A brief look at an historical timeline reminds us of a few
events, occurrences and concepts that led up to our War of Independence, but which
may not have clearly resonated with the bulk of our citizenry (taken from
several sources: http://www.revolutionary-war.net/revolutionary-war-timeline.html;
http://www.historyisfun.org; http://www.americanhistory.about.com/od/americanhistorytimelines/a/Events-Leading-to-Revolution-Timeline.htm
)
1763
- February
10 - The Treaty of Paris ends the French and Indian War (also known as the
Seven Years War although it lasted from 1754-1763). The financially draining war combined
with the increased military presence for protection will be the impetus
for many future taxes and actions of the British government against the
colonies.
- October
7 - The Proclamation
of 1763 is signed forbidding settlement west of the Appalachian
Mountains. This area was to be set aside and governed as Indian
territory. Settlers lodge
objections on being forced to move out.
- April
5 - Grenville Acts pass Parliament.
These include a number of acts aimed at raising revenue to pay for the
French and Indian War debts along with the cost of administering the new
territories granted at the end of the war. The most objectionable part was the Sugar Act, known in England as
the American Revenue Act. It increased duties on items ranging from sugar
to coffee to textiles.
- April
19 - The Currency
Act passes parliament, prohibiting the colonies from issuing
legal tender paper money.
- May 24
- Boston town meeting
protesting the Grenville measures. James
Otis first discusses the complaint of taxation without representation and
calls for the colonies to unite.
- June
12-13 - Massachusetts House of Representatives creates a Committee of Correspondence to
communicate with the other colonies about their grievances.
- August
- Boston merchants begin a policy
of nonimportation of British luxury goods as a form of protest against
the British economic policies. This later spreads to other colonies.
- March
22 - The
Stamp Act passes parliament. It is the first direct tax on the
colonies. The purpose of the tax is to help pay for the British military
stationed in America. This act is
met with greater resistance and the cry against taxation without
representation increases.
- March
24 - The Quartering Act goes into
effect in the colonies which requires residents to provide housing for
British troops stationed in America.
This shows up in the American Constitution as a protest against
citizens being made to quarter troops (militia) in their homes and extends
further to the older concept of common law that a man’s home “is his
castle.”
- May
29 - Patrick
Henry begins the discussion
of the Virginia
Resolutions asserting that only Virginia has the right to
tax itself. The House of Burgesses adopt some of his less radical statements including the right to
self-government.
- July
- Sons of Liberty organizations are
founded in towns across the colonies in order to fight against the
stamp agents, often with outright violence.
- October
7-25 - Stamp Act Congress meets in New York City. It includes
representatives from Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New
Jersey, New York,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South
Carolina. Petitions
against the Stamp Act are created to be delivered to King George III.
- November
1 - The Stamp Act goes into effect and all business is basically stopped
as colonists refuse to use the
stamps.
- February
13 - Benjamin
Franklin testifies before Parliament about the Stamp Act and
warns that if the military is used to enforce it, this could lead to open rebellion.
- March
18 - The Stamp Act is repealed. However, the Declaratory Act is passed
which gives the British government the power to legislate any laws of the
colonies without restriction.
- December
15 - The New York Assembly continues to fight against the Quartering Act,
refusing to allocate any funds for housing the soldiers. The crown
suspends their legislature on December 19th.
- June
29 - Townshend Acts pass parliament introducing a number of external taxes
including duties on items like paper, glass and tea. Additional
infrastructure is set up to ensure enforcement in America.
- October
28 - Boston decides to reinstate
nonimportation of British goods in response to the Townshend Acts.
- December
2 - John Dickinson publishes Letters
‘From a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies’
explaining the issues with British actions to tax the colonies. It is
highly influential.
- February
11 - Samuel Adams sends a letter
with the approval of the Massachusetts Assembly arguing against the
Townshend Acts. It is later protested by the British government.
- April
- An increasing number of legislative assemblies support Samuel
Adam's letter.
- June
- After a confrontation over Customs violations, John Hancock's ship Liberty
is seized in Boston. Customs officials are threatened with violence and
escape to Castle William in Boston Harbor. They send out a request for
help from British troops.
- September
28 - British warships arrive to help support the customs officials in
Boston Harbor.
- October
1 - Two British regiments arrive in Boston to maintain order and enforce
customs laws.
- March
- A growing number of key merchants support nonimportation of goods listed
in the Townshend Acts.
- May
7 - George
Washington presents nonimportation resolutions to the Virginia
House of Burgesses. Proclamations
are sent out from Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee to King George
III.
- May
18 - After the Virginia House of Burgesses is dissolved, the delegates
including George Washington meet at the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg to
endorse the nonimportation agreement.
- March
5 - Boston
Massacre occurs killing five colonists and injuring six. This
is used as a propaganda piece
against the British military.
- April
12 - English crown partially repeals the Townshend Acts except for the
duties on tea.
- July
- Virginia becomes the last colony to abandon the nonimportation pact
after the repeal of the Townshend Acts.
- June
9 - The British customs vessel Gaspee is attacked off the coast of
Rhode Island. The men are set ashore and the boat is burned.
