American Revolution Daily

City Tavern

The City Tavern, of which only a reconstruction stands today, was built in 1773. On May 20th, 1774, over 200 men used the tavern to discuss Boston’s request for assistance in resisting the Boston Port Bill, Great Britain’s fierce response the Boston Tea Party. That same year, it hosted an unofficial meeting of the Continental Congress upon their arrival to Philadelphia. During the Second Continental Congress, members including George Washington made a tradition of eating together in the tavern every Saturday. In 1777, in the midst of the Revolution, The Continental Congress gathered in the tavern on July 4th to celebrate the first anniversary of the new nation’s Declaration of Independence. It was once again patronized by the country’s founders in 1787 when they gathered in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention. The tavern continued to be used by men such as Washington to entertain guests visiting the city of Philadelphia. However, by the 1790′s, its popularity was declining. It was damaged by a fire in 1834 and then completely demolished in 1854. A newspaper at the time predicted that the tavern would not be remembered, except by “some curious delver into the past”. Despite this prediction, in 1948 Congress commissioned an accurate reconstruction of the tavern as part of their preservation of the historic surrounding area of Philadephia, to be designated Independence National Park. The reconstruction was completed and opened for the nation’s bicentennial in 1976, and remains in operation with a historic 18th century ambiance to this day.

George Grenville

George Grenville was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1763 until 1765, pivotal years in the road to the American Revolution. He was born into a prestigious political family and after a short career as a lawyer, entered Parliament in 1741. He was then 38 years old. His rise to power was aided greatly by a political alliance with William Pitt, one of the most celebrated politicians in British history. However, his alliance with Pitt (who was also his brother-in-law) was soon broken up and the two became enemies. During their alliance, however, Grenville became Treasurer of the Navy and Privy Councillor. Shortly after, though, both he and Pitt were dismissed from the government in 1755 for speaking out against the government for making costly agreements with other countries. However, by 1757, the current government had grown weak, and unable to navigate the Seven Years’ War, resigned. This in turn brought Pitt back to power, and he became the virtual head of government. Under Pitt’s leadership, Grenville was again made Treasurer of the Navy and later Northern Secretary. Pitt resigned from the government in 1761, and Grenville was on his own. He had risen high enough that through a series of resignations of those above him, he, by some stroke of luck, became Prime Minister. At this, he failed miserably. He authored the Stamp Act which in no small way steered the colonies toward revolution. In addition to this, he alienated Great Britain from the rest of Europe so inextricably that future governments were unable to make friends within Europe, which led to Britain fighting against many European powers (most notably France and Spain) in the American Revolutionary War with no major ally to help them. The King, recognizing Grenville’s failures, begged William Pitt to reenter politics and relieve Grenville of his position. Pitt declined. However, the King eventually found a (somewhat) suitable replacement in Lord Rockingham and immediately dismissed Grenville in 1765. He never again held office and died five years later, on November 13th, 1770.

Brant’s Volunteers

Brant’s Volunteers were a ragtag group of soldier organized by Joseph Brant who fought for the British in the American Revolution. Joesph Brant, or Thayendanegea, was a military leader of the Mohawk tribe at the time of the Revolution. At the outbreak of the war in 1775, Brant traveled to England and met personally with King George III in order to negotiate Mohawk military support in exchange for protection of Native American land. Upon returning home, he tried to make good on his promise by convincing native tribes to join the fight against the patriots. He was largely unsuccessful, as the Six Nations at the time wished to remain neutral in the conflict. As a result, he began recruiting individuals rather than tribes and ended up with a group of about 100 men in 1777, with only about one-fifth being Native American. The remainder were made up of loyalists who were not yet fighting against the patriots. As an irregular corps, the men were not paid for their service but instead were compensated by the fruits of their plunder, and later by provisions from the British, although still not money. As such, historians are not really sure why loyalists chose to join Brant’s group rather than signing up for more traditional British military positions. The group saw quite a few battles, including the Battle of Oriskany, Battle of Cobleskill, and Battle of Minisink. As enemies of the newly formed United States, Brant resettled on land granted to the Six Nations at the end of the war. A few of his non-native soldiers remained with him and settled among natives at the end of the war.

The Liberty Affair

On May 9th, 1768, Liberty, a ship owned by powerful merchant John Hancock arrived in Boston Harbor and unloaded a small load of Madeira wine. The size of the load aroused suspicion, and customs officials thought he may be hiding more cargo aboard in order to unload it secretly in the night to avoid paying the duties imposed recently by the Townshend Act. As such, two customs officials occupied the boat overnight and the next day swore that nothing was unloaded from the ship overnight. However, after another incident in which Hancock forcibly removed other customs officials from his boat Lydia for not having a warrant, one of the officials from the Liberty incident changed his initial story and claimed he had been locked in the Liberty’s cabin overnight while Hancock and other men unloaded an illegal shipment. After this testimony, the Liberty was again boarded and officials found a shipment of tar and oil that had not been declared. With this evidence, the ship was seized. When officials attempted to tow it out the Romney, a British warship, a riot ensued. The British officials then moved aboard the Romney to an island fort, claiming that they were unsafe in the city. They filed lawsuits against Hancock and in August, the Liberty was seized again, this time permanently. Hancock was then placed on trial and officials alleged he had been involved in smuggling, but for unknown reasons the charges were later dropped. To this day it is still unclear whether John Hancock was ever involved in any smuggling, and no evidence has been found to suggest that the charges in the Liberty case were founded. However, the Liberty affair exacerbated existing tensions between colonials and the British government, and reinforced Britain’s desire to occupy Boston with troops.

Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783

The Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 was an uprising of almost 400 Continental Army soldiers against Congress, which was then housed in the Philadelphia State House (Independence Hall). The soldiers, who had control over the city’s weapons and munitions depot, had gathered at the city barracks to demand payment for their Revolutionary War service. They passed this message to Congress on June 17th, 1783, threatening to act that day if they were not paid. Congress called their bluff, and the soldiers did not act on their threat when Congress did not address their grievances that day. However, three days later, the soldiers mobbed the state house, blocked the door, and refused to let the delegates leave. This riot was quelled only when Alexander Hamilton, serving as the delegate from New York,  came out to negotiate with the soldiers, and persuaded them to give Congress time to address their concerns. The mob dispersed, but that night, Hamilton and other Congressmen met in secret to write a message to the Pennsylvania Council asking for protection from the rioting soldiers. The next day, the same group of Congressmen, headed by Hamilton, met with the Pennsylvania Council and its president, John Dickinson, and asked that the state do more to protect the federal government. The Council asked for time to consult with Pennsylvania’s militia commanders, and the next day sent word that they would not provide Congress with protection. As a result, fearing for their safety, Congress left Philadelphia for Princeton, New Jersey, relocating several times before settling in New York in 1785, and then back to Philadelphia from 1790-1800. The uprising highlighted the need for the federal government to be able to provide for its own security. As such, the event is largely responsible for the creation of a federal district, Washington, D.C., to serve as the nation’s capitol.

Thomas Hutchinson

Thomas Hutchinson was the colonial governor of Massachusetts during the pivotal years leading up to the American Revolution, from 1769 until 1774. During his time as governor, he made a series of poorly calculated decisions that created tension between the people and the royal government and ultimately escalated the conflict that was to grow into the Revolution. Hutchinson was born in Massachusetts on September 9th, 1711 and at age 12 began attending Harvard. He entered politics in 1737 and began amassing public offices, serving as a legislator, a councillor, a judge of probate, lieutenant governor and later governor of the Massachusetts colony. While he was lieutenant governor, he was roped into the mob violence surrounding the Stamp Act of 1765, when his brother-in-law Andrew Oliver was appointed stamp distributor. The mob took this as evidence that Hutchinson favored the Act. Hutchinson’s house was then twice surrounded by a violent mob on August 13th and 26th of 1765, with the mob of August 26th destroying or stealing nearly everything within his house, as well as tearing down much of the roof and several walls. Hutchinson had fled shortly before the mob arrived. Soon after, the repeal of the Stamp Act led to a period of relative peace. He was governor during the time of the 1770 Boston Massacre and attempted to resign in its aftermath, although his resignation was rejected. In 1772 his salary was made to be paid by the Crown through revenue from the duties on tea, despite previously being under control of the Assembly of Massachusetts. The radicals saw this as a reduction of the colony’s power, and an attempt to insulate Hutchinson from the will of the people, as his salary would now still be paid even if the assembly found him unfit to govern. Soon after, he gave a speech stating that the colony and its inhabitants where wholly subject to the will of the King and Parliament, and that the colonists’ rights came from the Crown, not from nature nor their creator as many colonists believed. This speech strengthened opposition to his leadership and to Great Britain’s policies as a whole. The following year, 1773, his private letters were published by Samuel Adams without Hutchinson’s knowledge, including letters in which he claimed that freedoms and liberties needed to be taken away from the colonists in order to keep them under British rule. The letters sparked much hatred toward Hutchinson, and Parliament’s passage of the Tea Act would soon make matters much worse for him. The Tea Act gave a trade monopoly on tea within the colonies to the East India Company, of which Hutchinson was a consignee. He saw it as his duty as Governor to enforce all of Britain’s revenue acts, including the Tea Act, despite the opposition that was quickly and visibly growing. He allowed ships to dock in Boston’s harbor and did not send them back to England with their tea, as the radicals had demanded be done with the tea. As the ships were sitting in the harbor unable to unload their cargoes amidst the opposition, the notorious Boston Tea Party took place and 90,000 pounds of tea were dumped into Boston’s harbor. Soon after, the British government was petitioned to remove Hutchinson from office, a request which was denied in a meeting between the Board of Trade and Benjamin Franklin. However, Hutchinson again attempted to resign and this time was permitted. On June 1st of 1774, Hutchinson left for England, unaware that he would never return to America. At the outbreak of the war less than a year later, his mansion was taken over by Patriot troops who converted it into an army barracks. Thomas Hutchinson died of a stroke in Britain on June 3rd of 1780.