American Demagogue by J. D. Dickey

Author:J. D. Dickey [J. D. DICKEY]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Epub3
ISBN: 9781643132914
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Published: 2019-08-28T00:00:00+00:00

In the fall of 1749 Boston threatened to erupt in riot once more. The issue this time was the retirement of the wartime debt of Massachusetts, which had reached ungodly proportions and created an economic drag in the form of massive inflation and the shrinking value of the currency in relation to the British pound. Under the influence of Governor Shirley, Parliament had designated 183,000 pounds in silver specie to retire the old currency and replace it with legal tender acceptable to the British government. The legislature thought this would be a kindly gesture to reimburse the colony for all its sacrifices at Louisbourg in King George’s War. But instead of placating the colonists, it made them burst into fury.

When the ship carrying the silver arrived in Boston Harbor, people swarmed through the streets, looking to find imperial officials to assault or to engage in other violent acts. The speaker of the General Court, Thomas Hutchinson, became so frightened he fled the town for his country estate, no doubt remembering how the previous spring his house had briefly taken flame while an angry crowd surrounded it, shouting “Let it burn! Let it burn!”

The protestors were angry none of the shipment of British silver would find its way into their pockets. Rumors had circulated of wealthy individuals hoarding depreciated bank notes, hoping for a fat return on their investment, instead of that money going into the hands of the soldiers, their families, or other people who deserved it more. They felt it had been earned with “the blood of the lower classes on the Canadian expeditions” and saw it as yet another bald-faced insult to the pride and heroism of New Englanders. The comments of men like speaker Hutchinson didn’t help either: he proudly took credit for the currency replacement act and its approval by the king, and demanded that the colonials obey it, or else.

His haughty attitude continued a disturbing trend. The British state and its organs like the Board of Trade had been increasingly interfering in colonial affairs, demanding compliance with their edicts and threatening those who resisted them. The people might disapprove, but without organized opposition or a powerful force of arms, they had little chance to overturn even the most unjust decisions of Parliament. Unpopular legislators like Hutchinson who championed widely hated policies might get voted out in local elections—and he was, in 1749—but that did little to stop those policies or bring relief from suffering. And in any case, even if agreeable legislation were enacted in America, it could always be defeated in London. The example of violent convicts being shipped to the New World proved this: despite the efforts of Ben Franklin and countless others to enact laws to forbid the practice or tax it heavily, Parliament rejected those laws and kept shipping criminals across the Atlantic, despite whatever harm they might inflict. Without true autonomy, local government was rendered toothless, and people took their only recourse in the streets.

The signs of increased imperial control

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