Protests in Great Barrington, Concord, and Taunton…
October 1786 CE
Courts in the larger towns and cities are able to meet, but require protection of the militia, which Bowdoin calla out for the purpose.
The Boston elites are mortified at this resistance.
Governor Bowdoin commandsthe legislature to "vindicate the insulted dignity of government."
Samuel Adams claims that foreigners ("British emissaries") are instigating treason among the commoners, and he helps draw up a Riot Act, and a resolution suspending habeas corpus in order to permit the authorities to keep people in jail without trial.
Adams proposes a new legal distinction: that rebellion in a republic, unlike in a monarchy, should be punished by execution.
The legislature also moves to make some concessions to the upset farmers, saying certain old taxes can now be paid in goods instead of hard currency.
These measures are followed up by one prohibiting speech critical of the government, and offering pardons to protestors willing to take an oath of allegiance.
These legislative actions are unsuccessful in quelling the protests, and the suspension of habeas corpus alarms many.
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