Seven Sermons of the Revolution - Stamp Act

Sermons of the Revolution

The origin of the Stamp Act can be best understood by a glance at the previous political relations of the colonies to the mother land. England, " a shop-keeping nation," 1 gained her riches by the commer cial monopoly under the " Navigation Acts," — a system invented by Sir George Downing, the one whose name stands second on Harvard College catalogue. These acts were modified as the changes of commerce required, and the " Stamp Act," but one of the series, was intended to retain the old monopoly of American trade, which was greatly endangered by the conquest of Canada. This was its origin and motive. The dispute resolved itself into this naked question, whether " the king in Parliament 2 had full power to bind the colonies and people of America in all cases whatsoever," or in none. The colonists argued that, by the feudal system, the king, lord para mount of lands in America, as in England, as such, had disposed of them on certain conditions. James I., in 1621, informed Parliament that "America was not annexed to the realm, and that it was not fitting that Parliament should make laws for those countries;" and Charles I. told them "that the colonies were without the realm and jurisdiction of Parliaiament . . .

1. This phrase is from a tract, 1766, by Tucker, Dean of Gloucester. At that date he advocated " a separation, parting with the colonies entirely, and then making leagues of friendship with them, as with so many independent states;" but, said he, " it was too enlarged an idea for a mind wholly occupied within the narrow circle of trade," and a "stranger to the revolutions of states and empires, thoroughly to comprehend, much less to digest."

2. The answers of the Massachusetts Council, January 25th, and House of Rep resentatives, January 26th, to Governor Hutchinson's speech, January 6th, 1775, are rich in historical illustrations of this point, presented with great force of reason, and are decisive.

. . . The colonists showed that the American charters were compacts between the king and his subjects who "transported themselves out o/this kingdom of England into America," by which they owed allegiance to him personally as sovereign, but were to make their own laws and taxes: for instance, a revenue was raised in Virginia by a law "enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the consent of the General Assembly of the Colony of Virginia."

They denied the authority of the legislature of Great Britain over them, but acknowledged his Majesty as a part of the several colonial legislatures. But the colonies, while jealous of their internal self-control, had permitted the British Parliament to " regulate" their foreign trade, and, upon precedent, the latter now claimed authority to bind the colonies "in all cases whatsoever."

Relying upon the royal compact in their charters, the spirit of the British constitution, and " their rights as Englishmen," the Americans denied the jurisdiction of their "brethren" in England. " Nil Desperandum, Christo Duce," was the motto on the flag of New England in 1745, when her Puritan sons conquered Louisburg, the stronghold of Papal France in the New World, and thus gave peace to Europe. This enterprise, in its spirit, was little less a crusade than was that to redeem Palestine from the thraldom of the Mussulman, and the sepulchre of Jesus from the infidels. One of the chaplains earned upon his shoulder a hatchet to destroy the images in the Romish churches. " O," exclaimed a good old deacon, to Pepperell, " 0 that I could be with you and dear Parson Moody in that church, to destroy the images there set up, and hear the true gospel of our Lord and Saviour there preached! My wife, who is ill and confined to her bed, yet is so spirited in the affair that she is very willing all her sons should wait on you, though it is outwardly greatly to our damage. One of them has already enlisted, and I know not but there will be more." i " Christo Duce ! "

The extinction of French dominion was quickly completed by the conquest of Canada in 1759-60, and at the same moment ceased the colonial need of the red-cross flag of St. George, whose nationality had been their protection against the aggressions of the French. The French being driven from Canada, New England could stand alone. This was the point " in the course of human events" when the sovereignty of England over the colonies was ended, though their formal " Declaration of American Independence," and of the dissolution of "the political bands" with the mother country, was not issued till several years later. The conquest of Canada was the emancipation of the colonies, as the opponents of the war predicted.

