THE BEGINNING of REVOLUTION
On the morning after the night of rioting--dark and dreary day that was
quite in keeping with the gloomy feelings of the people--Cadwallader
Colden, the Lieutenant-Governor, decided that he would do away with the
stamps that had caused so much trouble. So he had them delivered to the
Mayor, who was in accord with the citizens, and the Mayor put them in
the City Hall amid many cheers. A few days after this Sir Henry Moore
(who had been appointed Governor of the province) arrived from England,
and immediately won the hearts of the citizens by saying that he would
have nothing to do with the stamps. During the next few months
excitement in New York and in the other colonies increased, and efforts
to keep the stamps in use caused riots everywhere.
When the King saw that he could not enforce the Stamp Act, and that
serious trouble was likely to occur from every attempt to do so, he
repealed the act, the year after it had become a law.
The people were overjoyed at this.
The King's birthday coming soon after, there was in his honor a great
celebration, and a liberty pole was planted on the Common, which in
after years played an important part in the history of New York; and
a marble statue of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, was erected. This
William Pitt had done more than any other man in England to secure the
repeal of the Stamp Act, and had time and time again spoken strongly
against it. His statue was set up in Wall Street, and at the same time
a statue of King George III., seated upon a horse, was erected on the
Bowling Green. It fared ill with these statues later, as you will see.
There was no longer a stamp act, but there was another act quite as
disagreeable. It was called the Mutiny Bill, and it required that food
and drink and sleeping-quarters be given to all the British soldiers.
Now the Mutiny Bill fell hardest upon New York, for New York was the
head-quarters of the British army in America. The people refused to
comply with this law, because they feared that it was the first step
toward compelling them to support a great army in America.
So the soldiers and citizens were again continually at odds.
Four years after the Stamp Act was repealed, during which time affairs
were in a most unsettled state and the bitter feeling between the
colonists and England was growing stronger with each passing day, the
English Parliament declared that no tax was to be put on anything except
tea. Tea was to be taxed, not so much for the money that would thus go
to the King, but to show that he had the right to tax the colonists.
This did not settle matters in the least. The colonists had sworn to
resist all taxes, and to have a tax on one article was as bad, to their
minds, as having taxes on all. But the merchants were not prospering,
for, not importing goods from England, they had none to sell. So a
committee of 100 men was appointed to see what could be done. This
committee decided that it would be right for the merchants to import
everything they needed except tea. And the merchants welcomed this
decision and agreed to it.
But the fiery Sons of Liberty refused to listen to any such compromise.
They insisted on keeping the non-importation agreement until the duty
on tea, as well as all other duties, should be done away with once and
for all. So they determined to maintain it until the end, and they did
maintain it well. Day by day the soldiers of King George III. and the
citizens became greater enemies. Although the soldiers tried many times
to drag down the liberty pole, it was well defended, and it stood until
one night in January, 1770, when they tore it down and chopped it into
pieces. This act led to the battle of Golden Hill, which was the first
real battle of the American Revolution.