Hello and welcome to a history of the United States. Episode 135, the Townsend Crisis. In our last

episode, we looked at the short and chaotic career of Charles Townsend. In the space of three months,

while Prime Minister Chatham suffered a mental breakdown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer introduced a series

of legislation, known as the Townsend Act, which upset the balance of power between Westminster and the

colonial assemblies. The Americans were not happy, and today we'll get into the details of how they demonstrated this. To start us off,

let's look at Massachusetts. Sam Adams was dismayed at the Townsend Act. He saw exactly what

Townsend was intending, to assert Parliament's authority over the Americans.

Adams and the Radical Patriots saw this as a relatively innocuous first step to establish Parliament's right to tax them.

Before they knew it, there would be a standing army and appointed bishops.

The Patriots viewed this as the Stemb Act Part 2, and therefore wanted to call the same place,

namely run the customs commissioners out of Boston, but the merchants and shopkeepers

were alarmed by the more economic aspects of the

legislation. This, I think, is the perfect moment to introduce to you the most prominent of the

Boston merchants. John Hancock. John Hancock was born in Braintree, Massachusetts on January 23, 1737, making him 30 years old when the

town's end act passed. John's father, also called John, was a clergyman who died when John was young.

With his mother Mary and his siblings, he lived

with family, before eventually moving to live with his aunt Lydia and Uncle Thomas. John

went to study at Harvard in 1754 and graduated in 1759, and then John started to work for his uncle.

Thomas was a very successful merchant with a shipping business.

John lived in London for a short time, but returned in 1761, when his uncle's health began to fade.

He passed away in 1764, and John Hancock took over the estate, making him one of the wealthiest individuals in the American colonies at the age of 27.

Hancock used his wealth to kickstart a political career, being elected to the colonial legislature.

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