The writ of assistance had been used in Massachusetts in 1755to prevent illicit trade with Canada and had aroused a violent hostility at that time.In 1761it was again the subject of a bitter controversy which arose in connection with the application of a customs officer to a Massachusetts court for writs of assistance "as usual."This application was vainly opposed by James Otis in a speech of five hours'duration-a speech of such fire and eloquence that it sent every man who heard it away "ready to take up arms against writs of assistance."Otis denounced the practice as an exercise of arbitrary power which had cost one king his head and another his throne,a tyrant's device which placed the liberty of every man in jeopardy,enabling any petty officer to work possible malice on any innocent citizen on the merest suspicion,and to spread terror and desolation through the land."What a scene,"he exclaimed,"does this open!Every man,prompted by revenge,ill-humor,or wantonness to inspect the inside of his neighbor's house,may get a writ of assistance.Others will ask it from self-defense;one arbitrary exertion will provoke another until society is involved in tumult and blood."He did more than attack the writ itself.He said that Parliament could not establish it because it was against the British constitution.This was an assertion resting on slender foundation,but it was quickly echoed by the people.Then and there James Otis sounded the call to America to resist the exercise of arbitrary power by royal officers."Then and there,"wrote John Adams,"the child Independence was born."Such was the hated writ that Townshend proposed to put into the hands of customs officers in his grim determination to enforce the law.
The New York Assembly Suspended.-In the very month that Townshend's Acts were signed by the king,Parliament took a still more drastic step.The assembly of New York,protesting against the "ruinous and insupportable"ex-pense involved,had failed to make provision for the care of British troops in ac-cordance with the terms of the Quartering Act.Parliament therefore suspended the assembly until it promised to obey the law.It was not until a third election was held that compliance with the Quartering Act was wrung from the reluctant province.In the meantime,all the colonies had learned on how frail a founda-tion their representative bodies rested.
Renewed Resistance in America
The Massachusetts Circular （1768）.-Massachusetts,under the leader-ship of Samuel Adams,resolved to resist the policy of renewed intervention in America.At his suggestion the assembly adopted a Circular Letter addressed to the assemblies of the other colonies informing them of the state of affairs in Massachusetts and roundly condemning the whole British program.The Circu-Samuel Adamslar Letter declared that Parliament had no right to lay taxes on Americans without their consent and that the colonists could not,from the na-ture of the case,be represented in Parliament.It went on shrewdly to submit to consideration the question as to whether any people could be called free who were subjected to governors and judges appointed by the crown and paid out of funds raised independently.It invited the other colonies,in the most temperate tones,to take thought about the common predicament in which they were all placed.
The Dissolution of Assemblies.-The governor of Massachusetts,hearing of the Circular Letter,ordered the assembly to rescind its appeal.On meeting refusal,he promptly dissolved it.The Maryland,Georgia,and South Carolina assemblies indorsed the Circular Letter and were also dissolved at once.The Virginia House of Burgesses,thoroughly aroused,passed resolutions on May 16,1769,declaring that the sole right of imposing taxes in Virginia was vested in its legislature,asserting anew the right of petition to the crown,condemning the transportation of persons accused of crimes or trial beyond the seas,and beseeching the king for a redress of the general grievances.The immediate dis-solution of the Virginia assembly,in its turn,was the answer of the royal gover-nor.
The Boston Massacre.-American opposition to the British authorities kept steadily rising as assemblies were dissolved,the houses of citizens searched,and troops distributed in increasing numbers among the centers of discontent.Merchants again agreed not to import British goods,the Sons of Liberty re-newed their agitation,and women set about the patronage of home products still more loyally.
On the night of March 5,1770,a crowd on the streets of Boston began to jostle and tease some British regulars stationed in the town.Things went from bad to worse until some "boys and young fellows"began to throw snowballs and stones.Then the exasperated soldiers fired into the crowd,killing five and wounding half a dozen more.The day after the "massacre,"a mass meeting was held in the town and Samuel Adams was sent to demand the withdrawal of the soldiers.The governor hesitated and tried to compromise.Finding Adams relentless,the governor yielded and ordered the regulars away.
The Boston Massacre stirred the country from New Hampshire to Georgia.Popular passions ran high.The guilty soldiers were charged with murder.Theirdefense was undertaken,in spite of the wrath of the populace,by John Adams and Josiah Quincy,who as lawyers thought even the worst offenders entitled to their full rights in law.In his speech to the jury,however,Adams warned the British government against its course,saying,that "from the nature of things soldiers quartered in a populous town will always occasion two mobs where they will prevent one."Two of the soldiers were convicted and lightly punished.