So, we have learned about the serious injustices felt by the area farmers and landowners in the 1730s-60s regarding their property rights.
Property ownership is a basic element of economic, social and cultural status, and was the basis of the English class system. Many of these individuals had traveled 3000+ miles, leaving behind all they had ever known, to purchase property and establish a new life in a new world. So having that land taken from them by the well-to-do gentry class, or their rights to the land severely contested by the gentry, was a big deal.
These local “yeomen” (commoner land-owning farmers) began meeting in taverns to discuss their options and responses, which eventually included many protests, law suits, and riots. They selected individuals to serve on “committees” to represent them in court and to advocate for their rights, rights afforded to other English citizens. These committees continued to grow, earning their support and power from the local farmers and other citizens, and becoming extralegal coalitions of anti-gentry groups.
This unrest in the colonies, and indeed elsewhere, necessitated action by the controlling forces of the British colonial government. But first we need to understand those “controlling” military forces within the British Empire in the 18th century. I have turned to historian, author and Ewing resident Larry Kidder’s excellent resource on the NJ Militia, “A People Harassed and Exhausted,” for much of the following material.
Britain’s premiere organization of soldiers, the “Redcoats” or British “Regulars,” was an army of professionals, serving full time, and protecting British property, resources, operations and personnel around the world. They were engaged in several wars and military operations throughout the 18th century, including the Seven Years’ War in Europe, or the French and Indian War in North America.
Assisting in military operations here in the colonies were the Provincial Troops, comprised of colonists serving full time for a shorter period of time than the Redcoats would serve. These troops generally served for a specific purpose, such as defending frontier borders, or assisting the Redcoats with skirmishes and battles. They were semi-professionals, but not as highly regarded as the Regulars.
The third, most “local” and perhaps least “regarded” defensive organization was the Militia. The militia was a British concept going back centuries. By the 18th c. in the American colonies, men in the militia held “normal” civilian responsibilities, trades and jobs, but were trained in the part-time local defense of home and community if needed, and could also be called to supplement the provincial troops.
Early militia laws required ALL men aged 16 to 60 (changed to age 50 in 1746) to serve in the militia with their own appropriate equipment, and to show up for training when required. There were some careers that were exempt – clergy and ferry operators, for example – and a man could pay to send someone in his place.
But it was a shared responsibility among the commoners. As Kidder states, in New Jersey, “the colonial militia embodied the concept that landholders and responsible citizens had a ‘universal obligation for defensive war’ to protect their local community.”
As dissatisfaction among the yeomen with the loss of rights increased during the mid-1700s, and Britain continued to enact laws such as the Stamp Act which further enraged the colonists, we know that political unrest increased. Thus the “defense” of the colonies was now aimed at some of the very same men responsible for that defense: local militiamen.
We will explore that tension next month.
One note: As the nation’s celebration of our 250th anniversary comes ever nearer, I do hope you all are taking advantage of the many unique opportunities for engaging and increasing your own understanding of the evolution of these United States. The American Revolution was a complicated event: challenging times for all; a civil war in many respects; and indeed a global war as well. Unless we have studied that era of American history intensely, I don’t think most of us have a full appreciation for all that occurred. I know I don’t! I am learning all the time as I seek out some of the educational and experiential offerings in this celebratory year. I hope you are doing the same.
Helen Kull is an Advisor with the Ewing Township Historic Preservation Society.
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