Massachusetts On The Brink

The Sugar Act, passed the previous year, was already being indirectly felt by the lower class as the reduction in smuggled goods, thanks to stepped-up enforcement by the British, was being seen in the local economy, particularly in harbor cities such as Boston.

Furthermore, Parliament's passage of the Currency Act, restricting paper currency in the colonies, contributed to the scarcity of money in North America, already the source of much economic frustration. And yet, the Stamp Act was about to exacerbate this frustration, since it mandated that payment for stamps had to be in "hard money." Not only was paper money now being restricted, it was already discounted against the pound sterling. Moreover, with the balance of trade tipped in the Mother Country's favor (now even more so with the Sugar Act), hard money was frequently hard to come by.

Lastly, the scope of the Stamp Act was so wide that it defies logic to argue that its effect would be primarily felt by society's elite. This was a measure that would require a stamp on everything from marriage licenses to playing cards. Everyday colonial life would be dramatically impacted. There would be no escaping it, and the lower classes understood this as well as anyone.

And this is why the stage was set on August 14, 1765 for one of the most dramatic episodes in Boston's history.

******************

Sources for this article included:

Fleming, Thomas, Liberty! The American Revolution, Viking (The Penguin Group), 1997

Langguth, A. J., Patriots: The Men Who Started the American Revolution, Simon & Schuster, 1988

Zinn, Howard, A People's History of the United States, Abridged Teaching Edition, The New Press, 1997

Go To Page: 1 2