County begins 250th anniversary with lantern parade

The Burlington County Parks System held two history presentations on April 16 called Six Events That Outraged Colonialists and Fueled a Revolution to kick off celebrations for America’s 250th anniversary next year.

Both events paid homage to Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride and the first shots of the Revolutionary War fired at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts.

“Events like this one help to bring our residents and communities closer together,” said Burlington County Commissioner Deputy Director Allison Eckel. “They make us think and feel. Most importantly, they contribute to the quality of life all residents enjoy.

“We are commemorating Paul Revere’s iconic ride and the start of the American Revolution,” she added. “The first shots may have been fired at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, but Burlington County and our residents ended up playing a pivotal role in several of the events and battles that followed.”

The Revolutionary War began more than a year before the Declaration of Independence was signed. The first shots “heard round the world” were fired on April 19, 1775, when British soldiers sent to seize or destroy military equipment met resistance from Colonial militia in Lexington and Concord. The battles were preceded by Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride through Massachusetts to warn Colonials of the impending arrival of British forces.

County parks historian Marisa Bozarth started off the presentation with the Stamp Act, passed by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765, to help pay for British troops stationed in the Colonies during the Seven Years’ War.

“What really makes people angry when the Stamp Act comes in actually goes back to a year before in 1764, when the Sugar Act was enacted,” Bozarth explained. “The Sugar Act is placed on the American colonies from Great Britain on mostly sugar products and things that are using sugar to be produced. One of the main goods that is being taxed under the Sugar Act is alcohol, various types of alcohol. Some they made with sugar, some not, and the importation of alcohol into the Colonies was a huge business.”

The Sugar Act was the first time England put a tax on the Colonies without having any real discourse to do so, Bozarth added. That showed the Colonists – for the first time – that Great Britain felt like it could do what it wanted, no questions asked. But what happened was that the Colonists started to resist the Stamp Act.

“They feel that only represented assemblies have the right to levy taxes on anyone, and up until this point, each colony had their own representation that would levy taxes on themselves,” Bozarth noted. “ … “The (Colonists) are also saying, ‘Why are we paying to have troops in North America when the French are no longer here, and they were the biggest threat? The threat is gone. Why do we need troops to protect us from something that no longer has a hold in the country?’

“They don’t see any point to having any of this taking place.”

Not long after the Stamp Act was enacted, protestors organized as the Sons of Liberty took to the streets in a defiant act against British rule. The Sons met under what was known as the Liberty Tree near Boston Common. Hoisted on it was an effigy of Andrew Oliver, the city’s Stamp Tax agent. Soon a mob of several thousand people attacked Oliver’s office and his home, and the effigy was stomped, decapitated and burned, according to the National Constitution Center.

The following year, England’s Parliament repealed the act, facing pressure from British merchants who saw their sales to the Colonies plummet.

Years later, the Boston Massacre would take place on March 5, 1770, a confrontation between British soldiers and the Colonists. Capt. Thomas Preston, commander of the 29th Regiment – as well as the eight soldiers involved – were thrown in jail. The five men (Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell and Patrick Carr) who lost their lives, according to the Massachusetts Historical Society, became martyrs for the Patriot cause.

Three years later, the Boston Tea Party took place. The Dec. 16, 1773 rebellion was against the tax on tea, levied without representation in the British Parliament and against the monopoly of the East India Company, according to the National Archives. American Colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians boarded three British ships (the Beaver, the Dartmouth and the Eleanor) and threw 340 chests of tea owned by the East India Company into the Boston harbor.

The event marked a crucial moment in the history of the American Revolution as an act of defiance against British rule.

“One of the interesting things with the tea party as well was that they made it a point not to damage the ships or harm anybody on board,” Bozarth pointed out. “It was strictly to dump the tea in the harbor, and they did that because if they harmed anyone or they damaged the ships, they would be seen as vandals, and they wanted to be seen as rebels.”

The following year, England enacted the Coercive Acts, also known as the Intolerable Acts, in the Colonies. Four acts were put into place: the Massachusetts Government Act, the Boston Port Act, the Administration of Justice Act and the Quartering Act. These measures were a series of laws passed by the British to punish the Colony of Massachusetts Bay for the Boston Tea Party.

“The British hoped with all these acts that it would cut New England off from everybody else,” Bozarth added. “Their main hope was that all the Colonies would look at Boston and say, ‘Good luck. We’ll be over here living our lives,’ and it would separate the colonies.

“Instead, it united them all.”

Following the presentation, attendees participated in a lantern walk from the county Lyceum of History and Natural Sciences in Mount Holly, down High Street, to the Historic Olde Courthouse, to commemorate Paul Revere’s ride. The lantern hung in the steeple of Old North Church in Boston to signal if the British were coming by land or sea.