Colonial America’s social positions were not so rigidly fixed as they were in England. It is not to say the wealthy land owners and rich merchants of the new world did not take on aristocratic airs. In many respects, then as now, they expected to be treated like royalty, if not more so than in Europe. However American nobility did not require birthrights to achieve such status. A smart and industrious colonist could rise far in social circles, especially if they attended the correct church or married the right woman, as did George Washington. As a result, craftsmen penetrated all social levels, though the vast majority rarely rose above the middle notch in the social structure. Artisans, such as blacksmiths, woodworkers, leather workers, metal workers, felt-makers, coopers, hatters, etc, were also referred to as ‘mechanicks,’ those whose work “made more use of the hand and body than of the mind.” Semi-skilled laborers, such as sawyers [one who sawed timber for a living] or ditchers, were inferior mechanicks.
The early masses who became the muscle and cannon fodder of the revolt against mother England, those calling themselves ‘Sons of Liberty’, proudly wore the title of mechanicks, or as Tory loyalists liked to say,“base mechanicks.” England’s governance of the colonies chose those who filled the roles of Royal Governors and high officials, however a great deal of legislature flowed through regional assemblies voted in by local residents. Except for New England town meetings that gave a voice to householders in strict local affairs, most colonists had no say in their government. Conditions stipulated that only those who owned fifty acres of land or been worth fifty pounds in property could vote. Only a small percentage of farmers fell within that category and even fewer artisans. The thirteen colonies were actually run by thirteen cliques of wealthy gentlemen totally for their benefit.
Artisans were to develop a natural tendency for increased independence, more so than the landed gentry and farmers. For decades, colonials accepted tradition and education to justify the aristocratic gentleman’s position as their natural rulers. However, a growing middle class of artisans who were denied the vote desired the right to chose their own representatives. They were ripe to buy into activists’ rhetoric that claimed they should expect a say in their own destiny. By the 1760’s, mechanicks began to organize as they bonded into one voice of rebellion against traditional norms. The most obvious choice to which they focused their insurgency were the many acts imposed by Parliament to maintain economic control over the colonies. Though the impact of these acts were minimal to the lower classes, they became more symbolic as it appeared that England was deaf to their needs. What at first were gatherings in which passionate leaders would stir the pot of resentment, these groups or ‘gangs’ of mechanicks became more violent. Spokespersons and representatives of the royal government were targeted. The intellectual had used words against businesses and individuals while the Sons of Liberty and such rebellious groups did far more, confronting their quarry directly resulting in lost property and bodily harm. Interestingly, before and even during the growing strife, the landed gentry and wealthy of America benefited from the status quo of the present government. Yet through their rhetoric and willingness to join in this middle class revolt, the local assemblies which was controlled by the wealthy, the same that denied a voice to the masses, became the face of rebellion.
How important was this rising class of artisans in defining the colonial resistance to England’s laws. By 1770 it is estimated that the mechanicks accounted for eighteen percent of the total population of just over two million – about 360,000 mostly men. Eighty percent of the population were farmers scattered throughout the vast stretches of America leaving just two percent who were termed gentlemen. Basically then as now, most of the country’s wealth was limited to barely two percent of the land’s population. What made this middle class of mechanicks most effective is the fact that they were grouped in towns and villages close to the sources of news and were all known to one another. When the need arose, they were quick to organize and their actions could directly affect the economic centers of royal commerce, having an immediate affect and reaction. It was just such a need that directed one group of mechanicks in Boston to don “Mohocks” outfits and toss several tons of tea into the harbor.
In fact, had the rich not joined the mechanicks in their desire for more governance, they would have faced a rebellion that could have purged the established elitist class; what occurred some years later resulting in the French Revolution. Instead, and due to the canny foresight of many of our founding fathers, these men of wealth deflected their countrymen’s anger with a ready made scapegoat in England. Moneyed gentlemen became the force behind those strumming up contempt for the mother country. They joined a revolt that would assure their continued power over the masses once and if a new government was established. And the arm that welded the might behind the rhetoric was firmly that of the mechanicks and rise of the middle class. A class ingrained on the constitution of a new land based on democratic principals stating “We the People.”
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Josiah is Book 1 of the American Revolution War “Shades of Liberty” Series based on African Americans who fought in the war.
Also on Revolutionary War Journal
First Shots of the American Revolution Not Heard Round the World, Dec. 14, 1774