It was supposed to be simple really. England had just defended her colonies during a long global war and at great expense. It was time for the colonies to pay back some of its debt. An easy, barely perceptible tax should do the trick. But Parliament could not have been more wrong. Violent protests broke out across the colonies as news of the Stamp Act spread. It was a time Annipolitans Zachariah Hood and Ann Burman Gaither would certainly never forget.
The Stamp Act of 1765
Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer, proclaimed, "If America looks to Great Britain for protection, she must enable [us] to protect her. If she expects our fleets, she must assist our revenue." [Anderson, p. 642]
Prime Minister George Grenville thought he had found the perfect solution to chipping away at the debt incurred from the Seven Years' War. For a year, he worked closely with agents from the American colonies, workshopping ways to get what Grenville saw as minimal financial commitment to cover the costs of colonial defense. The plan was simple: authorized dealers would sell officially stamped paper to be used for legal documents, newspapers, pamphlets, playing cards and such. Grenville's Undersecretary Thomas Whately had done considerable work to determine how the tax could be applied equally across the colonies and would be largely unnoticeable in the process. An added benefit - the revenues from the stamp tax would increase as the colonies grew and generated more legal actions, commercial transactions, and newspapers. To seal the deal, those tasked with selling the stamped items would be prominent men of social standing and political respectability, providing a sense of stability and acceptance of the tax.
Protest in Three Parts
The Stamp Act became law on March 22, 1765, but it would not go into effect until November 1, 1765. Ultimately, this would allow time to set up the structure for the tax collection, but an unintended consequence was that it also allowed time for colonists to organize and begin participating in protest activity. As both Parliament and protestors dug in their heels, the Stamp Act became more than a policy to raise money, it became a debate about Parliament's right to levy taxes on the colonies.
Maryland tended to keep her head down in times of colonial crises, but The Stamp Act would ignite three violent protests in Annapolis.
Zachariah Hood was a Maryland merchant who just happened to be in London when the Stamp Act was passed. Seeing an opportunity to make some easy money, he lobbied for a position as a distributor of the stamped paper and returned to Annapolis. Annapolitans were having none of this traitor in their midst. On August 26 "a considerable Number of People, Assertors of British-American-Privileges" constructed an effigy of Hood and, using a small cart, marched it to the State House while "the Bell at the same Time Tolling a Solemn Knell." First they placed the effigy in the pillory, then they hung it from a "Gibbet there Erected for that Purpose." The crowd "then set fire to a Tar-barrell underneath, and Burnt it, till it fell into the Barrel."
But hanging Hood in effigy only further fanned the flames violence, leading to more destruction. On September 2, "a Number of People unknown, assembled in this Town, and pulled down a House lately rented by a certain unwelcome Officer." That house was the property of Ann Burman Gaither. Hood was renting out the front room on the first floor and having it refitted as a store. The house was pulled apart and all of the work that had been done on the storefront was destroyed. Both Ann Gaither and Wright Mills, the carpenter working on the renovation, would receive some small compensation for their losses - her building and his tools. Governor Horatio Sharpe suggested that 300 - 400 men took part in the destruction, a "Populace who are really not to be restrained on this Occasion without Military Force." The governor offered Hood shelter, but the targeted stamp collector felt far too unsafe and immediately left for New York.
Hood later wrote to Benjamin Franklin:
More violence followed on the heels of Hood's departure. On September 4, a British warship, the Hornet, sailed in Annapolis' harbor. Fired up by recent protest activities, a group of men rowed out to the ship to determine whether or not it held any of the stamped paper. They tried to speak with an officer, Lieutenant Mewbray, but he was having none of their shenanigans and sent them on their way. Later, the lieutenant and several passengers went into town to eat at a local tavern. As the guests sat down for their dinner, someone walked in wearing a hat tagged with a piece of paper that read, "No Stamp Act." Mewbray's armed guard got rid of the man and stayed at the door to ensure he did not return. But that did not stop the drinking inside and in time a drunken brawl erupted between John Hammond, a county delegate, and one of the passengers of the Hornet. Mewbray would be injured and the passenger who had fought with Hammon ended up swimming back to the hornet.
In the end, the Stamp Act protests would unify the colonists. The Stamp Act went into effect on November 1, 1765. Not one stamp was sold.
Back to England...for some
The Stamp Act was repealed in March 1766. Colonists had united in opposition to Parliament trying to take over a role of the colonial assemblies and, secure in their victory, they were ready to pledge their loyalty to England and return to their ways as proud Englishmen. When news of the repeal reached Annapolis, "the Afternoon was spent in Mirth; and all Loyal and Patriotic Toasts were Drank. [McWilliams, p. 68]
The party would not last long once colonists learned about the Stamp Act's replacement, the Declaratory Act. Mercy Otis Warren noted, "Amidst the demonstration of this lively gratitude, there were some who had the sagacity enough to see that the British ministry was not so much instigated by principles of equity, as impelled by necessity." [Zagarri, p. 41]
There would be more to come.
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Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754 - 1766. Vintage Books, 2001.
McWilliams, Jane Wilson. Annapolis: City on the Severn - A History. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011.
Zagarri, Rosemarie. A Women's Dilemma: Mercy Otis Warren and The American Revolution. (2nd. edition), Wiley Blackwell, 2015.
Further reading:
1764: The First Year of the American Revolution - Ken Shumate
Annapolis: City on the Severn - Jane Wilson McWilliams
A Woman's Dilemma: Mercy Otis Warren and the American Revolution - Rosemarie Zagarri
Benjamin Franklin in London: The British Life of America's Founding Father - George Goodwin
Crucible of War: The Seven Years War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766 - Fred Anderson
Seized with the Temper of the Times: Identity and Rebellion in Pre-Revolutionary America - Abby Chandler
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