|
|
I remember all of it as if it were yesterday, from my very birth. It may seem strange to you that I remember my birth, but to me it seems strange that you do not what is surely the biggest event in your lifetime. What may seem stranger is me, the narrator, not because of who I am, but the fact that I am not a who. I'm a what, an inkwell.
It is a very rare occurrence that a person is spoken to by an "object". (Object is a word of your invention, and a label we very much object to. I believe that the changing of this label should be brought up the next time congress convenes, after all this is the age of political correctness.) This is because we have learned that anyone whom we speak to is soon branded "mad", but my story must be conveyed. I am using pen and paper to avoid this situation.
I suppose I shall start at the very beginning, my birth. I remember every stage of my crafting, from the very start. However I will not bore you with such details. You need only know that I am a plain ink well made in London. Upon my completion I was packed in a large crate with my siblings and shipped to the western side of Virginia, where I spent about a week on a shelf with some of my siblings.
Mr. Jefferson came in one Sunday afternoon when many people were leaving the church across the street. From the conversation he had with the owner of the small general store I gathered that I was to be a gift for his son Thomas, who was soon to leave for collage. I was paid for and wrapped in paper.
As soon as we reached the rough log cabin and the family had unloaded I was given to Thomas, who received me with great enthusiasm. For a time I occupied the upper right hand corner of his desk at home. I was then united with a quill who was to become my life long confidant, and we were both packed and sent to Williamsburg to be of assistance in young Thomas's education.
My new acquaintance was far older than myself, and had originally belonged to the senior Jefferson, Peter. He had served with Peter in the Virginia house of Burgess*, and was far more knowledgeable about the affairs of man. He was particularly interested in the disagreement between the Colonists and the British.
He felt strongly that the British were tyrants. Being born in London I naturally disagreed, and it took him quite a bit of effort to convince me that I was wrong. He explained how King George III had issued the Proclamation of 1763 prohibiting colonist settling the land that they thought was to be theirs in exchange for aiding the British during the French and Indian War. I tried to argue that the King had only done this to prevent confrontation with the Indians living there, but my argument was to no avail. He counteracted my argument by telling me of how George Grenville had suddenly decided to enforce the Navigation Acts and the Molasses Act, two heavy taxes which had existed since 1733 but were never enforced. This was to pay for a large war debt left over from the French and Indian war, which he thought should be paid for by the colonist.
"The colonists should not have to pay for a war that was thrust upon them!" the quill exclaimed. Even though I was still not convinced I abandoned further argument of the matter because he was so outraged his light gray rachis was tinted with a livid pink color.
Although we had our disagreements I did look up to him as well as Thomas, for I realized that I was in the company of brilliance. My one aspiration in life was to eventually reach the level of intellect that they had in common. I am sad to report that thus far I am yet to succeed.
As my time with Thomas progressed I grew more and more sensitive to the position of the colonists. I distinctly remember one year after the proclamation of 1763 was issued Parliament passed the Grenville Acts. This act included a series of laws that gave the British greater control over the colonies by restricting and regulating trade, especially with countries other then Britain. Grenville then sent troops to enforce the new laws.
Among the duties of the soldiers was routine searches for smuggled goods. Once, the place were we were staying was the subject of one of these searches. Thomas managed to keep his anger in check (The Quill was outraged but was powerless.) however, that night he began work on his first anti-British writing. This was to be the first of many occasions on which I found myself sitting and starring with a sort of dumb amazement as Thomas churned out a fantastic piece of writing. Unfortunately, I cannot remember any of them, and I do not believe that they are still in existence.
Once again after the passing of a year (1764), Grenville set forth another new policy. This was the Quartering Act, which outraged the colonial populous, as well as the government. Parliament said that the seven thousand troops that remained in the colonies were to be housed and fed by the colonial government. Although many of the colonists were extremely mad I do not believe that anybody was more enraged than my friend the quill.
"Those troops were sent here to 'protect' us during the French and Indian War," he began one of his lengthy speeches. "Now they are only enforcing laws that we don't even want, and we have to pay for them."
I tried to argue in favor of the British but it was of no use arguing against the Quill. I might have tried harder if my heart had been in it but the foundation of my loyalism was beginning to crumble.
