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King George III, British Monarch over
American Colonies
American Colonies Reaction to the Townshend
Duties
Source: Barbier, Brooke. Boston in the
American Revolution: A Town Versus an Empire.
Charleston: The History Press, 2017.
The Circular Letter, John Hancock's Ships and
British Regulars Arrived
January - The Massachusetts House of
Representatives (James Otis Jr., Samuel Adams
and John Hancock) sent a petition to King George
III dated January 20, 1768 asking for the repeal
of the Townshend Duties. They "also sent a
letter to other North American colonies asking
them to join Massachusetts by boycotting British
goods, which would render the Townshend Duties
moot. This was the letter that upset the Crown.
Drafted by Samuel Adams in January 1768, the
letter reminded the other colonies that taxation
without representation was unconsitutional. The
Circular letter, as it became known, requested
that the nonimportation agreement be in effect
until the Townshend Duties were repealed
(Barbier, 51)."
March - Circular letter sent to the
other colonies.
April - John Hancock's ship, Lydia,
landed in Boston. "Two customs agents went to
inspect the cargo, but Hancock dismissed them.
Later that night, one of the customs officials,
Owen Richards, snuck onto Hancock's ship to see
the goods he was sure Hancock was hiding."
Richards was caught and "dangled over the side
of the ship until he admitted the he had no
business being on the ship." He did not have a
search warrant or permission to be there
(Barbier, 55-56).
May - John Hancock's ship Liberty
arrived around sunset too late to check in with
the customs office. The crew unloaded 3/4 of the
Madeira wine onboard throughout the night. The
next morning when the customs agents found the
ship only 1/4 full they knew they had been
cheated. Evidence from a witness to the
unloading of the ship in the middle of the night
gave the custom agent's the opportunity to
"declare Hancock's ship and all of its cargo to
be property of the Crown" for smuggling. "they
towed Liberty through the harbor and out
to the newly arrived fifty-gun British
man-of-war Romney, where it was to be
guarded by the British. "The seizure sent rebels
into a rage." The mob of 500 men gathered and
threw rocks at the Romney as the Liberty
was being towed away. Then the mob beat up the
two customs agents, Harrison and Hallowell and
"dragged a boat owned by Harrison out of the
harbor water. They lugged it through the streets
of Boston about a half mile" up to Boston Common
and set it on fire. Governor "Bernard warned
Harrison and Hallowell that he could not protect
them, so they hid out on Castle Island, a few
miles from Boston (Barbier, 56-57)."
June - King George III and Massachusetts
Governor Bernard, "demanded that the circular
letter be retracted." The Massachusetts House of
Representatives met and voted in June, 92 to 17
not to recall the circular letter. The House of
Representatives wrote to Governor Bernard why
they they voted not to rescind the letter and
attacked Bernard "humbly pray[s] that in the
future, Bernard "may be influenced by the same
principles" as those of the Massachusetts
legislature. Governor Bernard dissolved the
House of Representatives (Barbier, 52).
Meanwhile, in June, John Hancock was
successfully defended in court by attorney John
Adams. "The core of the case was whether
Hancock, as the man in charge of his employees,
knew that they had illegally unloaded wine. John
Adams claimed that the owner "may be asleep in
his bed, and not so much as know or dream that
any Body is unshipping and landing his wines."
The prosecution could not prove their case
(Barbier, 58-59).
Governor Bernard sent a letter to the Crown
asking for help because he could not count on
the local militia to help with the mobs.
October/November - The Crown sent 2,000
troops who arrived in Boston in October and
November. Boston's population was 15,500 with
only 3,000 adult men. The troops camped on
Boston Common and attempted to quarter in the
Manufactory house near Boston Common that was
owned by the government, due to a failed
business, but there were people living there who
boarded up the entrances and windows and
Bostonians threw bread to them through open
windows on the second floor above the soldier's
heads. After a few days the soldiers left and
quartered on Castle Island, three miles away
from Boston. Within the first two weeks of
arrival, over forty British soldiers deserted. A
guard house was set up at the neck and every
cart coming and going from Boston was checked.
One young British soldier was caught and shot
for desertion on Boston Common October 31st,
Private Richard Ames. (Barbier, 59, 66).
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British Lieutenant James Cook, HMS
Endeavour
The British Royal Society backs an expedition
to observe the transit of Venus from Tahiti. The
vessel Endeavour, commanded by
Lieutenant James Cook, reaches Australia and New
Zealand.
