On June 11, 1775, as the 16,000 American forces surrounded Boston, Dr. Joseph Warren – president of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and chairman of the Committee of Safety turned thirty-four. His wife had died two years prior leaving him with four children ages one to nine. Though the children had been in the care of his mother and brother Sam at the family home in Roxbury, Warren made plans …
In 1768, 1,200 British troops occupied Boston to quell the protests of the townspeople against arbitrary taxation – a standing army in time of peace was contrary to the accepted rights of Englishmen. The soldiers, seeking extra money to supplement their army pay by moonlighting, competed with the townsmen for jobs. (They also competed for the attention of Boston’s maidens.) Tension was in the air. Townspeople suffered abuse at …
What set Massachusetts apart from the sister colonies? By the mid 18th century, the Massachusetts Bay Colony was populated by multigenerational families which had depended on one another for well over 100 years. Their system of education for both sons and daughters was well-established. They shared the same Christian dogma. And the abuse of Parliament was encountered in Massachusetts twenty-five years before the Stamp Act of 1765. Struggling with …