Revolutionary, Political: Impressed Sailor

Revolutionary, Political: Impressed Sailor

Some of the first colonial uprisings against the British government occurred along the eastern coastline in the mid-1700s. There dockworkers rebelled against the British Navy’s practice of impressments, where Naval officers would try to fill out their crew by forcing poor dockworkers to join. The mobs of anti-impressment rioters led attacks from the 1730s through the 1760s, from Charleston, SC to Boston, MA.

Beyond just sailors, though, urban mob violence along the coast was a common feature of the Revolutionary era. These mobs were often controlled by community leaders, but could also involve the lower classes organizing in multi-cultural groups that cut across racial lines. The most famous incident of mob violence in the American Revolution era was the Boston Tea Party.

Samuel Adams was a popular revolutionary leader and pamphleteer during the Revolutionary period. His widely-read pamphlets discussed topics from anti-impressments riots to the Stamp Act and played an important role in shaping public opinion for the revolutionary cause. He was also a leader in the Boston Tea Party.

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TITLE:The honble. Samuel Adams, esqr. First delegate to Congress for Massachusetts / J. Norman sc.

CALL NUMBER:Illus. in E208 .I36 Am Imp [Rare Book RR] Copy 1
PGA - Norman--Honble. Samuel Adams, ... Another impression. (A size) [P&P]

REPRODUCTION NUMBER:LC-USZ62-45237 (b&w film copy neg.)

SUMMARY:Samuel Adams, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly left, in medallion on pedestal.

MEDIUM:1 print : engraving.

CREATED/PUBLISHED:[1781]

CREATOR:

Norman, John, 1748?-1817, engraver.

NOTES:

Illus. in: An impartial history of the war in America, between Great Britain and the United States, from its commencement to the end of the war: [...]. Boston : Printed by Nathaniel Coverly and Robert Hodge, [...], 1781, v. 1, p. 193.

Stauffer, 2328

Published in: The American Revolution in drawings and prints; a checklist of 1765-1790 graphics in the Library of Congress / Compiled by Donald H. Cresswell, with a foreword by Sinclair H. Hitchings. Washington : [For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off.], 1975, no. 3.

SUBJECTS:

Adams, Samuel, 1722-1803.
United States. Continental Congress--People.

FORMAT:

Portrait prints 1780-1790.
Book illustrations 1780-1790.
Engravings 1780-1790.

REPOSITORY:Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

DIGITAL ID:(b&w film copy neg.) cph 3a45440 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a45440

CARD #:2001696979

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?pp/ils:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3a45440))+@field(COLLID+pga))

Samuel Adams used his position as a pamphleteer to spread Revolutionary fervor throughout the colonies. In addition to his work in organizing the Boston Tea Party, Adams was also instrumental in garnering attention to the Boston Massacre of 1770, depicted in the image here. Adams’ pamphlets demonized the British soldiers as tyrannical and violent and cast the murdered citizens as martyrs for the incipient revolutionary cause.

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How to obtain copies of this item

TITLE:The bloody massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.

CALL NUMBER:FP - XVIII - R452, no. 1 (A size) [P&P]

REPRODUCTION NUMBER:LC-DIG-ppmsca-01657 (digital file from original item)
LC-USZC4-4600 (color film copy transparency)
LC-USZC4-110 (color film copy transparency)
LC-USZC2-4913 (color film copy slide)
LC-USZ62-35522 (b&w film copy neg.)

SUMMARY:A sensationalized portrayal of the skirmish, later to become known as the "Boston Massacre," between British soldiers and citizens of Boston on March 5, 1770. On the right a group of seven uniformed soldiers, on the signal of an officer, fire into a crowd of civilians at left. Three of the latter lie bleeding on the ground. Two other casualties have been lifted by the crowd. In the foreground is a dog; in the background are a row of houses, the First Church, and the Town House. Behind the British troops is another row of buildings including the Royal Custom House, which bears the sign (perhaps a sardonic comment) "Butcher's Hall." Beneath the print are 18 lines of verse, which begin: "Unhappy Boston! see thy Sons deplore, Thy hallowed Walks besmeared with guiltless Gore." Also listed are the "unhappy Sufferers" Saml Gray, Saml Maverick, James Caldwell, Crispus Attucks, and Patrick Carr (killed) and it is noted that there were "Six wounded; two of them (Christr Monk & John Clark) Mortally."