In the same year (1765) Parliament issued the Stamp Act, which require that all papers (including: legal documents, newspapers, almanacs etc.) bore a royal tax stamp. This caused many reactions among the colonists, some of them violent. I can remember being very afraid as people lit fires and hung false tax collectors. I can also remember being even more afraid because the Quill said nothing, and appeared to remain very calm. "My god," I thought, "he's surely flipped" However this did give me some time to think for myself, and for the first time I thoroughly agreed with the patriots.
For some days after the Stamp Act the colonists remained in a riotous state, lighting fires, threatening tax collectors, and even physically harassing some. Other protests also occurred. "No taxation without representation" became a familiar cry throughout the colonies. A Virginian by the name of Patrick Henry delivered a powerful speech about the tyranny of the British at the Virginia house of Burgess. Also, in October nine colonial delegates convened in New York for the Stamp Act Congress, an official protest of the Stamp Act, as well as other British actions. This meeting allowed the delegates to get to know each other, and secured the Non-importation Agreements. The Non-importation Agreements was an agreement of colonial merchants to stop importing British goods.
Within a year Parliament gave in and repealed the Stamp Act. However, with this colonial victory came a tremendous blow, for Parliament had passed the Declaratory Act on the same day the Stamp Act was repealed. This said that Parliament had the right to pass any laws and levy any taxes "in all cases whatsoever." Even though Parliament had struck at the very heart of what the Patriots believed celebrations continued far into the night.
Within a year Grenville died and Charles Townsend took his place. Unfortunately, Townsend was no better than Grenville and took further measures that angered the colonists. These were, the suspension of the legislatures of New York, Massachusetts, and Virginia. He also levied a new series of taxes called the Townsend Acts, which placed taxes on "necessary items" such as tea, lead, paint and glass. All of which were available to colonist only through importation. Once again boycotts were enacted, and again "no taxation without representation" rang through out the colonies. Many of us expected that this would be as effective and quick as it was before, but we were incorrect.
Some merchants did not adhere to the boycott out of fear, and others smuggled the goods. Unlike the last time the boycotts were not as successful. It took three years of great difficulty in the colonies before the Townsend Acts were repealed. However even after the taxes were repealed and the legislatures resumed the tax on tea remained. Even so a great wave of relief swept over the colonies.
In the years that followed some very important events occurred, but they all took place in the north and I was given only second hand information, most of which was greatly exaggerated. The first of these events was the Boston Massacre. It was a brief one-sided skirmish between colonists armed only with snowballs, and rocks and fully armed British soldiers. Although there were only five men killed it was originally reported to me that over fifty had been killed.
The second event also took place in Boston. It was the Boston Tea Party, which was not at all sad, but rather amusing. The Sons of Liberty boarded three ships carrying tea and dumped the cargo into the Boston Harbor. Apparently the British failed to see the humor for they imposed what was called the Intolerable Acts by colonists. These acts imposed strict penalties on Massachusetts, including the revoking of their charter and the closing of the Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for.
In 1775 war broke out in the Northern colonies. While keeping up my torry facade I was thrilled when I heard the damage that the untrained farmers of Massachusetts inflicted on the "mighty" British on the march back from Lexington and Concord.
These events were all dwarfed by what I was bout to see and take part in late April Thomas gathered us and some of his other things and headed North. We had no idea of what was happening until May tenth when we arrived in Philadelphia and joined a group of delegates from all thirteen colonies. We then learned we were to be audience to the Second Continental Congress. I was naturally excited and for the first time my memory is clouded. Of the sessions I can only remember General Washington being appointed the leader of the Continental Army, and of some of the discussions, although I cannot remember what was said. However, I can distinctly remember the night's after the session. We were lodged in the upper rooms of Mr. Graff's house. It was during the warm May nights that from a perch upon a small lap desk that I observed the writing of the greatest document of all time.
From the best seat in the house I watched as night after night Thomas Jefferson wrote, scratched out and rewrote until the Declaration of Independence began to form. It was by far the most exciting time in my life when Thomas was done and I read the declaration through for the fist time. I read from the first line; "When, in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have tied them to another..." to the last line, "And, for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the production of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."
As I completed those last words the last ounce of loyalism to the crown of Britain in me was shed, and I knew in my very soul that we would gain freedom, and that the thirteen colonies would eventually form the greatest nation ever conceived. I knew that any land supported by such a strong bidding to do what is right, and so devoted to freedom and the equality of man must prosper if this Earth is of any worth. I still believe that.
* = the lower house of colonial legislature of Virginia (Comment added by Peter himself)