Two Faces of a Movement: Part Two
Henry's Virginia Resolves showcased the struggle between moderates and radicals in yet another way. At about the same time they were brought before the Virginia House of Burgesses, James Otis proposed in the Massachusetts Assembly the idea of an intercolonial congress on the Stamp Act. While Otis's idea met with sneers and derision from the Tories (as the supporters of Parliament's tax measures were called), it was the perfect example of a reasoned, moderate response to the crisis at hand.
Otis realized that in order for resistance to the Stamp Act to have any credibility in London, let alone success, the movement needed to eschew violence and anarchy and, most importantly, articulate a coherent message. The best way to accomplish this would be for London to receive resolutions from an organized body of respected and esteemed gentlemen, representing all of His Majesty's North American colonies.
It was a brilliant idea. Not only was such intercolonial coordination long overdue generally, it was the best way to demonstrate the political unity and the potential economic strength of the colonies. It would additionally, it was hoped, show the King and Parliament that not every American had gone mad, resorting to incendiary belligerence or violence.
This was, in large part, the worst problem for the Whigs. Not only were the radicals ratcheting up popular tensions much higher than needed or desired, but British authorities were finding it difficult to distinguish between moderate, respectful dissent and flagrant challenges to British authority.
For example, Massachusetts Governor Francis Bernard sought to undermine Otis's efforts, choosing to believe the worst about those who supported such a congress. In a letter to the Board of Trade, he cautioned that the motives behind these calls for united colonial protest of the Stamp Act were "deeper than they now appear." Bernard warned that the coordinated actions the Massachusetts Assembly was endorsing were likely intended to "lay a foundation for connecting the demagogues of the several Governments in America to join together in opposition to all orders from Great Britain which don't square with their notions of the rights of the people."
In some cases, Bernard may have been right. Sam Adams was just shy of openly calling for colonial independence. In the years ahead, he would enthusiastically cross that line, and would do so well in advance of the war in the next decade. But not all the Stamp Act protest leaders were embracing virtual independence or challenging British authority in and of itself. More than a few honestly believed Parliament had exceeded its lawful authority with the Stamp Tax, and many more saw it genuinely as a harsh assault on His Majesty's loyal subjects' everyday life in Colonial America.
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