1768
On April 9, 1768, two customs employees (called tidesmen)
boarded Hancock's brigantine Lydia in Boston Harbor. Hancock was summoned, and
finding that the agents lacked a writ of assistance (a general search warrant),
he did not allow them to go below deck. When one of them later managed to get
into the hold, Hancock's men forced the tidesman back on deck. Customs
officials wanted to file charges, but the case was dropped when Massachusetts
Attorney General Jonathan Sewall ruled that Hancock had broken no laws. Later,
some of Hancock's most ardent admirers would call this incident the first act
of physical resistance to British authority in the colonies and credit Hancock
with initiating the American Revolution.
Must be a "valuable"document:
Heeere's Johnny:
John Singleton Copley
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