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Boston nd the American Revolution I 29.9/5: 146 Official National Park Handbook Boston and the American Revolution Boston National Historical Park Massachusetts Produced by the Division of Publications National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Washington, D.C. National Park Handbooks are published to support the National Park Service's management programs and to promote understanding and enjoyment of the more than 370 National Park System sites that are important examples ofour nation's natural and cultural heritage. Each handbook is intended to be informative reading and a useful guide before,dur- ing, and after a park visit.They are sold at parks and can be purchased by mail from the Superinten- dent ofDocuments,U.S. Government Printing Of- fice,Washington,DC 20402-9325.This is handbook 146. LibraryofCongress Cataloging-in-PublicationData Boston andtheAmericanRevolution/BostonNationalHis- toricalPark,Boston,Massachusetts;producedbythe Divi- sionofPublications,NationalParkService,U.S.Department ofthe Interior,Washington,D.C. — p. cm. (Nationalparkhandbookseries;146) Includesbibliographicalreferences andindex. ISBN0-912627-65-4 1.Boston (Mass.)—History—Revolution,1775-1783. 2.FreedomTrail (Boston,Mass.) I.BostonNationalHistori- calPark (Boston,Mass.) II.UnitedStates.NationalParkSer- vice.DivisionofPublications.III.Series: Handbook (United States,NationalParkService,DivisionofPublications);146. F73.B755 1998 974.4'6102—dc21 98-4483 CIP A Parti Revolutionary Era PUBUC DOCUMENTS ByBarbara ClarkSmith DEPOSITORY ITEM Foreword 6 SEP 7 1998 Boston in the Empire 9 Prologue to Revolution 23 CLEMSON New Controversies, 1766-70 31 LIBRARY Trouble Brewing 43 "NowWe are Enemies" 53 Part 2 Travels in Historic Boston 74 BySusanWilson IntroducingBoston NationalHistorical Park 76 Where Revolution Began:An Overview ofthe FreedomTrail 79 Revolution ofMinds and Hearts 80 The People Revolt 84 Neighborhood ofRevolution 88 Boston Goes toWar 90 Related Massachusetts Sites 92 «3S&, Index 94 a. i co Domesticware, likethis "No CoO StampAct"teapot, often car- riedpropagandamessages I oo priorto theRevolution. The backgroundimageispartof apanoramicviewofBoston in1769. tionar ^«3E^ mtm&ZS&g. .-^T^xY^, Foreword — Precedingpages: Colonial To travel back to Revolutionary Boston to under- protestsofoppressive British stand the people,events,and ideals ofmore than two lawstookmanyforms. One — ofthemostpopularpractices centuries ago is a great leap for us today. But the wasto tarandfeathergov- sites alon—g the FreedomTrail do speak eloquently of ernmentagentsresponsible that time a time when Boston was not a sprawling forenforcingtheregulations. metropolis but a moderate-sized seaport. Still, we Onesuch incident, involving need to look beyond what lies before our eyes, fJiocihanl,MianlJcaonluma,rya1c7u7s4t,omisssaotfi-- because 18th-centuryBoston wasvery different from rizedin thiscartoonpro- the city we see today. Engineers had not yet recon- ducedin Englandentitled "A figured the landscape, and the town was confined to NewMethodofMacarony a peninsula, connected with the rest of the province Makingaspracticedin Bos- of Massachusetts only by a narrow strip of land, ton inNorthAmerica."Mer- chantseamen (instriped called "the Neck" at Roxbury. In 1765, roughly trousers)figureprominently 15,000 people lived on that peninsula in nearly 1,700 in thecrowd. houses,mostly wooden structures crowded along the crooked, narrow streets and alleyways. Walking the streets of1765,visitors saw abusy and varied scene. There was the densely settled North End, Boston's first real neighborhood, where sailors and maritime artisans clustered. In the middle of town were shops, dwellings, and prominent public — buildings most notably the Old State House (then known as the Towne House) where the governing bodies of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the town convened. In front of the Old State House, State Street (then called King Street) ran east to Long Wharf, which reached out a half-mile into the harbor to welcome ships of all sizes. Boston also boasted impressive Georgian mansions.Especially in the southern wards and west near the Common, the town's well-to-do merchants and government offi- cials resided in brick houses with spacious private gardens. Everywhere church spires pierced the sky- line, reflecting the town's founding in religious fer- vor,while stores,workshops,wharves,and warehous- es marked the area as a bustling commercial center. Boston had an excellent harbor. In a very real sense, the town faced out toward the Atlantic. The ocean was the great highway of the 18th century. It did not isolate Bostonians but connected them to others. By mid-century, Boston ships sailed to the rich fishing banks off Nova Scotia, to the West Indi- an sugar islands, to continental colonies along the coast to Georgia,to southern Europe, and to various port cities of Great Britain. With alloftheseparts oftheAtlanticworld,Bosto- nians had important economic dealings. With Eng- land,however,theyfelt adeepertie aswell,forMass- achusetts was a colony of Great Britain. Britain was the source of political liberty, the mother country, and,as many called it,home. In 1750,few Bostonians imagined looking for liberty by separating from Britain.They did not imagine independence. Within two decades of 1750, however, Bostonians were resisting the policies ofthe British government. Quickly, their resistance turned to revolution. In the span of a generation, they came to see themselves and their society in a new way. Today the sites of Boston National Historical Park include the scenes of critical events in the story: resolutions in defense of colonial rights made in town meetings at Faneuil Hall; the Boston Massacre in front of the Old State House;mass assemblies atOld SouthMeetingHouse that preceded the Boston Tea Party; the battle at Bunker Hill and the occupation of Dorchester Heights. What brought Americans to these sites on these occasions?The answer lies partly in the acts of British authorities, whose policies aroused a fervent opposition. It lies, too, in the townspeople's most basic beliefs and cherished ideals, most especially a notion of "liberty" that was precious not only to 18th-century Bostonians but ultimately to other Americans as well. ThesepagesexploreBostonians' ideaofliberty.We have often seen that idea through the eyes and actions ofthe city's most prominent men.Yet liberty was also the vision of 18th-century shipwrights and shoemakers, barrelmakers and goodwives, tavern- keepers, shopkeepers, and sailors. The full story of Boston's revolution includes the beliefs and political practices that an assorted, often anonymous group known as"thepeople"broughtwiththemtothecon- flict with Britain. Popular ideas of liberty both sup- ported and challenged the city's leading men. As Boston's ordinary people found new ways to partici- pate in public life, they made the era a truly revolutionary one.Inspired bythe Revolution's ideals,later generations carried the logic ofliberty still furtherto argueforthe abolitionofslavery,women'srights,and the right of working people to organize. For many people around the world the principles that the Rev- olution embodied have served as models ofself-government and personal freedom. '-', £ > m ****** - vi - 'Ail' .