Hey History Friends! So 1773 turned out to be quite eventful, right? With a few things you didn't really expect as well as a few things you did. So, as King George III asks, "What comes next?" (haha- that part of the show was referring to after we were free, but you sang it anyway, didn't you?)
Some fun births to note in 1774- Raphael Peale, who was the son of Charles Willson Peale was born. I'm just learning a few things about the Peale family and I've gotta say- I love them. They seem like my people!! I was able to watch a lecture about the dad, Charles Willson Peale... there might need to be an episode just about them! Raphael was not the oldest. He was one of 16, I think? Kids and he was in the first set, but decently in the middle. I just really wanted to mention the family because they are so cool. If someone would write a book for me about the Peales, the Trumbulls, the Wests, and the Copleys... I'd super appreciate it!
Also born that year was Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge. He was King George the III's 10th kid (of 15). Yeah, and Good 'ol Georgie didn't even have any mistresses, concubines, or multiple marriages. He and Charlotte met on their wedding day and apparently got a long. Their kids are absolutely fascinating also. More on that another time.
Another notable birth of this year is Merriwether Lewis, yes, the Lewis half of Lewis and Clark.
Shall we see what else happened in the year 1774?
On March 5, on what they dubbed "Massacre Day", which was like a Day of Remembrance- holiday doesn't seem the right word, but kind of? Anyway- they'd have speeches and stuff like that. This particular year, the 4th anniversary of the sad event, John Hancock gave a speech. During that speech, He called the British administration tyrants. He also called out the British troops that had been in Boston, making sure they knew he didn't want them there- saying that the Boston Massacre wouldn't have happened if the troops hadn't been there- which makes sense, right? He even said that they (the redcoats) were not just there, but were flexing of their power. He was upset that their rights and religion had been encroached upon. He saw the event as "unprovoked murder," and we've already discussed that at length. But he used that as a call to stand up, "demand some substitute, some other means of rendering us secure against the incursions of a foreign enemy."- because he clearly saw the current standing army AS the enemy. Then he called for a militia. You know, one with the same goals as the Americans. He is actually ASKING the Americans to create a militia to be safe against the tyrant. To me, though, the kicker was that he insinuated that staying a British colony was asking for enslavement. Here's what he said, "Despite the glare of wealth, that people who pay greater respect to a wealthy villain than to an honest, upright man in poverty, almost deserve to be enslaved; they plainly show that wealth, however it may be acquired, is, in their esteem, to be preferred to virtue." So, I feel like he's saying that as colonists, their only job is to make the king more rich and they are over it. He expressed confidence in the Americans in breaking from Britain.
On the other side of the ocean, England had been stewing since Boston Harbor's giant cup of saltwater tea. Throughout 1774, the Crown issued a series of acts. The king called them the Coercive Acts. Americans called them Intolerable. The first is specifically for Boston. King George III closed Boston Harbor with the Boston Port Bill. Nothing was to be allowed in or out until the price of the tea lost was paid for. Now, every time we talk about this, my kids will tell you that Boston is still paying for it. I'm not sure how to verify that, but it wouldn't surprise me. Either way, it seems a little crazy to have an entire town and economy punished for the actions of what was it, 24 Sons of Liberty?
Actually, I'm going to read just the first paragraph of the bill to you. I'm half tempted to have my daughter do it in her King George III voice. Here it is:
WHEREAS dangerous commotions and insurrections have been fomented and raised in the town of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, by divers ill-affected persons, to the subversion of his Majesty’s government, and to the utter destruction of the publick peace, and good order of the said town; in which commotions and insurrections certain valuable cargoes of teas, being the property of the East India Company, and on board certain vessels lying within the bay or harbour of Boston, were seized and destroyed: And whereas, in the present condition of the said town and harbour, the commerce of his Majesty’s subjects cannot be safely carried on there, nor the customs payable to his Majesty duly collected; and it is therefore expedient that the officers of his Majesty’s customs should be forthwith removed from the said town: May it please your Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it enacted by the King’s most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That from and after the first day of June, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, it shall not be lawful for any person or persons whatsoever to lade put, or cause or procure to be laden or put, off or from any quay, wharf, or other place, within the said town of Boston, or in or upon any part of the shore of the bay, commonly called The Harbour of Boston, between a certain headland or point called Nahant Point, on the eastern side of the entrance into the said bay, and a certain other headland or point called Alderton Point, on the western side of the entrance into the said bay, or in or upon any island, creek, landing place, bank, or other place, within the said bay or headlands, into any ship, vessel, lighter, boat, or bottom, any goods, wares, or merchandise whatsoever, to be transported or carried into any other country, province or place whatsoever, or into any other part of the said province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England; or to take up, discharge, or lay on land, or cause or procure to be taken up, discharged, or laid on land, within the said town, or in or upon any of the places aforesaid, out of any boat, lighter, ship, vessel, or bottom, any goods, wares, or merchandise whatsoever, to be brought from any other country, province, or place, or any other part of the said province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, upon pain of the forfeiture of the said goods, wares, and merchandise, and of the said boat, lighter, ship, or vessel or other bottom into which the same shall be taken, and of the guns, ammunition, tackle, furniture, and stores, in or belonging to the same: And if any such goods, wares, or merchandise, shall, within the said town, or in any the places aforesaid, be laden or taken in from the shore into any barge, hoy, lighter, wherry, or boat, to be carried on board any ship or vessel coming in and arriving from any other country or province, or other part of the said province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, such barge, hoy, lighter, wherry, or boat, shall be forfeited and lost.
