Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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dred years, that war was fought on exactly the some principles which Wise emphasized. Furthermore, his later writings were copied in part almost word for word by Thom- as Jefferson in the Declaration of independence. At this town meet- ing Mr. Wise recalled to the people the struggle of their forefathers in England to obtain the rights which meant so much to them. He exhort- ed each one not to bow down to every whim of the tyrant Andros. For they were still British subjects and their mere change of home could not take away their cherished rights. He begged them not to pay the tax, no matter if it was small. Several other men then spoke in a similar strain. The people, real- izing that whatever their leaders said must be right, voted not to pay the tax. Here was struck the first blow for independence, without con- fusion and bloodshed, it is true, but a firm stroke, nevertheless. As soon as Ipswich had blazed the way by open refusal, other towns followed suit, and Andros soon found himself with a very troublesome colony on his hands. Ipswich was, at this time, next to Boston, the most important town in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Thus, since Boston had quietly sub- mitted to the governor’s demands, Ipswich as the next largest town, liad to bear the brunt of the wrath of the ruling powers. The men who had spoken at the town meeting and several others who were suspected of having incited the people to open resistance to the governor’s orders, were arrested and tried. Most of them were quickly acquitted, but Samuel Appleton was detained in jail for a long time. Ipswich was roundly censured and was men- tioned in the governor’s report as a trouble-maker. This was the price that Ipswich had to pay for the priv- ilege of bearing on her seal the in- scription : “The Birthplace of American Independence.” Ipswich lived up to her reputa- tion in the years that followed. Ips- wich men were sent to the Revolu- tionary War, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish War, and the World War. A large proportion were distinguished by their bravery. Ipswich men are as ready to fight for the liberty of others now as they were ready to strive for their own independence in a matter of taxa- tion in 1687. For although Ipswich is small, her inhabitants are not lacking in courage. May she there- fore always be the home of Ameri- can independence as well as its birthplace ! THE TRUST FUNDS OF IPSWICH Edward Dolan Ipswich, endowed with a beauti- ful location and a glorious past, has been very fortunate in having money given to her. Funds, amount- ing to $188,000 have been donated. This sum of money hasbeensupplied by funds of the following names : Heard, Treadwell, Manning, Payne, Burley, Crane, Cowles, Jones, and Brown funds. The number of these various funds indicates to some de- gree theii- value to the town of Ips- wich. One of the most interesting funds is the Heard Fund. Augustine Heard led a very eventful life. He was a student at Exeter in his youth and he displayed much talent there as a scholar and a writer. He travel- led to Smyrna in a small schooner at an early age. He loved the sea with its adventure and his life reads like that of a story-book hero. He 19

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Graduation Essays IPSWICH AS THE BIRTHPLACE OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE (Mary Henderson) No one has ever been able to i-ealize the full significance of the stirrinj - sentence, “Taxation with- out rei)resentation is tyranny,” bet- ter than our own Ipswich forefath- ers. Ever since they had landed on these shores, they had clung to their rights as true sons of England to make their own laws, elect their own rulers, and above all, levy their own taxes. Now comes a hated British tyrant sent over from the mother country to keep the state of Massachusetts in subjection. The first act of the new governor, Andros, is to disre- gard utterly the rights of his sub- jects by highhandedly ordering a tax of a penny on every pound of money in the Colony’s possesion, to be paid as a source of revenue, with- out even consulting the representa- tives of the people. Later, he lev- ied many other taxes without the consent of the people, but no other act of his enraged the Massachu- setts patriots so much as this first one — the ordering of a tax small in amount, no doubt, but very far- reaching in result. Ipswich has a well-founded claim of being the birthplace of American independence. Several other towns before this time had shown signs of discontent, but none had dared to oppose directly the will of Eng- land as Ipswich did. The evening before the day set for the town meeting at which the momentous decision of obedience or disobedience was to be made, a group of well-known men of Ips- wich and Essex gathered at the home of John Appleton, Junior, to consider the question of whether it was right for the citizens to pay this tax. Among those present were the Reverend John Wise, pastor of the chui ch at Essex, William Hubbard, pastor of the Ipswich church, and Mr. John Whipple. After much de- liberation and argument, they de- cided that it was entirely contrary to their rights as English subjects to pay this tax, since they had had nothing at all to say concerning its levying. The Reverend John Wise was then appointed the spokesman to present the views of these men at the town meeting the next day. Early on the morning of August 23, 1687, the people began to as- semble at the old meeting-house up- on the green. They gathered very quietly considering that it was at this very meeting that the first blast of the trump of liberty was to l)e sounded. As soon as the build- ing was filled, the men holding tight to their muskets, for there had been recent threats of Indian attacks, the governor’s warrant, ordering the tax to be paid and tax collectors to be appointed, was read to the as- semblage. There was very little discontent show until the honored pastor of Essex, Mr. Wise, began his impas- sioned appeal to their love of lib- erty. His opinions were very much respected then, and his memory is still held in high esteem, as is shown by the recently proposed plan to make his homestead, with some ad- joining land, a national park. He can truly be called the father of American independence for, al- though his acts preceded the Amer- ican revolution by nearly one hun- 18

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kept a steady record of liis voyages, his hai ' dships, and joys throughout liis life. He dwelt in Ipswich in his declining years after having ' seen life in many foreign counti-ies. He was a kind, generous iver all his life. In his old age he had planned for the building of a library for which he t)rovided in his will. He selected the site and purchased the land for a library. He became somewhat bolder and took upon himself the selection of plans and the oversight of the erection of the building. He appointed the trus- tees, told them what he wanted them to do, and selected a libi ' arian. He approved the selection of three thousand volumes of books, and seven thousand more were added by his four nephews after his death. He provided for a library that might be self-supporting at all times and and free to everyone. His total be- quest exceeded forty thousand dol- lars. Daniel Treadwell had likewise made i)lans all his life for the pro- vision of a free public library in Ipswich. In his will he stated, “I give .... to my native Town of Ips- wich all my real estate situated in the said Town, to have and to hold the same forever — the income whereof, together with the sum of four thousand dollars .... shall be appropi’iated by the said Town for the founding of a library, to contain a collection of the standard works of the best authors, ancient and modern, but to the exclusion of the cheap literature and party newspa- pers of the day, for the use of the inhabitants of Ipswich and the neighboring towns. And it is my wish that the build- ing of the said library shall be erect- ed upon the land purchased by me near the Stone Bridge (meaning Choate Bridge) a few years since, that it shall be made fireproof and used exclusively for the purposes of a library.” As Mr. Heard had provided for the same object, one or the other had to change his will. Mr. Heard erected the library building and in- stalled a library. Of course this was a keen disappointment to Mr. Treadwell but after consultation with the trustees, he made a change in his will by which he gave his lands, estate, and other properties mentioned in the former will for the further endowment and support of a free public library in Ipswich. Now we have a library where any- one can go to enjoy himself by good reading. The collection of books was one of the best in the country as it contained many rare books and first editions. Unfortunately, how- ever, some of these seem to be miss- ing at the present time. But we have a collection of books now to interest young and old of various tastes. William Burley is another man who has added to the benefactions of the town of Ipswich. He was a native of Ipswich and interested in the welfare of the town, who died in Beverly but remembered his old home town in his will. He be- queathed two thousand dollars of which fifty dollars was to be paid yearly for two years after his death to teach poor children to read and to instruct them in the principles of the Christian religion. But it would be quite difficult to carry out the terms of the will as there are so many who would be eligible to re- ceive this instruction. Now every child goes to school to learn to read and most children go to church or Sunday school. The trustees, realiz- ing this, were in favor of changing 20