f ~'*'^ 
 
 E 263 
 
 P/V^Cc-^ 
 
 .M4 C9 
 
 f 
 
 Copy 1 
 
 I 
 
 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF MASSACHUSETTS TOWNS 
 DUIILNG THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 BY 
 
 HAKRY A. GUSHING, 
 
 OP COLOMBIA UNIVERSITY. 
 
 (From the Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 1895, pages 105-113.) 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
 1896. 
 
^tb 3 1903 
 D. of D, 
 
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF MASSACHUSETTS TOWiNS 
 DURliNG THE REYOLUTlOiN. 
 
 BY 
 
 HARRY A. GUSHING, 
 
 OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 
 
 (From the A.nnual Report of the American Historical Association for 1895, pages 103-113.) 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
 
 ISOG. 
 

POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF MASSACHUSETTS TOWNS DURING THE 
 REVOLUTION. 
 
 By Haiiry a. C'rsniNd. 
 
 From the (\i\y of Samuel Adams's coup d'etat at the Salem 
 courthouse to the inauguration of Governor Hancock in 1780 
 the center of gravit}^ in the politics of Massachusetts w.as the 
 town. Already for thirty years the town system had been the 
 subject of an imi)ortant political contest; this, incidentally, 
 had served to emjihasize the antitheses, both of theory and 
 of interest, imposed upon Massachusetts with its provincial 
 charter. Willing to allow the expansion of the town system 
 merely for purposes of local administration, the home govern- 
 ment with practical uniformity for three decades refused to 
 allow a coincident extension of the rights of representation. 
 The colonists thus were striving for what they considered the 
 unquestioned right of every incorporated town, the right of 
 independent reprevsentation in the general court. The long 
 contest formed a significant prelude to the events of 1774, when 
 still more critical i)roniinence was given to the town system by 
 the action of Parliament. This, as is known, while abolishing 
 the elective jury and radically altering the legislature, aimed 
 as well at restricting the freedom and independence of town 
 action. It was from these local bodies, thus threatened with 
 liermanent subordination to the interests of the executive, that 
 came upon practically every i^oint the earliest and most explicit 
 reply. 
 
 One of the statutes in question rendered the calling of all 
 town meetings, except the annual meetings on stated dates, 
 dependent upon the consent of the governor. By a technicality 
 the necessity of asking such conseut was avoided; and soon 
 the protection even of a technicality was scorned; soon could 
 Samuel Adams read of "many town meetings which will all 
 be called without asking his excellency's leave." Plainly and 
 uniformly the towns sanctioned the blunt resolve "to pay no 
 regard to the late act of Parliament, respecting the calling 
 
 105 
 
 M 
 
lOG AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 town meetings, but to proceed in the usual way;" and refer- 
 ring to tliese meetings Gage soon wrote to Lord Dartmoutli, 
 that ''at a distance they go on as usual, but worse transactions 
 make that of little consequence in the present moment." Thus 
 passively did the executive countenance a situation Avhich he 
 himself should have made impossible; thus did he uncon- 
 sciously recognize as an accomplished fact the first step in the 
 local revolution ; and the ill bodings which accompanied the 
 useful prophecies of Gage were given indorsement unwittingly 
 by the men of Massachusetts in the unusual freijuencyof town 
 meetings during these months of August and September. 
 
 Having secured the continuance of their existence as polit- 
 ical, if not as constitutional, bodies, the towns proceeded fur- 
 ther to neutralize the effect of the Parliamentary policy. In 
 the reasoning and tradition of the colonists it was essential 
 to civil liberty that the elective element in the jury system 
 should be maintained inviolate; if that were to be remo-ved 
 the whole judicial system must be destroj^ed with it; and the 
 latter, in fact, resulted. For such result ample preparation 
 had been made in the recent contest over the salaries of the 
 judiciary and in the develoiimeut, by that and other events, of 
 those ill-concealed antipathies which now were given definite 
 expression. Uniform public opinion early secured almost an 
 end of litigation; and while one element <>f the population 
 made courts unnecessary another element made their work 
 ineflective. Friends of Gage wrote: "The fences of law are 
 broken down." A pamphlet of similar partisanship stated: 
 " So strangely have we been infatuated we have resumed the 
 power into our own hands, and every man is become a judge 
 and a ruler among us. The whole system of government is 
 overturned, and all order and subordination lost." Quite so, 
 indeed, it was; even constables refused to recognize those 
 sheriffs who tried to act in accordan<;e with the new statutes; 
 then was seen the force of George Cabot's remarks that "All 
 governments rest on opinion. Free governments, especially, 
 depend on i^opular opinion for their existence, and on popular 
 approbation for their force * * *." 
 
