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“after So wicked a Conspiracy…by certain Ingrates…declared Traitors to their Country it is the Opinion of this Town that they ought never to be Suffered to return.” Summary:
This document links two Boston patriots, Samuel Adams and Nathaniel Barber, over a contentious issue at war’s end – what to do with the Loyalists? The two-part manuscript comprises a 1783 Town of Boston resolve and a corresponding cover letter from the Boston Committee of Correspondence. The letter is signed by chairman Nathaniel Barber, a participant in the Boston Tea Party.
The Boston town resolve was created by a committee of three: Samuel Adams, James Otis, and Joseph Greenleaf. Though their names do not appear in the text, Adams biographers specifically credit him as the author. With the Revolutionary War over, and the definitive Treaty of Peace under final negotiation, Adams was lobbying hard against the return of unrepentant Tories. They were a threat to national security: “The British King cannot have more Subservient Tools and Emissaries amongst us for the purpose of Sowing the Seeds of Dissention in this infant Nation….” Barber’s accompanying letter echoes that sentiment. The texts of both documents were subsequently printed as a two-leaved broadside and sent to towns throughout the state. It was also printed in newspapers in other states, who saw it as a model for their own consideration of Tory property issues. This draft version was preserved in the papers of Luke Drury of Grafton. Ironically, Drury, a former captain of Minutemen would be imprisoned four years later during a home-grown Massachusetts conspiracy – Shays’ Rebellion. [Samuel Adams]. Manuscript Document: Resolve by the Town of Boston, bearing a clerical copy of the signature of William Cooper, Town Clerk. Boston: April 10, 1783. Followed by: Nathaniel Barber. Letter Signed: to “the Committee of Correspondence &c or the Selectmen of the Town or plantation of [blank] to be Communicated to the Town or Plantation.” Boston: April 17, 1783. 3 pp. Inventory# 20638 $10,000 Complete Transcript:
Boston April 10 1783
At a Meeting of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Boston duly qualified to Vote in and legally warned in public Town Meeting assembled at Faneuil Hall by Adjournment April 7th 1783,– Whereas by a resolve of the legislature of this Commonwealth passed on the 13th of February 1776 the Several Towns were directed to and empowered at their annual Meetings in March to Choose Committees of Correspondence Inspection and Safety Whose business (among other things) is to Communicate Matters of Importance to Committees of the like Denomination to any other town County or State or to the General Assembly or Council And Whereas the present Circumstance of the United States requires That Committees so Appointed should use their utmost Industry and Care that to effect the Great and important purposes of their Appointment at a Time when Interest is making for the readmiting Absentees and Conspirators to return into this and other of the United States — Therefore Resolved That this Town will at all times (as they have done) to the utmost of their power oppose every enemy to the just rights of & Liberties of Mankind and that after So wicked a Conspiracy against those rights and Liberties by certain Ingrates most of them Natives of these States and who have been Refugees and declared Traitors to their Country it is the Opinion of this Town that they ought never to be Suffered to return but to be excluded from having Lot or Portion among us. – – — And the Committees of Correspondence are hereby requested as by the Law of this Common-Wealth they are fully empowered to Write to the Several Towns in this Common-Wealth and desire them to Come into the Same or Similar Resolves if they shall think fit.
Signed William Cooper } Town Clerk [p.2]
Gentlemen Boston April 17th 1783.
By the inclosed Resolve transmitted to you by the Directions of this Town at their last Meeting you may form some Judgment of their Sentiments respecting the Absentees and your Wisdom and Patriotism will determine as to the propriety and Usefulness of Coming into the Same or Similar Resolves.
This Town does not presume to Dictate to any of their Sister Towns but they always receive with pleasure their Sentiments with respect to what Concerns the public Good The advantages that have been derived from thus freely Communicating the Sentiments of each other during the late Struggle with our inveterate internal and external Enemies are of too Great Magnitude to need pointing out.
We Sincerely Congratulate you that through the Favor of Providence we are now like if not wanting to ourselves to reap the Glorious fruits of the Blood and Treasure we have freely offered by a peace in all its Particulars fully answerable to our most Sanguine Expectations.