British parliaments, though backed by British guns, and all the canons of the English church, were powerless against "the laws of nature and nature's God;" and the Stamp Act was merely a touchstone for certain " self-evident truths" — not mere " sounding and glittering generalities" — enunciated on the Fourth of July, 1776. This attempt at despotism resulted in the alienation of the colonists from their brethren in England, the Union, the War of the Revolution, and the birth of a Nation. By it England lost her American dominion, won defeat and dishonor, and added to the national debt one hundred and four million pounds sterling, on which she is now paying interest, — the work of George III. and his servile ministers, his " domestics," as they were called.

But America saved not only her own liberty, but the liberty of England; the policy of George III. and his government, which the colonies defeated, if attempted at this day, would not only sever every colony, but overthrow the throne itself. In January, 1766, Mr. Pitt himself declared the American controversy to be " a great common cause," and that "America, if she fell, would fall like a strong man. She would embrace the pillars of the state, and pull down the constitu tion along with her." Hear Lord Camden, also : " I will say, not only as a statesman, politician, and philosopher, but as a common lawyer, you have no right to tax America. The natural rights of man and the immutable laws of nature are all with that people." And General Bur- goyne declared in Parliament, in 1781, that he " was now convinced the principle of the American war was wrong, . . . only one part of a sys tem levelled against the constitution and the general rights of mankind." It was equally for the sake of England as of America that Mr. Pitt and the high-minded men of that day "rejoiced" in our resistance to tyranny. "Passive obedience" then became an obsolete gospel.

One of the most efficient causes of the Revolution in the minds and hearts of the people — an accomplished fact before the war commenced — was the controversy begun in 1763 by the Rev. Dr. Mayhew in his attack on the conduct of the " Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts." The most insidious scheme for reducing the colonies to slavery was that of this society, which was known to be only an association for propagating " lords spiritual " in America,1 who should inculcate, in the name of religion, the Church of England principles of " submission and obedience, clear, absolute, and without exception." Dr. Mayhew exposed this pious fraud. The Bishop of Landaff, in his sermon of 1766, before this society, ingenuously declared, that when Episcopacy should be es tablished in America, " then this society will be brought to the happy issue intended "! . . .

1 Mr. Arthur Lee, of Virginia, wrote from London, Sept. 22, 1771 : " The commissary of Virginia is now here, with a view of prosecuting the scheme of an American Episcopate. He is an artful, though not an able man. You will con sider, sir, in your wisdom, whether any measures on your side may contribute to counteract this dangerous innovation. Regarding It as threatening the subversion of both our civil and religious liberties, it shall meet with all the opposition In my power." To the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Massachusetts,


The wealth of England had been created by the " commercial servitude " of her American colonies ; and not only this monopoly of the colonial trade, but the commerce itself, was endangered by the aggressions of France, which had surrounded the English colonies by a chain of forts and settlements which reached from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Mississippi. To save her commerce, her wealth, and her revenue, England drove " the haughty and insolent Gallic " out of Canada; not without ruinous drafts of men and money, especially from the northern colonies, which thereby contracted enormous debts and oppressive taxes.

But England represented her own debt as a bill incurred for the benefit of the colonies, and so " the Commons of Great Britain in Parliament, . . . for the purpose of raising a further revenue within his Majesty's dominions of America," assumed " to give and grant " to his Majesty "a stamp duty" of pounds, shillings, and pence, upon all sorts of documents used by merchants, lawyers, in courts and custom-houses, or in any of the transactions of daily life.

No farmer or tradesman could hang an "almanac" in the chimney-corner without paying the " stamp duty of twopence " or " fourpence " if this hated act was enforced. But, long before the "first day of November, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five," — the day when it was to take effect, — there burst forth in the colonies such a universal storm of wrath, that it was suddenly manifest that the Church of England gospel of implicit obedience did not prevail in America.

"Your Majesty's Commons in Britian," said Mr. Burke, " undertake absolutely to dispose of the properly of their fellow-subjects in America, with out their consent, ... for they are not represented in Parliament; and indeed we think it impracticable; it is not reconcilable to any ideas of liberty. ... I only say, that a great people, who have their property, without any reserve, in all cases, disposed of by another people at an immense distance from them, will not think themselves in the enjoyment of freedom. It will be hard to show to those who are in such a state which of the usual parts of the definition or description of a free people are applicable to them. . . . Tell me what one character of liberty the Americans have, and what one brand of slavery they are free from, if they are bound in their property and industry by all the restraints you can imagine on commerce, and at the same time are made pack-horses of every tax you choose to impose, without the least share in granting them?

