Some historical and global examples of tax resistance → United States → Colonial resistance to Governor Andros, 1687 → John Wise

On , John Wise met with some of the other “principal inhabitants” of Ipswich in New England, and decided that a new tax that had been imposed by governor Edmund Andros, without consulting the colony’s General Assembly, was bogus and “that it was not the town’s duty any way to assist that ill method of raising money.”

, a town meeting was assembled, ostensibly “for choosing a commissioner to join with the Selectmen to assess the inhabitants according to an act of His Excellency the Governor and Council, for laying of rates.” Instead:

The town then considering, that this act doth infringe their liberty, as freeborn English subjects of His Majesty, by interfering with the Statute Laws of the land, by which it was enacted, that no taxes should be levied upon the subjects without the consent of an Assembly, chosen by the Freeholders for assessing of the same, they do therefore vote, that they are not willing to choose a commissioner for such an end without said privilege, and, moreover, consent not, that the Selectmen do proceed to lay any such rate until it be appointed by a General Assembly, concurring with Governor and Council.

A number of those at the town meeting were then arrested, hauled to a jail in another town, and then put on trial before a jury hand-picked by the prosecution and a judge who referred to the defendants as “criminals” over the course of the trial. John Wise made a statement under oath about the case, from which these excerpts come:

The evidence in the case, as to the substance of it, was, that we too boldly endeavoured to persuade ourselves we were Englishmen and under privileges, and that we were, all six of us aforesaid, at the town-meeting of Ipswich aforesaid, and, as the witness supposed, we assented to the aforesaid vote, and, also, that John Wise made a speech at the same time, and said we had a good God and a good King, and should do well to stand to our privileges. The jury return us all six guilty, being all involved in the same information. We were remanded from verdict to prison, and there kept one and twenty days for judgment.

Fines and court costs followed, and, at first, the Andros tyranny was triumphant. But Wise and company had the last laugh. On , in the wake of the Glorious Revolution in the home country, a “Declaration of the Gentlemen, Merchants, and Inhabitants of Boston” was issued, which proclaimed the assault on the rights of dissenting English colonists to be part of the same plot of “the great Scarlet Whore” to crush Englishmen under the thumb of the papists (that is, James Ⅱ) again.

The Declaration is a good predecessor of the better-known one of , but much more interesting reading. Here’s a nice excerpt:

…extraordinary and intolerable Fees extorted from every one upon all occaſions, without any Rules but thoſe of their own inſatiable Avarice and Beggary; and even the probate of a Will muſt now coſt as many Pounds perhaps as it did Shillings heretofore; nor could a ſmall Volume contain the other Illegalities done by theſe Horſe-leeches in the two or three Years that they have been ſucking of us…

The Declaration then quoted one of the judges in the Wise case:

…it was a maxim delivered in open Court unto us by one of the Council, “that we muſt not think the Priviledges of Engliſh men would follow us to the end of the World:” Accordingly we have been treated with multiplied contradictions to Magna Charta, the rights of which we laid claim unto. Perſons who did but peaceably object againſt the raiſing of Taxes without an Aſſembly, have been for it fined, ſome twenty, ſome thirty, and others fifty Pounds.…

Then followed a revolution. Andros and his horse-leeches (including Judge Dudley who had tried the case against Wise and the rest) were overthrown and imprisoned (legend has it Andros was caught trying to escape disguised as a woman).

The “Charter Oak” (you can see it on the back of the Connecticut state Quarter design) comes from this period. Andros tried to get the Connecticut colonial authorities to renounce the charter they had been granted by the King and to instead give Andros total authority. At the meeting where this was to take place, the colonists blew out the candles and under cover of darkness took the charter away and hid it in a hollow in the oak tree.

Some bits and pieces from here and there:

  • The emerging Spanish tax resistance movement, which combines the war tax resistance movement with a broader anti-austerity / community-autonomy focus, has put out a video (and has helpfully translated it into English for its overseas fans):
  • An article about Catholic women activists included a note about war tax resistance in Italy that was news to me (translation mine):

    War tax resisters and peace activists in war zones

    In , in Italy, Beati Costruttori Della Pace [“blessed are the peacemakers”] was born. While it is not an exclusively female organization, it emphasizes the participation of women. At its creation, religious people were involved who were motivated by war tax resistance. Instrumental at its launch was a document defending this practice signed in by Lorenzo Belloni, bishop of Trieste and president of the Peace & Justice Commission, and by ten thousand laypeople and five thousand nuns, monks, and priests. All of them pledged to practice and spread war tax resistance. The founding document says: “peace is central to the Church if it wants to remain faithful to the risen Christ. Peace cannot be delegated but is entrusted to each person in everyday life.” This association, in addition to war tax resistance, has organized nonviolent intervention marches in war zones like Sarajevo, Kivu, or Ramallah. It also promotes campaigns against the manufacture of landmines, nuclear energy, and military bases on Italian soil.

  • The Historic Ipswich Massachusetts blog pointed out that the Ipswich post office has a mural representing an assembly of colonial Americans debating how they would resist taxes that had been illegally imposed by Governor Andros:

    This act of resistance has been called “the foundation of American Democracy,” and was the beginning of a series of events which culminated in the Revolutionary War. The act of opposition is commemorated in the seal of the town of Ipswich, which bears the motto, “The Birthplace of American Independence .”

    In John Andrews was chairman of the selectmen, the town clerk was John Appleton and the minister at Chebacco Parish was the popular John Wise. They met with other town leaders to discuss the command of crown-appointed governor Sir Edmond Andros and his council that a new tax be assessed on the king’s subjects. A town meeting was hastily organized the next day which voted that “no taxes should be Levied upon the Subjects without consent of the Assembly chosen by the Freeholders.” For this act Rev. Wise, John Andrews, John Appleton, Samuel Appleton, William Goodhue, Robert Kinsman, and Thomas French were arrested and tried before the court in Boston. They were severely handled, imprisoned for several weeks and fined. Sam Appleton refused to give the bond and was kept a prisoner under very harsh conditions.

    A group of provincial militia and citizens gathered in Boston on and arrested several dominion officials as well as members of the Church of England who were suspected of sympathizing with the administration. Major Samuel Appleton was among the men who helped escort Andros to Castle Island in Boston Harbor as a prisoner. Leaders of the former Massachusetts Bay Colony then reclaimed control of the government, rescinded the tax order, and Andros was shipped back to England. Rhode Island and Connecticut resumed governance under their earlier charters as well.