Edenton, North Carolina
“Edenton, North Carolina, October 25, 1774,” Postscript. The Virginia Gazette. Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg.
Document Text |
Summary |
| As we cannot be indifferent on any occasion that appears nearly to affect the peace and happiness of our country, and as it has been thought necessary, for the public good, to enter into several particular resolves by a meeting of Members deputed from the whole Province it is a duty which we owe, not only to our near and dear connections who have concurred in them, but to ourselves who are essentially interested in their welfare, to do everything as far as lies in our power to testify our sincere adherence to the same; and we do therefore accordingly subscribe this paper, as a witness of our fixed intention and solemn determination to do so. | We cannot ignore events that affect our country. The leaders of our country have decided to protest the actions of our government. We believe we have a duty to speak out. We owe it to the men who lead us, our husbands and fathers, and we owe it to ourselves. We sign this paper to show that we will do anything necessary to support their protests against the government. |
“Edenton, North Carolina, October 25, 1774,” Postscript. The Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg, VA: November 3, 1774). Courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg.
Background
After the French and Indian War, the British government needed to find new ways to pay for their costly victory. First, they began cracking down on the smuggling that had been a part of the colonial economy for decades. Then, in 1767–68, Parliament passed five new laws known as the Townshend Acts. The Townshend Acts added taxes on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea imported to the colonies. The money raised from these taxes was supposed to offset the cost of defending the North American colonies. But they were very unpopular with the colonists, who already resented the crackdown on smuggling. When the new taxes were implemented, colonists protested by boycotting all taxed goods.
By 1773 the British East India Company was in danger of going bankrupt. To support the company, Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773. This law allowed the Company to sell tea directly to the colonists without having to use middlemen. This made their prices so low that their goods were cheaper than any other foreign seller’s, even with the taxes. The government probably expected that the colonists would be happy to have a perfectly legal very cheap tea to buy. Instead, the colonists were furious at what they saw as a further abuse of power. New protests swept the colonies. The Boston Tea Party is the most famous Tea Act protest.
About the Documents
Tea was the most popular drink in the English colonies, and anger over the Tea Act of 1773 did not go away quickly. Throughout the spring and summer of 1774 women across the thirteen colonies stopped buying tea to protest the Tea Act.
The women of Edenton, North Carolina took things even further. On October 25, 1774 fifty-one women gathered to discuss the situation. They named their group the Edenton Ladies’ Patriotic Guild and wrote and signed this statement about their decision to support the ongoing protests. They explained that they were not just doing it because the men in their lives wanted them to, but because they felt it was a duty they owed themselves as concerned citizens. It was the first time in the history of the English colonies that women came together to make a public political declaration. A version of this document was published in Virginia and in England, where it drew backlash.
Vocabulary
- act: Law.
- boycott: Refusing to buy and/or use something as an act of protest.
- French and Indian War: A colonial war that was fought from 1754 to 1763 between the British and the French. Indigenous communities sided with the colonial power they expected would best protect their sovereignty. The Spanish were allies of the British. Part of the larger global conflict known as the Seven Years’ War. The British triumphed and greatly expanded their territory in North America.
- import: To bring goods or services into a country from abroad for sale.
- middlemen: People who buy goods from one person and sell them to another.
- smuggling: To secretly bring illegal goods into a country.
Discussion Questions
- What reasons did the Edenton Ladies’ Patriotic Guild give for their support of the boycott?
- Why were women critical participants in the boycott of British goods?
- How does this document change our understanding of women’s roles in the political unrest before the American Revolution?
- Why was the Boston Tea Party remembered and commemorated, while this event has been widely forgotten?
Suggested Activities
- Pair this resource with Political Caricatures to learn more about public responses to women’s political actions.
- Pair this resource with any or all of the following for a discussion of the many ways women expressed their political opinions during the American Revolution, and how their actions were received:
Themes
ACTIVISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE; DOMESTICITY AND FAMILY
The New York Historical Curriculum Library Connections
- For resources relating to the American Revolution in New York, see The Battle of Brooklyn.