When they bear the burdens of unlimited monopoly, will you bring them to bear the burdens of unlimited revenue too? The Englishman in America will feel that this is slavery ; that it is legal slavery, will be no compensation either to his feelings or understanding. . . . The feelings of the colonies were formerly the feelings of Great Britian ; theirs were formerly the feelings of Mr. Hampden when called upon for the payment of twenty shillings. Would twenty shillings have ruined Mr. Hampden's fortune? No but the payment of half twenty shillings, on the principle upon which it was demanded, would have made him a slave."

Among the " Navigation Acts" was one of 6th George II., "An Act for the better securing and encouraging the Trade of his Majesty's Colonies in America," which was commonly called the " Molasses Act." The articles of molasses and sugar, it was demonstrated by Mr. Otis, entered into every branch of our commerce, fisheries, manufactures, and agriculture. The duty of sixpence on molasses was full one-half of its value, and its enforcement would have ruined commerce. Mr. Otis roundly declared that if the King of Great Britain in person were encamped on Boston Common, at the head of twenty thousand men, with all his navy on our coast, he would not be able to execute these laws ; for " taxation without representation was tyranny."

This was in 1762, when the tyrannical writs of assistance i were applied for, to search for and seize smuggled goods, and under which the sanctuary of no home, no dwelling, no treasure would be sacred from the pollution and violence of any catchpole ready for the odious service, backed by the forms of law. John Adams said: "Wits may laugh at our fondness for molasses, and we ought all to join in the laugh with as much good humor as General . Lincoln did. General Washington, however, always asserted and proved \ that Virginians loved molasses as well as New England men did. I know not why we should blush to confess that molasses is an essential ingredient , in American independence. Many great events have proceeded from much smaller causes." These acts were repealed while America was in open resistance.

"See what firmness and resolution will do," said the Sons of Liberty, when a copy of the act of repeal was received in Boston. With this act of repeal was another, simply declaratory of the authority of Parliament to bind the colonies "in all cases whatsoever."

"But," said Junius, "it is truly astonishing that . . . they should have conceived that a compliance which acknowledged the rod to be in the hands of the Americans, could ever induce them to surrender it." Mr. Grenville desired Mr. Knox's opinion of the effects which the repeal would produce in America. The answer was, "Addresses of thanks and measures of rebellion."

The contemporary accounts from every part of the colonies show that never before had there been such rejoicings in America. It is a source of supreme satisfaction to reflect that Dr. Mayhew lived to share in this triumph of liberty. We naturally feel a certain curiosity as to the places which are associated with great names and memorable scenes. Fortunately we have a lively description of the Council Chamber as it was when James Otis so eloquently opposed the writs of assistance, written by one who then heard the great patriot lawyer, and was familiar with its aspect, adornment, and fit tings.

"Whenever," said the venerable Adams, " you shall find a painter, male or female, I pray you to suggest a scene and subject : The scene is the Council Chamber of the Old Town House in Boston ; the date is the month of February, 1761. That Council Chamber was as respectable an apartment, and more so too, in proportion, than the House of Lords or House of Commons in Great Britain, or that in Philadelphia in which the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. In this chamber, near the fire, were seated five judges, with Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson at their head as Chief Justice, all in their new, fresh robes of scarlet English cloth, in their broad bands, and immense judicial wigs. In this chamber was seated, at a long table, all the barristers of Boston and its neighboring county of Middlesex, in their gowns, bands, and tye-wigs. They were not seated on ivory chairs, but their dress was more solemn and more pompous than that of the Roman senate when the Gauls broke in upon them. In a corner of the room must be placed wit, sense, imagination, genius, pathos, reason, prudence, eloquence, learning, science, and immense reading, hung by the shoulders on two crutches, covered with a cloth great-coat, in the person of Mr. Pratt, who had been solicited on both sides, but would engage on neither, being about to leave Boston for ever, as Chief Justice of New York. Two portraits, at more than full length, of King Charles the Second and King James the Second, in splendid golden frames, were hung up on the most conspicuous side of the apartment. If my young eyes or old memory have not deceived me, these were the finest pictures I have seen. The colors of their long flowing robes and their royal ermines were the most glowing, the figures the most noble and graceful, the features the most distinct and characteristic: far superior to those of the King and Queen of France in the Senate Chamber of Congress.

