greenwich, Annapolis, and in New Jersey. Indeed, so fiercely

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did the Americans concentrate upon tea that all tea, even smuggled tea, soon became boycotted

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Boycotted and shunned for fear that the tea might be English. Tea, which had been a staple

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drink throughout America, soon vanished from the colonies. As early as January 30, the

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Boston tea dealers agreed to suspend the sale of all tea, and the movement soon spread to

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for Other Towns and Provinces.