So this meant that even other cities in Massachusetts or other colonies couldn't bring stuff in. That's brutal. Anyway, you can read the whole thing on one of Yale's websites, that I've linked HERE in the blog post.
Next came the and the Massachusetts Government Act and Administration of Justice Acts. The Massachusetts Government Act suspended the right to gather for town meetings. It also took away the right of the colonies to hold their own governments and elect their own people. It also gave the court appointed officials the right to remove any other in place governments. It was a really long one, so I didn't read the whole thing. Pretty much, though, power was stripped from those who lived in Massachusetts and given instead, back to whoever the king decided could bend the power to his will.
The Administration of Justice Act, called the "Murder Act" by colonials, allowed British soldiers or officers to be able to commit a capital crime in the colonies (while doing their jobs), but not be tried until they went back to England. This one is crazy to me because here they just said that all officials will be crown appointed, right? But the justification here is that British soldiers wouldn't be able to have a fair trial here. But the crown is who appointed the judges and such... Contradiction, no? And! John Adams had JUST fought in court FOR the soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre. Had he not just proved that they could get a fair trial here? But that wasn't good enough for the king. I will note, this was another Massachusetts Only Act, but the other colonies were not stupid. They're going to rally around their soon to be fellow countrymen.
Next wasn't a NEW act, but a revision of the Quartering Act. Up to this point, local governments were obligated to house British Troops however they saw fit. This meant inns, public houses, or empty buildings. Not anymore. Now the BRITISH governor would find places for them to be. Once the war started, that included personal houses, but not until then.
Last, but not least, was the Quebec Act. Remember how a decade before this, there was the French and Indian War? Well, one thing that England won was this area of Quebec, which came all the way to the Ohio valley. Like, if it had stuck, I'd be 20 min from Canada, eh? Anyway, it was this HUGE chunk of land that England was just going to work with the French to co-own or co-rule, or however THAT was going to work. It cut off a whole bunch of possibility from the Americans. I will say that I'm not forgetting that it was Native American land first. But I don't think England cared that much who had lived there longest. The second part of the Act was that religious freedom was granted to the French Catholics that lived there. This was a sore spot big time for a lot of the people living in the Colonies- if I recall correctly, the Catholic church was pretty powerful in the political realm, too, and that scared a lot of the people who had come to the Americas specifically to worship their protestant religions freely. Keep in mind though, that Maryland WAS formed for Lord Baltimore to have a Catholic safe space, but that was before all of this.
That part is hard for me to wrap my head around because I'm so blessed to live in a place with such amazing religious freedoms now. It boggles my mind that religion, skin color, and even gender played SUCH huge roles. I feel like everyone has something to contribute and a whole lot more will get done by loving each other and listening to each other than by having these huge rifts.
King Georgy Porgie may have also hoped that the French Catholics and the rebels would get into it, taking the pressure off of him for a bit. Who knows. That's just me overthinking, probably.
So while Parlaiment and the King are busy making up these ways to keep that pesky colony in line, other things were happening in the world. In France, on May 1, King Louis XVI took the throne. Yeah, the one who married Marie Antoinette, even though neither of them wanted to. I'm going to insert a rant here..... This whole obsessed with history thing started with a King Louis, but not this one. The one before him. The XV. Why? Because after watching Girl in the Fireplace (an episode of Doctor Who) for the..... I don't know, 5th time? I wanted to know more about Madame du Pompadour. But nope. I got roped into the French Revolution first, then after obsessing about that for a few months, decided to rewind to THIS revolution. I still don't know much about Madame du Pompadour. Just enough to know that if I ever had a chance to dress up as someone, I'd choose her in the green dress. Anyway, King Louis XVI takes the throne in May. I'm not sure how much attention England OR the colonies are paying to that, but I thought it was cool.
