THE IMPACT OF THE GASPEE AFFAIR ON THE COMING OF THE REVOLUTION, 1772-1773 by LAWRENCE JOSEPH DeVARO, JR. Webmaster's note on the digital presentation of THE IMPACT OF THE GASPEE AFFAIR ON THE COMING OF THE REVOLUTION, 1772-1773: The following work was scanned from previously copied images into PriMax PrimaPage98 OCR software, then transferred into Microsoft Word97. In so doing, some scanning errors are inevitable, particularly with small font footnote text. The original page numbers have been preserved for use by future researchers; however, long footnotes have been completed into their page of origin, and most quotations occurring across page breaks have been moved in their entirety into the subsequent page on which the original footnote mark is presented. While the author, Dr. DeVaro, has been given the opportunity to review and correct this scanned work, some human error in the transfer to the e-edition is probable. The original work is to be found at the library of Case Western Reserve University Scanning completed in May 2005 by the Gaspee Days Committee. Copyright, 1973, 2006 Lawrence J. DeVaro While Dr. DeVaro has graciously allowed the Gaspee Days Committee to present this digital edition of his work onto the Internet, he alone retains all rights to use. THE IMPACT OF THE GASPEE AFFAIR ON THE COMING OF THE REVOLUTION, 1772-1773 by LAWRENCE JOSEPH DeVARO, JR. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Thesis Advisor: Carl Ubbelohde Department of History CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY January 1973 CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE STUDIES We hereby approve the thesis of Lawrence J. DeVaro, Jr. candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree. Signed: Date: January 10, 1973 THE IMPACT OF THE GASPEE AFFAIR ON THE COMING OF THE REVOLUTION, 1772-1773 Abstract by LAWRENCE JOSEPH DeVARO, JR. In 1763 the close of the Great War for the Empire brought new problems In Its wake and an intensification of old ones with which the victor, Great Britain, would have to grapple. Regulation of commerce throughout the empire was perhaps the most far- reaching problem which England's leaders would confront. Several colonies had cultivated an illegal trade with some non-British ports, an especially troublesome situation for the British government. Efficient regulation of commerce offered the possibility of additional revenue, but colonies which traded with foreign ports were long accustomed to circumventing any mercantile restrictions which threatened to hamper their activities. The merchants of Rhode Island were reputed to be the most notorious of smugglers in the British colonies. They chafed under commercial reorganization. New revenue laws imposed a duty upon the lucrative molasses trade of Rhode Island's merchants. Remodeled vice-admiralty courts established a system of trials without juries in courts far removed from the vicinage where the offense was committed. Navy officers, newly deputized as customs officials, swelled the ranks of the customs service. To redress their ii grievances, Rhode Islanders turned to violence after 1763. The burning of a customs vessel, H.M.S. Gaspee, and the wounding of its officer, Lieutenant William Dudingston, were among the criminal acts in which the colony's merchants and townspeople engaged. The Gaspee Affair (as it came to be known) evoked an angry response from Great Britain. Convinced that an impartial trial could not be secured in the colonies, the ministry appointed a royal commission of inquiry at Newport (the capital of the colony), to gather evidence and to seek indictments with the cooperation of Rhode Island's Superior Court. Indicted persons would be sent to England for trial. The commission resuscitated colonials' fears of prerogative courts appointed by the king, trials without juries (five commissioners were to hear the facts), and trials out of the vicinage. The news of the commission ended a two-year period of calm in the colonies, and heightened colonial discontent toward parliamentary and ministerial measures. The political and constitutional implications of the commission were so extensive that they were destined to become topics of continental concern. The greatest clamor occurred in Virginia's House of Burgesses. Its members voted resolutions establishing a committee of correspondence while urging other colonies to do the same; by December, 1773, eleven had appointed similar bodies. Three groups reacted vociferously to the Gaspee Affair: Americans opposed to the policies of Parliament and ministry, King's friends in the colonies, and the British government. To the ministry, the armed attack iii upon the royal schooner and its personnel was treason; loyal colonists agreed. To Americans who had opposed reorganization after 1763, the commission of inquiry and overseas trials were an attempt to destroy American liberty. All three groups justified their grave concern by viewing the affair as a deliberate conspiracy to undermine what each of them valued most in the British constitution. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I incurred numerous debts prior to the completion of this study. It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge them here: My thesis advisor, Carl Ubbelohde, suggested the Gaspee Affair to me as a dissertation topic. His careful direction kept my sights upon the central problem, especially when tangential issues crowded in. His generous investment of time has been greatly appreciated. I am also grateful to Professors David Van Tassel, C. H. Cramer, and Barry Hughes who read the manuscript without delay. Their suggestions were invaluable. Several archivists facilitated the task of research. I wish to thank Mrs. Phyllis Peloquin of the Rhode Island State Archives, Mr. Nathaniel Shipton of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and Mrs. Virginia Hawley of the Western Reserve Historical Society. I am also indebted to the courteous and efficient members of the Newport Historical Society; John Carter Brown Library of Brown University; William L. Clements Library of the University of Michigan; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the American Philosophical Society; and Freiberger Library of Case Western Reserve University. I could not have met deadlines without the cooperation of Mrs. Nan Giesey. Her outstanding typing dexterity speaks for itself. My parents offered unqualified support of my academic efforts. Finally my wife, Margaret, was most generous with timely encouragement and clerical assistance. Her patience and sense of humor were unwavering throughout. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ...............................................................................................................ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. .........................................................................................v INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................1 Chapter I. RHODE ISLAND'S RECALCITRANCE ....................................................7 II. THE TRIBULATIONS OF A NAVY OFFICER: LIEUTENANT DUDINGSTON AND THE GASPEE ...............................................39 III. THE GASPEE AFFAIR ...........................................................................65 IV. RHODE ISLAND'S REACTION TO THE GASPEE .............................95 V. THE KING'S FRIENDS RESPOND .......................................................122 VI. THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT RESPONDS ......................................134 VII. A ROYAL COMMISSION FOR RHODE ISLAND .............................170 VIII. THE ROYAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY AT NEWPORT ...........210 IX. RECESS AND RECONVENING.......................... .................................254 X. THE IMPACT OF THE GASPEE AFFAIR ON THE COMING OF THE REVOLUTION .................................................................293 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................... .......................... ...................341 vi INTRODUCTION His Majesty's Schooner, the Gaspee, was among the multitude of British naval vessels assigned to survey Rhode Island commerce in the dozen years preceding the Declaration of Independence. How Rhode Island merchants struggled with and finally resolved this impediment to their trade became known as the Gaspee Affair. It has long been recognized by historians of the American Revolution as the essential catalyst which launched the creation of provincial committees of correspondence in the colonies. Undoubtedly the movement toward independence would have been substantially arrested in the absence of such committees. They rightly enjoy the distinction of having greatly solidified the growing colonial discord toward Parliament and ministry. Yet historians have rendered an inconsistent appraisal of the Gaspee Affair and its relationship to the American Revolution. Its place in time provides a partial explanation for its obscurity as a significant historical event, for the Gaspee Affair occurred chronologically between two especially memorable historical episodes, the Boston Massacre of 1770 and the Boston Tea Party of i773. Both of these events have commanded the attention of historians for the past two hundred years. In The Boston Massacre Hiller B. Zobel remarks that "Five years before Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill, 1 2 the Revolution has begun 1. If the Revolution began with that conflict in 1770, it is also true that it did not burn brightly until late autumn of 1772 when the Gaspee Affair terminated a two-year period of quiescence in the colonies; it was also responsible