Summary Of The Shoemaker And The Tea Party

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.

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

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

In the novel, Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America, the author Benjamin L. Carp gives an incredibly in-depth description of the events of the Boston tea party. In the Introduction, Carp argues that the “party” was not a singular event, but rather a catalyst for the impending Revolution. He presents each chapter as a new aspect of the event while offering primary sources, letters, newspapers, and magazines as compelling evidence. Each chapter is focused on a very specific topic and perfectly leads to the next. Carp gives the reader a concise layout of context, causes, proceedings, and the aftermath of this rebellious show of resolve and determination. By giving the reader the political and cultural

As the wealthy increased their assets in the cities, at the same time, a large class was “impoverished city dwellers.” A huge contrast between the wealthy and the poor were forming and becoming more apparent from the beginning of the eighteenth century in the colonies. The data that was collected on the people who were submitted into poor houses clearly with little “doubt that the third quarter of the eighteenth century was an era of severe economic and social dislocation in the cities, and that by the end of the colonial period a large number of urban dwellers were without property, without opportunity, and except for public aid, without the means of obtaining the necessities.” This evidence of poverty in the colonies is one that Nash tries to point out to support his argument that there was a sharp contrast in the distribution of wealth, and that the masses were at this time more focused on the economy’s downfall of the period than defending for constitutional rights and liberties. Protest sparked as the result of the enormous poverty in the colonies. Frustrated with their living conditions the middle and lower classes protested violently in the cities. During this time of frustration with the economic conditions, “rank had no privileges, as even the lieutenant-governor was shot” in Massachusetts. The wealthy were attacked

The American Revolution, today, is seen as a memorable event in history. It was a war against Britain for the independence of the thirteen colonies that began in 1775. Before the American Revolution began, there was a lot of conflict between the colonists and British authorities. The British raised revenue by establishing Acts such as the Stamp Act of 1766. The colonists were against it and tried revolting against Britain, leading to the Boston Massacre in 1770 of British soldiers shoot colonists and killing a few men. The colonists also retaliated against the taxations by dressing up as Indians and throwing tea into the ocean. Parliament began establishing acts known as the intolerable acts, which led to the revolution. In The Shoemaker and the Tea Party by Alfred F. Young, the author introduces and describes the life of a shoemaker, George Robert Twelves Hewes, and the events he was a part of leading up to and after the American Revolution. He shows the different meanings of the Revolution to people according to their perspective and view on society. The Excerpt from “Accounts of George Robert Twelves Hewes as Told to James Hawkes” by James Hawkes is a secondary source of what Hewes has told Hawkes about his memories of the Boston Massacre. Michael D. Hattem, however, gives a more contemporary view on the American Revolution in his article, “The Historiography of the American Revolution.” Though the course of history, the meaning of the American Revolution and the events

On the cold night of March 5th, 1770, a mob of American colonists were protesting outside the Customs House in Boston. One colonist threw a snowball hitting Private Hugh Montgomery. Montgomery replied with a shot into the crowd. This led the rest of the British Army soldiers to shoot into the crowd killing five people in an event that would later be known as the Boston Massacre (Foner and Garraty). After this protest, more and more taxes were levied against the colonies, particularly regarding tea. To add, trade with nations besides Great Britain was prohibited. These affronts were met with the tarring and feathering of British tax collectors and the infamous Boston Tea Party. As a result of this, Massachussetts was essentially ruled by martial law. This finally culminated with a declaration of independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776. The United States of America was formed.

Those foreboding shots released on the fields of Lexington and Concord on April nineteenth, 1775 meant the presentation of bona fide American opportunity. From this moment on, the debilitating outing of securing and extending adaptability to all began, an outing not yet wrapped up. Opportunity for the pilgrims was not won on the bleeding edge, nor was it gotten when ink stamped material; rather, the start of authentic adaptability for America began from a noteworthy move of characteristics and wishes significant inside the structure holding the framework together. The American Revolution, from 1775 to 1787, was not only a triumph of guns on the battle zone, moreover a triumph of social, fiscal, and political qualities, essential societal changes,

Today was the day a man who fled to London with me on the same ship passed away. Thomas Hutchinson, was great man with a vision. He was a businessman, historian, and a politician. The news of his demise made my old memories fresh again. I still remember those days I spent on the place now they called The United States. The war between the English and the Americans began from 1775. King George the third, after defeating the French found his empire very large. The involvement of the king in too many wars put him in a huge national debt. To pay for his debt taxes were levied on the colonies without consenting the people living there.

Hewes was not to well off financially, which destined him to the lower trades and led him to the "gentle craft" of shoe making. It was this that gave Hewes a view at Britain's tyrannical rule and helped him associate and empathize with the common Bostonian. It was through years of constant oppression and conflict with the British and Loyalist that convinced this humble man to spur into action and help fight for freedom, subsequently becoming a sort of symbol for the common mans hero after the Revolution. This book shows that as time and the injustices went on it was impossible to remain docile towards the British. But ultimately Young fails to draw compelling conclusions from the events of that life. The best he can muster is: "Hewes was moved to act by personal experiences that he shared with large numbers of other plebian Bostonians. He seems to have been politicized, not by the Stamp Act, but by the coming of the troops after 1768, and then by things that happened to him that he saw, or that happened to other people he knew." Young asserts

In analysis of the our country’s fight for independence, historians and many others have looked deeper into what the war really was about and how “revolutionary” it would be identified as. The topic itself has been brought down to two broadened opinions delving into whether the war was conservative or radical. After taking on ten primary documents that could help to solidify one answer, it has been recognized that the Revolution was less revolutionary than originally suspected. Parts of these documents have influenced the analysis, such as Document #2, #9, and #10. These documents help show a more conservative perspective on how our country received its independence. More becomes clear about the way the Revolution negatively affected other groups of people excluding the rich, white men that made up the majority of our founding

American history is full of battles and freedom fighters. From the Boston tea party to voting rights. America fought against a king who was unfair and unjust. They may have had a civil war but it was also for the idea that rights were being taken away. The country has many amazing historical characters that made it the country it is today. This paper will discuss the Boston Tea Party, George Washington’s inaugural address, his warnings upon leaving office as well as the Boston Massacre, the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and John Adams on voting rights.

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.

It is easy to interpret the American Revolution simply as a struggle for freedom. The magnanimous phrases of the Declaration of Independence have embedded in our hearts and minds glorious images of the Founding Fathers fighting for the natural rights of man. The American Revolution, however, also had a darker side to it, the side of self-interest and profit. The signers of the Declaration represented various classes – the working class, the wealthy land owners and merchants, the intellectuals, and the social elite. Each of these strata had its own set of expectations and fears, which lent a new dimension to the cause of the Revolution. The pressure of these internal, and often overlapping groups, combined with the oppressive external

Throughout all of history, humanity has had a fascination with the elite, and their either inherited or gained wealth. This paper will focus on the contrasting opinions presented by Wordsworth’s “Simon Lee”, and Edmund Burke’s “Reflections on the Revolution in France”, and present how they are more closely linked then one might believe. Both essays focus on the struggle between the disenfranchised, subordinate person, and their superior fellow man, though Wordsworth takes the side of the former, and Burke, the latter. I plan to delve into why each author felt the way they did towards their specific viewpoints, and to expand on what social or cultural pressures may have been key in forming their opinions.