Date: Mon, 11 Mar 1996 From: "Donna J. Logan" <•••@••.•••> To: "Richard K. Moore" <•••@••.•••> Subject: re: The Liberty capture > >>How 'bout the capture of the 'Liberty' - one of J. Hancock's smuggling fleet > >>as a start to the 1776 thing. > > > >Ironically, I'm just now reading a book about the beginning of the American > >Revolution, where this is discussed....it happened in the late 1760's...the > >immediate result was increased defiance of the tax laws, more open smuggling, > >and increased agitation by the Sons of Liberty and their supporters against > >the Tories of Boston...which lead to British troops being stationed in > >Boston...which then lead to the "Boston Massacre".... > > Was that one a setup? Did Hancock want the ship to be captured? The book I'm reading (PATRIOTS: The Men Who Started the American Revolution, by A. J. Langguth) doesn't actually come out and say, but strongly hints that the reader would not be out of line in thinking so. At the time, Sam Adams was having a hard time trying to keep Bostonians agitated, and the patriot cause was waning. He'd recently recruited Hancock to the cause, and they needed an incident which would whip the colonists into an anti-British frenzy again. If the capture of the Liberty wasn't planned, it was extremely "convenient" in timing. Donna J. Logan ;-)
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