 No organs existed for the expression of this "popular 
 opinion" and "popular approbation" except the town meetings 
 and those groups of town representatives termed county con- 
 ventions. By such now the needs of the situation were stated 
 and the programme of action was dictated, as when, in Wor- 
 
MASSxVCHUSETTS TOWNS DURING TflE REVOLUTION. 107 
 
 cester. it was "voted, as tlio opiiiiou of tliis convention, that 
 tlie court should not sit on any terms." Simihir votes' were in 
 many places, as indeed in Worcester, followed by vigorous 
 and unwarranted expressions of the popuhir sentiment; the 
 deliberation of the town meeting' was made tangible by the 
 action of the mob; and in an unfortunate manner it was made 
 certain that the end of royal courts was near. Significant!^', 
 in this connection, did tiie Essex Journal say that the votes 
 of the delegates of a few towns had "all the good effect on the 
 minds of the people" that legislative acts could have; and 
 truly had Thomas Young written, even in the middle of 
 Augnst: "The whole current of Mr. Gage's administration 
 seems to have its course uphill." The situation was concisely 
 stated when "Amicus," in the first week in September, wrote 
 to Samuel Adams: "The judges have informed the governor 
 that the execution of their office is at an end." 
 
 Likewise, on the initiative of the towns, was the contest with 
 Parliament begun upon a third point, the substitution of a 
 council appointed by the King for a council elected by the 
 general court. Here, more plainly even than on the preceding 
 question, is developed a contest over the relative validity of a 
 statuteof Parliament and a charterof government. On the one 
 hand was the authority of the King in Parliament; on the other 
 was the nature of the colonial charter, defined on the one side 
 as by Leicester when the town declared that "the basis of the 
 civil constitution of government in this Province" was " sacred, 
 and that no power on earth whatsoever hath right or authority 
 to disannul or revoke said charter or any part of it, or abridge 
 the inhabitants of the Province of any of the powers, privileges, 
 or immunities therein stipulated or agreed to be liolden by 
 every person inhabiting said Province;" tangibly the contest 
 was one of official legitimacy between the council elected in 
 May, in accordance with the charter of 1691, and the mandamus 
 council appointed by the King. This new creation of royalty 
 was to be accorded no recognition, and its destruction became 
 the object of the party of "movement." 
 
 Thus, the town of Worcester instructed its representative to 
 be sworn only by those whom they termed "constitutional offi- 
 cers," and, more particularly, "That everyone of those incorri- 
 gible enemies to this country who have lately been appointed 
 by mandamus from His Majesty as councilors, and have accepted 
 a seat at the council board of this Province, and shall not resign 
 
108 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 their said office before tlie second Tuesday of this instant, be 
 impeached as traitors to the constitution of this Province, and 
 that they be taken into custody and secured for trial." FoHow- 
 ing the same line of theory, no obedience was to be rendered 
 to anyone taking the oaths as recently prescribed. All ques- 
 tions of legality were to be determined, and all jiroblems of 
 action were to be solved, solely with reference to the mainte- 
 nance of the charter and of the institutions therein estab- 
 lishe<l. Here, again, the will of the towns was accomplished 
 in an unfortunate manner. In June, Lord Dartmouth had 
 written to Gage: "There is little room to hope that every one 
 of the persons whom Ilis Majesty has appointed to be of his 
 council will be induced to accept tliat honor, for tliere can be 
 no doubt that every art will be practiced to intimidate and 
 prejudice." Tiie official i)rophecy was true; but even thus 
 warned Gage showed no greater command of the situation 
 than did any of the royal executives. By threat and force, 
 so many resignations were secured that the council became a 
 nullity ; Gage had no authority to fill vacancies ; and on another 
 l)oint the towns attained their end. 
 
 The attainment of their end in this instance, however, 
 involved much more. Elections for a new house were in i)rog- 
 ress; Gage could not consistently act with the May council; a 
 complete general court was an impossibility, and the gathering 
 of the warring claimants to membership therein could only 
 ])recipitate a contest. Such probability was increased hj the 
 instructions given by the towns to their representatives, The 
 governor by i)roclamation annulled the writs of election. On 
 a question of phraseology, the colonists denied his right to 
 do this. They had already nmpped out clearly the course for 
 the coming weeks; tliey consciously anticipated a break with 
 the executive, and they made definite provision for such a 
 crisis. Their representatives were, with remarkable uniforui- 
 ity, instructed to meet, and if necessity and occasion directed, 
 to resolve themselves into a provincial congress, and thus put 
 themselves in a position, as was later said, "to organize the 
 revolution." 
 
