Ipswich Protest
IPSWICH PROTEST
IPSWICH PROTEST. In March 1687, Edmund Andros, governor of the newly formed Dominion of New England, moved to increase colonial revenue. Although Andros's tax was small in comparison to those levied both prior and subsequent to the Dominion, it placed a special burden on the colony's poorer farmers: tax laws abolished the discount for cash payment, and set at an artificially low level the price for produce acceptable for payment. Resistance to the direct tax imposed by Andros—a single "country rate" of twenty pence per poll and one penny on the pound on estates—was, according to John Wise, leader of a group of protestors from Ipswich, Massachusetts, a matter of principle. The government, however, quickly prevailed. Wise and other protestors were arrested, imprisoned, tried, and fined.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Craven, Wesley Frank. The Colonies in Transition, 1660–1713. New York: Harper and Row, 1968.
Johnson, Richard R. Adjustment to Empire: The New England Colonies, 1675–1715. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press, 1981.
Kammen, Michael. Empire and Interest: The American Colonies and the Politics of Mercantilism. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1970.
Leslie J.Lindenauer
James DuaneSquires
See alsoTaxation .