“ No tax without histrionics ! ” “ Give me liberty , or give me destruction ! ” “ The British are coming ! ” The American Revolution had no shortage of catchword — thing famously enjoin by famous military personnel and drilled into your head by your history instructor . But the veritable , non - Declaration - signing colonists had mass of vox populi about the tyrannical British rule as well . Here are eight material grievance broadcast by colonial citizens leading up to and during the Revolutionary War — in their own words .
1. The Townshend Acts of 1767 “Threaten the Country with Poverty and Ruin.”
At a town get together held at Faneuil Hall in Boston on October 28 , 1767 , Boston Freeholders and residents discussed the implication of the brutal Townshend Acts levied against the colonists . The Townshend act were a set of four Acts of the Apostles passed by the British Parliament in the summertime of 1767 for generate tax revenue for the Crown ( through duties on goods such as atomic number 82 , glass , paper , and afternoon tea ) as well as exert British mastery over the progressively rebellious settler .
During the Oct. 28 coming together , the Bostonians found :
The excessive purpose of foreign superfluities is the chief cause of the present distressed United States Department of State of this townsfolk , as it is thereby drained of its money : which misfortune is likely to be increased by means of the late additional burthens and imposition on the barter of the state , which threaten the commonwealth with poverty and ruin .
As a resolution , the citizen nemine contradicente voted to boycott all British - made goods .
2. “Save your Money, and Save your Country!”
On November 16 , 1767 , theBoston Post - Boy & Advertiserran a alphabetic character from a man mouth in favor of Boston ’s decision to boycott British - made goods . The unnamed letter - author commends the Town of Boston “ for lay so praiseworthy an example ” to encourage the output of goods in the Colony .
He ends his declaration of support with the rousing words :
Thus my countrymen , by consuming less of what we are not really in want of , and by industriously cultivating and improving the natural vantage of our own country , we might save oursubstance , even our lands , from becoming the property of others , and we might effectually preserve ourvirtueand ourliberty , to the latest posterity . Blessings , surely , which no humanity , while in the recitation of his reason will contentedly part with , for afew foreign trifles . preserve your Money , and preserve your land !
3. “Since money’s so scarce, and times growing worse / Strange things may soon hap and surprize you.”
The same topic of theBoston Post - Boy & Advertiserran an “ Address to the Ladies”—a rhyming poem that encourage women to exchange their satin decoration for compound string and fancy brocade for homemade linen . Here ’s a taste :
Young ladies in town , and those that live round , permit a ally at this time of year advise you : Since money ’s so scarce , and time growing worseStrange things may before long hap and surprize you : First then , throw aside your high top knots of prideWear none but your own country linen;Of economy boasting , let your pride be the mostTo show clothes of your own make and spinning . What , if homespun they say is not quite so gayAs brocade , yet be not in a passion , For when once it is have a go at it this is much wore in town , One and all will cry out , ' tis the style !
A fun plait get in the final stanza , where the author concludes that wearing homemade goods rather than alien imports will make the ladies all the more fetching to compound gentlemen .
4. “No tea, but as much New-England Rum as you please.”
But the lady , it seems , did n’t need any boost . While the man were drafting declarations and have townsfolk coming together , the women were busy with dissent of their own . As women typically accept charge of purchase the house goods ( like intellectual nourishment , ink , and framework for dress ) , they were the ones to really stockpile out the boycott of detail tax by the Townshend deed .
In the December 24 , 1767 , number of theThe Massachusetts Gazette Extraordinary , an clause praise an “ meeting place of Ladies of the first quality ” for doing just that . In addition to abandon pilus laurel wreath and taking up spinning , this radical of woman “ wassail nothing at their meetings but New England Rum . ” The clause continues , “ And the patriotism of the above Ladies is more illustrious and suitable of imitation , as Rum is the school principal and almost only manufacture of this country . ”
5. “The very nature of freedom supposes that no tax can be levied on a people without their consent.”
In 1769 , schoolmaster Charles Thomson ( who would go on to become Secretary of the Continental Congress ) , writing on behalf of the Philadelphia Merchants ’ Committee , declares that the taxes levied against the colony are for the express purpose of strip Americans of their liberty . He writes :
How much further they may go on is uncertain ; but from what they have already done the colonies see that their property is precarious & their liberty insecure . It is honest the impositions already repose are not very serious ; but if the principle is established , and the authority , by which they are laid , admit , there is no security measure for what remain . The very nature of exemption suppose that no tax can be levied on a citizenry without their consent give in person or by their voice .
6. Protests Turned to Violence During the “Catastrophe” of the “Horrid Massacre in Boston.”
Before chronicling the events of the carnage , an anon. witness set the shot by laying bare the colonists ' wrath at the installed troops :
Thus were we , in provocation of our other embarrassments , embarrassed with military personnel , forced upon us contrary to our disposition – obstinate to the heart of Magna Charta – contrary to the very alphabetic character of the Bill of Rights , in which it is declared , that the breeding or keeping a stand USA within the land in metre of peace , unless it be with the consent of parliament , is against natural law .
7. “By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.”
In 1773 , newspapers in Boston and Philadelphia publish a letter to the Commissioners of the East India Company in respect to the gamy taxis on tea in the colonies . As middlemen between the British rulers and the taxpaying American citizen , the writer proclaim , the East India Company Commissioners “ are marked out as political Bombardiers to demolish the bonny structure of American liberty . ” The varsity letter - writers ask that the Commissioners neglect Parliament ’s sanctions and instead put up with the colony .
8. “We are directly to cut up your corn, shoot your pigs, burn your houses.”
While the revolutionaries had much to complain about during the 1760s and ‘ 70s , loyalists — who often felt persecuted by the so - called maverick — had their own set of grievance to atmosphere . Janet Schaw , a Scot visiting her brother in Wilmington , North Carolina , in 1775 , wrote of her prison term in the colonies :
At present the martial law stands thus : An officer or committeeman enter a woodlet with his posse . The option is proposed . concur to join us [ Whigs ] and your mortal and place are safe . . . if you refuse , we are flat to cut up your edible corn , tear your pigs , burn your business firm , … and perhaps tar and fledge yourself . Not to choose the first requires more courage than they are possessed of , and I trust this method acting has seldom failed with the down form .
