1760s approx. one-quarter of all British exports were being sent to the colonies

March 1766, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act.

Non-importation appeared to have worked

But boycotts, formal protest, and crowd actions were less important than it appeared

1765 George III for reasons unrelated

to colonial politics replaced Greenville Marquis Rockingham

new PM had opposed the

Stamp Act Not because he

believed Parliament lacked power to tax the colonies but because he thought the law unwise and divisive.

Rockingham proposed repeal Linked to passage of the

Declaratory Act Asserted Parliament’s ability to

tax and legislate for Britain’s American possessions “in all cases whatsoever.”

Colonists had accomplished their immediate aim, repeal of the Acts

But long-term prospects were unclear

Summer of 1766, another change in the ministry in London brought Townsend to power

His actions revealed how fragile the colonists victory had been.

Townsend proposed new taxes in 1767

Tax was now to be levied on goods like Paper Glass Tea

Townsend Acts drew a quick response in America

One series of essays in particular

Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania

expressed a broad consensus

prominent lawyer John Dickinson

Eventually all but four colonial newspapers printed Dickinson’s essays

In pamphlet form they went through seven American editions.

Dickinson contended that Parliament could regulate

colonial trade But not exercise that power to

raise revenue Drew a distinction between trade

regulation and unacceptable commercial taxation

Dickinson avoided the sticky issue of consent and how it affected colonial subordination to Parliament

After introduction of Townsend Act

Sons of Liberty and others once again made a deliberate effort to involve ordinary folk in the resistance movement

They urged colonists of all ranks and both sexes to sign agreements not to purchase or consume British products 

New consumerism that previously linked colonists economically Now linked them politically as well 

“A Tradesman” wrote in a Philadelphia paper in 1770, it was essential

“for the Good of the Whole, to strengthen the Hands of the Patriotic Majority, by agreeing not to purchase British Goods.”

As primary purchasers women played a central role in non-

consumption Boston – 300 women publicly promised

not to buy or drink tea “Sickness excepted.”

Wilmington, NC – Women burned their tea after walking through town in a solemn procession.

Women throughout the colonies exchanged recipes for tea substitutes or drank coffee instead.

Which leads us to the question An American Revolution (for women?)

for European women in the colonies there was an ideal that they were supposed to fit into private submissive good-wife

Era of the American Revolution provided a turning point in women’s history

Revolution did not destroy women’s separate realm of life rather, threw it into convulsions

War years, pushed women into the turmoil and conflict of public events

women began to express themselves politically

Both individually and in groups

Expressions of patriotism were novel and varied

For example: Deborah Sampson

Gannett

Enlisted in the fourth MA regiment and eventually received a pension for her service

After death pension was passed on to

her husband Gannett’s role as a

soldier more an indication of the

primitive nature of the rebel army then of any new option open to women

Women played a traditional role as camp followers

Washington saw the presence of female camp followers as a liability

“The multitudes of women, especially those who are pregnant or have children, are a clog upon every movement.”

Yet army had almost none of the support staff that accompanies a modern military force

women were an essential auxiliary

Congratulating the Ladies Association of Philadelphia – an elite group led by Esther De Berdt Reed - on their fund gathering, he awarded its members

“an equal place with any who have proceeded them in the walk of female patriotism.”

What Washington did appreciate however, was a modern role women adopted during the war

Raising money for the cause

Besides affecting women’s household roles, the rebel cause sanctioned group activities for women

For over a decade, the gatherings of rebel women received publicity in the patriot press

Sometimes, women in groups created mobs scenes, as 500 women who, Abigail Adams reported, harassed and hounded a MA merchant for hounding coffee

More commonly, “association” took the form of sewing circles

Groups as large as 60 or 70 women or more convened to spin, weave, and sew – a political act

The most famous to sew is Betsy Ross, who it is thought may have sewed the first American flag

Many women took great satisfaction in their new-found role.

When a New England satirist hinted that women discussed only “such trifling subject as Dress, Scandal and Detraction” during their spinning bees,

Three Boston women replied angrily: “Inferior in abusive sarcasm, in personal invective, in low wit, we glory to be, but inferior in veracity, sincerity, love of virtue, of liberty and of our country, we would not willingly be to any.”

