46 pages • 1 hour read
The Minutemen and Their World
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Chapter 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 2 Summary: “The Reluctant Revolutionaries”
This chapter shows how Concord and its inhabitants took part in the protests and political developments leading up to the outbreak of the American Revolution. It is tethered to a few important and well-known events between 1764 and 1774 that are commonly cited as causes of the Revolutionary War: the imposition of taxes and tariffs by the Sugar Act (1764), the Stamp Act (1765), the Townshend Acts, which imposed additional duties on lead, glass, paper, paint, and tea in 1767, and the Tea Act in 1773. The Declaratory Act of 1776 limited the colonies’ ability to govern themselves, giving Parliament the power to do so “‘in all cases whatsoever’” (31).
The ideological foundations of the core group of revolutionary leaders are connected in this chapter to British politics, and they are known as the “Real Whigs.” From their perspective, Parliament was a crucial hedge against the power of the British monarchy, which otherwise would attempt to exert tyrannical control over its subjects’ lives. The passage of these acts indicated to the “Real Whigs” that the monarchy was gaining ground. The famous slogan of the Revolutionary period, “no taxation without representation,” refers to the colonists’ demand for direct representation in Parliament, in response to direct taxation, which had previously not been a part of Britain’s policy toward its colonies. A delicate balance had been upset, and a return to normalcy would be made even more difficult by the fact that the colonies had become used to relying on local government for most services.
Opposition to royal authority grew across the colonies, and it was expressed in a growing mistrust of colonial officials who had been appointed by the Crown. Concord’s representative, Charles Prescott, was personally loyal to the Crown, and his place among the colony’s network of appointed officials had shaped his political career. Though he was named as supportive of the Stamp Act, he voted to open the county’s courts without the use of stamped paper, in accordance with the majority of Concordians’ wishes. However, he was reelected: “In returning Prescott, Concord voters opted for politics as usual in a province temporarily seized by ideological fervor” (38). When he was replaced in 1768 by Captain James Barrett, however, “provincial issues disappeared from Concord’s agenda for four years” (41). Concord joined many other towns in the area in becoming fully supportive of the growing resistance to British rule.
Chapter 2 Analysis
Chapter Two’s focus on the most important dates and events of the immediate pre-Revolutionary period shows how a small community interpreted and responded to major events that occurred outside its borders. It also complicates the separation between local and regional (and later, national) histories by identifying the ways in which information and ideas flowed into and out of the town.
In order to understand the rise of the “Real Whigs,” it is important to view their ideas in the context of British politics. This sense of Britishness persisted even relatively late in the war, with colonists openly declaring their allegiance to the Crown as a routine part of meetings and declarations. But at this point, before the Revolution, the Real Whigs were not necessarily advocating for a change in the treatment of the American colonies specifically. They saw their objection as based primarily on principle and sought a greater degree of representation within the existing social and political structure of the British Empire, which could benefit British subjects in other places.
Initial responses to British taxation reflect entrenched ideas about good leadership. Concordians relied on their representative, Prescott, despite his known royalist sympathies, to represent their interests. However, signs of change could already be seen. In the wake of the Stamp Act, Concord broke from its own tradition of not specifically instructing its representative to the general court on how he should vote. This was an issue that Concordians, like residents of other towns, felt especially strongly about, which is enough to explain this decision. But soon, a suspicion toward elites would develop that would drive Concordians to seek a model of representation that gave them more direct control over the legislative process.
In the following chapters, the boundaries between local history and broader histories will be further blurred as we move forward in time toward the moment when Concord became the center of the world’s focus, as the setting for the beginning of the Revolutionary War.
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