 Such was the course of action; and by its completion a new 
 phase of development appears. The governoi-'s authority now 
 embraced little more than Boston; the royal treasurer soon 
 failed to receive payments or recognition from the towns; by 
 the towns had been brought about the end of the royal legis- 
 
MASSACHUSETTS TOWNS DURING THE REVOLUTION. 109 
 
 lature; at tbeir instance the royal courts liad been abolished; 
 and it is significant that in this general collapse the town sys- 
 tem, and that alone, had maintained an existence and an 
 activity that were practically continuous. By this element the 
 government of the King had been destroyed; by it the recon- 
 struction was to be effected. 
 
 During the strictly provisional administration the Provin- 
 cial Congress, by voluntary dissolutions, thrice recognized that 
 the ultimate source of power was in the towns; the acts of the 
 snccessive congresses make it evident that they considered 
 the sphere of town action neither slight nor of accidental 
 origin. The continued existence of the towns and of town 
 rights is shown in the resumption of the charter of 1G91; and 
 the general court, acting under that '' resumed" charter, many 
 times, both distinctly and by implication, reaffirms the sov- 
 ereign position of the people acting in town meetings. 
 
 The renewed use of the charter was understood to be pro- 
 visional, and the five years before its abandonment were tilled 
 with activity relative to constituent matters. Even at the close 
 of 1775 town action is seen directed toward a reconstruction ; 
 such steps are repeated in the next year, and the general court 
 recognizes that the people acting in town meetings are the 
 possessors of constituent powers. Twice they are asked to 
 delegate the exercise of such powers to the general court; the 
 second appeal succeeds, but only on the plainly and repeatedly 
 demanded condition that the work of the constituent body 
 should be submitted to the towns for approval or rejection. 
 In this case a rejection follows, but the grounds of objection 
 are such as to be readily avoided. Then, on similar conditions 
 recognizing the towns as possessors of a power of final sanc- 
 tion, provision is made for conferring constituent powers upon 
 a special convention called for an explicit puri)ose and with 
 strictly defined i)owers. The constitution, thus formed by what 
 was then known as the Massachusetts method, was ratified by 
 more than two-thirds of those voting in the town meetings, 
 and thus sanctiojied was iiromulgated as the constitution of 
 the Commonwealth. The establishment of a newly organized 
 Commonwealth was in 1780 etfected by the towns which six 
 years before had destroyed the lioyal (iovernmeut. 
 
 The activity of the towns in 1778 and 1780, even more than 
 in 1774, included much niore than mere routine. The submis- 
 sion of constitutions in the two later years offered occasions 
 
110 AMERICAN ^HISTOKKJAL ASSOCIATION, 
 
 widely seized. The political philosophy of the time was fully 
 recorded. On the location of sovereignty, on the suffrage, on 
 the triple division of government, on the bicameral legislature, 
 there were many distinct expressions. On the basis of repre- 
 sentation there was a multitude of mathematical arrangements; 
 on the size of the legislature mimerous opinions were offered; 
 on the relation of civil to ecclesiastical affairs there was a con- 
 test well-nigh bitter. In fact, upon almost every point of prac- 
 tical politics or political theory there appeared some opinion or 
 suggestion. Yet the very variety entails confusion, and the 
 many different combinations of various views in the several 
 localities, while attesting the vigor and intelligence of political 
 activity in Massachusetts, render (juite futile any attemi)t at 
 a classification of views on any basis that will prove useful or 
 permanent. 
 
 Nevertheless, one type of expression is to be noted as of 
 especial significance when viewed in connection with the posi- 
 tion of the towns during the transitional period. In practice 
 we have seen indicated the vital continuance of local organ- 
 isms and of local rights; in theory, there appears a firm and 
 repeated assertion of the inviolate character of such rights. 
 The position taken by the towns in the six years of transition 
 is emphasized by their own recognition and reiteration of their 
 so-called natural rights. Such expression is seen in the demand 
 for independence of local action, and even more strikingly in 
 the vigorous maintenance of the theoiy that each incorporated 
 town, by virtue of such incorporation, possesses, regardless 
 of any external power, ai right of representation. Still more 
 numerous are the demands for the recognition of the towns as 
 administrative units by granting to each a legistry of deeds; 
 the same tendency to assert the importance of the towns is 
 indicated further by the many demands for a probate court in 
 each. We find, as well, single towns refusing to be bound 
 even by a county convention ; while it is no uncommon thought 
 that the qualifications of representatives should be determined 
 by the towns themselves. Further illustration njight be drawn 
 from the various arguments of the time; thus on the religious 
 question one party is strenuous in upholding the competency 
 of the town to control all matters of religion. The extreme 
 position is seen in those few towns which establish local courts 
 of justice with appeals only to the town meeting; and the radi- 
 cal position is exploited when a town threatens that unless its 
 
MASSACHUSETTS TOWNS DURING THE REVOLUTION. Ill 
 
 demands are granted it will declare its independence of the 
 State. 
 