"I believe they were Vandyke's. Sure I am there was no painter in England capable of them at that time. They had been sent over, without frames, in Governor Pownall's time; but, as he was no admirer of Charleses or Jameses, they were stowed away in a garret among rubbish till Governor Bernard came, had them cleaned, superbly framed, and placed in council for the admiration and imitation of all men, no doubt with the concurrence of Hutchinson and all the junto. . . .

"Now for the actors and performers. Mr. Gridley argued with his characteristic learning, ingenuity, and dignity, and said everything that could be said in favor of Cockle's petition ; all depending, however, on the — 'If the Parliament of Great Britain is the sovereign legislator of all the British empire.' Mr. Thatcher followed him, on the other side, and argued with the softness of manners, the ingenuity, the cool reasoning which were peculiar to his amiable character. But Otis was a flame of fire. With a promptitude of classical allusions, a depth of research, a rapid summary of historical events and dates, a profusion of legal authorities, a prophetic glare of his eyes into futurity, and a rapid torrent of impetuous eloquence, he hurried away all before him. American Independence was then and there born. The seeds of patriots and heroes, to defend the Non Sine Diis Animosus Infans, to defend the vigorous youth, were then and there sown. Every man of an immense crowded audience appeared to me to go away, as I did, ready to take arms against writs of assistance. Then and there was the first scene of the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great Britain. Then and there the child Independence was born. In fifteen years — that is, in 1776 — he grew up to manhood, and declared himself free."

Dr. Chauncy, the preacher, was one of the greatest divines in New England, and no one except President Edwards and Dr. Jonathan Mayhew had been so much known among the literati of Europe. He was zealous for liberty, and, on the death of Dr. Mayhew, continued the war against its most specious enemy with great power and learning.

He was born January 1, 1705, graduated at Harvard College in 1721, and was pastor of the first church in Boston from 1727 till his death in 1787. This sermon — an admirable historical picture, drawn by a master, himself a leader of the hosts — abounds in facts, discusses the great princi precision of the statesman.

IT, The following witty lines, from the London "Craftsman" newspaper of March 29th, 1766, give a lively and just idea of the effect of the Stamp Act on British industry, temper, and politics.

CHAPTER IV. OF THE BOOK OF AMERICA. 1. The men of the cities assemble' 3. Their discourse to each other. 11. They petition the Grand Sanhedrim. 14. The lamentation of George the Treas urer. - 19. Newspapers. 22. And hireling Scribes. 25. These Scribes write against taking off the tribute. 26. The subject of their letters. 32. They prevail not. 34. But are answered. 38. The tribute taken off. 39. Great rejoicings thereat. 41. The song of the people.

1. AFTER these things the men of London, and the men of Birmingham, and the men of the great cities and strong towns; even all who made cloth, and worked in iron and in steel, and in sundry metals, communed together.

2 And they met in the gates of their cities, and of their towns;

3. And they said unto each other, Behold now the children of America are waxed strong; and they have not only opposed the men who were sent by George the Treasurer to collect the tribute on the marks which are called stamps ;

4 But they make unto themselves the wares wherewith we were wont to furnish them;

5 And they will buy no more of us unless this tribute is taken off:

6 And, moreover, they cannot pay unto us the monies which they owe; and the loss is great unto us, and the burthen thereof exceeding grievous:

7 Neither can we give bread unto those who labored for us; and behold! they, and their wives, and their little ones, have not bread to eat.

8 What then shall we do ? and wherewithal shall we be comforted?

9 Shall we not petition our Lord the King, and his Princes, and the wise men of the nation, even the Grand Sanhedrim of the nation?