Women’s associations also passed resolutions to patronize merchants who supported the rebel cause

and took oaths renounce marriage with men who did not support the patriot cause

The best known protest was the so-called Edenton Ladies Tea Party (it actually had little to do with tea.)

A group of prominent North Carolina women met pledged to work for the public good

and to support resistance to British measures

“A Society of Patriotic Ladies, at Edenton in North Carolina”

a 1775 British mezzotint that shows contempt and scorn for the colonial tactic of involving commoners and women in politics.

How?

1.It represents the signing of a non-importation (boycott) agreement by a meeting of well-to-do colonial women. The women are ugly, cavort freely with low men and drink from bowls.

2.Beneath the table a young child, untended by the women who are neglecting their duties, is licked by a dog that is simultaneously urinating on a tea caddy

At left, a women is pouring tea into a hat.

Document reads "We the Ladys of Edenton

do hereby solemnly engage not to conform to that Pernicious Custom of Drinking Tea, or that we the aforesaid Ladys will not promote ye wear of any manufacture from England, until such time as all Acts which tend to enslave our Native Country, shall be repealed."

War also disrupted families. mixed effects.

Women were sometimes able to assume new authority and larger roles for example, by taking over and

managing farms and businesses Women’s competent management of

the home front, made some men pay more attention to their wives’ roles a new view, since household work was

customarily regarded as trivial and inconsequential

For enslaved women war against

England initially allowed an avenue to freedom

In November 1775 Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of VA, offered liberation to any slaves who fled to join the British army

Some slave women persuaded that the presence of British

redcoats made it possible to run away without abandoning their families eagerly seized the opportunity

23 slaves departed from Thomas Jefferson’s VA lands

over half were women and girls all but 2 leaving in family groups

Many former slaves found freedom in Britain, Canada, and Africa

Indian women in coastal nations found no real sources of hope or transformation in the Revolution

Warfare touched them when both sides competed for Indian loyalties

For women, it meant increased mobility, traditional war preparations, and the loss of husbands and son

Boston complaints continue… Origins of the

event the patriots called the Boston Massacre

Repeated clashes between customs officers and the people of Massachusetts

At the same time Sam Adams Mass Legislature

Circular letter Gov Bernard told

Dissolve legislature

Refusal Closed down

June 1768 Customs officer

seize the Liberty on suspicion of smuggling

Ship was owned by patriot leader John Hancock

Caused a riot in which prominent customs officers’ property was destroyed

The riot helped convince the ministry troops were needed to

maintain order The assignment of two

regiments of regulars to their city confirmed Bostonians’ worse fears 14 & 29 regiments September 1768

Redcoats constant reminder of oppressive potential of British power

Bostonians found themselves hemmed in:

Boston Neck entrance to the city

all travelers and goods checked.

Patrols roamed the city day and night questioning and

harassing people Military concerts held

on Boston Common on Sunday

Greatest potential for violence lay in uneasy relationship between the soldiers and Boston laborers.

Many redcoats sought employment in their off-duty hours competing for unskilled jobs with the city’s ordinary workingmen.

Soldiers ordered to show restraint

Feb 1770 Child killed

Early on the evening of March 5, 1770, a crowd of laborers began throwing hard-packed snowball at a soldier guarding the Commons House

Hearing the noise a few reinforcements arrived

Goaded beyond endurance, the sentries acted against express orders to the contrary and fired on the crowd

Four killed and eight wounded, one of whom died a few days later.

Resistance leaders idealized the dead rioters as martyrs for the cause of liberty

A funeral was held March 5th observed annually with

patriotic orations. Paul Revere’s engraving of the

massacre was part of a propaganda campaign.

Revere wasted no time in capitalizing on the Massacre Issued print three weeks after the

incident

Despite political benefits patriots derived from the massacre unlikely that they approved of the crowd action that provoked it

Ever since destruction of Hutchinson’s house in August 1765

Men allied with the Sons of Liberty had supported orderly demonstrations and expressed distaste for uncontrolled riots 

Soldiers were defended by Josiah Quincy, Jr., & John Adams both unwavering patriots.

