“Act worthy of yourselves.”
That’s how the great patriot and Revolutionary War hero Dr. Joseph Warren urged the people to commemorate the Boston Massacre, which happened today in history – March 5, 1770.
In the face of a standing army occupier – and direct threats to his own life – Warren pressed the people to stand firm for liberty in the face of the mighty British Empire, “until tyranny is trodden under foot.”
The Massacre in Boston did a great deal to solidify opposition to arbitrary, centralized power – and permanent standing armies. For many years, it was commemorated as a solemn public holiday in Boston, with speeches from prominent patriots like John Hancock, James Lovell and others.
Joseph Warren delivered the oration in 1772 – and was the only person ever chosen to give the speech a second time, on March 6, 1775. Since March 5 fell on a Sunday that year, the event was held the next day.
Tensions were boiling in ’75 – just weeks before Lexington and Concord, and the city was once-again filled with British regulars in the aftermath of the Coercive Acts of the previous year.
It’s likely that Samuel Adams tapped Warren to give the speech this year, understanding that If there was trouble, someone of Joseph’s experience and resolve would be needed in the pulpit.
They all knew that the British regulars present were going to resent an oration whose purpose was, as Adams wrote to Richard Henry Lee, “to commemorate a massacre perpetuated by soldiers and to show the danger of standing armies.”
Nearly 5,000 people packed the event in and around the Old South Meeting House, with as many as 300 British officers in attendance as well. Because of the crowds, Warren had to enter the pulpit by climbing up a ladder and through a window.
And his speech, which was delivered two weeks before Patrick Henry’s more famous “Liberty or Death” speech in Virginia, showed that he and the people of Boston would not be intimidated, even with the British forces in their midst.
“Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of. Our enemies are numerous and powerful; but we have many friends, determining to be free, and heaven and earth will aid the resolution. On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important question, on which rest the happiness and liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves.”
But before getting to that message, Warren first started – as he also emphasized in 1772 – with a message of natural rights – and property rights.
“THAT personal freedom is the natural right of every man; and that property or an exclusive right to dispose of what he has honestly acquired by his own labor, necessarily arises therefrom, are truths which common sense has placed beyond the reach of contradiction.”
He then went through a brief history of the colony – how the people braved unknown dangers to travel across the ocean to a new land, a dangerous wilderness – “determined to find a place in which they might enjoy their freedom, or perish in the glorious attempt.”
It was arbitrary power – later listed as one of the “injuries and usurpations” in the Declaration of Independence – which Warren described as a fate worse than death:
“But savages, and death with torture were far less terrible than slavery: nothing was so much the object of their abhorrence as a tyrant’s power: they knew that it was more safe to dwell with man in his most unpolished state, -than in a country where arbitrary power prevails.”
Warren then pointed out that the British mostly left the people of the colony alone – until, of course, they realized the great success that was unfolding, and only after settlers had done all of the hard work of establishing it:
“But when, at an infinite expense of toil and blood, this widely extended continent had been cultivated and defended: when the hardy adventurers justly expected that they and their descendants should peaceably have enjoyed the harvest of those fields which they had sown, and the fruit of those vineyards which they had planted; this country was then thought worthy the attention of the British ministry”
It was ultimately a change in policy by the British that caused the conflict – and like so many tyrants throughout history, force was their only way forward:
“When the measures of administration had disgusted the colonies to the highest degree, and the people of Great Britain had, by artifice and falsehood, been irritated against America, an army was sent over to enforce submission to certain acts of the British parliament, which reason scorned to countenance, and which placemen and pensioners were found unable to support.”
He, like the other Sons of Liberty and many other residents of Boston – understood where this would lead, and the unsurprising result was the bloody day on “the FIFTH of MARCH”
“And it is further certain, from a consideration of the nature of mankind, as well as from constant experience, that standing armies always endanger the liberty of the subject. But when the people on the one part, considered the army as sent to enslave them, and the army on the other, were taught to look on the people as in a state of rebellion, it was but just to fear the most disagreeable consequences. Our fears, we have seen, were but too well grounded.”
Even in the face of this, he urged restraint – and peace, “stain not your weapons with the blood of Britons,” because “revenge is far beneath the noble mind.”
Instead, he called on the British to leave – and if they did, that would be the end of the story.
“The storm subsides; a solemn pause ensues; you spare, upon condition they depart. They go; they quit your city; they no more shall give offence. Thus closes the important drama.”
But that didn’t mean Warren was afraid of a fight – even with an opponent far more powerful than any other on earth. And like Patrick Henry in the weeks to follow, Warren knew the choice was liberty or death.
“Our streets are again filled with armed men; our harbour is crowded with ships of war; but these cannot intimidate us; our liberty must be preserved; it is far dearer than life, we hold it even dear as our allegiance; we must defend it against the attacks of friends as well as enemies; we cannot suffer even Britons to ravish it from us.”
For Warren, anything less than taking a stand was an affront to the gift of freedom the people had been given:
“The man who meanly will submit to wear a shackle, contemns the noblest gift of heaven, and impiously affronts the God that made him free.”
He understood that the British were incredibly powerful, but, he told the people, “let not even this discourage you.”
“I know you want not zeal or fortitude. You will maintain your rights or perish in the generous struggle. However, difficult the combat, you never will decline it when freedom is the prize.”
Warren again called for peace and unity with the British – with a caveat, of course:
“But if these pacific measures are ineffectual, and it appears that the only way to safety, is through fields of blood, I know you will not turn your faces from your foes, but will, undauntedly, press forward, until tyranny is trodden under foot, and you have fixed your adored goddess Liberty, fast by a Brunswick’s side, on the American throne.”
Just weeks later, it was Joseph Warren who sent Paul Revere on his famous midnight ride – along with William Dawes and one other – to warn that the “British are coming…”
The following day, Warren fought alongside the militia, personally leading multiple attacks on British troops as they retreated from Concord to Boston. He was almost killed that day – and supposedly said “I will either see my country free, or shed my last drop of blood to make her so”
Tragically, that is what happened soon after during the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Although he had been appointed a major general by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress just days earlier, Warren insisted on fighting with the volunteers in the fiercest and most dangerous part of the battle. Although the patriots inflicted heavy casualties on the British, they were outnumbered at least two to one and eventually had to retreat.
It was then – when most were out of ammunition – that Warren was recognized by a British officer, and was quickly killed by a musket ball to the head. That scene was immortalized by John Trumbull in his iconic painting, The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker’s Hill.
Joseph Warren was a man who put his money where his mouth was – like few others in history. Today, we honor him as a true American hero.
The post Joseph Warren’s Final Oration: Against Standing Armies and Arbitrary Power first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.