Massachusetts Bay: 1774–February 1775
Massachusetts Bay: 1774–February 1775
Boston was a hotbed of early Revolutionary activity. This 1775 Plan of the Town and Harbour of Boston is the first recorded British map showing the Battles of Lexington and Concord [ITEM 1]. The belligerents are seen exchanging fire at Concord near piles of supposedly destroyed stores; columns of troops are shown returning to Charlestown; and encampments are depicted as tents and cannon. Interest in the causes and progress of hostilities was high on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Province of Massachusetts Bay had been rife with unrest in late 1774 and early 1775. In the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party, the British Parliament passed coercive legislation to re-assert authority over the King’s colonies–and Massachusetts in particular. These “Intolerable Acts” met with escalating resistance, including establishment of the extra-legal Massachusetts Provincial and First Continental Congresses. Thomas Gage, then Royal Governor, sought to decrease the likelihood of violence by seizing armaments and powder from key American stockpiles. Instead it sparked Patriot outrage.
[Item 1]. J. De Costa, A Plan of the Town and Harbour of Boston and the Country Adjacent with the Road from Boston to Concord Shewing the Place of the Late Engagement between the King’s Troops & the Provincials… London : J. De Costa, Red Cross Street, Southwark, July 29th 1775.
Silas Deane sent a letter to Patrick Henry, a fellow lawyer and member of the First Continental Congress on January 2, 1775 [ITEM 2]. Deane’s self-described “tedious” letter asserted solidarity with Massachusetts resistance and indicated that colonial governors were receiving orders from London to seize imported arms and ammunition.
[Item 2]. Silas Deane autograph letter signed to Patrick Henry, January 2, 1775; Wethersfield, Connecticut. From the James S. Schoff Revolutionary War Collection.
Access the full letter, transcription, and audio recording here.
In accordance with the Coercive/Intolerable Acts, the Governor appointed a new council to oversee Massachusetts. Revolutionary poet Mercy Otis Warren responded with a farcical play titled The Group (1775) [ITEM 3], being a withering satire of the council and supporters of Royal policies. Her representation of Thomas Gage (as “Sylla”) reveals him struggling between his duty and his awareness of the just liberties of the people: “And shall I rashly draw my guilty sword, / And dip its hungry hilt in the rich blood / Of the best subjects that a Brunswick boasts, / And for no cause, but that they nobly scorn / To wear the fetters of his venal slaves!.“
Upon receiving news of the First Continental Congress and other treasonous activity, Parliament issued The Humble Address, stating that the Province of Massachusetts Bay was officially in open rebellion [ITEM 4].
[Item 3] Mercy Otis Warren, The Group, As Lately Acted, and to be Re-acted to the Wonder of all Superior Intelligences, nigh Head-quarters at Amboyne… Boston : Printed and Sold by Edes and Gill, in Queen-Street, 1775.
[Item 4]. The Humble Address of the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in Parliament Assembled, Presented to His Majesty, on Thursday, February 9, 1775… London : Printed by Charles Eyre and William Strahan, 1775. Enclosed in February 22, 1775, . From the Thomas Gage Papers, English Series.
Access the full document, transcription, and audio recording here.
