In June of 1774, Thomas Hutchinson, newly replaced as governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, met in London with King George III. Though not himself in favor of British taxation of her colonies, Hutchinson had reluctantly supported London’s policies. Six months later, protestors in Boston, inspired by the brilliant Samuel Adams and others, boarded three ships in Boston Harbor and hurled 342 chests of East India tea into the water. In response, Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts, closing Boston’s port until the town reimbursed the cost of the destroyed property. Governor Hutchinson was loathed by many in Boston for his staunch support of the imperial position and his disregard for his increasingly disenchanted fellow Bostonians.
Hutchinson told King George that Samuel Adams had been the first American to embrace independence.
Though Hutchinson told King George that Samuel Adams had been the first American to embrace independence, there is no evidence for that claim. Samuel lamented that the mother country proved so careless with colonial affections. He made every attempt to acquaint London with the temper of his fellow colonists. He knew well that a rupture was possible, different from advocating for one. Adams balked at invented tales of insurrection, as he did at the word "independency." He warned of self-fulfilling prophecies. He appears to have moved gradually from redress to revolt, making an art in between of resistance, enlisting men, women, and children, co-opting institutions, deploying boycotts and false reports, shaming and stigmatizing. The relentless cannonade he helped to orchestrate in the press was not the kind of shelling for which the British troops sent to Boston had prepared. Adams resorted to a few tried and true techniques, as well. His household included a formidable dog, a highly intelligent Newfoundland named Queue. Adams trained him to bite any redcoat that crossed his path. Queue bore the battle scars on his shaggy pelt.
