25. Response in Virginia

In some of the colonies, the stamp distributors had not yet arrived at the time of their appointment. Here the task of the colonists was to await their arrival with vigilance. Thus, George Meserve, appointed stamp master for New Hampshire, faced as he sailed into Boston Harbor a hornets’ nest of trouble. He found there a letter from the leading citizens of Portsmouth warning him of grave danger should he attempt to set foot in New Hampshire before resigning his commission. More immediately, he found a Boston mob that prevented his ship from landing for two days until they were convinced no stamped paper was aboard.

It did not take Meserve long to size up the situation. He publicly announced his resignation before going ashore, and was feted and cheered by the Bostonians in return. But in New Hampshire, Meserve found less willingness to forgive and forget. He lived in fear of popular retaliation until he agreed to hand over his royal commission to be burned publicly by his neighbors.

George Mercer, a leading Virginia planter and former aide of George Washington, happily received his colony’s stamp appointment in England without realizing the temper of the province. Mercer arrived in Virginia on October 30, shortly before the deadline, to find Virginia in an uproar. In the Northern Neck, Mercer had been burned in effigy; upcountry threats abounded of marching in to destroy the stamped paper; and two country justices had already resigned in protest against the Stamp Act. Mercer’s old friend George Washington, though opposed to the stamp tax as unworkable, was cool to the resistance, calling it “ill-judged,” but this had no effect in stemming the tide.

When Mercer arrived at Williamsburg, a crowd, which included almost all the leading merchants and “gentlemen of property” in the colony, met him on the street and demanded his immediate resignation. When Mercer, asking for time to think until November 1, was greeted warmly by Governor Fauquier, Speaker Robinson, and the Virginia Council, the crowd rumbled and demanded an immediate decision: “Friday is too late... the law goes into effect then.... Let us rush in!” Under this severe pressure, Mercer reluctantly agreed to give his decision by the next day, October 31.

Despite the urging of Governor Fauquier to stand his ground, George Mercer reevaluated his position, and by the next morning he assured the large throng that he had not approved the Stamp Act and that he would never directly or indirectly help to enforce it. The gladdened mob feted Mercer, and bore him in triumph around the streets of Williamsburg.