Alfred F. Young's The Shoemaker And The Revolution

This book, “The Shoemaker and The Tea Party” is split into two different sections. The first part is about the events that happened in Boston through the eyes of George Robert Twelves Hewes. The second part is written about the Author, Alfred Young, who asks the question “When Did They Start Calling It the Boston Tea Party”. This book is written about the memory that Hewes had of the many events that he participated in. These events included the Boston Massacre, The Boston Tea Party, and the tarring and feathering of people. The recollections of Hewes helped Americans to realize that we are all equal, and all capable of doing great things to help our country.

In the story "John Adams and the Coming of the Revolution”, author David McCullough discusses how John Adams was asked to defend the British soldiers in court of the soldier’s accusation of man slaughter, following the Boston Massacre. Being such a problematic case that could ruin his reputation, John Adams accepted to defend the soldiers because of his experience in difficult cases, and his strong principles and beliefs. John Adam’s reputation did not even tarnish because of how skillfully he handled the case gaining the respect of the people of Boston.

The Shoemaker and the Tea Party by Alfred Young revolves around two bibliographies written about one of the last living participants of the Boston Tea Party, and the authors own interpretations of the events surrounding the Tea Party and the American Revolution as a whole. In this particular novel, Young explores what it means to rediscover history, and how history is continually redefined. Particular attention in the novel is given to public history, and how highlighting people otherwise lost to time can completely change how an event is perceived. Readers are given the opportunity to see the history behind the American Revolution through the lenses of an average man of that time. In this essay I will review the novel and the message

prolonged life, in such a polarizing period in Boston, Massachusetts Hewes was an effective vessel to examine the larger issues of the American Revolution. Through the life of George Hewes, Alfred Young was able to offer an effective analysis of public and private memory. Young successfully uses the mechanism of micro history to integrate a very specific case study to a national event.

In conclusion, the British are to blame for the Boston Massacre. There are three reasons why the British are to blame based on this essay. These reasons are; the British could have handled the situation, they made unnecessary actions, and the British angered the colonists with the Quartering act and taxes. Since the British soldiers did not think through and fired at the colonists. They made the wrong choices which led to the death and injury of colonists. If the soldiers thought things through they faced the consequences and push the colonists closer to revolution. That is why the British are to

Throughout history, historians have spun events in order to alter and adjust others’ views on the event. This is especially true during Colonial times and the time leading up the American Revolution. During this time, information about the colonist’s events was passed on through word of mouth. One such man that was notorious for this was George Robert Twelves Hewes. Hewes was a Boston shoemaker, who at the age of twenty-eight witnessed four of his closest friends shot to death by The British red coats; he also participated in many of the key events of the Revolutionary crisis.1 Hewes recollections of the events that took place were passed along in the monograph The Shoemaker and the Tea Party: Memory and the American Revolution by Alfred

Before the Boston Massacre even occurred, tensions were high in the city of Boston between the Bostonians and the British. At this time people were just

In Brinkley eyes, results from The Boston Massacre is more than just a tragic but rather another cause for the revolution and claiming independence for the U.S. from Britain. As taxes rises and become more abundant, the colonists started to take actions against the British, causing the tensions to get worse. The Boston Massacre, along with other significant events such as Boston Tea Party, Boston Port Act, and more set the revolution in motion. The Boston Massacre was another event that help fueling the flame for the claim of independence.

Early in the evening on April 18, 1775 Dr. Joseph Warren, a prominent leader of the Sons of Liberty, became aware that Gage’s soldiers were marching to Boston common.4 Warren knew the warning had to get out so he summoned William Dawes, a local tanner and active Boston militiaman, for the important mission. Dawes instructions, the land route, were to ride to Lexington and Concord and report on the British movements and to notify colonial leaders along his routes. Dawes immediately rode

     Many people believe that the Boston Massacre was a spur of the moment event. This is totally untrue. The French and Indian war put England in debt making England look for other sources of income. The king of England believed that the colonists should help to pay for

Revolution. This event brought attention to the unfair ways the British soldiers were treating the colonists. The British were treating the colonists unfairly by taxing them and using their homes for shelter and food. They used them for food by making them make meals for them to eat and if the colonist was a farmer with horses they would also take the horses. I will talk about the famous lawyer John Adams and other events that happened in the Boston Massacre.

Nevertheless, the events and facts of the Boston Gazette’s article were highly exaggerated and seemed very ambiguous to me. For example, the way that citizens came together, the actual reason of it and Captain Preston’s order of fire are some of them.

“Between the hours of nine and ten o’clock, being in my master’s house, was alarmed by the cry of fire, I ran down as far as the town-house, and then heard that the soldiers and the inhabitants were fighting in the alley… I then left them and went to King street. I then saw a party of soldiers loading their muskets about the Custom house door, after which they all shouldered. I heard some of the inhabitants cry out, “heave no snow balls”, others cried “they dare not fire”. The Boston massacre has been no massacre it was propaganda. The incident that happened March 5th, 1770 in the streets of Boston only killed five people and had six people with non fatal injuries. There were

The creation of the American nation became what it is today from years of struggle in which the common people, as well as the Founding Fathers, played a vital part for independence. The promise of the Revolution, a nation based on the republican ideals of liberty, independence, and equality, was to some extent achieved. Yet the great principles of the Revolution have long shaped our thoughts of what it means to be an American. All the events leading up and after the American Revolution will have effects on the common people. The story of George Robert Twelves Hewes helps historians comprehend the part that the common people played in their struggle for freedom and republican ideals they wanted to achieve for the generations to come in the new nation.

The Boston Massacre is considered by many historians to be the first battle of the Revolutionary War. The fatal incident happened on March 5 of 1770. The massacre resulted in the death of five colonists. British troops in the Massachusetts Bay Colony were there to stop demonstrations against the Townshend Acts and keep order, but instead they provoked outrage. The British soldiers and citizens brawled in streets and fought in bars. “The citizens viewed the British soldiers as potential oppressors, competitors for jobs, and a treat to social mores”. A defiant anti-British fever was lingering among the townspeople.