Stamp Act Riots – Stamp Distributor Andrew Oliver Hanged in Effigy

Stamp Act Riots – Stamp Distributor Andrew Oliver Hanged in Effigy
Today’s episode relates the growing anger against British rule when Bostonians hung Stamp Distributor Andrew Oliver in effigy.
From the Book
A Day in United States History – Book 1

Transcript:

August 14, 1765 – Stamp Act Riots – Stamp Distributor Andrew Oliver Hanged in Effigy

Greetings, today’s episode relates the growing anger against British rule when Bostonians hung Stamp Distributor Andrew Oliver in effigy.
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The British Parliament’s passage of the Stamp Act to pay for the French and Indian War in 1765 created massive protests in Britain’s North American colonies. Street protests broke out in many of the cities. The Crown had appointed Andrew Oliver to oversee the collection of the tax. Furious protesters hung Oliver in effigy during a protest on August 14, 1765.

French and Indian War
The French and Indian War was the North American version of a much larger conflict between France and England. This war in Europe is called the Seven Years War. This war raged from 1756 through 1763 and set the stage for many of the events that led to the American Revolution twelve years later. Britain defeated the French and took Canada from them. The expense of the war had put Britain in serious financial straits.
The Stamp Act of 1765
Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765. It required that all legal documents, magazines, newspapers and other types of be printed on stamped paper. To get the stamp required printers to pay a tax. The tax proved unpopular in the colonies and led to massive protests. Parliament repealed the Stamp Act on March 18, 1766. The costs imposed by the tax caused a temporary cessation of publication for the Georgia Gazette. This was true for many other publications as well. After repeal, Johnson resumed publication of his paper.
Andrew Oliver (March 28, 1706 – March 3, 1774)
The son of Daniel Oliver and Elizabeth Belcher Oliver, Andrew was a native of Boston. After graduating from Harvard in 1724, Oliver joined his brother Peter in the family’s wine and textile business. Their efforts proved successful and in a few years, their business dominated Boston’s waterfront. Oliver married twice, first to Mary Fitch in 1728. Mary passed away in 1732 after having three children. Oliver then married Mary Sanford in 1734, with whom he would have fourteen children. Oliver won election as Boston’s auditor in 1737 and then to the Massachusetts assembly in 1742. Massachusetts Governor Spencer Phips appointed him provincial secretary in 1755. Ten years later, he received a commission from the British crown to act as agent to collect the revenue generated by the Stamp Act. Though he personally opposed the Act, he took the position, enraging local patriot protesters.
The Hanging and Riot
A crowd of protesters gathered on Boston’s south side, at the corner of Essex and Orange Streets. A huge elm tree stood at that intersection, which would later become known as Liberty Elm. The protesters had constructed an effigy of Andrew Oliver, as well as a Green-ville sole. This was a green boot that represented George Grenville, who had introduced the Act to Parliament, and John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, who had proposed the Cider Tax. Stuart served as Prime Minister from 1762 through 1763. The rioters hung the effigy of Oliver and the Green-ville sole. The Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson, alarmed at the unrest, ordered Boston’s sheriff to remove the effigy. The crowd prevented his doing this, thus closing the street for the entire day. By evening the mob cut down the effigy and held a mock funeral procession that went first to the Town House, the legislature’s seat, and then to Oliver’s office. They tore the office down, and then paraded to Oliver’s home. After they arrived at his home, they beheaded the effigy. The crowd stoned officials that tried to disburse them, then burned Oliver’s horse stables and looted his home. By the next morning, the violence died down. In fear of his and his family’s life, Oliver resigned the commission the next day.

Written in a “this day in history,” format, each of the two books in this collection of North American colonial history events includes 366 history stories. The historical collection of tales includes many well-known as well as some little-known events in the saga of the United States. The easy to follow “this day in history,” format covers a wide range of the people, places and events of early American history. I is the first book in my series, 366 Days in History Series. Each book includes 366 stories of American history. It is availble, with many of my other titles on gardening, Indiana places and history and United States History, at the Walnut Street Variety Shop in downtown Batesville, Indiana.
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