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Two Faces of a Movement: Part One - Page 2

© Brian Tubbs

Boston activist James Otis argued it was the colonists' "duty to patiently bear" whatever burdens England placed on them, until Parliament "be pleased to relieve us."

These moderates, who increasingly called themselves "Whigs," saw the issue primarily in legal and political terms. Parliament had overstepped its lawful bounds, and had done so to the detriment of the colonies. They therefore wanted to address the matter via political and legal means. In the words of Ray Raphael, author of A People's History of the American Revolution, the Whigs believed that violence and "the wanton destruction of property only served to discredit their cause."

While the majority of American colonists concerned with the new levy probably shared the Whigs' more measured view of what the colonies' response should be, the moderates were nevertheless being drowned out by the more energized and vocal wave of radical Stamp Tax opponents.

The radicals were a diverse lot. They were led by political figures like Sam Adams and Patrick Henry as well as working-class citizen agitators such as Boston's Ebenezer MacIntosh. It is virtually impossible to accurately capture the myriad motives underlying their passion. Still, a general breakdown is possible.

For one thing, while the moderate Whigs tended to see the Stamp Act primarily in political terms, the radicals saw it especially as an economic issue. This does not mean they were blind to its legal or political dimensions. On the contrary, the more political wing of the radical camp was among the levy's most ardent critics on those grounds. This is quite evident when reading the writings of Sam Adams and the speeches of Patrick Henry. Nevertheless, the depth of passion driving the radicals was due primarily to the Stamp Act's economic consequences.

According to Raphael, many of the Stamp Tax protesters who had burned royal officials in effigy, ransacked houses and buildings, and coerced stamp masters to resign "displayed feelings having little or nothing to do with the British Parliament." In their case, protesting the Stamp Act was an opportunity to "demonstrate pent-up antagonisms toward rich merchants and officials who flaunted their wealth or abused their power."

The other generalization which can be made of the radicals is that they refused to be constrained by what the upper class considered a "proper" way to express dissent. In the political arena, radicals were not hesitant to imply or even boldly state that, once Britain exceeded its lawful authority, it had no authority. In the streets and throughout the rural countryside, radicals used any and all means at their disposal to manifest their displeasure with the Stamp Act and demonstrate their resolve.

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