MEDIUM:1 print : engraving with watercolor, on laid paper ; 25.8 x 33.4 cm (plate)

CREATED/PUBLISHED:Boston : [s.n.], 1770.

CREATOR:

Revere, Paul, 1735-1818, engraver.

NOTES:

Title appears as it is written on the item.

Engrav'd Printed & Sold by Paul Revere Boston.

The print was copied by Revere from a design by Henry Pelham for an engraving eventually published under the title "The Fruits of Arbitrary Power, or the Bloody Massacre," of which only two impressions could be located by Brigham. Revere's print appeared on or about March 28, 1770.

Brigham, pp. 41-57

Cresswell, no. 246

Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1770-1.

Caldwell, James, 1734-1781.
Maverick, Samuel.
Gray, Samuel, d 1770.
Attucks, Crispus, d 1770.
Monk, Christopher.
Carr, Patrick, d. 1770.
Clark, John. d. 1770.
Army of the Revolution.
African Americans
Boston (Mass.)

FORMAT:

Engravings.

REPOSITORY:Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

DIGITAL ID:(digital file from original item) ppmsc 00174 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsc.00174
(digital file from original item) ppmsca 01657 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.01657
(digital file from color film copy transparency) cph 3g04600 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3g04600
(digital file from color film copy transparency) cph 3b51693 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b51693
(digital file from color film copy slide) cph 3f04913 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3f04913
(digital file from b&w film copy neg.) cph 3a35950 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a35950

CARD #:app1994000761/PP

Here is a scene of dockworkers during the Boston Tea Party. As seen in this image, dockworkers were often composed of a motley assortment of people that cut across racial and ethnic lines.

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TITLE:Die einwohner von Boston wersen den englisch-ostindischen thee ins meer am 18, December 1773 / D. Chodowiecki inv. et del. ; D. Berger sculpsit 1784.

CALL NUMBER:PGA - Berger--Americaner ... (B size) [P&P]

REPRODUCTION NUMBER:LC-USZ61-450 (b&w film copy neg.)
No known restrictions on publication in the U.S. Use elsewhere may be restricted by other countries' laws. For general information see "Copyright and Other Restrictions...," (http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/195_copr.html)

SUMMARY:Print shows citizens of Boston, disguised as Indians, boarding ships in Boston Harbor and throwing chests of tea overboard.

MEDIUM:1 print : etching.

CREATED/PUBLISHED:1784.

CREATOR:

Berger, Daniel, 1744-1824, engraver.

RELATED NAMES:

Chodowiecki, Daniel, 1726-1801, artist.

NOTES:

Title from item.

S. 74.

[Plate] 2.

SUBJECTS:

Boston Tea Party, 1773.
United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783--Causes.

FORMAT:

Etchings 1780-1790.

REPOSITORY:Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

DIGITAL ID:(digital file from b&w film copy neg.) cph 3a02240 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a02240

CARD #:2004670198

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?pp/PPALL:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3a02240))

Tarring and feathering was a method that rioters used during the Revolutionary period to intimidate supporters of the British.

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TITLE:The Bostons paying the excise-man or tarring & feathering / copied on stone by D. C. Johnston from a print published in London 1774.

CALL NUMBER:Location unknown [P&P]

REPRODUCTION NUMBER:LC-USZ62-1308 (b&w film copy neg.)
No known restrictions on publication.

SUMMARY:Print shows a mob pouring tea into the mouth of a Loyalist who has been tarred and feathered. Behind the group, on the right, is the "Liberty Tree" from which hangs a noose and a sign "Stamp Act" written upside down; on the left, revolutionaries on a ship pouring crates of tea into the water.

MEDIUM:1 print : lithograph.

CREATED/PUBLISHED:Boston : Pendleton, 1830.

CREATOR:

Johnston, David Claypoole, 1799-1865, lithographer.

NOTES:

Title from item.

From the collection of Sherman Adams.

SUBJECTS:

Boston Tea Party, 1773.
Punishment & torture--Massachussets--Boston--1770-1780.
Tarring & feathering--Massachussets--Boston--1770-1780.
United States--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775.

FORMAT:

Lithographs 1830-1840.

REPOSITORY:Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

DIGITAL ID:(digital file from b&w film copy neg.) cph 3a05133 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a05133

CARD #:2006691557

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?pp/ils:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3a05133))+@field(COLLID+pga))