Consider This…

1. Consider This… By the early 1770s, 49% of the taxable assets of the city of Boston were controlled by only the top 5% of the taxpayers. A great amount of wealth was concentrated in a small amount of hands. The situation was similar in other major cities such as Philadelphia and New York City.

2. Popular Rebellion and Mob Violence in Colonial America

3. Tarring and Feathering One of the most brutal forms of mob violence was tarring and feathering, in which an official would be stripped naked, and boiling hot tar would be poured over their body, followed by a coat of feathers. Many who endured this humiliation died or were severely injured in the process.

4. Examples of Mob Violence

5. A Rebellious Spirit • The American colonies were no strangers to rebellions: prior to the end of the French and Indian War, there had been 18 rebellions that attempted to overthrow colonial governments, as well as 6 black uprisings, and 40 major riots. • During the Revolution, colonial elites favoring independence sought to turn that violent energy against Britain. • Much of the rebelliousness can be traced to economic inequality between colonial citizens.

6. Why does economic inequality lead to civil disorder?

7. Income Inequality • The French and Indian War was good for generals and merchants, but bad for soldiers and the poor. • “How often have our Streets been covered with Thousands of Barrels of Flour for trade, while our near Neighbors can hardly procure enough to make a Dumplin to satisfy hunger?” - letter to a colonial newspaper in New York A Stamp Act riot

8. The lower classes resented the rich upper classes, but members of that upper class such as James Otis and Samuel Adams were able to redirect their ire at Britain and Loyalists. • By mobilizing lower-class energy, colonial advocates for independence were able to use the mob as a weapon to attack their enemies. Samuel Adams

9. Sons of Liberty • As the violent protests against the Stamp Act and other British taxation measures spread through the colonies, various groups consisting mostly of people of the “middle ranks” (printers, shopkeepers, small merchants, etc.) formed groups called the Sons of Liberty. • Samuel Adams famously organized such a group in Boston, made up of previously rival gangs. • These Sons of Liberty were responsible for much of the violence and intimidation against British officials trying to enforce the Acts. Effigy of a Stamp Man

10. How could rich colonial elites, the very people whom the poor resented, manage to manipulate the lower classes into helping their cause?

11. Unusual Allies • Men like Otis and Sam Adams were well-acquainted with the grievances of the working classes: they frequently socialized with them in taverns and other meeting places, and they recognized the origins of their discontent. These elites expressed sympathy, which in turn gained them sympathy from the working classes for their cause. • Otis, a Boston lawyer, in 1762: “I am forced to get my living by the labour of my hand; and the sweat of my brow, as most of you are obliged to go thro’ good report and evil report, for bitter bread, earned under the frowns of some who have no natural or divine right to be above me, and entirely owe their grandeur and honor to grinding the faces of the poor….” • This alliance, while useful to the colonial gentry, was also dangerous if the will of the mob was left unchecked.

12. Violence Against Wealthy Loyalists • Andrew Oliver, a rich Boston merchant and stamp distributor, had his house destroyed by the mob in reaction to the Stamp Act. He resigned in response. • Thomas Hutchinson, Loyalist governor of Massachusetts, also had his house destroyed. • This was apparently part of a larger plan to attack the property of the wealthy, part of “a War of Plunder, of general levelling and taking away the Distinction of rich and poor.”

13. Attack on Thomas Hutchinson • Thomas Hutchinson did not agree with the Stamp Act, but as governor of Massachusetts he felt duty-bound to uphold it and disagreed with the violent protests against it. • The mob came to his house after Oliver resigned, and demanded that he denounce the Act – he refused to answer. • Hutchinson reports that his house was attacked and ransacked by a drunken mob in response, and he barely escaped with his family. Thomas Hutchinson

14. In both cities and the countryside, there was growing discontent among struggling colonials about the disparity in wealth, and this spawned collective action and mob violence. • In NC, the Regulator movement aimed to achieve economic and political justice for poor farmers against the ruling elite. It attracted thousands of members before it was put down; most of the former Regulators did not go on to fight in the Revolutionary War. North Carolina Regulators The Regulators opposed large landowners and wanted more land for themselves. They stopped paying taxes, kidnapped officials, attacked the houses of elites, and disrupted courts.

15. How might the rioting against British officials and policies be considered a threat to colonial elites?

16. General Thomas Gage, commander of British army in North America, on the Stamp Act riots (1767): • “The Boston Mob, raised first by the Instigation of Many of the Principal Inhabitants, Allured by Plunder, rose shortly after of their own Accord, attacked, robbed, and destroyed several Houses, and amongst others, that of the Lieutenant Governor. . . . People then began to be terrified at the Spirit they had raised, to perceive that popular Fury was not to be guided, and each individual feared he might be the next Victim to their Rapacity. The same Fears spread thro' the other Provinces, and there has been as much Pains taken since, to prevent Insurrections, of the People, as before to excite them.”

17. The Mob: A Double-Edged Sword • In Boston in the mid-1760s, 66% of the taxable wealth was held by the top 10% of the taxpayers; the bottom 30% of taxpayers had no taxable property. As a result, they could not vote nor participate in town meetings. • Mob violence was used by colonial opponents of British taxation when convenient, but when it got out of hand, they were quick to distance themselves from the actions of the mob. After all, the poor were upset with the rich, and colonial elite might be targeted in addition to British elite.

18. Tyranny is Tyranny • Shortly after the Declaration of Independence was issued, Boston instituted a military draft... for the poor; the rich could avoid service by paying for substitutes to fight for them. • The draft led to riots and shouts of, “Tyranny is Tyranny let it come from whom it may.”

19. Effects of Mob Action on British Policy • Fear of mob violence by Loyalists and the British was one of the factors that contributed to British military intervention in the colonies. Before they had capitulated and repealed the Stamp Act, but they were pushed too far eventually. • Thomas Hutchinson secretly wrote to Britain for aid, and Benjamin Franklin discovered these letters. He used them to blame Hutchinson for the conflict between Britain and the colonies; Britain disagreed, and labeled Franklin a troublemaker. This convinced him to side with the Patriot cause.