(Boston Tea Party)

Boston, December 1, 1773. At a Meeting of the People of Boston, and the neighbouring Towns, at Faneuil-Hall, in said Boston, on Monday the 29th of November 1773, … for the Purpose of consulting, advising and determining upon the most proper and effectual Method to prevent the unloading, receiving or vending the detestable Tea sent out by the East-India Company, Part of which being just arrived in this Harbour. … [Boston: Edes & Gill, 1773] 

Broadside on a full sheet of paper ( 17 x 13 3/4 in.; 432 x 349 mm), preserving deckle on three edges. Text in 4 columns, with a single headline, docketed on verso ("Proceedings of the Inhabitants of Boston and the Neighbouring Towns with Governor Hutchinson's Proclamation to that illegal Assembly 30 Novemr 1773"); some foxing, bit of repair and restoration at lower right margin, central fold reinforced verso, a few small, light abrasions, in total costing bits of about 8 letters. Blue cloth portfolio, red morocco label.

Acquisition: William Reese

Ford, Massachusetts Broadsides 1656. For the issue with imprint, see Evans 12694; Ford 1657; Lowance & Bumgardner, Massachusetts Broadsides of the American Revolution 10

“the detestable Tea”: a highly significant and scarce broadside account of the meetings held at Faneuil Hall to determine what action Massachusetts patriots would take in response the Tea Act, imposed on the colonies by Britain “for the purpose of raising a revenue in America, and appropriating the same without the consent of those who are required to pay it.”

This broadside essentially prints the minutes of the dramatic meeting protesting the arrival in Boston Harbor of the Dartmouth, an East India Company vessel carrying 114 crates of tea, on 28 November 1773. The meeting was called for by Joseph Warren and moderated by Jonathan Williams; John Hancock was on the committee set up to transmit the results to the other colonies. Although some 5,000 citizens attended the evening of 29 November, after some preliminary discussions the meeting was adjourned until the following day, by which time Governor Thomas Hutchinson had issued a proclamation ordering those “thus unlawfully assembled forthwith to disperse.” The proclamation was read at the meeting, and the present broadside—which reprints the proclamation—reports that “immediately after, a loud and very general Hiss.” The assembly did not disperse but instead resolved not to allow any importation of tea to their city:

“Resolved, That in thus importing said Tea, they [the merchants] have justly incurr’d the Displeasure of our Brethren in the other Colonies.  And resolved further, That if any Person or Persons shall hereafter import tea from Great-Britain, or if any Master or Masters of any Vessel or Vessels in Great-Britain shall take the same on Board to be imported to this Place, until the said unrighteous Act shall be repeal’d, he or they shall be deem’d by this Body an Enemy to his Country; and we will prevent the Landing and Sale of the same, and the Payment of any Duty thereon.”  Given the passion and determination of the Faneuil Hall assembly, it was a rash move for Governor Hutchinson to attempt to enforce the tea tax; he forbade the ship to leave the harbor until it had been unloaded and customs duties enforced. Rather than be subjected to the new tax, the citizens of Boston destroyed the cargo on 16 December in the famous Boston Tea Party, spurring colonial dissent and moving the colonies further toward independence.

There are two issues of this broadside, printed just two weeks before the Tea Party. This copy is from the scarcer issue, which does not carry the imprint of the Boston printer Edes and Gill below the horizontal rule at the bottom of the fourth column; this issue is not recorded in ESTC or Evans.