Waubonsee Community College

Cradle of violence, how Boston's waterfront mobs ignited the American Revolution, Russell Bourne

eng

Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-257) and index

illustrationsmaps

index present

non fiction

Cradle of violence

bibliography

61757921

Russell Bourne

"Before John Adams and John Hancock, before the Sons of Liberty and the Committees of Correspondence, before Paul Revere's midnight ride, there were the rebellious maritime poor of Boston. Although these fishermen and merchant seamen had sweated and died to produce the vast wealth of America's preeminent port, they were cut off from its benefits. Impressed by the Royal Navy and slaughtered in Great Britain's imperial wars, they were the first to feel the pain and privation of the Stamp Act, the Townsend Acts, and other measures imposed by Parliament and King George III. And they were the first to take violent action against them."

how Boston's waterfront mobs ignited the American Revolution

"Cradle of Violence tells the story of these sailors and their families and the rest of the oppressed maritime populace: the exploited apprentices and runaway slaves, the career smugglers and sometime pirates, the laid-off dockworkers and seasonal ropewalk spinners. Casually dismissed by political leaders, but with a salty heritage of crewing and fighting together against all challengers, they were the ones with the down and dirty strength to gather in the streets of Boston and resist the authority of the British Empire.""Russell Bourne demonstrates that galvanizing events such as the destructive Stamp Act riots, the Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party could not have happened anywhere else in America. He shows how independent-minded merchants and ambitious craftsmen like Samuel Adams and Paul Revere made common cause with waterfront workers like cordwainer Ebenezer Mackintosh and Captain Henry Smith. In a communal rage, they started a sea swell of opposition to Great Britain that ultimately engulfed the land, resulting in the "shot heard 'round the world" of 1775."--BOOK JACKET

The maritime origins of a mutinous town -- The seaport's first revolt -- The rising of the mobs -- The South End gang and the Stamp Act -- The sailors' Liberty Tree -- Tar, feathers, and terror -- A dockside riot and the massacre -- The Maritime Workers' tea party -- The fighting spirit of a besieged Boston -- Epilogue : "public liberty" : an enduring dream