Extracts from the New Hampshire Gazette, 16 December 1774. Catalogue ref: CO 5/939 (1 of 4)
A meeting of the town of Portsmouth, New Hampshire concerning their grievances.
Note: dissipation = extravagant or sensual living
Transcript
The New-Hampshire
AND
HISTORICAL
Containing the Freshest ADVICES
Friday, December 16th ,1774
The Inhabitants of the Town of Portsmouth, at a Legal MEETING held on Thursday the 8th Day of December 1774, passed the following VOTES.
VOTED unanimously, THAT we do cordially accede to the just State of the Rights and Grievances of the British COLONIES, and of the Measures adopted and recommended by the AMERICAN CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, for the Restoration and Establishment of the Former, and for the Redress of the Latter.
…
Voted, That the Town bear Testimony against the common Practice of playing at Billiards and Cards, and also that they disapprove of every other Species of Gaming and Dissipation [extravagant or sensual living], recommending Industry and Frugality, to the Inhabitants as most becoming under the present grievous Oppressions, and Embarrassments of this Town and Continent.
…
- What does this tell us about the role that ordinary people could play in the leadup to the American Revolution?
- How does the disapproval of ‘gaming and dissipation’ here reflect the colonial reaction against Thomas Hutchinson in Source 1b?
- What does this source infer about colonial political thought?
- What does the headline ‘Containing the Freshest ADVICES’ suggest?
- Why are newspapers valuable sources for historians?
- What can newspapers tell us that government documents cannot?
- What does this source infer about the general literacy rates of the colonists?