Quick History: The Stamp Act Riots
- In This Quick Guide:
- Theatrical Protest
- Violent Protest
- Liberty Trees
Although the Colonists enjoyed some liberties and protections granted to them under the British constitution, they faced increasing abuses, often at the hands of royal governors who were appointed by King George III and given sweeping powers. In November 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act, which would put outrageous taxes on the colonists. They had finally had enough.
Theatrical Protest
At dawn on Wednesday, August 14, a man identified by the initials “A. O.” dangled from a limb of a majestic elm tree on the outskirts of Boston, along the main road to town. Attached to his breast was a short poem: “A goodlier sight who e’er did see? / A Stamp-Man hanging on a tree!” Here was Andrew Oliver, who had just been appointed Distributor of Stamps. Lucky for “A.O.,” this hanged man was made of straw.
In November 1765, according to the Stamp Act recently passed by Parliament, government-issued stamps were to be issued, sold, and applied to “every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper” that passed into common use. This measure, which reached deep into everyday life and thereby riled up nearly every colonist, has to rank as one of the greatest political blunders ever. The tax would apply to anyone who surveyed land, acquired a deed, made a will, received an inheritance, collected a debt, posted bail, read a newspaper, consulted an almanac, or played cards.
At the hanging tree in Boston, organizers staged a great piece of street theater to bring this point home. As farmers bearing produce to market passed by, each in turn submitted to a mock stamping of his goods by the effigy. Continuing into town, these farmers spread the news, and soon all of Boston was abuzz.
By afternoon several thousand people had gathered at the spot. “So much were they affected with a Sense of Liberty, that scarce any could attend to the Task of Day-labour, but all seemed on the Wing of Freedom,” the Boston Post-Boy reported. Late in the afternoon, the throngs paraded past the State House, where the Governor and his Council were huddled. Bearing the effigy, they chanted “Liberty and Property! No stamps!” That was only the beginning of the evening’s events. By the end, the crowd had pulled down a building erected by Andrew Oliver, beheaded the effigy before his home, and broken into the house looking for Oliver, who of course had fled.
This demonstration produced results. Governor Bernard retreated to Castle William, an island in Boston harbor, where the crowd couldn’t reach him, and Andrew Oliver announced he would resign.
Violent Protest
Twelve days later, on August 26, ax-wielding laborers and seamen attacked the home of Thomas Hutchinson, the lieutenant governor and the chief justice of Massachusetts. They arrived at his home during the dinner hour, smashed in the front door, and drove the terrified family out. Then they ransacked the house, even tearing down interior walls and carrying valuables away.
They got into Hutchinson’s personal papers, and historians now suspect they were looking for documents that incriminated smugglers. But their anger extended beyond that. Hutchinson, who once praised poverty for producing “industry and frugality” among the poor, was not very popular with the lower classes, and these angry fellows, emboldened by the events of August 14, were taking protest to the next level. A contemporary of the rioters wrote, “Gentlemen of the army, who have seen towns sacked by the enemy, declared they never before saw an instance of such fury.” While patriot leaders condoned the “hanging” of Andrew Oliver and related protest events on August 14, and some had even helped plan it, they condemned the destruction of Hutchinson’s home. There were limits to protest, they insisted, although commoners did not always heed their words. The decision of how far to go was made group-by-group, household-by-household, and individual-by-individual. What was the right thing to do? What was out-of-bounds?
Most colonists deemed the first riot acceptable, the later one not. From New Hampshire to South Carolina people staged theatrical demonstrations similar to the August 14 event in Boston, and fearful stamp distributors in 13 colonies either agreed to resign or abandoned office. In the end, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act.
Liberty Trees
To celebrate their newfound powers, patriot activists affixed a copper plaque bearing the golden letters “TREE OF LIBERTY” to the elm tree where “A.O.” had been hanged. Soon patriots in dozens of other towns christened their own “liberty trees” or erected “liberty poles,” giant flagstaffs that were often simply trees stripped of their limbs. Officials might meet in dignified assembly rooms or “in-chambers,” to use the terms of the times, but common people, meeting “out-of-doors,” claimed the territory surrounding liberty trees or liberty poles as their designated quarters. Like their counterparts in-chambers, the body of the people could influence Parliament and the Crown. The people were inspired.
Sadly, the Stamp Act riots didn’t stop Parliament from leveling new taxes on the colonists. But the groundwork was now laid for what would become the American Revolution.
From The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Founding Fathers and the Birth of Our Nation by Ray Raphael
