Features

Mob Attacks on Loyalists in Massachusetts 1774

Feb 9th, 2012 | By
front-image "the sufferings of all from mobs, rioters and trespassers" By Peter Oliver, in Origin and Progress of the American Rebellion, 1781    Appendix based on events compiled in The Boston Weekly News-Letter, 23 Feb. 1775 The Bostonians Paying the Excise-Man, or Tarring & Feathering, British print, 1774 (detail). Exhibiting a few, out of the many, very innocent Frolics of Rebellion,1 especially in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. From the beginning of the revolutionary period in the 1760s, British supporters (Tories and later called Loyalists) were harassed, intimidated, and often attacked by Patriot mobs. As war approached in the 1770s, the victims of Patriot wrath expanded to include lukewarm supporters and the vocally undecided, and the threats and injuries they received escalated in severity. One victim was
[continue reading...]


Andres Cragie: Life of a Massachusetts patriot and scoundrel

Jan 8th, 2012 | By
antique_apothecary-300x214 First Apothecary General of the Continental Army By Anthony J. Connors After serving as the first Apothecary General of the Continental Army during the American Revolution, Andrew Craigie made a fortune in land and securities speculation in New York. Returning to his native Massachusetts, he purchased one of the most elegant homes in Cambridge, built the bridge connecting Boston to Lechmere Point, and developed East Cambridge. Yet years before his death, Craigie had become a ghostly figure, self-confined to his mansion to avoid arrest. Cambridge boys, including future physician and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes, would knock on his shuttered windows and then run, as if from a haunted house. How had "Doctor" Craigie fallen so low? The son of a Scottish ship captain and his
[continue reading...]


Harvard’s year of exile

Dec 18th, 2011 | By
100411_ConcordHarvard_007.jpg During the American Revolution, the College moved to Concord As Harvard celebrates its 375th anniversary, the Harvard Gazette examines key moments and developments over the University’s broad and compelling history. Lexington and Concord. April 19, 1775. Where and when the Revolutionary War started is well known. Not so well known is the fact that Harvard played an important, if odd, role afterward in the early days of the Revolution, turning its campus over to the nascent American army. On May 1, 1775, undergraduates were dismissed and given an early summer vacation. Classes resumed on Oct. 5 in Concord, 20 miles away - the beginning of a wartime academic sojourn. Student safety was a factor in the move, said historian John L. Bell, a specialist in
[continue reading...]


The Massachusetts Revolution of 1774

Nov 24th, 2011 | By
militiaMen The Beginning of the End of British Rule in North America By Darryl Hamson Two years before independence from Great Britain was declared in Philadelphia, it had already been achieved in rural Massachusetts. Most accounts of the American Revolution consider the beginning of open rebellion to be the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775. But during the previous summer, ordinary citizens gathered by the thousands in the county seats and elsewhere, and, without the loss of a single life, put an end to British rule in most of the colony outside Boston. The British Government’s Response to the Boston Tea Party When a mob dressed as Indians threw chests of British tea into Boston Harbor in December of 1773, they were
[continue reading...]


Worcester at the breaking out of the Revolutionary War

Oct 26th, 2011 | By
american_revolution_soldiers Worcester In The War Of The Revolution: Embracing The Acts Of The Town From 1705 To 1783 By Albert A. Lovell, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1870 It would be desirable, if it were possible, to present a full and detailed representation of Worcester as it was at the time of the Revolution, but as the records of that day are meager, and we so far removed in point of time, it is impossible to produce any full and complete picture of the town at that period of its existence. At the breaking out of the war in 1775, Worcester contained about nineteen hundred inhabitants. According to a census taken in the year 1763, the population was fourteen hundred and seventy-eight, and by a census taken in the
[continue reading...]


A new species of monster

Oct 1st, 2011 | By
gerrymander The real story of how Massachusetts spawned the gerrymander-and immediately tried to kill it By Christopher Klein (The Boston Globe) Massachusetts, like other states across the country, is gearing up this year to redraw its political boundaries, fitting electoral districts to America’s shifting population and reshaping its political map for the next decade. In Massachusetts this means losing a valuable congressional seat; the proposals for how this might shake out are expected to emerge from the State House this fall. Thanks to the Boston Gazette’s brilliant branding, however, today the coinage overshadows Gerry’s other achievements - that he signed the Declaration of Independence, attended the Constitutional Convention, and served as the country’s fifth vice president. Inevitably, redrawing districts does something else as well: It dredges
[continue reading...]


Liberty and Order: Primary Documents

Sep 4th, 2011 | By
government-gone-wild-benefits-perks By Lance Banning (From The Jack Miller Center) Within three years of the inauguration of the new federal Constitution, America’s revolutionary leaders divided bitterly over the policies most appropriate for the infant nation. Within five years, two clashing groups were winning thousands of ordinary voters to their side. Within a decade, the collision had resulted in a full-blown party war. There has never been another struggle like it. These were the first true parties in the history of the world—the first, that is, to mobilize and organize a large proportion of a mass electorate for a national competition. More than that, these parties argued at a depth and fought with a ferocity that has never been repeated. The Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans—the friends of
[continue reading...]


Solving the Mystery of George Washington’s Famous Letter

Aug 13th, 2011 | By
story-2washg-061611-square How did it end up in a suburban warehouse? By Paul Berger (http://www.forward.com) It started as a mystery. During a lecture in England last December, Jonathan Sarna, America’s foremost scholar of American Jewish history, said he did not know the whereabouts of one of American Jewry’s most important documents: George Washington’s letter to the Hebrew Congregation, in Newport, R.I. Upon this yellowed piece of 18th-century rag paper is a short but powerful statement from the first president of the United States reassuring one of the original colonial congregations that his nascent government guaranteed religious liberty for all. Library of Congress, Manuscript DivisionKeepsake: A copy of Washington’s letter to the Jews of Newport, found in the letter book of the President’s secretary. Click to enlarge image."For,
[continue reading...]


Privateers of the Revolution

Jun 23rd, 2011 | By
Norwegian-Harbor-of-Refuge-web By Charles R. Lampson The word privateer evokes different meanings for different people. Perhaps the definitions of both privateer and pirate will point out the subtle differences between the two. Privateer: A person who sails under a nation's or state's "Letter of Marque" for the sole purpose of capturing prizes (ocher ships) selling the ship and cargo to make a profit for the men and crews. Only vessels of the enemy are fair game. Privateers sailed two types of vessels: one was well-manned for attacking and capturing the enemy's vessel the other was primarily a cargo ship. Pirate: A person who robs or plunders and commits illegal violence at sea or on the seashore. A pirate owes allegiance to no one but himself and his
[continue reading...]


The People Who Founded America: A Founding Fathers Guide

May 14th, 2011 | By
Founding_Fathers_02 (From http://www.peoplefinders.com) The founding fathers of our country played important roles during our the American revolution and subsequent building of our political system. Without the leadership of these seven founders beliefs we might not be where we are as a country today, and it is their beliefs and values which contributed to shaping the government and society we live in. Interestingly, though they sometimes worked in collaboration, they also had tumultuous relationships with one another.  For instance, Hamilton was a great friend and ally of Washington's but he and Jefferson and Monroe were bitter political opponents.  Perhaps it is their deeply held convictions and ability to compromise that best remind us of how this nation was created. Below you will find additional information on these men and American
[continue reading...]