"The Birthplace of American Independence, 1687"
church leaders and others were anxiously enquiring of their friends in Old England concerning the signs of the times.
The appointment of Governor Andros in itself, had it been done as a measure of real pacification in the settlement of the serious misunderstandings between Parliament and the various Colonial governments, might have been a wise piece of statesmanship in the hands of moderate, far-seeing statesmen: it might within one-half a century have consolidated the friends of freedom in all of our American Colonies; have taken over later the French Canadians as British subjects; and have been the means of building up an American branch of the British Nation, embracing the whole of the Franco-English-American peoples, and immensely augmenting the influence of the British Nation as a vastly superior world-power. The plan of a Governor-General over all of the Colonies were proposed in 1754 by Benjamin Franklin, just before the French power in Canada came to an end by the peace of 1763.
The Puritans of New England were keenly alive to the threatening aspects of English politics and were quite generally informed as to the affairs of their English friends, but were not yet posted as to their secret plans, which included the assistance of the Protestants in Holland under the leadership of William, Prince of Orange.
The town of Ipswich, then second in population and wealth in Massachusetts, contained quite a number of the ablest religious and political leaders of New England thought, as will soon appear. In connection with their leaders in Boston and other places, they cautiously and jealously watched all of the public moves of Sir Edmund and his British associates. There was at this time no telegraph, no telephone, no local Post-Office, no newspaper, and we can but wonder at their success in keeping their own counsels from being made public.
When the Charter was annulled, in 1684, the Legislature was abolished, and the Governor-General with a Council of eighteen, not elected by the people, were in supreme control and under the orders of the King. In March, 1687, the Governor and Council ordered a tax levy of a penny in the pound for the public revenue of the Colony. This Council assumed to levy taxes which had previously been called for by the Legislature, by and with the advice of the Council and the Governor, and the different towns in the Colony were now arbitrarily ordered to assess this unjust and illegal tax. Boston, Salem, and many other towns obeyed the Governor's warrant and assessed the tax before the end of July, but Ipswich and some others did not act at once.
The Ipswich Town Meeting was called for August 23, 1687, and here commenced the famous rebellion or revolution of New England.
[445]