 In the action of the towns thronghont the period in review 
 no nndercnrrent of thought is more prominent than the one 
 outlined. Then, as earlier, the chief care of the towns was to 
 secure the utmost scope and freedom to local action. Local 
 rights receive a vigorous theoretical nmintenance similar to 
 that which in practice they had been given for the preceding 
 six years. Fact and theory coincide, and the coincidence is 
 more than superficial. 
 
 The line of thought and action upon which some stress has 
 been laid can serve as a basis of classification of those elements 
 of the revolution which may be termed purely local or provin- 
 cial. Such classification will be based ou the relative infiu- 
 ence, activity, and effectiveness on the one hand of the central 
 revolutionary body in each colony, and on the other hand of 
 the remnants of the earlier and strictly local administrative 
 organizations in each. Briefly, there will appear two types of 
 transitional movement; in one the effective activity of local 
 organisms will be at a minimum and that of the central rev- 
 olutionary body will be at a maxinnim; in the other type 
 the central revolutionary body in each colony will, in all 
 its course, be strictly and consciously subordinated to the 
 strongly asserted rights of the local political bodies. 
 
 As examples of one type I would name Massachusetts and 
 what was then considered that Commonwealth's political imita- 
 tor, the neighboring New Hami)shire, together with Khode 
 Island and Connecticut. A qualification in regard to the last 
 two may seem essential. The fact that they possessed an elec- 
 tive governor rendered their general assemblies able to perform 
 the functions elsewhere assumed by revolutionaiy bodies; and 
 yet even in such procedure and in the unbroken use of their 
 charters clear recognition was given to the position and author- 
 ity of the towns. If digression were possible, it might be shown 
 that these were strong, if not even extreme, examples of the 
 type; and in this connection it may be recalled simply that in 
 these two colonies, and in these alone, the representatives were 
 chosen by the towns every six months. 
 
 The second type has as examples the remaining colonies, 
 illustrating in various degrees the negation of local rights and 
 authority and the accumulation, in a central revolutionary 
 body, of practically unlimited jjowers. To characterize the 
 
112 AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 • 
 
 distinction more tangibly, let us consider the normal develop- 
 ment of revolntiouary ijrocedure in the latter type. We find 
 outside of New England similar processes with variations of 
 detail so slight as to render a single case representative of all. 
 The position of Boston in the early summer of 1774 is in all 
 the immediate occasion for definite expression. Such expres- 
 sion may be made by towns, counties, or districts, but none 
 such can represent a body of any intercolonial standing. The 
 various steps in the creation of such a provincial representa- 
 tion are not pertinent to our present purpose, except in so 
 far as the local organisms are frequently disregarded in an 
 emphatic manner. By the Piovincial Congress once organ- 
 ized is begun the gradual assumption of ])Owers, culminating 
 often in the exercise of those of a constituent body. Suprem- 
 acy in legislation, in administration, in executive matters, and 
 in judicial affairs is recognized by the controlling elements 
 of the population as vested in this Congress; the remainder of 
 the population, whether mathematically a majority or not, are 
 perforce silent. 
 
 In a people of such high political intelligence few cases in 
 histoiy can be found of a single revolutionary body exercising 
 such arbitrary and even despotic power and such wide authority 
 as was commonly assumed by the Provincial Congress of the 
 American Eevolution. From granting audience to a saddler 
 and subsidizing a powder factory, to action on a death sentence 
 and the imposition of a constitution of government, their con- 
 duct was marked with equal facility and self-confidence, and 
 was accorded uniform recognition and support. Their action 
 was final and supreme; in the exercise of constituent i)owers, 
 no voice even of formal sanction, far less one of approval or 
 rejection, was granted to the people. The only connection of 
 the people with provincial affairs appeared in rarely conferring 
 special powers upon the convention, or in an infrequent reelec- 
 tion of that body; and even in such cases the course of action 
 seems to have resulted from the convention's regard for expe- 
 diency rather tluin from any recognition b^' them of rights 
 vested in their nominal constituencies. Local activity and 
 authority were at the lowest ebb. 
 
 The opposite type has already been develoj)ed in the treat- 
 ment of Massachusetts, the most important as well as the best 
 example of the class. The fact that the colonies of one type 
 occupy the territory of the New England town system is sug 
 
MASSACHUSETTS TOWNS DURING THE REVOLUTION. 113 
 
 gestive to tbe political philosopher aud the historian of the 
 towu; elaboration upou any thesis in that connection is here 
 impossible, as is also any more detailed development of the 
 distinction, which it is the purpose of this paper merely to 
 suggest. At all events, the suggestion is tenable that along 
 the lines of characterization indicated may be traced two dis- 
 tinct phases of our revolutionary i)rocedure and revolutionary 
 theory. 
 
 H. Doc-. 291 8 
 
• 
 
iLiSS ^'^ CONGRESS 
 
 ♦ 0011711 793"