Bedford Responds to "Boston Pamphlet"
On this day in 1773, the town of Bedford held its annual meeting. Along with the routine matters to be addressed, there was one unusual item of business. The Town Meeting was asked to decide if it agreed with Boston's "sentiments related to the state of the Colonists as to their Rights and Liberties." A pamphlet detailing these sentiments—a mixture of outrage, exaggeration, and alarm—had been sent to selectmen in every Massachusetts town. Britain was tightening its control on its American colonies, and the colonists believed that their rights as English citizens were threatened. The response to the Boston Pamphlet made it clear that, in Bedford and many other Massachusetts towns, people were prepared to resist British authority.
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