Protest and Revolution
As the largest building in colonial Boston, Old South Meeting House was the site of lively public meetings, as well as a place for religious services.
In the years leading up to the American Revolution, Boston’s anger at British taxes and policies exploded during town meetings. Many of these meetings were too large for Faneuil Hall, the usual meeting place for the Town of Boston, so they were moved to the Meeting House. Old South Meeting House was the scene of some of the most dramatic and stirring meetings leading up to the American Revolution and as a result it developed a notorious reputation in Britain. Samuel Adams recorded: “The transactions at Liberty Tree were treated with scorn and ridicule; but when they heard of the resolutions in the Old South Meeting-house, the place whence the orders issued for the removal of the troops in 1770, they put on grave countenances.”
Early Revolutionary Meetings
The largest building in colonial Boston, Old South Meeting House was much larger than Faneuil Hall, which was then less than half its current size. Faneuil Hall could hold no more than 1300 people, while Old South Meeting House could hold as many as 6,000 people! Old South Meeting House was in a convenient and strategic location midway between the populous North end and the expansive South end of Boston, just a short walk from Faneuil Hall.
Meeting against the Impressment of Sailors
On June 14, 1768, a town meeting was called at Faneuil Hall to protest the impressment, or forcible induction, of New England sailors into British Naval service and the seizure of John Hancock’s sloop “Liberty” for violation of customs law, i.e. smuggling. So many people came to Faneuil Hall that the meeting was moved to Old South Meeting House. At the meeting, outraged colonists called for the British Sloop-of-War “Romney,” to stop seizing sailors to work “for the service of the King, in his ships of war.”
While the meeting was successful in curtailing impressment in Boston, the British ministry concluded that they could not keep their customs officers needed protection from Boston’s riotous mobs. Nearly 4,000 soldiers arrived in Boston in the fall of 1768. Many Patriots considered this “military occupation” an infringement of English political law, another challenge to their liberty. Many colonists regarded the presence of armed British troops in Boston to be both dangerous and insulting. Responding to initial protests, the Royal Governor ordered all but two regiments out of the town.
The Boston Massacre and Removal of the King’s Regiments
On March 5, 1770, increasing tensions erupted when British soldiers killed 5 men in what became known as “The Boston Massacre.” The next day, an angry assembly gathered at Faneuil Hall sent a committee to tell the Lieutenant-Governor “that the Inhabitants and Soldiery can no longer dwell together in safety.” The assembly agreed to hold a Town Meeting at 3 pm. By the afternoon, widespread frustration had swelled the meeting to include thousands, and so it was moved from Faneuil Hall to the Meeting House. Inside the Meeting House, the committee announced that one regiment would be removed to Castle William in the harbor, but, led by Samuel Adams, the crowd cried out, “Both regiments or none!”
Adams and his committee again visited Hutchinson, and Adams said:
If you, or Col. Dalrymple under you, have the power to remove one regiment, you have the power to remove both…The voice of ten thousand freemen demands that both regiments be forthwith removed. Their voice must be respected, their demand obeyed.
The following morning, preparations began to remove both regiments to Castle William. In a letter to the Earl of Hillsborough, Hutchinson wrote, “I have represented to your lordship, that the authority of Government is gone in all matters wherein the controversy between the Kingdom and the colonies is concerned.” In England, members of Parliament balked at Hutchinson for being bullied by a little colony.
The Fifth of March Anniversary Orations
A town meeting resolved to mark the anniversary of “The Boston Massacre” with a public speech “to commemorate the barbarous murder of five of our Fellow Citizens on that fatal Day, and to impress upon our minds the ruinous tendency of standing Armies in Free Cities.”
Each year from 1772 to 1775, these massive gatherings of men, women and children were held at Old South Meeting House to commemorate the anniversary of the Boston Massacre, with rousing speeches by patriots John Hancock, Benjamin Church and Dr. Joseph Warren. Each year, the speaker and the people repeated the lines, “to impress upon on minds, the ruinous tendency of standing Armies,” a remembrance that kept outrage over the Boston Massacre alive.
The Boston Tea Party
Yet it was the meeting that took place on December 16, 1773 that sealed Old South’s fate as one of this country’s most significant buildings. On that day, over 5, 000 men crowded into Old South and joined in a fiery debate on the controversial tea tax. When the final attempt at compromise failed, Samuel Adams gave the signal that started the Boston Tea Party. The Sons of Liberty led the way dumping 342 chests of tea into the harbor at Griffin’s Wharf. See our Boston Tea Party History page for more information.
A British Riding School and the Siege of Boston
Old South Meeting House's reputation as a patriot meeting place had dire consequences for the building during the American Revolution. When war broke out in April of 1775 with the battles of Lexington and Concord, the British retreated to Boston and occupied the town. The Continental Army besieged Boston for nearly a year. While patriots fled the city, British troops destroyed and vandalized visible symbols of the patriotic cause. The “Redcoats” gutted the interior of the Old South Meeting House. They tore down the pews, the pulpit, and the galleries and burned them for fuel. Hundreds of loads of dirt and gravel were spread on the floor, and a bar was erected so the men could practice jumping their horses. In the east galleries, the officers enjoyed drinks while they watched the feats of horsemanship below. The British left the Old South congregation with a building unfit for occupancy. It took nearly 8 years for the congregation to raise the funds and restore the interior.