Shoemaker and the Tea Party
Throughout history, historians have spun events in order to alter and adjust others’ views on the event. This is especially true during Colonial times and the time leading up the American Revolution. During this time, information about the colonist’s events was passed on through word of mouth. One such man that was notorious for this was George Robert Twelves Hewes. Hewes was a Boston shoemaker, who at the age of twenty-eight witnessed four of his closest friends shot to death by The British red coats; he also participated in many of the key events of the Revolutionary crisis.1 Hewes recollections of the events that took place were passed along in the monograph The Shoemaker and the Tea Party: Memory and the American Revolution by Alfred F. Young. His recollections of the dumping of the tea into the harbor lead the reemergence of how significant the dumping of the tea was for the United States of America. However, stories of Hewes were also spun in order to alter the views of others.
In 2008 we saw a reemergence of an everyday person taking center stage in a presidential race when John McCain, the republican nominee, introduced “Joe the Plumber.” Although he was a fictional character, he stood for the average, everyday working class person, much like how George Robert Twelves Hewes was portrayed as an everyday person making a difference in the world during the 19th century. George Robert Twelves Hewes was present at the Boston massacre and three years later at the dumping of the tea into the Boston harbor. At the time of the event it was played down and nearly blocked out of many colonists’ minds all together. In fact, the term “Tea Party” does not arise until the 1830s.2 “The ‘discovery’ of George Robert Twelves Hewes, who until 1834 was an unknown historical figure in either print or oral culture, save, of course to his family and the circles around him.”3 It can be said that Hewes helped to bring light to how revolutionary and significant the dumping of the
In 2008 we saw a reemergence of an everyday person taking center stage in a presidential race when John McCain, the republican nominee, introduced “Joe the Plumber.” Although he was a fictional character, he stood for the average, everyday working class person, much like how George Robert Twelves Hewes was portrayed as an everyday person making a difference in the world during the 19th century. George Robert Twelves Hewes was present at the Boston massacre and three years later at the dumping of the tea into the Boston harbor. At the time of the event it was played down and nearly blocked out of many colonists’ minds all together. In fact, the term “Tea Party” does not arise until the 1830s.2 “The ‘discovery’ of George Robert Twelves Hewes, who until 1834 was an unknown historical figure in either print or oral culture, save, of course to his family and the circles around him.”3 It can be said that Hewes helped to bring light to how revolutionary and significant the dumping of the
Bibliography: Boyer, Paul S., The Enduring Vision, Sixth Edition, A History of the American People Volume I: To1877 (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008). Young, Alfred F., The Shoemaker and the Tea Party: Memory and the American Revolution (Beacon Press: Boston, 1999).