"Last Night 3 Cargoes of Bohea Tea were emptied into the Sea. This Morning a Man of War sails. This is the most magnificent Movement of all. There is a Dignity, a Majesty, a Sublimity, in this last Effort of the Patriots, that I greatly admire. The People should never rise, without doing something to be remembered — something notable And striking. This Destruction of the Tea is so bold, so daring, so firm, intrepid and inflexible, and it must have so important Consequences, and so lasting, that I cant but consider it as an Epocha in History."
So wrote John Adams in his diary.
Today is the 240th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.
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23 comments:
"so firm, intrepid and inflexible"
So manly!
I note in the picture that the men dressed as native Americans are bare-chested, despite the date in mid-December.
How would this have played out if a snowstorm had been raging on this day.
MadisonMan said...
I note in the picture that the men dressed as native Americans are bare-chested, despite the date in mid-December.
How would this have played out if a snowstorm had been raging on this day.
You may have stumbled on the birth of the half-naked football fan. You see them all the time at outdoor stadia this time of year.
If you need to be in disguise, going bare-chested keeps you from being identified by your shirt, but you do risk being identified by distinctive patterns of chest hair.
Shaving your head hair into a Mohawk is a great idea in the era of wigs.
Professor, you're on track to out-comment your commentariat in this thread. It's a tough job, and I'm not helping here, but I think you can do it! You go, girl!
So what have the present day tea partiers done that is something to be remembered, something notable and striking? I think that is the problem. I am not impressed with the spokespeaople that come on TV.
Ann Althouse said...
"so firm, intrepid and inflexible"
So manly!
So desperate.
MadisonMan said...
I note in the picture that the men dressed as native Americans are bare-chested, despite the date in mid-December.
In reality they probably dressed appropriate to the climate.
The colonies had more newspapers, pamphlets and broadsides per capita than any other western country. While more than half the population couldn't read or write.
I am not impressed with the spokespeaople that come on TV.
As opposed to the moral & intellectual titans on the other side?
Huzzah!
Huzzah!
There's a wonderful, if pricey, floating museum at the site where one of the ships was docked. Children can toss overboard tethered floating bales of tea.
Huzzah!
The present day Teaparty? Remembered?
Well for a movement that has been marginalized and declared either non-existent or in its death throws countless times, being talked about is 'sonmething' in this era of the 24 hr news cycle.
And Boehner little rant against the Teaparty is normal. It is NOT a man bites dog story.
While the media wants to depict the teaparty as fighting the Democrat machine, in truth the TeaParty has always been about holding the establishment republicans accountable.
We got in this mess because Republicans going along to get along.
So what have the present day tea partiers done that is something to be remembered, something notable and striking?
Winning back the House of Representatives in 2010 and putting a chokehold on Obama's Progressive revolution?
Gahrie said...
So what have the present day tea partiers done that is something to be remembered, something notable and striking?
It exists.
"I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part!"
At the vortex of American History and Animal House.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was mostly Puritan settled by Cromwell supporters after the restoration of the Stuart Monarchy. They liked confrontation with the invaded Monarchy Troops sent to intimidate them into obeying the tyrants Tax Collectors. They really enjoyed confronting the Tyrant to get his attention and also burn bridges after themselves.
It worked.
I'm going to use the word "Epocha" in a sentence today. Although, frankly, it sounds like a polka website. That may be how I'll have to use it.
And you a law professor!
I am surprised that you would, seemingly, support such an act of lawlessness.
Especially in light of your comments the other day about the lawlessness in Colorado come Jan 1.
FWIW: I am on the side of the tea partiers, then and now.
John Henry
"I note in the picture that the men dressed as native Americans are bare-chested, despite the date in mid-December."
Anybody who survived to adulthood back then was fairly inured to hardship. The average Joe or Jill was far tougher than us.
This Destruction of the Tea is so bold, so daring, so firm, intrepid and inflexible, and it must have so important Consequences, and so lasting, that I cant but consider it as an Epocha in History
Yeah, if it weren't for the American Revolution we'd now be living in a warmer version of Canada. Surely that difference was well worth killing a few thousand people over.
Rusty said...
The colonies had more newspapers, pamphlets and broadsides per capita than any other western country. While more than half the population couldn't read or write.
****
Everything I have ever read and can half remember credits the spread of teh ideas that sparekd the Revolution with a much higer literacy rate. Both this http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=361434 and this ojs.libraries.psu.edu/index.php/phj/article/download/23636/23405 document literacy rates in Colonial America as much higher then 50%.
"These ungrateful peasants are not worthy to kiss that wonderful crease in King George's pants."
--Lord David Brooks, 1773
> "The Massachusetts Bay Colony was mostly Puritan settled by Cromwell supporters after the restoration of the Stuart Monarchy."
Quite backwards. The Bay Colony was settled by people fleeing the Stuart Monarchy during its "eleven-year tyranny" (1629-1640). This began a decade before anyone had heard of Cromwell, and more than two decades before the Restoration.
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