Boston Effigy Dbq

On the morning of March 14, 1765, the first blow towards the British Government was thrown. In detail, according to a letter by Governor Bernard, in a central park of Boston an effigy, doll representation, of the stamp distributor, Mr. Oliver, was found hung from a tree. This initial blow to the law keepers of Boston came as a surprise, as they did not know how to react to the situation. The governor goes on to state that even within his council this initial blow was received with mixed emotions. To explain, some of the council members saw this backlash from the community simply as a "boyish sport that did not deserve the attention of the governor"(Governor Bernard, P 10). On the other hand, other council members thought that it was enough

7). The town people gathered, throughout the day, around the effigy, then commenced their march through the town of Boston. Thomas Hutchinson, lieutenant governor, describes in "History of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay", the mob as "forty of fifty tradesmen, decently dressed, and some thousands of the mob followed" (Hutchinson, P. 16). In this same account, Hutchinson goes on to explain how the mob was led to what would have been the stamp office, but on their most destructive move of the day, the mob quickly destroyed it. After destroying the stamp building, the mob began to attack the home of Mr. Andrew Oliver, the stamp distributer for Massachusetts Bay. This initial attack on his home was not a complete plundering, the mob broke windows and in a failed attempt to find him, the mob went on their way, dispersing on their own around mid-night. Governor Francis Bernard, in a letter to The Lords of Trade, explains how directly after this first riot Mr. Oliver made the decision to resign from his post as stamp distributer (Francis Bernard, P.