Volume 3, Chapter 6, The White Pine Act
Although the Führer over writs of assistance had temporarily died down by 1763, the comprehensive
Grenville program for enforcing and strengthening the mercantilist restrictions was soon put
into effect.
One important step was the sudden enforcement of the White Pine Act.
The Restrictive White Pine Act had scarcely been enforced by Benning Wentworth, surveyor
of the King's Woods and governor of New Hampshire, for over 20 years. Suddenly, in 1763, Wentworth
seized over 2,000 white pine logs in western Massachusetts and charged in admiralty court
that the trees were legally reserved to the Crown. The nearly impossible task of the owners
was to prove that the logs had come from trees growing within township boundaries in New
Hampshire, for all other logs were legally reserved for royal use. Hundreds of white
pine logs were also seized in Connecticut. Ironically, very few of the pine logs thus
confiscated were suitable for use by the Royal Navy, and the great majority soon would have
Wentworth's zeal was spurred by the new General Enforcement Program, and also by a desire
to cripple the timber operations of Wentworth's new Connecticut rival in the trade, Jared Ingersoll.
Enforcement of the White Pine Act quickly reactivated the ardent hostility of New England
colonists to crown policies. Wentworth's deputies were threatened with beatings and assassination
by the people of Massachusetts, and the local justices of the peace refuse to aid or protect
the deputies in enforcing the law, despite the orders of their governor.