tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post3487198698557739479..comments2024-03-28T04:26:30.557-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: Theophilus Lillie: shopkeeper, importer, seeker of libertyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-89586721768450643232022-03-26T20:28:29.883-05:002022-03-26T20:28:29.883-05:00One question is what “Boston” means. Was it the to...One question is what “Boston” means. Was it the town government, or the community as a whole—or was there that much of a difference in the eighteenth century? J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-5257467869714636372022-03-26T08:13:37.675-05:002022-03-26T08:13:37.675-05:00If people were attacking his shop and destroying h...If people were attacking his shop and destroying his goods, I would agree that Boston wasn’t protecting his civil liberties. I’m not sure that allowing protests puts it in that catigory.Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05996365688503530917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-68215803087839250132007-02-22T10:59:00.000-05:002007-02-22T10:59:00.000-05:00These are good questions, and I think that the sit...These are good questions, and I think that the situation is muddy because Americans were still working out the lines between public and private business.<BR/><BR/>Yes, the nonimportation was supposed to be voluntary, as was the choice by individual consumers not to patronize the shops of people who continued to sell imported goods. In that way, the movement is no different from politically-motivated consumer boycotts today.<BR/><BR/>On the other hand, Boston's town meeting weighed in with explicit condemnations of Lillie and other importers starting in the fall of 1769. So that brought the local government into the issue. <BR/><BR/>Furthermore, in early 1770 there were large public meetings that, without being legal town meetings, but claimed to express the will of the community in favor of nonimportation. Committees and large crowds from those meetings visited Lillie, other importers, and even the acting governor (which Josiah Quincy, Jr., warned was treasonous). Such numbers were undoubtedly intimidating to individual shopkeepers.<BR/><BR/>All this took place during a time when free-market ideas still hadn't taken hold. The town regulated the price of bread and other goods, and banned all theater and work on Sundays. Bostonians were operating on old understandings of what private business governments should regulate. <BR/><BR/>Finally, Boston had no police force to protect Lillie and other businesspeople from angry crowds and vandals. The town watchmen patrolled only at night. The army doesn't seem to have made much difference, for all the complaints about their presence. The Customs officers were supposed to stick to the wharfs. <BR/><BR/>It could be argued that Lillie hadn't been deprived of his civil liberties—i.e., that Boston hadn't passed laws against his behavior. But Boston wasn't protecting his civil liberties to engage in that behavior, either. And a large portion of the population probably resented the idea that he would have such liberties to go against what the great majority of the community felt was in their vital interest.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-33381846365555559562007-02-22T06:30:00.000-05:002007-02-22T06:30:00.000-05:00I'm curious about Lillie's essay. Were the Whigs p...I'm curious about Lillie's essay. Were the Whigs passing laws forbidding anyone from importing? Or were they merely establishing voluntary boycotts?<BR/><BR/>It seems to me - at least from your post - the Whigs only urged people not to shop there. They didn't specifically make it illegal to do so. That's not really an encroachment on liberty.<BR/><BR/>Lillie still had the right to import, as much as anyone had the right to not buy from people who imported.Robert S. Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06208771657848284055noreply@blogger.com