Adams both condemned the action and criticized the presence of the soldiers

All but two of the accused men were acquitted, and those convicted were released after being branded on the thumb

The dog in the engraving is a symbol, meaning 

that the soldiers’ actions were “going to the dogs.” 

favorable outcome prevented London officials from taking further steps against Boston

No one yet advocated complete independence from the mother country continued to acknowledge British identity and allegiance to George III

Patriots increasingly convinced they should seek freedom from parliamentary authority

Fall 1772 North ministry began to implement the Townsend Act provided for governors

and judges to be paid from customs revenues

 Early November voters at a Boston town

meeting established a Committee of Correspondence to publicize decisions by

exchanging letters with other Massachusetts towns

Such committees eventually established throughout

colonies Next logical step in the

organization of American resistance

Until 1772 protests largely confined to Seacoast, primarily to major cities

and towns Samuel Adams realized time to

widen geographic scope involve the residents of the interior

in the struggle

 The statement of colonial rights prepared by the Bostonians declared that American had absolute rights to

life Liberty property.

 and that “a British house of commons, should have a

right, at pleasure, to give and grant the property of the colonists’ was “irreconcilable” with “the first principles of natural law and Justice . . . and of the British Constitution in particular.”

List of grievances taxation without representation presence of unnecessary troops and customs

officers use of imperial revenues to pay colonial officials expanded jurisdiction of vice-admiralty courts nature of the instructions given to American

governors by their superiors in London  

Document printed as a pamphlet for distribution to

the towns exhibited none of the hesitation in

colonial claims against Parliament in 1760s

 No longer were patriots at least in Boston

preoccupied with defining the precise limits of parliamentary authority

Committed to a course that placed American rights first loyalty to parliament a distant second.

June 9, 1772, sloop Hannah left Newport for Providence

British Customs ship Gaspee gave chase

Hannah's Captain Lindsey deliberately lured her across the shallows off Namquid Point Gaspee Point

left the British ship hard aground on a sandbar unable to move until flood

tide following day.

Upon arrival in Providence Captain Lindsey reported the

event to John Brown prominent and respected merchant

in Rhode Island sent out town crier inviting all

interested parties to meet at Sabin's Tavern to plan the Gaspee's destruction

Under the leadership of Abraham Whipple

small band of patriots rowed eight longboats with muffled oars to the stranded ship

Lt. Dudingston and his crew were taken prisoner and removed to Pawtuxet Village.

Near daylight June 10th

Rhode Islanders set fire to the Gaspee burning her to the waterline powder magazine exploded.

Efforts of the Crown to learn the names of the culprits were unsuccessful, although a sizable reward had been offered.

Only one Townsend duties in effect by 1773 tax on tea

Consumption in the colonies had fallen from 900,000 lbs. in 1769 to 237,000 lbs. just 3 years later Problems for

East India Company

TEA ACT 1773 Net result

cheaper tea for American consumers.

Resistance leaders interpreted the new measure as a device to make them

admit Parliament’s right to tax them

less expensive tea would still be taxed under the Townsend law.  

Residents of four cities designated to receive the first shipments of tea prepared to respond to what they

perceived as a new threat to freedom  New York City

ships failed to arrive on schedule Philadelphia

governor of Pennsylvania persuaded the captain to turn around and sail back to Britain

Charleston tea was unloaded, stored under the

direction of local tradesmen and later destroyed.

Back to Boston Dartmouth

first of three ships arrived in the harbor on November 28, 1773.

Customs required cargo to be landed and appropriate duty paid by its owners within twenty days of a ship’s arrival otherwise the cargo had to be seized by

customs officers and sold at auction After a series of mass meetings Bostonians voted to post guards on the

wharf to prevent the tea from being unloaded.

 

Thomas Hutchinson refused to permit the

vessels to leave the harbor

ordered tea unloaded December 16

one day before the cargo would have been confiscated

five thousand people nearly a third of the

city’s population crowded into Old

South Church.

Meeting chaired by Samuel Adams

made a final attempt to persuade Hutchinson to send the tea back to England

But governor remained adamant In the early evening Adams reportedly

announced “that he could think of nothing further to

be done – that they had done all they could for the Salvation of their Country.”

Cries than rang from the back of the crowd: “Boston harbor a tea-pot tonight! The Mohawks are come!”

