University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Spring 1987 TOWN AND PROVINCE IN REVOLUTIONARY NEW HAMPSHIRE: A STABLE POLITICAL CULTURE CONFRONTS CHANGE, 1765--1776 MARILYN MULZER ROBBERT University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation ROBBERT, MARILYN MULZER, "TOWN AND PROVINCE IN REVOLUTIONARY NEW HAMPSHIRE: A STABLE POLITICAL CULTURE CONFRONTS CHANGE, 1765--1776" (1987). Doctoral Dissertations. 1514. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/1514 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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Other_______________________________________________________________________ University Microfilms International TOWN AND PROUINCE IN REUOLUTIONARY NEW HAMPSHIRE: A STABLE POLITICAL CULTURE CONFRONTS CHANGE, 1765-1776 By MARILYN MULZER ROBBERT B.A. Northern Michigan University, 1365 M.A. Ohio University, 1967 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of Nbuj Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For ths Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History May, 1SB7 ALL RIGHTS RESERUED c 1907 Marilyn Mulzer Robbert This dissertation has been examined and approved. n Dissertation director, Dr. Charles E. Clark, Professor of History D r . Robert C. Gilmore, Professor of History ____________ Dr . William Harris, Assistant Professor of History ___________ Dr . narc L . Schwar^T Associate Professor of History S.DrV Jere DaniBll, Professor of story, Dartmouth College ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation could not have been completed without the help of others. I am particularly grateful for hBlp from historians and librarians at New Hampshire’s major research institutions: Dr. Steven Cox and Mr. William CoplBy at ths New Hampshire Historical Society; Dr Frank flevers and Mr Andrew Taylor at the New Hampshire State Archives; and Mrs. Shirley Adamovich at the New Hampshire StatB Library. A Dissertation Fellowship from thB University of New Hampshire enabled me to spend a semester using their materials. I appreciate also the help I received from my professors: Dr. Robert Gilmore, Dr. J. William Harris, Dr. Darrett B. Rutman, and Dr Marc L. Schwarz, who guided my research efforts and helped me formulate my ideas. I am particularly grateful to Dr. Charles E. Clark, my advisor, who patiently listened to me talk through thorny research problems. My special thanks go to Mr Martin Dolan of Northern Michigan University, who read and criticized this dissertation and to my husband, who helped with typing and editing. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................... iii LIST OF TABLES..................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES.................................... vii ABSTRACT.............................................. viii CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION......................................... 1 I. THE LEGISLATURE AND ITS LEADERS........... 13 11 . TOWNS BECOME AWARE OF THE PROBLEM......... 45 III. TOWNS CONSIDER THEIR OPTIONS.............. 33 IU. CONGRESS ACCEPTS RELUCTANTLY THE BURDENS OF GOUERNMENT.................... 13G U. TOWNS ESTABLISH RELATIONSHIPS WITH THEIR NEW GOUERNMENT................... 174 UI. THE REUOLUTIONARY GOUERNMENTS: FAMILIAR PATTERNS CONTINUE...... 220 CONCLUSION........................................... 248 APPENDICES........................................... 252 BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................... 2G1 v LIST OF TABLES PAGE Table I ............................................. 54 Table II............................................ 56 Table III........................................... 33 Table IU........................................... 38 Table.... U ........................................... 555 Table UI........................................... 558 Table.. UII........................................... 533 Table UII I ........................................... 53B Table... IX........................................... 541 vi LIST OF FIGURES PAGE Figure 1 ............................................... 2B Figure 2 ............................................... 31 vii ABSTRACT TOWN AND PRGUINCE IN REUOLUTIDNARY NEUJ HAMPSHIRE: A STABLE POLITICAL CULTURE CONFRONTS CHANGE, 1755-1776 by Marilyn Mulzer Robbert University of New Hampshire, May, 13B7 This study analyzes the relationship oF the towns to the provincial government between 1765 and 1776 to understand the underlying process of the coming of the Revolution in New Hampshire. The Focus is on the towns, and the main sources are unpublished town records. For one part oF the study, I developed a system to identiFy legislative leaders Ca modiFication of Jack Greene’s method!, used Gini scores to compare the General Assemblies with the Provincial Congresses and the 1776 House oF Representatives, and constructed a composite biography For the E96 men who served during the period. viii A comparison oF the characteristics of the men who served in the three types of legislative bodies shows that there were no major changes From the beginning oF the pBriod to the Bnd in either ths typB oF man elected, or in the type who rose to leadership. The analysis oF the relationship oF the towns to the central government shows that New Hampshire residents became concerned about the threat to their rights as Englishmen earlier than previously thought, but they balanced that concern with a concern For law and order. Towns hesitantly engaged in revolutionary activities. The Provincial Congresses, New Hampshire’s revolutionary bodies, reluctantly assumed control oF the colony, and the new state government eFFectively used its authority to crush town proposals that would have given the people more control over their government. ix INTRODUCTION I am Bxtremelg happy in thB universal esteem of all this province, who emulate Bach ether in obliging me and endeavoring to make my administration as easy and profitable as thBy can. Whatever surmises may have arisen, or disgust taken place, against the other provinces, New Hampshire is not in the least involved in it. They are obedient, faithful subjects, and ready to exert their utmost to support and defend the British Government.^ In these words, in August 17B7, John Wentworth described to a friend his satisfaction with his new position as Royal Governor of New Hampshire and his firm belief that the people of the colony were equally pleased with King George Ill’s selection. Governor Wentworth was correct, for the moment, in his assessment of the colony’s temperament and of thB residents’ feelings towards him. Yet seven years later, in August 1775, the popular Governor abandoned