The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

1972 BRITISH ACTS BECOME INTOLERABLE 155Dickinson said, if the principle ofparlia.mentary taxation of the coloniesbe· once accepted. "If theparliament have a right to lay aduty of Four Shillings and Eightpenceon a hundred weight ofglass, or a. ream of paper, theyhave a right to lay a duty of anyother sum on either.... If theyhave any right to tax us - then,whether our own money shall continuein our own pockets or not,depends no longer on us, but onthem. 'There is nothing which' we'can call our own; or, to use thewords of Mr. Locke - WHAT PROP­ERTY HAVE' WE 'IN THAT, WHICHANOTHER MAY, BY RIGHT, TAKE,WHEN HE PLEASES, TO HIMSELF?'''9Massachusetts' Circular LetterColonial elected legislatures beganto act in 1768. Massachusettstook the lead in February bydrawing up a Circular Letterwhich it sent around to the othercolonies. This letter was subsequentlyendorsed by New Hampshire,Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut,Rhode Island, Georgia, andSouth Carolina, sometimes by assemblies~and, if they were notsitting, by the Speaker. 10 TheBritish reply came from the Earlof Hillsborough in April; it was9 Ibid., pp. 43-44.10 See Lawrence H. Gipson, The Comingof the American Revolution (NewYork: Harper Torchbooks, 1962), pp.185-87.sent as a. circular letter to thegovernors of all the colonies. Hehad already written to GovernorBernard of Massachusetts that atthe next session of the House ofRepresentatives he "must 'require'"them "to rescind theCircular Letter and declare" their"'disapprobation of and dissent tothat rash and hasty proceeding.'''l1To the other governors,he declared that his expectationwas that their assemblies wouldnot participate in this new effortto arouse resentment to Britishrule. "But if notwithstandingthese expectations and your mostearnest endeavors, there shouldappear in the Assembly of yourProvince a disposition to receiveor give any Countenance 'to thisSeditious Paper [the MassachusettsCircular Letter], it will beyour duty to prevent any proceedingupon it, by an immediateProrogation or Dissolution...."12In June, Hillsborough orderedtroops to Boston.Non-Importation AgreementIt was obvious from these andother instances - the harassmentof shippers by customs agents,the increasing of military forcesin the colonies, the rejection ofpetitions - that petitions and resolutionsalone would not produce11 Jensen, Ope cit., p~ 253.12 Greene, Colonies to Nation, p. 143. ,