- September
2 - The English crown offers a reward for the capture of those who burnt
the Gaspee. The offenders are to be sent to England for trial which
upsets many colonists as it violates self-rule.
- November
2 - A Boston town meeting led by
Samuel Adams results in a 21-member committee of correspondence to
coordinate with other Massachusetts towns against the threat to self-rule.
- May
10 - The Tea Act goes into effect, retaining the import tax on tea and
giving the East
India Company the ability to undersell colonial merchants.
- December
16 - The Boston
Tea Party occurs. After months of growing consternation
with the Tea Act, a group of Boston activists dressed as Mohawk Indians
boarded tea ships anchored in Boston Harbor in order to dump 342 casks of
tea into the water.
- February
- All colonies except North
Carolina and Pennsylvania have created committees of correspondence.
- March
31 - The Coercive Acts pass parliament. One of these is the Boston Port
Bill which does not allow any shipping except for military supplies and
other approved cargo to go through the port until the customs duties and
the cost of the Tea
Party are paid for.
- May
13 - General
Thomas Gage, the commander of all British forces in the
American colonies, arrives in Boston with four regiments of troops.
- May
20 - Additional Coercive Acts are passed. The Quebec Act is termed
'intolerable;’ one part extended the southern boundary of Canada into
areas claimed by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Virginia.
- May
26 - Virginia House of Burgesses is dissolved.
- June
2 - A revised and more onerous Quartering Act is passed.
- September
1 - General Gage seizes the Massachusetts
Colony's arsenal at Charlestown.
- September
5 to October 26: The First
Continental Congress meets with 56 delegates in Carpenters Hall in
Philadelphia.
- September
17 - The Suffolk Resolves are issued in Massachusetts urging that the
Coercive Acts are unconstitutional.
- October
14 - The First Continental Congress
adopts a Declaration and Resolves against the Coercive Acts, the
Quebec Acts, the Quartering of troops, and other objectionable British
actions. These resolutions mention
the rights of the colonists including that of "life, liberty, and
property."
- October
20 - A Continental Association is adopted to coordinate nonimportation
policies.
- December
14 - Massachusetts militiamen
attack the British arsenal at Fort William and Mary in Portsmouth
after being warned of a plan to station troops there.
- January
19 - The Declarations and Resolves are presented to parliament.
- February
9 - Massachusetts is declared in a state of rebellion.
- February
27 - Parliament accepts a conciliatory plan, removing many of the taxes
and other issues brought up by the colonists.
- March
23 - Patrick Henry gives his famous "Give
me liberty or give me death," speech at the Virginia convention.
- March
30 - The crown endorses the New England Restraining Act that does not
allow for trade with countries other than England and also bans fishing in
the North Atlantic.
- April 14 - General, now Governor, Gage in Massachusetts is ordered to use any force necessary to apply all British acts and to stop any buildup of a colonial militia.
- April 18-19 -
Considered by many to be the beginning of the actual American Revolution,
the Battles of Lexington and
Concord begin with the British heading to destroy a colonial arms
depot in Concord Massachusetts. Two
lanterns are lit in the Old North Church steeple to indicate the British
are crossing the Charles River, and Paul
Revere begins his ride.
- April 19, 1775: Battle
of Lexington, won by the British
- April 19, 1775: At the
Battle
of Concord the Americans introduce the British to guerilla
warfare
- April 19, 1775 to
March 17, 1776: Siege of
Boston: 15,000 Minutemen laid siege to Boston from April 19,
1775 until March 17, 1776, when the British troops withdrew.
- May 10, 1775: The Second
Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia and remains in
session throughout the war.
- July 4: Signing of
the Declaration
of Independence
- September 3: The
Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the War for
Independence
- September 15: The
United States Constitution is approved by unanimous vote
- September 17: John
Hancock and 38 others sign the Constitution
- July 2: The
United States Constitution is ratified when New Hampshire
becomes the 9th state to approve it.
This concept of direct
representation lay at the heart of the vision of Congress: that each
representative chosen by the people of a local district would be represented by
that elected person. It was almost equivalent
to the idea that people were sending one of their own to represent them so that
they would know that their voices and concerns were being heard and acted upon. The epitome of a representative
democracy.
Equally important was an
accompanying concept called “republicanism.”
According to one definition (quoted in Wikipedia), “’Republicanism’ may
be distinguished from other forms of democracy as it asserts that people have
unalienable rights that cannot be voted away by a majority of voters. Alexis de
Tocqueville warned about the "tyranny of the majority" in a
democracy, and advocates of the rights of minorities have warned that the
courts needed to protect those rights by reversing efforts by voters to
terminate the rights of an unpopular minority.
The term ‘republicanism’ is derived from the term ‘republic’, but the
two words have different meanings. A ‘republic’ is a form of government (one
without a hereditary ruling class); ‘republicanism’ refers to the values of the
citizens in a republic.”