Small groups pushed their way out of the meeting.

By 9PM their work was done 342 chests of tea worth approximately

£10,000 pounds floated in the water   Among “Indians” were Paul Revere Five masons, eleven carpenters builders,

three leatherworkers, a blacksmith, two barbers, a coachmakers, and twelve apprentices  

also included four farmers from outside Boston, ten merchants, two doctors, a teacher, and a bookseller

Mythology portrays a wild scene of Indian-painted, war-whooping colonists hurling tea chests into the harbor

In fact operation carried out quietly and without interference from officers and crew

 Once the cargo had been jettisoned Indians quietly climbed back into their boats and rowed

ashore. Disciplined Sons of Liberty action

without disorder of any kind

Response to Tea Party, in March 1774 Parliament adopted the first of four laws

known as the Coercive Acts or Intolerable Acts

June 1775, engraving reached colonies copied and reproduced by Paul Revere

Coercive Acts Administration of Justice Act

May 20, 1774 Massachusetts Government Act

May 20, 1774 Boston Port Act

June 1, 1774 Quartering Act

June 2, 1774

Administration of Justice Act British officials accused of

capital crimes In execution of duties suppressing riots or collecting lawful taxes

Sent to England for Trial To avoid hostile local juries

Colonists - Murder Act

Massachusetts Government Act Abrogated the colony’s charter Provided an unprecedented amount

of royal control limits were placed on the number of

and powers of town meetings essential ingredient of American self-

government Most elective offices in the colony to

be filled with royal appointees not with popularly elected officials.

Quartering Act Amended Quartering acts of 1765 and

1766 Under previous legislation colonies required to provide soldiers with

living accommodations in public facilities inns and taverns or unoccupied buildings.

Revised law authorized billeting soldiers in occupied facilities including private homes.

Quartering Act applied to all of the American colonies, not Massachusetts alone.

Port Act Closed port facilities in

Boston Until city reimbursed East

India Company for the cost of the tea destroyed in the Boston Tea Party and paid for damage caused

to the customs offices Crown insisted on

recognition from Massachusetts that duties were within the purview of Parliament.

Port Act most odious of all Intolerable Acts intended to sever radical Boston from

the rest of America had precisely the opposite effect.

 No danger of blockaded Boston starving other New England colonies shipped

foodstuffs into the city overland. From as far as low-country South

Carolina came rice Delaware sent cash And – most astoundingly – Quebec sent

down huge amounts of wheat.  

55 delegates from 12 colonies Heeded call of the Massachusetts Assembly for a

Continental Congress.

 Delegates convened in Philadelphia in September 1774

knew that any measures they adopted likely to enjoy support among many of their

fellow countrymen and countrywomen 

That summer open meetings held throughout the colonies

endorsed the idea of another non-importation pact.

Committees of Correspondence publicized these meetings so effectively that Americans everywhere knew about them

 Most of the congressional delegates were chosen at such local gatherings governors had forbidden regular assemblies to

conduct formal elections Very act of designating delegates to

attend the Congress involved Americans in open defiance of British authority.

Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine.

Worldwide estimated one billion valentine cards sent each year

Valentine's Day is the second largest card-sending holiday of the year estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.)

In addition to the United States, Valentine's Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia.

But who is this mysterious saint and why do we celebrate this holiday?

The history of Valentine's Day -- and its patron saint -- is shrouded in mystery.

We do know that February has long been a month of romance.

There have been three different Valentines who became saints

All three were martyred

One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome.

When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men -- his crop of potential soldiers.

Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret.

When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

According to another legend, Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' greeting himself.

While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl -- who may have been his jailor's daughter -- who visited him during his confinement.

Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed 'From your Valentine,' an expression that is still in use today.

Pope Gelasius declared February 14

St. Valentine's Day around 498 A.D.

The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt.

The greeting, which was written in 1415, is part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England

In Great Britain, Valentine's Day began to be popularly celebrated around the seventeenth century.

By the middle of the eighteenth century, it was common for friends and lovers in all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes.

By the end of the century, printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology

Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine's Day greetings.

Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s.

In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began to sell the first mass-produced valentines in America

Approximately 85 percent of all valentines are purchased by women.