What's the Importance of the Gaspee Affair?

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Dr. John Concannon
Webmaster, Gaspee Virtual Archives

Let's get some things straight. New Hampshire, North Carolina and other states have on occasion made similar claims that their locales hosted the first armed insurrection by American Colonists against the British. Even Rhode Island has two such claims of mob action against unfair British taxation, such as the burning of the the HMS Liberty in Newport harbor in 1768. BUT, what makes the Gaspee Affair unique and so important is that the British response to the attack by setting up a kangaroo court to send suspects to England for trial, set off a documented chain of reaction by the Virginia House of Burgess (followed quickly by all the other Colonies) to restart standing Committees of Correspondence, which then led to the 1st Continental Congress, which led to the second, and so forth.

To discuss this in more detail, consider that the American Colonists considered themselves as having the same rights as all Englishmen had throughout the realm of the British Empire. Among such rights, generally given by the Magna Carta were the rights to a trial by a jury of peers, and the right to a local trial. The British commission of inquiry on the Gaspee Affair bypassed local courts. Its authority granted it by King George III of sending suspects out of the local area directly to England for trial, would make defense impossible. Local Colonial courts, long accustomed to judicial independence, tended to side with the defendant in any action against the Crown; British courts would not. If sent away for trial, persons charged with crimes would find it hard to have witnesses to help prove their innocence. The leadership of the American colonies, long incenced over 'unfair taxation without representation' issues, immediately recognized this action by the British in Rhode Island as a serious threat to the rights and liberties they had considered inalienable. Immediate action was necessary.

Some historians have apparently not realized the important connection between the Gaspee Affair and the establishment of the Committees of Correspondence. Thomas Jefferson, a member of the Virginia Houses of Burgess at the time recollects the relationship perfectly, and further cites that the distasteful reaction of the British to the Gaspee Affair also led the Virginia House leadership to directly consider at that time what was to become the First Continental Congress as well.

From: The Works of Thomas Jefferson in Twelve Volumes. Federal Edition. Collected and Edited by Paul Leicester Ford. Found online at Library of Congress, American Memories Collection, [<http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/mdbquery.html> Type in "Gaspee" in search field] Thomas Jefferson Papers, Thomas Jefferson, July 27, 1821, Autobiography Draft Fragment, January 6 through July 27. Original Images at pages 521-522 of 1302.

1821. Jan. 6. ...

Nothing of particular excitement occurring for a considerable time our countrymen seemed to fall into a state of insensibility to our situation. The duty on tea not yet repealed & the Declaratory act of a right in the British parl to bind us by their laws in all cases whatsoever, still suspended over us. But a court of inquiry held in R. Island in 1762, with a power to send persons to England to be tried for offences committed here [This was the famous "Gaspee" inquiry, the date being a slip for 1772.--ed] was considered at our session of the spring of 1773. as demanding attention. Not thinking our old & leading members up to the point of forwardness & zeal which the times required, Mr. Henry, R. H. Lee, Francis L. Lee, Mr. Carr & myself agreed to meet in the evening in a private room of the Raleigh to consult on the state of things. There may have been a member or two more whom I do not recollect. We were all sensible that the most urgent of all measures was that of coming to an understanding with all the other colonies to consider the British claims as a common cause to all, & to produce an unity of action: and for this purpose that a commee of correspondce in each colony would be the best instrument for intercommunication: and that their first measure would probably be to propose pose a meeting of deputies from every colony at some central place, who should be charged with the direction of the measures which should be taken by all. We therefore drew up the resolutions which may be seen in Wirt pa 87. The consulting members proposed to me to move them, but I urged that it should be done by Mr. Carr, [Dabney Carr. He married Martha Jefferson.--ed] my friend & brother in law, then a new member to whom I wished an opportunity should be given of making known to the house his great worth & talents. It was so agreed; he moved them, they were agreed to nem. con. and a commee of correspondence appointed of whom Peyton Randolph, the Speaker, was chairman. The Govr. (then Ld. Dunmore) dissolved us, but the commee met the next day, prepared a circular letter to the Speakers of the other colonies, inclosing to each a copy of the resolns and left it in charge with their chairman to forward them by expresses. ...

See http://www.earlyamerica.com./review/fall98/lastdays.html and http://gaspee.org/SamAdams.html for more details on this documentation.

As of late, the relative importance of the Committees of Correspondence has been downplayed by many historians, most notably Bernard Bailyn (The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, 1968) who contended that it was the American newspapers and pamphleteers that were most influential in developing revolutionary thought. Be that as it may, the Gaspee Affair played a very large role in these aspects as well. Newspaper coverage of the attack on the Gaspee and the subsequent commission of inquiry was front page across the colonies (See for example, copies of the Virginia Gazette at http://www.pastportal.com/browse/vg/), and even across the Atlantic (see for example http://gaspee.org/LondonReport.htm and http://gaspee.org/GentlemensMag.html). More importantly, the Gaspee Affair was the subject of a very influential pamplet, An Oration on the Beauties of Liberty, by Rev. John Allen of Boston. This pamplet was cited by John Adams, James Otis, and others, and was the sixth-most published pamplet during the pre-Revolutionary years.

One can forever argue the point of which Colonial fracas was the earliest against the British; but as to the first shot, it depends on when you define the 'start' of the Revolution. We're not talking here of the armed Revolution; we will happily cede that to Lexington and Concord. We're talking about the political revolution for independence from Great Britain. We, of course, feel it started with the Gaspee, and feel we have demonstrated solid ground to stand on.. This single act of the Burning of the Gaspee, led directly to the unification movement of all the Colonies, which, when united, became the United States of America.

As John Adams said, "The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people."

So yes, in the larger scope of things, it was indeed the Gaspee Affair that was America's 'First Blow for Freedom' ^TM

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