The Colonies Rally

Thacher’s passion was echoed throughout Boston, as more “patriots” (as supporters of colonial rights were now being called) read Henry’s words and considered the scope and implications of the Stamp Act. It was no coincidence then that, upon the death of Thacher, Bostonians chose Samuel Adams to succeed him as a member of the Massachusetts legislature.

While admiration for Virginia was understandable, Thacher’s statement that “lethargy” had set in among the Boston patriots was not very accurate. At about the same time Henry railroaded his fiery anti-tax resolutions through the Virginia House of Burgesses, James Otis proposed something much more significant in the long run – and something that the more shrewd royal governors had feared. In June 1765, Otis persuaded the Massachusetts House of Representatives to call for a meeting of delegates from the other North American colonies to discuss the Stamp Act, its consequences, and an appropriate response to Great Britain. The road to the Stamp Act Congress -- and permanent colonial unity -- had begun.

Until the Sugar and Stamp Acts, Parliament had not only enjoyed basically cordial relations with North America, but could rest secure in the fact that the diverse colonies saw the British Empire as the glue which held them together. That changed in 1765. As John C. Miller writes in Origins of the American Revolution, “In imposing the Stamp Act, [Prime Minister] Grenville departed from the time-honored British policy of ruling the colonies by taking advantage of their sectional and social divisions. Instead, he gave them a fundamental and well-nigh universal grievance which swept aside their petty jealousies in a mounting wave of anger against Great Britain.”

Voices all over North America were crying out against England and the Stamp Tax. Emotions were running high, and Britain had never experienced before experienced such intense opposition from her colonies. And now, no one knew where such opposition would end.

Next Article: "The Pot Boils Over: Riots Break Out in Boston"

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Sources for this article included:

Morgan, Edmund S. & Helen M., The Stamp Act Crisis: Prologue to Revolution, University of North Carolina Press

Miller, John C., Origins of the American Revolution, Stanford University Press

Langguth, A.J., Patriots: The Men Who Started The American Revolution, Simon & Schuster

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