Revolution250.blog

250 years ago this month, some British tea was destroyed in the American colonies.

But it wasn’t in Boston. The famous Tea Party had already happened, on December 16, 1773, when three trading ships were boarded by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, and their cargoes of tea dumped into the harbor.

It would take some time for the news to spread. Paul Revere rode south and arrived in Manhattan on December 21 with the following message from Boston: “We had a greater Meeting of the Body than ever. The Country coming in from Twenty Miles round, and every Step was taken that was practicable for returning the Teas. The Moment it was known out of Doors, that Mr. Rotch could not obtain a Pass for his Ship by the Castle, a Number of People huzza’d in the Street, and in a very little Time, every Ounce of the Teas on board of Capt. Hall, Bruce, and Coffin, was immersed in the Bay, without the least Injury to private Property. The Spirit of the People on this Occasion surprised all Parties, who viewed the Scene.”

About a month later, as reported by historian Larry Kidder, “after Paul Revere rode through Princeton spreading the news about the destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor, students at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) held their own protest against the tax of imported tea. Several boys broke into the college steward’s storeroom, took out the winter supply of tea, and then went from room to room, removing all privately owned tea.

“They destroyed the tea in a bonfire built in the yard in front of Nassau Hall while tolling the school bell and making ‘many spirited resolves’ enthusiastically burned effigies of Massachusetts Governor Hutchinson, ‘amidst the repeated acclamations of a large crowd of spectators.’

“Not everyone in the village agreed with the boys’ actions, and tempers flared on both sides. Innkeeper William Hick, whose inn stood across the street from the college, drew negative attention to himself by making pro-government remarks that others in the assembled crowd thought obnoxious. College senior Samuel Leake became so emotionally caught up that he somehow insulted a college trustee, possibly local lawyer Richard Stockton, who came by and calmly tried to break up the ‘riotous proceedings.’

“Afterward, the Pennsylvania Gazette reported that we hear from Princeton, in Jersey, that the officers and students of the college, have unanimously agreed to drink no more TEA.”

There would be other tea burnings in the colonies in the future. But, as far as anybody can tell, this moment in Princeton is the first tea protest beyond Boston.

All of which means that, as of 250 years ago this month, New Jersey was the second American colony to join the Revolution.