Meanwhile, colony-side (get it, like state-side, but there aren't states yet....), John Jay married Sarah Livingston. I read a book about John Jay and I learned a lot about him. It was not as exciting as the one on Alexander Hamilton or George Washington- but that's because Jay's life was much quieter. Also, I feel like I need to note- this Sarah Livingston is most definitely NOT the Sarah Livingston in season 3 of Turn, K? AND.... Livingston. You guys.... do you know how many freaking Livingstons there were at this time? On both sides of the loyalty spectrum. I'm working on a project to help myself (and hopefully others) figure out who's who. Esp in the Livingstons. Anyway, they were married in May of 1774 (which, in case you forgot, is the year we're talking about). I just learned that you can buy a book of some of their letters to each other. That's sweet!
In May, (the 24th, to be exact) there is a legend that in Chestertown, Maryland decided that Boston was hogging all the fun and they had their OWN tea party in the Chester River. Chester River was much smaller- they weren't getting the ginormous ships, but this day in May, the brigantine (a smaller ship) Geddes- comes to Chestertown. There's tea on there. So the Sons of Liberty do a repeat of Boston's tea party. However...... this event isn't even mentioned anywhere until over 100 years later. I mean, they didn't have their own paper since they were an itty bitty town. There is record about the Chestertown Resolves, though. They are similar to the Virginia Resolves, saying it's unconstitutional to be taxed without representation. But they go one step farther (further? I have GOT to learn which is which) and say that anyone around Chestertown who buys, sells, or even DRINKS tea "shall be stigmatized as enemies to the liberties of America." (Anyone hear Monty Python and the Holy Grail Frenchman here? Just me? Now go away or I will taunt you a second time!)
Anyway- heading north a bit, Rhode Island, in June, became the first colony to prohibit the importation of slaves. Now, this does not mean that Rhode Island freed all of their enslaved people. That would take another 68 years. But at least there was SOME progress. Nobody was allowed to bring an enslaved person into the colony unless they had written acknowledgment that they'd be out in a year.
A little closer to my home- on June 16, the first colonial city West of the Allegheny Mountains, which I had to look up, even though I've driven through them. I need visuals, people. What defines mountains, though, because they highest part of the Allegheny is 4,862 feet above sea water. Tooele, Utah is about that and it's in the valley..... The town was called Harrodsburg and it's in Kentucky!! Harrodsburg is only a couple of hours away from me. I should go see it! Kentucky wouldn't become a state until 1792, but this was a good way to start, right?!
On July 4th, exactly 2 years before the Declaration of Independence was accepted, at own in New York called Orangetown made another set of Resolutions. First I want to introduce you to a man named John Haring. There's no images of the guy, so that's kind of interesting. He'll go with us to The First Continental Congress, which will talk about it for a minute. He spent most of his life in New York and helped a lot of people with boundary disputes- fun fact, at one point, the border of NY was changed and he found himself a resident of New Jersey. No matter which state he lived in, he was super active in a whole bunch of Congress-type events. He eventually moved back to NY and kept serving there, too. So that's that. The Orangetown Resolves were pretty much the same as all the other resolves and resolutions cities, counties, and colonies were coming up with, this time specifically in response to the Coercive Acts that Britain was hurling at Massachusetts.
A week or so later, a type of Declaration of Independence was passed in Carlisle, PA.I legit can't find much about that at all. How do people even know about these things?
Unrelated to the events at the time (but also kind of relevant to freedom of religion)- On Aug 6, a woman named Mother Ann Lee and a few of her followers arrived in New York. They'd come from England and were looking for some peace from their unorthodox religion. She was the founder of the Shakers. If you ever get a chance to go to Shaker Village in Kentucky, definitely do! It was super interesting to learn about their background, beliefs and incredibly unique way of life. Mother Ann didn't ever actually live in Kentucky, by the way, but that's where many of the Shakers did end up. The Shakers didn't choose sides during the war.
Back to our RevoWar story- it's time to talk about the First Continental Congress! Aren't you so excited? Well, don't be yet. That's next episode. :D Sorry. This one just got way too long and I still have a whole bunch of learning to do!!
But tell me- where were your ancestors in 1774? I'd love to hear all about 'em!
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