As important as these two
concepts were to the colonialists and the Founding Fathers, they are even more
important in our modern era where threats to both abound. Unfortunately, it is
a Supreme Court and lower federal courts that have attacked both concepts, along
with a right-wing Congress, putting our representative democracy in peril, and
promoting judgments that put equal and unalienable rights at risk. I don’t want to dwell too long on this, because I have commented elsewhere on this situation. Judicial decisions such as:
Citizens United (allowing and promoting a system of bribery by rich individuals and corporations
under the guise of free speech granted to corporations as individuals);
Voting Rights Act (The
Supreme Court's 5-4 decision on June 16, 2013 that key parts of the Voting
Rights Act of 1965 are no longer valid, left it to a divided Congress to
revise the law; specifically,
Section 4 -- the formula the federal government uses to determine which states
and counties are subject to Pre-clearance and continued oversight -- was struck down as
outdated and unworkable)
This is exactly why the concept of protest and ‘redress of grievances’
is embedded in our history and in our rights and in our Constitution. The fight to protect and defend the
Constitution’s provisions of freedoms and rights is never over. It is a constant.
So let us on this July 4th, take a quick look again at what
those colonialists did when they sensed the tyranny of Great Britain was
endangering their lives, liberty, property and well-being. They rebelled as all protesters have done
throughout our history.
1)
First came complaints, some organized
some not;
2)
Meetings of like-minded protestors to
gather support on an organized basis quickly followed;
3)
An economic boycott of products and
services that affected the power-base was also organized
4)
Certain legislators in both Virginia and
Massachusetts sponsored resolutions and rights statements to
further the cause;
5)
A Committee of Correspondence was established by
the Massachusetts Assembly and soon other colonies follow with their own Committees
of Correspondence in order to work together and to unite as many as
possible behind the protest movement; in modern parlance, this might be
referred to as joint or collaborative effort; a definite step toward building a
coalition in support of a cause;
6)
Organizations were formed across the
colonies with a common name to identify them and their cause: the Sons of
Liberty
7)
Petitions were gathered to make the
growing protests known to the King and to Parliament;
8)
One of the most important pursuits is that of public
writing –articles, pamphlets, tracts, declarations of rights, newspaper
publications and speeches – all were of great value then and continue to be of
value now, along with the added factor of the social media on the Internet
9)
The Declaration of Independence grew out
of the protest movement and spelled out exactly what the protesters stood for;
what their grievances were, and what they proposed to do about it. It is a classic
device and one that usually gets an immediate response, often negative, which
is what occurred. “Manifestos”
are equivalents in modern protest movements, and usually bring the same
response. They are not necessarily
‘threats’ or ‘coercive’ in nature (although they may be) but are often
propaganda devices meant to energize the protesters and to move the
establishment;
10)
Next, came a few skirmishes involving
protesters and the establishment; they appear to be related to specific events
or laws and are intended to focus the public’s attention on the unfairness and
injustices that are taking place; the skirmishes are essentially symbolic
gestures (not real battles or fights) but, like the Tea Party in Boston Harbor
they may have far-reaching effects and outcomes.
11)
Final attempts to resolve grievances by
petition, letters, personal visits, requests of Parliament, and numerous explanations
of why self-rule would be advantageous to England went unheeded and led to the final
step which was a War of Independence.
Unfortunately, that step cannot always be avoided, but modern protests
are often more successful because of the bulk of protestors and the ability to
instantly communicate, both with the members of a movement, and with the
officials in elective and non-elective offices.
Although peaceful protests have been the modern mantra, there may come a time when the combination of attacks upon our system of governing gain such momentum that a revolution will necessarily have to occur. We cannot forever endure attacks upon voting rights, upon women’s rights to unrestricted health care and equal pay for equal work, upon the rights of unions to organize and bargain collectively. Nor can we forever endure the attack upon individual rights and civil rights; or upon those who live in poverty or who happen to be part of a minority group. We cannot have a society in which some states can choose not to obey laws or court orders. We cannot have some states allowed to pass voter laws that discriminate against certain minorities and groups who may vote for one party over the other. We cannot have representatives of the people who fail to provide legislation that meets their constituent concerns, issues and needs.
We cannot allow our government to be dictated to by religious sects and
denominations. The non-establishment of (national)
religion is the primary method by which freedom of religion is maintained. We cannot allow religious entities or any of
their practices or dogmas to dictate our direction. We make our nation vulnerable to unjust and
unethical wars when we ignore the will of the people expressed through their
elected representatives and instead give power to the Commander-in-Chief to
declare a war upon another nation or people.
We must restore the constitutional standard of Congressional
declarations of war. Notwithstanding
that step, we must find a way to limit our warlike attitudes and
behaviors. We cannot continue to survive
a bellicosity that demands war as a first response. Nor can we protect our people and our
children if we continue to make the 2nd Amendment more important and
inviolable than all the rest. We must
have common-sense gun violence control laws in order to protect our very
existence. We cannot forget our need for comprehensive immigration reform, our
need for comprehensive health care reform that builds upon the foundation of
the highly successful reforms of ‘Obamacare’ until health care is truly a right
(and not just a privilege) available to all our citizens from birth.
