"The Birthplace of American Independence, 1687"
the whole Colony had levied the hated tax, there was apparently nothing further to be gained for their cause, and we need not wonder that they apologized and took the oath of allegiance to save their townsmen and friends from further trouble, and that they paid their fines and returned to their homes. To the lasting honor of Ipswich these fines and expenses were all refunded to the sufferers.
It should be remembered that the actors in this ancient drama were generally men of the second generation from the first immigration, that they always boasted of being Englishmen, and that they had not the inspiration we feel in being citizens of another nation. When confronted with the taunt of being little better than slaves, and with the insolent demand for re-payment for new titles to their lands, which they and their fathers had laboriously improved, they were face to face with a dilemna which brought out all of the manhood and resentment of which these independent natures were capable.
History does not fully explain the events of the next few months, but we can readily see that the excitement must have been intense. Our patriots were fully aware that only ten years before this time Sir William Berkely, the Royal Governor of Virginia, had forcibly put down Bacon's Rebellion, and had executed over twenty of those who had resisted his government, although they appeared to be actuated by nearly the same patriotic motives which had influenced the Ipswich leaders.
The year 1688 was a trying year for our Massachusetts Bay Colony. In England King James was pushing his efforts for the acquirement of absolute power. By the end of June, the historian Green tells us, "He had been deserted by the peerage, by the gentry, the bishops, the clergy, the universities, and every lawyer, every farmer and every trader stood aloof from him. He said, 'I will win all or I will lose all.'"
Finally James quartered an army of thirteen thousand men near London to over-awe the City and vast numbers of patriotic Englishmen of all classes were organizing for some desperate action. These movements were slowly reported to New England and in some manner, not fully known even to this day, preparations were being stealthily made for possible co-operation in some future attempt to parallel the action in England.
Thus the year dragged along and when, on November 5, 1688, William, Prince of Orange, landed at Torbay in England with a large army, the Great British Rebellion was fairly underway. The want of regular communication between the two Continents prevented the New England people from learning of this event until the next April,
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