57. The Other Colonies Resist Tea

0:00Volume 3, Chapter 57, The Other Colonies Resist Tea The rebels had an easier time of it in the other colonies, with no Hutchinson or British fleet to hinder them, and with the inspiring example of the Boston Tea Party before them, the consignees and tea ships put up little resistance to popular pressure. The first public meeting of protest in the colonies against the Tea Act took place in in Philadelphia on October 16. The citizens of Philadelphia adopted a comprehensive set of resolutions that served as a model for Boston and the other colonies. The Tea Act and Tea Duty were denounced, and a committee was appointed to demand resignation of the consignees. The consignees, including Thomas Wharton, saw the way the wind blew and soon A second public meeting warned against the landing of the T. The T ship sailed up the Delaware on December 25. The vessel was stopped four miles from Philadelphia, thus avoiding the Boston problem of the customs duty. The captain was deeply impressed with the intense

1:15feeling of the public against landing the T. Two days later, a huge public meeting of

1:52In preparation for the tea-ship, an association of the Sons of Liberty was drawn up on November 29, which association called for a boycott against any enemies to its country. Enemies were those who might aid in introducing the British tea into the country, or who might buy or sell the tea after it had landed. A boycott was also called against those who had failed to boycott the transgressors. The association was signed by the leading lawyers, merchants and merchant shipmasters, landowners and mechanics of New York. A committee of the newly formed sons then pressured the three New York consignees to resign, aided by a public threat of violence issued by the radical Mohawks, a direct action Group, formed by the Sons of Liberty. Under this pressure, and realizing that mass opinion was solidly against them, the Consignees resigned their post on December 1. The Sons then held a mass meeting of 2000 on December 17, headed by the veteran radical leader, the merchant John Lamb. The meeting denounced the landing of NET and decided to appoint a committee

3:17of Correspondence to Right to Other Colonies. Harbor pilots were warned against guiding any tea ships into port. The meeting derisively spurned the mayor's suggestion that the British tea be stored at the local fort. In reaction to this meeting, the conservative Isaac Lowe launched a movement to renounce the use of force in opposing the landing of the tea, But this movement was swept aside by popular enthusiasm upon receipt of the news of the Boston Tea Party. When a tea-ship arrived off New York, the following April the captain, heeding the counsel of the Committee of Correspondence, promised not to enter the port and sailed away. A few days later, however, another sea captain was planning to sneak eighteen chests of tea into New York.

4:08The angry citizens on discovering the ruse emulated the Bostonians by boarding the ship and dumping the tea into the sea. The treacherous captain promptly fled to another vessel and sailed back to England. The final port to be sent the tea was Charleston. There the radicals were in more difficult straits than elsewhere, since Charleston had not been an important The centre of the tea trade and the merchants were not as directly threatened. The tea ship London arrived on December 2, precipitating a mass meeting the following day. The meeting, headed by Christopher Gadsden, succeeded in persuading the tea consignees to resign their commissions.

4:53It further agreed to circulate among the merchants of Charleston a petition pledging the non-importation of British Tea. Gadson and the others found, however, that while the planters and artisans, soon to form a John Wilkes Club, were eager to pledge a boycott of merchants importing doodiable tea, the merchants themselves were reluctant to join the ranks. A showdown meeting of merchants, planters and mechanics was held on December 17, each Each of the three groups having privately caucused in preparation for the critical meeting. The radicals passed a resolution for non-importation of dutyed teas, but the conservative merchants managed to weaken the resolve by including all teas in the interdict, including smuggled Dutch teas, and allowing six months for consumption of their current stocks of dutyable British While the struggles continued over a boycott, the tea ships remained in the harbor. The 20-day period for payment of duty would soon expire, after which non-paying ships were subject to seizure. Would the people of Charleston follow the Bostonians in a bold tea party?

6:12On the contrary, the merchants' opposition discouraged the radicals, and the customs Government officials seized and landed the tea on December 22 without any opposition. Nothing happened thereafter. However, the easygoing government officials made no attempt to sell the tea and it remained safely in the government warehouse until the outbreak of the revolution. Thus, in every one of the four colonies, determined action by the resisting 17 Americans prevented any of the East Indian tea from reaching its consignees. Once again, the rebellious Americans had been successful in forcibly thwarting British designs. Moreover, tea parties continued during 1774, and the Americans soon radicalized their opposition to include the tea tax and therefore all duty to tea, even that of private merchants. A group of Boston mohawks destroyed a cargo of tea in March, and tea cargos were burned during the year at Charleston, Greenwich, Annapolis, and in New Jersey. Indeed, so fiercely did the Americans concentrate upon tea that all tea, even smuggled tea, soon became boycotted Boycotted and shunned for fear that the tea might be English. Tea, which had been a staple

7:41drink throughout America, soon vanished from the colonies. As early as January 30, the Boston tea dealers agreed to suspend the sale of all tea, and the movement soon spread to for Other Towns and Provinces.