Our Happiness as a Nation will However Under God depend principally upon preserving our morals and our Manners and Maintaining good Faith and Friendship with our natural and generous allies the French who reached out to us their supporting hand in the Hour of our distress and whose interest it is to Maintain the Independence of our Country and the freedom of our Fishery and Navigation In order to this we must timely and most cautiously Guard against the Machinations of and Influence of our late Enemies the Britons and Surely the British King cannot have more Subservient Tools and Emissaries amongst us for the purpose of Sowing the Seeds of Dissention in this infant Nation and disaffecting us to our magnanimous and faithfully ally the monarch of France than the Generality of the refugees whose inveteracy to him and Deceit and Cruelty to their Countrymen have been as manifest as the Light.
The Inhabitants of this Town do therefore in general most heartily deprecate their return Alarmed by a late attempt of a Number of the Obnoxious refugees to Land at Dartmouth and by report, that Interest was making for the return of others to their Estates the rights of Citizenship and the Enjoyment of that Happiness they have been the main Instruments of [p.3]
Making us thus long and Sorely toil and bleed for has excited this Vigilance and Care to prevent their return.
They have therefore requested the Committee of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety to Keep a Watchful Eye in order to discover Such Intruders that Informations may be immediately Given to proper Authority that they may be dealt with according to as the Law directs. They have not presumed to Draw the line between any Classes of Conspirators and Absentees as that will be the business of Government they have only directed the Committee to pursue the directions of Congress and the Laws of this Commonwealth as it was their duty before to do till this line shall be drawn.
And we cannot but flatter ourselves that it will appear to you that this Town have herein discovered that Judgment firmness and Patriotism in the Common Cause of their Country which early distinguished them in their opposition to the measures pursued by Britain for their Slavery and Ruin
We shall feel happy that your Town to be informed that that your Town will so far approve of our Conduct as to adopt similar measures for the Interest Quiet and Safety of this and the other United States and have the Honor to Subscribe ourselves
Your most obedient / Humble Servants
Nat Barber / Ch[air]man P[er] Order
To the Committee of Correspondence &c
or the Selectmen of the Town or
plantation of to be Communicated
to the Town or Plantation Historical Background:
In pre-revolutionary America, people continued close ties to business and family interests in Britain. But as the War of Independence intensified, individuals began to identify themselves either as Patriots or as Loyalists, also called Tories. Some tried to remain neutral in the conflict, but feelings ran so high that it was impossible to avoid choosing sides. Tory property was confiscated or destroyed, and many Loyalist families fled to England and Canada. Following the establishment of the Union in 1776, the states resorted to drastic measures against the Loyalists. Those who refused to take an oath of allegiance to the new governments were denied the rights of citizenship and suffrage; they were not permitted to hold office, and in some instances to practice their professions, and to acquire or dispose of property. Nearly all the new state governments eventually enacted legislation banishing those who refused to swear allegiance. The hostility toward Loyalists who wished to return after the war was strong in 1783, when this letter was written by Nathaniel Barber in Massachusetts. In this spring election season, Boston newspapers were full of letters warning of the dangers of Loyalist presence. Barber, like many patriots, viewed France’s help as critical to winning and preserving independence, and feared that the Loyalists would sabotage the new republic’s relationship with Britain’s historic enemy. Following the signing of the Peace Treaty in Paris on September 3, 1783, however, the wave of anti-Loyalist sentiment began to diminish. Several articles in the treaty sought to put an end to the exile of Loyalists and confiscation of their properties. Article 5 stated that "Congress shall earnestly recommend to the state legislatures that they provide for the restitution of all estates, rights and properties which have been confiscated and which belonged to real British subjects." After 1784 the returning Loyalists began to reintegrate into United States society with great success. The majority of them had not engaged in politics, and many who returned were younger individuals, native-born, who regarded America as their home. Boston in particular was quick to accept the returnees, not only in elite circles but in all levels of society. And the returnees were eager to reunite with old friends and families after their long exile. The Resolves by the Boston Committee of Correspondence also confirms the importance once placed by our forebears on the town meeting, a pure democratic form of local government that is still used in the New England states, including the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Nathaniel Barber, Jr. (1728-1787), was a Boston Tea Party participant, Muster Master for Suffolk County, commissary of Boston’s military stores until 1781, and state naval officer. References:
Kermes, Stephanie. "‘I wish for nothing more ardently upon earth, than to see my friends and country again’”: The Return of Massachusetts Loyalists.” Historical Journal of Massachusetts (Winter 2002).
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