Late 1774 and early 1775 was an awful time for anyone in Massachusetts loyal to royally appointed Governor Thomas Gage, who had shut the port of Boston—as punishment for the Boston Tea Party—and was trying to enforce new laws that gutted many cherished democratic institutions in Massachusetts. Most people in Massachusetts were outraged at Gage and his government and took out their anger on Tories or Loyalists, those friendly to the royal government.
Boston Packed with Troops and Tories
Tories were ostracized and harassed. Many fled to Boston from their homes in the Massachusetts countryside. Boston was packed with British military regiments and about the only place in Massachusetts where a Loyalist felt safe.
One Loyalist who thus found safety in Boston was Daniel Leonard, a young lawyer from Bristol County. In this dark time for Tories, he set out to articulate the Loyalist point of view in the pages of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy. As was common in those days, he used a pseudonym, writing under the name Massachusettensis. Leonard's 17 essays—the first appearing December 12, 1774, the last appearing April 3, 1775—were among the most effective essays of the time summarizing the Tory position.
Either Parliament Has Complete Control or None
Leonard argued that, just as a body could have only one head, the British empire can have only one authority, and that was Parliament. No middle ground was possible. Either Parliament had complete control or no control at all over America.
Challenging the patriot view that Parliament was infringing on basic rights, Leonard wrote that Americans “do in fact enjoy all the liberties and immunities of natural born subjects.” Leonard argued that an American is no different from an Englishman who moves to Ireland, where he would no longer be represented in Parliament, but would still be under the authority of Parliament.
Leonard also warned that war with Britain would be hopeless: “The twentieth part of the strength that Great Britain could exert, were it necessary, is more than sufficient to crush this defenceless province to atoms."
Ripping into Committees of Correspondence
As Massachusettensis, Leonard ripped into the committees of correspondence. Patriot leader Samuel Adams had initiated the idea of committees of correspondence, groups established in towns throughout Massachusetts and elsewhere in America to share opinions about grievances against Britain and to formulate strategies about how to address them. Leonard called these committees “the foulest, subtlest , and most venomous serpent that ever issued from the eggs of sedition.” Such committees, wrote Leonard, were out of control: They “once established think themselves amenable to none, they assume a dictatorial style, and have an opportunity under the apparent sanction of their several towns, of clandestinely wreaking private revenge on individuals … they frequently erect themselves into a tribunal, where the same persons are at once legislators, accusers, witnesses, judges and jurors, and the mob the executioners.”
Leonard argued for patience and continued ties with Britain. He said the difficulties with Great Britain stemmed not from some wickedness on the part of ministers, but mainly from the impracticality of having representation in Parliament owing the “immutable laws of nature” —distance separating America from England. Leonard envisioned that centuries in the future, when the colonies surpassed Britain in population, wealth and power, the seat of Imperial government would be moved from London to America “for the good of the empire.”
As Novangkus, John Adams Responds
The arguments of Massachusettensis were so effective that John Adams, patriot leader and cousin of Samuel Adams, felt compelled to respond. John Adams, writing under the pseudonym Novanglus, shot back at Massachusettensis in the columns of the Boston Gazette. Adams wrote 12 essays, the first appearing January 23, 1775, and the last appearing April 17, 1775,
Adams (who didn't know the identity of Massachusettensis) defended the committees of correspondence, expressed optimism about America's chances in a war with Britain, and asserted that Parliament's only authority over the colonies was in regulating trade, and that was only by consent.
Adams was in the middle of writing Novanglus piece when he got word of the fighting at Lexington and Concord. Thus the debate ended and American Revolutionary War began.
Leonard eventually left America, served as chief justice in Bermuda, and later lived and practiced law in London.
Sources:
Adams, John, and Sewell, Jonathan, Novanglus and Massachusettensis; or Political Essays. Boston, Hews & Goss, 1819.
Jensen, Merrill. Tracts of the American Revolution: 1763-1776. Indianapolis, Indiana, Hackett Publishing Co., Inc., 2003.
Labaree, Benjamin W. Colonial Massachusetts: A History. Millwood, New York, KTO Press, 1979.
Smith, Page. John Adams. Garden City, New York, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1962.
Upton, Leslie F. S. Revolutionary Versus Loyalist: The First American Civil War, 1774-1784. Waltham, Massachusetts, Blaisdell Publishing Company, 1968.
Brian Deming - Brian Deming has a master’s degree in American history from Northwestern University. He has taught U.S. history and media history at ...
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