First American Revolution
Date: 1774 ~ Place: Massachusetts Bay Colony
Patriots in the colony of Massachusetts were furious because they had just been disenfranchised by the Massachusetts Government Act which outlawed democratic town meetings and took away colonists' authority to select their judges and other officials. Having lost control of the governmental apparatus, and in particular of the courts, they feared that arbitrary rulers might soon seize their tools, their livestock, or even their farms.
Worcester was at the center of this massive uprising. It was the patriots of Worcester who first called for a meeting of several counties to coordinate the resistance. It was at Worcester, on September 6, 1774, that the British conceded control of the countryside. For the preceding month, General Thomas Gage had proclaimed he would hold the line at Worcester by sending troops to protect the court, but on the appointed day he backed down.
When British troops failed to show, 4,722 militiamen from 37 towns in Worcester County lined both sides of Main Street and forced every British-appointed judge, official and prominent Tory in town to resign or recant thirty times over, hats in hand, as they made their way through the gauntlet from Heywood's Tavern (at Exchange Street) to the County Court House. Shortly thereafter, the town of Worcester was the first to urge that a new government be formed "as from the Ashes of the Phoenix."
Through it all, the revolutionaries engaged in a participatory democracy so thorough it is difficult for us to fathom today. At every turn, all decisions were made by the full body of the people. No action could be taken without running the matter through the entire rank-and-file.
Read the entire fascinating story of the American Revolution in The First American Revolution: Before Lexington and Concord by historian Ray Raphael.
