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Andrew Leahey

History 135

Objective C Paper

The Alfred F. Young essay documents the change of attitude of George

Robert Twelves Hewes, a poor cobbler in Revolutionary War-era Boston,

which was probably not unlike most major American Cities at the time.

Though forgotten by history, Hewes played an important role in several key

events of the Revolution. In that way, his story is very likely the story of 

many ordinary Americans during this period. Hewes did not start out life as arevolutionary, or even self-assured man, as this essay tells us. It opens with

Hewes being more or less ordered to visit John Hancock's home on New

Years, 1764, so as to give his well wishes. This is an example of Hewes

subscription to the concept of deference, that is, the deferring to those

considered to be members of a higher class than your own.

The essay than goes on to tell us of the same man, 14 or 15 years later in

1778 or 1779, refusing to take his hat off for his Lieutenant, "which he

refused to do for any man" [Young,126]. What had changed this man so

completely over the course of these years? I believe there are three major

reasons for his transformation.

First, I believe Hewes harbored personal animosity towards the British

occupying force specifically, and the gentry-class system in general. Over

the course of the years between his visiting Hancock and refusing to remove

his cap, he had taken a very real participation in the Revolution. Whether it

was initially his idea to become involved or he had been swept up in it due to

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apprentice to collect an overdue bill from a British officer, [and] the sentry's

abuse of the boy" [Young, 128]. Hewes, uneducated as he was, had to have

a feeling of the oppression he was living under. What sort of society was he

a member of, where the collecting of a just debt would lead to death of five

innocent men, and an event known forever as the "Boston Massacre"? What

sort of government turns its troops on innocent civilians? His "militant"

attitude after the Massacre, and his deposition given for the prosecution,

further illustrates his new sense of the unjustness of British rule, and his

new interest in politics in general. While recounting the events surrounding

the Massacre for his deposition, Hewes had to develop a sense that virtuallyany government installed by Revolution, would cast him and those like him a

better lot than they were currently resigned to.

In conclusion, I believe the years between Hewes deference to John

Hancock and his refusal to remove his cap for the Lieutenant, saw him

change in a very real way. Though poor and uneducated, George Robert

Twelves Hewes had taken part in the Boston Tea party, witnessed the

Boston Massacre, and taken a real role in the Revolution. This had to instill

in him a new sense of self-worth, and help him to shake off the concept of 

deference and the resignation to authority and British rule.