Tyranny is Tyranny

I honestly didn’t know how to interpret this article until the very last sentence: “‘Tyranny is Tyranny let it come from whom it may’” (p. 75). That chant summarized the article, in my opinion, to be about the irony of American history. The author discusses major events during the late 18^th century leading up to the American Revolution and how class structure and money played a role in the events. Gary Nash’s study of Boston in the 1770s is a prime example of the foreshadowing this time period had for the rest of American history thus far. People in Boston, those who were upper class men but “excluded from the ruling circles close to England,” rallied together to form caucuses that voiced lower-class laborer opinions in the face of the wealth gap and taxation (p. 60). This movement exemplifies American political habits of “the mobilization of lower-class energy by upper-class politicians” (p. 61). Furthermore, the article discusses how land rioters were trying to fight the wage gap as the mere fact of property owning dictated a citizen’s rights. The Boston Massacre itself was underscored by impressment according to the article, meaning they were fighting back against forced recruitment by the British forces (p. 67). These all serve as examples of steps Americans needed to take in a fight against the monarchy, they didn’t want any part in anymore. Yet, four days after the official Declaration of Independence was read by Thomas Crafts, the Boston Committee of Correspondence ordered a mandatory military draft- for the poor men (p. 75). All they had fought for in Boston, through massacres and boycotts, culminated in impressment for the lower-class citizens from the upper-class politicians. How ironic.