in Philadelphia. Pain was born in Thetford, England, in 1737 (he added the
e
later, and was called “Tom” only by his enemies), the son of a Quaker journeyman who sewed the bones of whales into stays for ladies’ corsets. He left the local grammar school at the age of twelve to serve as his father’s apprentice. At twenty, he went to sea, on a privateer. In 1759 he opened his own stay-making shop and married a servant girl, but the next year both she and their child died in childbirth. For a decade, Pain struggled to make a life for himself. He taught school, collected taxes, and, in 1771, married a grocer’s daughter. Three years later, he was fired from his job with the excise office; his unhappy and childless second marriage fell apart; and everything he owned was sold at auction to pay off his debts. At the age of thirty-seven, Thomas Pain was ruined. He therefore did what every ruined Englishman did, if he possibly could: he sailed to America. Sickened with typhus during the journey, Pain arrived in Philadelphia in 1774 so weak he had to be carried off the ship. What saved his life was a letter found in his pocket: “The bearer Mr Thomas Pain is very well recommended to me as an ingenious worthy young man.” 49 It was signed by Benjamin Franklin. It was better than a bag of gold.
In Massachusetts, the people stockpiled weapons in the countryside. In September, after Gage seized ammunition stored in Charlestown and Cambridge, the legislature established a Committee of Safety; in October, it created special units of “minutemen,” who could be ready to fight at a moment’s notice. “The people trembled for their liberties, the merchant for his interest, the tories for their places, the whigs for their country,” wrote Mercy Otis Warren. 50 Josiah Quincy Jr. cried: “I speak it with grief, I speak it with anguish. Britons are our oppressors: I speak it with shame, I speak it with indignation:
we are slaves
.” 51 “For shame,” preached a Massachusetts minister, “let us either cease to enslave our fellow-men, or else let us cease to complain of those that would enslave us.” 52 Twelve days after Gage took office, he received a letter from “a Grate Number of Blackes,” who demanded their liberty, presumably on the theory, why not try the British? “We have in commen With all other men a naturel right to our freedoms without Being depriv’d of them by our fellow men as we are a freeborn Pepel.” 53 Abigail Adams wrote to John in Philadelphia about “a conspiracy of the negroes” in September 1774; they had prepared “a petition to the Governor, telling him they would fight for him provided he would arm them and engage to liberate them if he conquered” the local rebels. (“I wish most sincerely there was not a slave in the province,” she added. “It always appeared a most iniquitous scheme to me—to fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have.”) 54
In London, Samuel Johnson wrote a pamphlet called
Taxation No Tyranny
, in which he asked, “How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?” 55 Meanwhile, in Boston, Wheatley wrote in a letter that was widely published, “In every human breast, Godhas implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance.” She offered her own remarks about the nature of hypocrisy. “How well the Cry for Liberty and the reverse Disposition for the Exercise of oppressive Power over others agree I humbly think it does not require the Penetration of a Philosopher to determine.” 56
In March of 1775, Patrick Henry gave a yet more stirring speech: “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” The following November, Virginia’s
e
later, and was called “Tom” only by his enemies), the son of a Quaker journeyman who sewed the bones of whales into stays for ladies’ corsets. He left the local grammar school at the age of twelve to serve as his father’s apprentice. At twenty, he went to sea, on a privateer. In 1759 he opened his own stay-making shop and married a servant girl, but the next year both she and their child died in childbirth. For a decade, Pain struggled to make a life for himself. He taught school, collected taxes, and, in 1771, married a grocer’s daughter. Three years later, he was fired from his job with the excise office; his unhappy and childless second marriage fell apart; and everything he owned was sold at auction to pay off his debts. At the age of thirty-seven, Thomas Pain was ruined. He therefore did what every ruined Englishman did, if he possibly could: he sailed to America. Sickened with typhus during the journey, Pain arrived in Philadelphia in 1774 so weak he had to be carried off the ship. What saved his life was a letter found in his pocket: “The bearer Mr Thomas Pain is very well recommended to me as an ingenious worthy young man.” 49 It was signed by Benjamin Franklin. It was better than a bag of gold.
In Massachusetts, the people stockpiled weapons in the countryside. In September, after Gage seized ammunition stored in Charlestown and Cambridge, the legislature established a Committee of Safety; in October, it created special units of “minutemen,” who could be ready to fight at a moment’s notice. “The people trembled for their liberties, the merchant for his interest, the tories for their places, the whigs for their country,” wrote Mercy Otis Warren. 50 Josiah Quincy Jr. cried: “I speak it with grief, I speak it with anguish. Britons are our oppressors: I speak it with shame, I speak it with indignation:
we are slaves
.” 51 “For shame,” preached a Massachusetts minister, “let us either cease to enslave our fellow-men, or else let us cease to complain of those that would enslave us.” 52 Twelve days after Gage took office, he received a letter from “a Grate Number of Blackes,” who demanded their liberty, presumably on the theory, why not try the British? “We have in commen With all other men a naturel right to our freedoms without Being depriv’d of them by our fellow men as we are a freeborn Pepel.” 53 Abigail Adams wrote to John in Philadelphia about “a conspiracy of the negroes” in September 1774; they had prepared “a petition to the Governor, telling him they would fight for him provided he would arm them and engage to liberate them if he conquered” the local rebels. (“I wish most sincerely there was not a slave in the province,” she added. “It always appeared a most iniquitous scheme to me—to fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have.”) 54
In London, Samuel Johnson wrote a pamphlet called
Taxation No Tyranny
, in which he asked, “How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?” 55 Meanwhile, in Boston, Wheatley wrote in a letter that was widely published, “In every human breast, Godhas implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance.” She offered her own remarks about the nature of hypocrisy. “How well the Cry for Liberty and the reverse Disposition for the Exercise of oppressive Power over others agree I humbly think it does not require the Penetration of a Philosopher to determine.” 56
In March of 1775, Patrick Henry gave a yet more stirring speech: “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” The following November, Virginia’s
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