Massachusetts circular letter

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An engraving of British troops landing in Boston in response to events set off by the Massachusetts Circular Letter.

The Massachusetts Circular Letter was written by Samuel Adams and passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives in February 1768 in response to the Townshend Acts. The response to the letter brought tensions between British Parliament and Massachusetts to a boiling point.

1 Background
2 The Circular Letter
3 Consequences
4 References
5 External Links

[edit] Background

After the Stamp Act was repealed in 1765^[1], the British Parliament imposed the Townshend Acts as another way of generating revenue. The Acts placed an import duty on glass, paint, paper, lead, and tea as well as establishing an American Board of Customs.^[2] In response, the Massachusetts General Court issued a circular letter to the representative bodies of the other colonies. They received positive responses from New Jersey, Connecticut, and the Virginia House of Burgesses.^[3]

[edit] The Circular Letter

In the letter, Samuel Adams argued that the Townshend Acts are unconstitutional because the colony of Massachusettes was not represented in Parliament. While it was the supreme legislative body for the British Empire, it was tied to its constitution. Further, the letter rejected the idea that the American Colonies could ever be represented in Parliament.^[4]

[edit] Consequences

After the letter had been passed and issued to other colonies, Lord Hillsborough, secretary of state for the colonies, ordered the Massachusetts General Court to revoke the it. The body voted against revoking the letter, 92-17. In response to the General Court's defiance, Governor Francis Bernard dissolved the assembly. This led to an outbreak of mob violence from colonists who no longer had any legal way to deal with their grievances. They attacked customs officials, making it impossible for them to perform their duties. In response to the deteriorating situation, Lord Hillsborough sent two regiments of British soldiers to Boston. Arriving in October 1768, the soldiers only increased the tensions. These tensions culminated in March 1770 with the Boston Massacre.^[5]

[edit] References

^ Gordon S. Wood, The American Revolution: A History (New York: Modern Library, 2002), 30.
^ Joseph C. Morton, The American Revolution (Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2003), 24.
^ Robert Middlekauff, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), 161.
^ Middlekauff, Glorious Cause, 160.
^ Wood, American Revolution, 33-34.