crowded day after day with people who met to consult. At last, in the twilight of a December day, when the people were gathered in the Old South Church, because Faneuil Hall was not large enough, a messenger came from the governor with his final refusal. Dec. 16, 1773. Sam Adams stood up and declared, "This meeting can do nothing more to save the country." A voice in the gallery called out," Hurrah for Griffin's Wharf!" It was at Griffin's Wharf1 that the tea ships lay. Immediately the people poured out of the church and hurried after a party of young men disguised as Indians, who set up a war whoop. These men took possession of the vessels, seized the tea chests, broke them open, and poured the contents into the harbor. - 20. The Boston Port Bill. As soon as the news reached England, Lord North brought into Parliament a bill, which was passed, ordering that after the first of June no person should load or unload any ship in the port of Boston until the town apologized, and paid for the tea which had been destroyed. The Boston Port Bill, as it was called, was the punishment which the British government inflicted on the rebellious town. To close the port of Boston was to strike a severe blow at the prosperity of the town and of the entire colony. When the act went into operation, the bells were tolled and the peo1774. ple hung out mourning. Throughout the country there June 1, was the greatest sympathy shown for Massachusetts. The other colonies urged the Bostonians to remain steadfast, and showed their sympathy by gifts of money and provisions. 21. The Loss of Governmental Rights. When the port of Boston was closed, a British fleet lay at the entrance, and regiments of British soldiers occupied the town. A still severer blow was struck at the liberties of the people. Parliament had passed two acts for the regulation of the government of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. 1 A tablet is inserted in the wall of a building on Atlantic Avenue where the wharf formerly stood. By these acts nearly all the power was lodged in the hands of the governor and of officers appointed by the king or governor. The people could hold town meetings only once a year. The courts had power to send prisoners to England or to other colonies for trial, instead of being required to try them before juries of their neighbors. The people now knew that they had something more to struggle for than freedom from taxation. They were to contend for rights dear to every free Englishman, and they proceeded at once to take measures to assert those rights. Since Parliament chose to take from them their customary government, they would make a new government. The people in Massachusetts, as in the other colonies, had been used to acting according to law. So now, when they rebelled against the government, they went about the business not as if they were breaking laws, but as if they were keeping them. They were forbidden to have more than one town meeting a year. In Boston, accordingly, they had only one, but by adjourning from time to time they made it last all the year. 22. The Provincial and the Continental Congress. - General Gage, the new governor, who had been sent over from England, refused to recognize the legislature chosen by the people. Thereupon the legislature formed itself into the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, and withdrew from Boston to Concord. This Congress was regarded by the people of the colony as the real government. It appointed a Committee of Safety, which met frequently and had power to act in any emergency. The colonies all had committees of correspondence, and kept one another informed by letter of what was going on. Massachusetts now invited the other colonies to send delegates to a congress at Philadelphia. This is known as the First Continental Congress. The name is significant of national feeling. All the colonies were represented except 1774. September, Georgia. They drew up an address to the king, setting forth their grievances, and formed an agreement to refuse to carry on any trade with Great Britain until their wrongs should be righted. 23. Lexington and Concord. The towns of Massachusetts had always had their militia companies. Now these were newly organized, under patriot captains, and an active training where the First Congress met. a secret night excursion to Concord to destroy the stores. But he was in the midst of a hostile and vigilant people, and his plans were discovered in season to warn the Committee of Safety. Among the means taken by the patriots to warn the country, was a lantern signal hung from a church tower in Boston.1 Messengers rode by night through the country, carrying the news that British soldiers were marching to Concord, and people took down their muskets and hurried to join their neighbors. Thus when the British troops, early in the morning of the 19th of April, reached Lexington, two thirds of the to Concord, they found a small body of countrymen, under Captain Parker, drawn up on the common to dispute the way. Captain Parker had given orders 1 This incident has been graphically set forth in Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride," April 19, 1775. way not to fire unless they were fired upon. The British troops called upon the rebels to disperse, and opened fire on them, killing seven men. The little band of patriots retreated slowly, returning the fire as they went; the British kept on to Concord, where they began to destroy the military stores. A detachment was sent Bridge, and quickly turned back. The Americans had attacked the troops left to guard the bridge. The whole countryside had been roused. The news of the attack at Lexington had spread like wildfire. Companies of minute men, so called because they were to be ready for movement at a minute's notice, were pouring into Concord and joined in the attack of the British, who were overpowered by the number of countrymen. The British forces began a retreat toward Boston, bearing their dead and wounded with them. All the way, from behind stone walls, and from houses, the angry farmers harassed them with shot. They did not desist until the troops had crossed Charlestown Neck at sunset, and were safe under the guns of the British vessels. The news of the fight traveled swiftly. The colonial militia had attacked the king's troops. There were no railways or telegraphs in those days, but every man sent word to his The farmers left They took their guns The women were neighbor, and one town rallied the next. their plows, and the artisans their tools. and horses, and marched straight to Boston. full of patriotism. A mother had two boys, one nineteen, the other sixteen, years of age. Her husband was at sea. She gave her eldest boy his fowling piece; and since the duck and goose shot were too small, she cut up her pewter spoons and hammered the pieces into slugs. She had only a rusty sword for the younger boy, but she sent them both off to join the men. The Patriots' Rally. All through the 19th of April and the night that followed, the tramp of men and horses was heard on the roads. They came from every quarter; and on the morning of the 20th a great company had gathered at Cambridge, upon the outskirts of Charlestown, and at Roxbury. Boston was surrounded by camps of patriots. Every day their numbers were swelled by newcomers. Each company of soldiers chose its own officers, and was under the general orders of the colony to which it belonged. The oldest-commissioned and most experienced officer was Artemas Ward, who commanded the Massachusetts troops at Cambridge. Upon a monument which stands near the scene of the little battle of Concord, are four lines from a poem written by the American poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson : |