[Illustration: The Liberty Boys 048]
In 1765, what is known as the Stamp Act was passed by the Parliament of
Great Britain, in spite of all the protests made by the agents of
the Colonies. The people of the Colonies felt that taxation without
representation was an exercise of power not to be tolerated.
The Stamp Act itself was a very small matter; but many of the American
Colonies had been setting up claims of independence in various matters.
As Benjamin Franklin said, the British nation was provoked by these
claims of independence, and all parties proposed by this piece of
legislation to settle the question once for all. While the agents of the
Colonies, and among them Franklin, protested against the Stamp Act, none
of them supposed that it would be met by armed resistance; and yet the
terms of the act were insolent and sweeping. It was provided that if the
stamps were not used, "marriages would be null and void, notes of
hand valueless, ships at sea prizes to the first captors, suits at
law impossible, transfers of real estate invalid, inheritances
irreclaimable." In spite of these sweeping terms, Benjamin Franklin did
not doubt that the act would be carried into effect, and other patriotic
Americans thought that the colonists should submit. Even James Otis of
Boston, who was afterwards among the first to advocate the calling of an
American congress to deliberate upon the propriety of the acts of Great
Britain, was of this opinion.
The Georgia authorities regarded the stamp duty as just as any that
could be generally imposed on the Colonies, though the manner of
imposing it greatly inspired alarm. But while the other Colonies were
hesitating, a voice was heard in Virginia. Patrick Henry, speaking
for the Virginians, made an eloquent protest against the law, and his
boldness kindled into flames the spirit of opposition that had been
smoldering in all the Colonies. The Sons of Liberty were organized
North and South. In Georgia they were known as "Liberty Boys." "Liberty,
property, and no stamps!" was the cry, and it was a cry that stirred the
country from one end to the other.
The congress suggested by James Otis of Boston assembled on Monday, the
7th of October, 1765, Georgia had no delegates in the congress, but
was represented by a messenger who was sent to obtain a copy of the
proceedings. Such representation was not because the Colony of Georgia
failed to sympathize with the purpose for which the congress was called,
but was entirely due to the influence and popularity of Governor Wright,
the royal governor, who was not only a good man personally, but wise,
prudent, and far-seeing. Owing to his exertions, Georgia was not
represented in the person of delegates. The speaker of the Georgia
House of Assembly had indeed called a convention of the members for the
purpose of selecting delegates to the Colonial Congress called to meet
in New York, and sixteen members had responded to the call; but such
was the influence of Governor Wright, that these members of the assembly
were prevailed upon not to send delegates to the congress. But they
could not be prevented from preparing and sending a response to the
Massachusetts invitation. They had resolved, they said, to support
heartily every measure that might be suggested for the support of the
common rights of the Colonies.
We learn from the letters of Governor Wright, written to the Earl of
Halifax, that it was as much as he could do (and he was a very active
as well as a very wise governor) to prevail on the people to maintain at
least the outward show of loyalty to the King. And he was not successful
even in this, for he informs another correspondent (Mr. Secretary
Conway) on the 31st of January, 1766, that the same spirit of "sedition,
or rather rebellion, which first appeared at Boston," had reached
Georgia, and that he had been constantly engaged for the space of three
months in trying to convince the people that they ought to submit to the
King's authority until they could point out their grievances and apply
for redress in a constitutional way. Governor Wright also states to
the same correspondent that he has had much trouble in preserving from
destruction at the hands of the people the stamp papers that had been
forwarded for the collection of the tax. He received "incendiary"
letters; he had to issue proclamations against riots and "tumultuous
and unlawful assemblies;" and he had also to take measures against the
Liberty Boys, who began to have private meetings, and who had formed
themselves into a society to oppose and prevent the distribution of the
stamp papers.
In short, the good governor was kept in a constant state of alarm lest
the Liberty Boys should seize some advantage and cause his Majesty the
King of England to have a moment of grief. The Liberty Boys were so
active, and made so many threatening demonstrations, that Governor
Wright was driven to what he describes as extreme measures. He was
compelled to send the obnoxious stamp papers to a place of safety to
prevent the people from destroying them; and when he had the papers
securely hidden, he was compelled to place men on duty day and night to
protect the precious stamps. He was obliged to send a posse of men to
protect the stamp distributer by hiding him, and was then moved to send
him into the country for a season, in order to avoid the resentment of
the people; and then, after all his trouble, the good governor found
that the people had determined not to apply for any papers, stamped
or unstamped, until the King had acted on the petitions sent from the
Colonies. No wonder that he was moved to call it "a wretched situation."
It was indeed a wretched situation for one who had no higher ideas of
duty than to continue to serve the King and oppose the interests of the
people.
There was something more of an uproar in South Carolina than in Georgia;
but the truth of history appears to be that the resistance offered to
the Stamp Act in Georgia was much more serious than that displayed in
Carolina. Although Governor Wright used all his influence to support the
act, the people exercised so much vigilance in watching the stamp papers
and the officer sent to issue them, that none of the papers found their
way into use.
The Colonies were bordering on a state of revolution, when, through the
influence of the Earl of Chatham, the Stamp Act was repealed. There
was great rejoicing among the people, and a general manifestation of a
renewal of loyalty to the mother country. But the seeds of dissension
had been sown. The Stamp Act unnecessary and uncalled for, had given the
people cause to ponder over their real relations to the Crown; and out
of the discussion that had taken place arose a spirit of independence
that grew and thrived and spread day by day.
In short, the repeal of the Stamp Act gave the people of the Colonies
only momentary satisfaction. Their success in securing its repeal
gave them a new taste for liberty of action, and a new sense of their
importance as individuals. But King George III. was never satisfied with
the repeal of the Stamp Act of 1765. He declared that it had wounded
the Majesty of England. It fretted him, and the irritation that he felt
extended like a contagion to his cabinet. When the Earl of Chatham died,
there was no statesman to take his place. The mantle of his office fell
on Charles Townshend, who was more anxious to please the King than to
secure good government to the people of the Colonies. He was anxious
for the British Government to assert with vigor its right to govern the
Colonies as it saw fit.
Meanwhile the spirit of independence in the Colonies continued to assert
itself more openly day by day, and the determination grew among them
not to submit to taxation without representation in Parliament. The
organization of Sons of Liberty and Liberty Boys grew and spread both
North and South. One of the most fruitful causes of discontent was the
fact that Georgia and the other Colonies were compelled to depend upon
the will of the British Government in all matters. Every act passed by
a colonial assembly must receive the sanction of the British Parliament
before it became a law. Petitions were disregarded. Frequently there
was a delay of two years between the passage of an act by the Colonial
General Assembly and its ratification. But every measure had to receive
the approval of the Crown. While the affairs of the country were in this
peculiar condition, the people became more and more dissatisfied.
It is now known that Governor James Wright, loyal to the King as he
proved himself to be, was fully sensible of the injustice to which
the Colonies were compelled to submit. On the 15th of August, 1769, he
addressed a letter to the Earl of Hillsborough, which was not read until
fifteen months after it was written. In this letter the governor warned
the British cabinet that the Colonies would never submit to taxation
without representation. There was no disaffection, he said, toward the
King or the royal family, but simply a determination on the part of the
people to stand on their rights. But the governor's letter lay unread
for fifteen months, and there was no reply to the numerous petitions
sent from the Colonies. At last the Americans determined to appeal to
the pockets instead of to the sentiments of the people of Great Britain.
They determined to import no goods whatever that could be manufactured
or produced at home.
This determination, instead of causing the British people to conciliate
the Americans by securing the repeal of unfriendly laws, turned the
popular opinion against the Colonies; and this feeling was intensified
by the Boston Tea Party. A bill was passed by both Houses of the British
Parliament to close the port of Boston, and the discussion of the
measure gave an opportunity to some of the statesmen of the mother
country to show their spite. Another law was passed, limiting and
cutting down the power of the representative assembly of Massachusetts,
and providing that town meetings should not be held except on permission
in writing from the royal governor. Another act was passed, giving the
governor of the Province the power to send to Great Britain or to other
Colonies persons indicted for murder or charged with capital crimes
committed in aiding the government of Massachusetts. These acts,
intended to humiliate the Colonies, had the effect of inflaming them,
and the Liberty Boys grew in numbers and determination.
[Illustration: Tondee's Tavern 055]
On the 20th of July, 1774, "The Georgia Gazette," published at Savannah,
contained an invitation to the people of the Province to meet at
Tondee's Tavern on the 27th of July to take into consideration the
unjust laws that had been passed by the British Parliament. The cause
of Massachusetts was the cause of all. The meeting was held, and stood
adjourned to the 10th of August, in order to give all the parishes an
opportunity to be represented by delegates. Governor Wright, loyal to
the last, issued a proclamation warning the people of the Province to
avoid attending the meeting; but the proclamation was disregarded, and a
meeting of the people of the Province was held at Tondee's Tavern on
the 10th of August, 1774. Resolutions were adopted, declaring that
his Majesty's subjects in America owed the same allegiance, and were
entitled to the same rights and privileges, as their fellow-subjects
in Great Britain; that the act lately passed for blockading the port
of Boston was contrary to the British constitution; that the act for
abolishing the charter of Massachusetts Bay tended to the subversion of
American rights; that the Parliament of Great Britain had not, nor ever
had, the right to tax his Majesty's American subjects; and that every
demand for the support of government should be by requisition made to
the several houses of representatives. The resolutions covered all the
grievances of the people of the Colonies.
Meanwhile, Governor Wright was not idle. He called a convention of
Royalists, which met, and signed a protest against the resolutions.
Copies of this protest were made, and sent into all the parishes, by the
governor's friends. Under pressure, many timid men who were really in
sympathy with the Liberty Boys signed the protest. The signatures of
dead men were used, and other frauds practiced, in order to make the
demonstration in favor of the King sufficient to overawe those who
had pledged themselves to American independence. In all this, Governor
Wright was aided by the fact that the only newspaper in the Province,
"The Georgia Gazette," was under his control. He was also aided by the
geographical situation of Georgia, and by his own personal popularity.
He had made a good governor. He had worked as hard for the prosperity
and progress of the Province as he now worked to prevent the people from
joining the movement for independence.
The governor was successful to the extent that he was able to prevent
Georgia from sending duly accredited representatives to the First
Continental Congress; and this fact has been taken by some writers of
history to mean that the spirit of liberty and independence was not as
earnest and as enthusiastic in Georgia as in the other Provinces. Later,
when Georgia was overrun by British and Tory influences, and appeared to
be conquered, ill-natured critics recalled the fact that her people were
slow to join hands with those who advocated resistance to tyranny.
When the South Carolina delegates to the First Continental Congress
returned to their homes, bearing with them copies of the Declaration of
Colonial Rights, the Liberty Boys of Georgia renewed their movement with
great zeal. Copies of the Declaration were distributed throughout the
Province. The result was, that the Liberty Boys grew steadily stronger
in numbers, and more defiant in action. An idea of the situation at this
time may be gathered from a letter written by Governor Wright to the
Earl of Dartmouth on the 13th of December, 1774. He declared that the
spirit of independence, or, as he called it, the spirit of enthusiasm,
which many were possessed of before, "is raised to such a height of
frenzy, that God knows what the consequences may be, or what man or
whose property may escape their resentment."
No doubt the amiable governor misunderstood the situation. What he
regarded as "frenzy" was merely the eager desire and the determination
of the Liberty Boys of Georgia to redeem themselves in the eyes of their
brethren in the other Colonies. They were humiliated by their failure to
send representatives to the Continental Congress, and they endeavored to
redeem themselves by increased zeal and enthusiasm.
They arranged to hold a provincial congress in Savannah on the 18th
of January, 1775. Governor Wright, on hearing of this, determined to
convene the Provincial General Assembly on the same day, hoping and
believing that this would prevent a meeting of the Provincial Congress,
or greatly hamper its action. But the governor was mistaken. The
General Assembly met in response to the call, and so did the Provincial
Congress. Governor Wright addressed the members, declaring to them the
danger of the situation, and imploring them to be prudent and loyal.
The upper house of the General Assembly made a response agreeable to the
governor's expectations, but the lower house gave to its address a tone
of independence that was not at all pleasing to the King's officer. He
showed his displeasure, and placed a serious obstacle in the way of the
Liberty Boys by adjourning the General Assembly until the 9th of the
following May. The Assembly had met on the 18th of January, and was
adjourned on the 10th of February; so that the Liberty Boys, who made up
a majority of the lower house, had no time to appoint delegates to the
Philadelphia congress soon to be held, nor to take any official action
in behalf of the independence of Georgia.
Governor Wright's plans were certainly very shrewdly laid. His
adjournment of the General Assembly not only hampered the Provincial
Congress (or convention) that had met at Savannah simultaneously with
the legislature, but threw the delegates into confusion and disorder,
and was the means of causing the convention to adjourn without taking
such action as the friends of liberty hoped for. All that it did was
to elect three representatives to the Philadelphia congress. This
was something, but it was not enough. The Liberty Boys expected
the Provincial Convention to adopt all the measures and resolutions
suggested by the Continental Congress. They therefore felt mortified
when the convention adjourned, and left Georgia still outside the
continental association.
This event was a serious embarrassment to the other Colonies, and
aroused the anger of those friends of liberty who were unable to
understand the peculiar conditions that surrounded the movement for
independence in Georgia. The friends of liberty in South Carolina were
so indignant, that they denounced the Georgians "as unworthy the
rights of freemen, and as inimical to the liberties of their country."
Throughout the Colonies, the partisans of American independence were
deeply wounded by the apparent hesitation of the Georgians, while the
Royalists were delighted.
Though the Provincial Convention remained in session only seven days
before adjourning, the delegates of St. John's Parish had withdrawn from
the body. These delegates insisted on an emphatic indorsement of the
acts of the Continental Congress, and they retired as soon as they
found there would be some difficulty in bringing some of the hesitating
members to their way of thinking. They retired, and selected Dr. Lyman
Hall to represent St. John's in the Philadelphia congress. He took his
seat in that body, and although he cast no vote, he made his voice heard
in the discussions.
In spite of all the drawbacks which the Liberty Boys in Georgia had
experienced, their enthusiasm did not cool. They never ceased their
efforts, and the independence movement continued to grow. The public
mind became more and more inflamed with resentment against the tyranny
of King George and his Parliament, as the people heard of the progress
of events in the more northern Colonies. By the 10th of May the people
of Savannah had heard of the shedding of American blood by British
troops at Lexington and Concord. As the news spread from parish to
parish, the people became aroused, and the response of public sentiment
was all that American patriots could expect.
[Illustration: Seisure of Ammunition in Savannah 060]
The first response of the Liberty Boys at Savannah was to seize the
ammunition stored in the magazine. This event occurred on the night of
the 11th of May, and was planned and carried out by the members of the
Council of Safety. About six hundred pounds of powder fell into the
hands of the Liberty Boys. Some was sent to South Carolina, and the rest
was hidden in the garrets and cellars of the patriots who had seized it.
Tradition says that some of this powder was sent to Massachusetts, where
it was used by the patriots who drove the British before them at the
battle of Bunker Hill.
Other events occurred that showed the temper of the Liberty Boys. On the
4th of June, when Governor Wright came to fire salutes in honor of King
George's birthday, he found the cannon had been spiked, dismounted, and
rolled to the bottom of the bluff. On the 5th of June the first liberty
pole in the Colony was set up at Savannah. A young man named Hopkins,
who spoke contemptuously of the members of the Committee of Public
Safety was seized by a mob, tarred and feathered, placed in an
illuminated cart, and paraded up and down the streets of Savannah.
As the days went by, the independence movement in Georgia became more
enthusiastic, the Liberty Boys more active. The first vessel armed and
equipped for naval warfare during the Revolution was fitted up by
the Liberty Boys of Georgia under the authority of the Provincial
Convention, which had assembled in Savannah on the 4th of July, 1775.
This event is interesting. The Carolina Committee of Safety had heard
that a British ship had sailed for Georgia with a cargo of powder
intended for the Indians and for the use of the Royalists. The
Carolinians at once resolved to capture the ship and seize the cargo.
To that end, two barges, manned by forty well-armed men, were embarked
from Beaufort, and went to the mouth of the Savannah River, where they
encamped on a point that commanded a full view of Tybee Lighthouse. The
Provincial Convention, hearing of this expedition, offered to assist the
officers in every way possible. There was an armed British schooner in
the river at that time; and the Liberty Boys of Savannah determined to
join forces with the Carolinians at Tybee, and effect her capture. For
this purpose a schooner was equipped by the Provincial Convention, and
placed under command of Captain Bowen and Joseph Habersham. This vessel
was armed with ten carriage guns and swivels, and carried fifty men. The
British armed vessel was not inclined to enter into a contest, but,
when the Georgia schooner appeared, weighed anchor and sailed away. The
schooner then took position beyond the harbor bar, and waited for the
ship carrying the cargo of powder. She had not long to wait. On the 10th
of July, 1775, the powder ship, commanded by Captain Maitland, made her
appearance. Before entering Tybee Inlet, however, Captain Maitland saw
the armed schooner. Suspecting that he was about to fall into a trap, he
brought his vessel round, tacked, and stood out to sea. But he had gone
too far. The Georgia schooner gave chase, and soon overtook and captured
the ship. It was a fortunate capture for the Colonies. Five thousand
pounds of powder were sent to Philadelphia, and nine thousand fell to
the share of Georgia.
The convention that commissioned the first armed vessel of the
Revolution did more important work than this. It placed the Province
of Georgia in political union with her sister Colonies, and gave her
fellowship with those struggling Provinces. She was welcomed into the
United Colonies with joyful demonstrations by the Continental Congress.
By the 15th of April, 1776, the Liberty Boys in Georgia were so strong
that Governor Wright had taken refuge on one of the King's vessels at
Tybee; and on that date the patriots took full charge of the government
of the Province. Archibald Bulloch was the first republican president of
Georgia.
This is how the Liberty Boys took the Province of Georgia from his
Majesty the King, and made a free and independent government. Their
struggle did not end here, but the details of that struggle must be left
to history to relate.