The Spirit Of Seventy-six by Henry Steele Commager

Unlike the Sons of Liberty who galvanized mob action from the urban poor class, the modern Tea Party Movement has scant appeal to the unemployed and poor today. Protesters also targeted openly-gay Congressman Barney Frank with anti-gay rhetoric. Congressman Emanuel Cleaver was spit upon and had to be escorted into the Capitol by police. The Washington Post reported racial slurs shouted at members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The 2010 Tea Party Movement has not turned to violence, but individual passions took an ugly turn at the March 20th protest. The actual Boston Tea Party, mythologized as a great event in the cause of liberty, was, by today’s standards, an act of vandalism. The Sons of Liberty utilized violent tactics, “taking down” the houses of Crown agents and supporters and intimidating tax agents like Andrew Oliver into resigning or suffer the consequences. The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein (March 21, 2010) argues that the Tea Party protests “seemed less about health care reform than about redistribution itself.” Opposed to federal regulation, activists worry about higher deficits and seeing their own health care benefits diminished. They demonize the Obama Administration as Socialist and vow to fight a Democrat-led Congress on health care reform.

The contemporary Tea Party Movement is closely identified with the American upper middle class. Historians like Hibbert and Howard Zinn estimate that one-third of the inhabitants did not have regular employment. Patriotic activism was easy in a city like Boston where unemployment was high. Historian Christopher Hibbert writes that, “the most vociferous in their opposition to the Stamp Act were naturally those whose incomes would be most affected by it.” This included John Hancock, whose family had made a fortune in smuggling. The Sons of Liberty represented, for the most part, the leading colonial inhabitants. The contemporary Tea Party Movement has not taken to tarring and feathering, but their activism is becoming more vocal and intimidating, as witnessed by the March 20th mass rally on Capitol Hill. In 1773 colonial American patriots introduced the Tea Party rallying song: “Rally, Mohawks! Bring out your axes, And tell King George we’ll pay no taxes…” Led by the Sons of Liberty, mobs tore down the homes of Crown agents, tarring and feathering those sent to enforce taxation measures, and hurled stones at the carriages of wealthy merchants known to sympathize with Crown policy. The Tea Party Movement is a reminder that protest against government tyranny began with the implementation of the Stamp Act of 1765.

The Spirit Of Seventy-six by Henry Steele Commager