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NOTE 6. The White Pine Act

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Volume 3, Chapter 6, The White Pine Act

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Although the Führer over writs of assistance had temporarily died down by 1763, the comprehensive

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Grenville program for enforcing and strengthening the mercantilist restrictions was soon put

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into effect.

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One important step was the sudden enforcement of the White Pine Act.

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The Restrictive White Pine Act had scarcely been enforced by Benning Wentworth, surveyor

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of the King's Woods and governor of New Hampshire, for over 20 years. Suddenly, in 1763, Wentworth

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seized over 2,000 white pine logs in western Massachusetts and charged in admiralty court

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that the trees were legally reserved to the Crown. The nearly impossible task of the owners

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was to prove that the logs had come from trees growing within township boundaries in New

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Hampshire, for all other logs were legally reserved for royal use. Hundreds of white

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pine logs were also seized in Connecticut. Ironically, very few of the pine logs thus

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confiscated were suitable for use by the Royal Navy, and the great majority soon would have

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Wentworth's zeal was spurred by the new General Enforcement Program, and also by a desire

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to cripple the timber operations of Wentworth's new Connecticut rival in the trade, Jared Ingersoll.

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Enforcement of the White Pine Act quickly reactivated the ardent hostility of New England

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colonists to crown policies. Wentworth's deputies were threatened with beatings and assassination

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by the people of Massachusetts, and the local justices of the peace refuse to aid or protect

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the deputies in enforcing the law, despite the orders of their governor.