The Shoemaker and the Tea Party
... as an ordinary sailor and soldier, shipping out twice on privateering voyages and enlisting at least four times in the militia, about twenty months of military service in all. He did not win riches as a privateer or find glory or even adequate pay in battle. After the Revolution, Hewes lived with his wife and his many children. When Americans began to celebrate the Revolution again, Hewes was brought back to Boston in 1835 in triumph as one of the last surviving participants in the Tea Party, the guest of honor on Independence Day. As Young puts it, He was a nobody who briefly became a somebody in the Revolution and, for a moment near the end of his life, a hero." The second half of this book deal with the external forces that shape the memories of the Revolution into tradition. Young illustrates parts of Hewes life to support his theory. Three features of the time emerge as the book develops. Money played an extremely important role in the time. Colonists were furious with the high taxes that they were forced to pay and in many ways contributed to the Revolution. Society was also changing and politics played an important role. Finally, freedom and citizenship was another common theme that was well represented in the time of the Revolution. These three themes of this time led to a mindset of colonists that forced them to break from the control of the British monarchy and develop a country and political system that we still use and belong to today. The economy is a factor in the life of every American and it was a lot a factor for colonists before the revolution. During the French and Indian War, colonists were expected to not trade with enemy countries and help British troops by providing them with food and shelter. This was a burden on the colonists who were not as wealthy as England. In 1763 the colonists were an expanding and maturing people; their numbers had reached a million and a half, and they were doubling every quarter of a century. The colonists had matured to an extent that their interests and goals were distinct from those of the ruling classes in the mother country. England felt the need to regain the control of the colonies before matters grew out of hand. England imposed harsh taxes on the colonists such as the Stamp Acts, Sugar Acts, and the tea tax. Colonists began to protest and boycott British goods, refusing to pay harsh taxes when they had to representation in Parliament. Thus the phrase taxation without representation was born. Finally, the Intolerable Acts that were implemented after the Tea Party placing Boston under strict military rule by Britain. These events all illustrate the importance that money and the economy played in the time of the American Revolution. Another important feature of this ti...