10 For we know that they are good and gracious, and will hearken to the voice of the people, who open their mouths and cry unto them for bread.

11 Then the men of London, and the men of the great cities, sat them down and wrote petitions.

12 And they sent men from amongst them, that were goodly men to look at ; and they stood before the Grand Sanhedrim:

13 And they presented their petitions, and they were read, and days were appointed to consider them.

14 Now it came to pass, that while these things were doing, that George the late Treasurer, and those who had joined in laying the tribute on the stamps, were wroth, and their countenances fell;

15 And they said in themselves, If this tribute is taken off, then William the late Scribe, and those who are now in authority, and who have taken our places, will be had in remembrance of men.

16 And we also shall be had in remembrance, but it will be with evil remembrance indeed.

17 For behold the people will say, It is we that have cursed the land ; and it is they who have blessed it.

18 Therefore we must bestir ourselves like men, to oppose the taking off the tribute, let whatsoever hap besides.

19 And in those days there were papers sold daily among the men of Britain, which declared those which were joined in marriage, those which were gathered unto their fathers, and those who had found favour in the eyes of the King and his rulers, and were exalted above their brethren,

20 And also of whatsoever was done in the land.

21 And these papers were called newspapers; and all men read them.

22 And there were certain also Scribes who let themselves out unto hire.

23 And one of the chief of these was a Levite and his name was Anti Se-janus.

24 And these Scribes were hired to poison the minds of the people, and to cause them to set their faces against the men of America their brethren.

25 Then came Anti Sejanus, and Pacifleus, and Pro Patria, and sun dry other children of Belial, and they wrote letters which were put into the newspapers.

26 IAnd they said in those letters, Hen and brethren! Behold, the men of America are rich, and they are grown insolent, being full of bread;

27 And they are not mindful of the days of old when they were poor, but they would withdraw themselves from under the wings of their mother Britain.

28 And they would establish themselves as a people, and suffer us to have no power over them.

29 Behold, they have opposed the edict, and they are become as rebels.

30 Wherefore then go we not forth with a strong hand, and force them unto obedience to us?

31 And if they are still murmuring, and shall still oppose our authority, why do we not send fire and sword into their land, and cut them off from the face of the earth?

32 And these children of Belial who dipped their pens for hire, and would scatter plagues in wantonness, and say, This is sport;

33 Even these men wrote still more. Yet they prevailed not.

34 For they were answered, So the men of America are our brethren; they are the children of our forefathers; and shall we seek their blood? If they are mistaken shall we not pity them, and keep them obedient unto us through love?

35 For behold, it is a wise saying of old, That many flies may be caught with a little honey ; but with much vinegar ye can catch not one.

36 Neither are they inclined to be a people of themselves, but wish yet to be under our wing.

37 And the counsel of these men prevailed; for the counsel of the hireling Scribes was defeated ; even as was the counsel of Achitophel in the days of David, King of Israel.

38 For behold, the Grand Sanhedrim took off the tribute from the peo ple; and George the gracious King of Britain assented thereto.

39 Then were great rejoicings made throughout the land; and fires were lighted up in the streets, and the people eat, drank, and were merry.

40 And they sang a new song, saying,

41 Long live the King; lo' his name be glorious, and may his rule over us be happy.

42 And may the princes and the rulers of the land, and the wise men of the Lord the King, and all those who joined to take off this tribute, be blessed.

43 For they have listened unto the cries of the people, and have given ear unto the voice of calamity ; they have procured the payment of the debts of the merchants of this land, ease to the children of America and labor and bread to the poor.

44 And the women shall sing their praises; and the little children shall lisp out, Bless the King and his Sanhedrim.

45 For we were desolate and distressed ; our hammers and our shuttles were useless; for we got no work; nei ther had we bread to eat for ourselves, nor our little ones.

46 But now can we work, rejoice, and and be exceeding glad.

47 And there was peace in the land,

48 But to Anti Sejanus and the rest of the hirelings there was shame,  the scorn of all good men fell upon them, and their employers, so that their names were had in abomination