Episode 047: The Suffolk Resolves

American Revolution Podcast

Michael Troy

History, Education

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2018

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Gov. Gage decides he does not have a large enough army to control the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The armed colonists who confronted his regulars in the summer of 1774 are too numerous. Gage barricades his army in Boston and sends frantic letters to London calling for reinforcements. With that, royal authority over the colony is limited to Boston itself. Patriots control everything else. The Suffolk Meeting under Joseph Warren produces a series of resolves on how to handle the current crisis. The Resolves essentially announce that the Patriots have taken control of the colony and would only return control to London after repeal of the Coercive Acts. Visit my site at https://blog.AmRevPodcast.com for more text, pictures, maps, and sources on this topic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an airwave media podcast.
0:04.0	Hello! Hello and thank you for joining the American Revolution.
0:17.0	Today episode 47 the Suffolk Resolves.
0:22.0	So last week we discussed attempts by both General Gage and the Massachusetts militia
0:27.0	to grab as much arms and ammunition as they could get.
0:31.0	Gage quickly realized that the problem was not just a few radicals in Boston.
0:36.0	The entire colony would resist the government and the military.
0:40.3	Gage barricaded himself in Boston and sent word to Lord Dartmouth and others in London
0:45.2	that he was going to need many more soldiers if they wanted to retake the colony.
0:51.1	Gage put a battery of cannon on Boston neck to prevent any invasion by money. By September 1774 the colonial government controlled only Boston.
1:06.5	The governor completely lost control of the rest of the colony.
1:10.9	Gage accepted this fact and seemed content to remain in Boston until he could begin a new campaign in the spring.
1:18.0	He sent several letters to Lord Dartmouth and London calling for reinforcements of at least 20,000.
1:24.0	As Gage put it, quote,
1:26.0	A large force will terrify and engage many to join you.
1:31.0	A middling one will encourage resistance and gain no friends."
1:35.2	End quote. In short, Gage wanted overwhelming force. Otherwise you would basically
1:41.8	be poking a bear with a stick.
1:44.0	Until he could get sufficient reinforcements, presumably sometime in the spring of 1775,
1:50.0	he would sit tight and remain on the defensive.
1:54.0	While waiting for London, Gage brought in some reinforcements of his own that fall,
1:59.0	transferring regiments from Quebec, Newfoundland, and New York to Boston.
	...

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