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Two Faces of a Movement: Part One

© Brian Tubbs

Editor's Note: This article picks up our series on the Origins of the American Revolution, and should be read as a continuation of our narrative look at the Stamp Act struggle.

The destruction of Thomas Hutchinson's house in Boston may have been among the worst acts of mob violence in 1765, but it was far from the only one. Colonies throughout North America were experiencing similar turmoil as the people were reacting with fury to George Grenville's newest levy.

Maryland's Zachariah Hood refused to bend to the mob's demands that he resign as stamp master. For his brave (some might say foolhardy) resolve, Hood was burned in effigy and his store was destroyed. Repeated threats were made against his life, and he was forced to flee the colony for his safety. Arriving in New York, he was tracked down by the New York Sons of Liberty, who were about to return him to Maryland. He finally relented.

New Hampshire's stamp master, George Meserve, upon arriving back in North America to execute his new duties, was unable to land in Boston without putting himself in serious jeopardy. After agreeing to resign, he was permitted to safely leave Boston for New Hampshire. Upon arrival, the New Hampshire patriots burned his commission to guarantee his resignation.

As historian John C. Miller notes, these episodes in New Hampshire and Maryland, along with the sad story of Thomas Hutchinson in Boston, were not isolated incidents. "Mobs chased some of the bluest-blooded patricians in America through back alleys, wrecked their houses and guzzled their liquor," writes Miller in his comprehensive look at the pre-Revolutionary war years, Origins of the American Revolution. "[A]lthough the patriots did not shed any of their victims' blood, this was largely owing to the agility of the gentry in getting out of harm's way and to their alacrity in yielding to the demands of the mobs."

As widespread as these incidents were, they were the manifestation of but one face of the Stamp Tax resistance movement. The more moderate anti-tax leaders were worried over the mob actions. In fact, the rhetorical exuberance of the likes of Sam Adams and Patrick Henry aside, most of Britain's leading critics in the colonies were counseling patience and restraint.

Maryland's articulate pamphleteer, Daniel Dulany, urged Americans to abide peacefully by the Stamp Act, even though he argued strenuously against its constitutionality.

Colonial agents in London, while clearly unhappy with Grenville's policies, downplayed the seriousness of the Stamp Act to their countrymen back home and argued against any violent resistance.

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