New Shun 1730

"Welcome new brother!"

The people inside extended their hands to welcome him.

Hancock resisted the physical nausea and discomfort - if he saw McIntosh on the street, he might not say hello, after all, the gangsters on South Street in Boston were all under McIntosh's control, and his uncle had asked him to help smash other people's stores.

But the key is that the previous style was too high and the sense of ritual was too strong. He wanted to be brothers with those mysterious, world-influencing, and eternal truth-inheriting big figures such as Franklin, the Attorney General, and the Duke of Norfolk...

In this context, it always feels weird to see McIntosh, who would definitely say hello when he met him on the street.

Of course, Hancock was still young at this time.

He didn't know that in later history, or the original history, the people gathered here today would interpret the essence of "your uncle will always be your uncle, and those who make mud will always make mud."

For example, Hancock, who joined the Freemasonry relatively late, became the Grand Master of the Massachusetts Freemasonry.

For example, Mackintosh, who joined the club very early, was instigated to lead hooligans to smash, loot, burn the post office, and dump tea. In the end, he died of poverty and went to work as a night watchman in the workhouse. In the end, the name on the tombstone after his death was not written correctly, it was written as Philip, but in fact his name was Ebenezer.

It was he who led people to smash the post office and burn the bill dealer's house after the "Printing Tax Act" was introduced.

It was he who led people to tie the bill dealer Andrew Oliver to the "Liberty Tree" and beat him half to death.

It was he who organized people to smash, loot and completely disrupt Boston's public security.

But because of his low social status and poverty, he began to criticize some wealthy businessmen who instructed him to smash and loot afterwards, because in the end, he [surpassed the tamed protests that the wealthy class wanted, and spread the fire of dissatisfaction at the bottom to the wealthy businessmen who instigated the tamed protests behind the scenes... When the protests were no longer tamed and controllable, his loyalty was questioned].

So, he went from being a "wise man", "the great Ebenezer", "a great man who rationally destroyed other people's property to protect the sacred ownership of property"...

Gradually, he became "a prisoner in a debt slave prison", "an old man who beat the clock on the workhouse farm", "Philip whose name was even written wrong on the tombstone"...

Of course, this story is very boring and will continue to be staged in the future. The name of the performance is generally called "XX's weakness".

In simple terms, the people behind the scenes incited arson, and when the fire really started and could not be controlled, and might burn themselves, they quickly suppressed it.

Even hundreds of years later, similar stories are still exactly the same, such as Capitol Hill.

At this time, Mackintosh's story was based on August 14, 1766 as a watershed.

On August 14, he led people to smash the bill merchant's house and burned the stamp bills.

Samuel Adams praised him for [after trying all methods to protect personal property, he had no choice but to use rational destruction of property to protect personal property from infringement, which is a great cause]

On August 26, the situation got out of control, and more poor and lower-class people stood up and began to burn the deputy governor's house and attack the houses of the deputy governor, celebrities, and big businessmen. Britain's attitude became tough and declared that it would suppress it by force.

Samuel Adams immediately changed his attitude and denounced him as a "thug", "disgraceful", [the lawless attack on personal property will destroy the cornerstone of all freedom]

When McIntosh "had the highest prestige among the civilians in Boston and began to criticize the wealthy; when his leadership ability could lead the crowd with whispers or gestures, and could make 2,000 people walk neatly in two lines."

It was inevitable that he would go to the "debtor prison" to work to pay off his debts and finally fall to the fate of having his name written wrong on his tombstone after his death. Because he began to gradually criticize those wealthy businessmen, and he could really command 2,000 people, and these people were not the army, but just angry civilians.

Now, Hancock certainly didn't know that his junior brother who joined the society so late would eventually become the Grand Master of Massachusetts, and he would be invited to be the first to sign the Declaration of Independence.

He also didn't know that those senior brothers who were of low property status at this time would have a bad fate in the future, or go to work as night watchmen on the farm, or die in battle, or even have no tombstone after death.

At this time, he just had some physical discomfort and nausea due to the gap between the reality after being overly excited and expecting too much of the status.

Of course, it's not just shoemakers like McIntosh, or silversmiths like Paul Levi, these craftsmen who are not high in property status.

Hancock also felt a little contempt for John Rowe, a slave trader.

His uncle hasn't sold slaves much in recent years, but John Rowe still sells slaves now, and John Rowe has a bad reputation among the big businessmen in Boston: many people call him "villain". Because other people sold slaves openly, he negotiated privately, asked the other party to quote a price, and often sold at a lower price.

Of course, later history also proved that he was a villain. He also participated in the Tea Party and attended the meeting, but he wrote in his diary at night that he was unwell and had been lying at home for a day. Later, he made his diary public, trying to prove that he had nothing to do with the Tea Party. And during the armed struggle between the United States and the Revolutionary Army, the two sides traded, selling goods to both the United States and the United Kingdom.

But now...

Shoemakers, silversmiths, lawyers, doctors, slave traders, merchants, brewers, captains, etc., people of different classes and classes gathered here. In name, everyone is a brother of Freemasonry.

According to the rules of the society, [In our temple, except for the level between virtue and vice, we do not recognize any other level].

It doesn’t matter whether they are villains or not. Since they have joined the society, they are obviously people with pure souls. They are brothers in a small circle with high taste who can accommodate the supreme truth with pure souls, educate all mankind, and teach mankind to distinguish between good and evil.

Although Hancock felt a little nauseous after the comparison, he still shook hands with these people according to the rules of Freemasonry he had just learned.

Then, as the last one to join the Freemasonry at this time, he sat on his chair according to the posture of these Freemason members.

"Junior brother, now you have become a member of Freemasonry. Everyone here is your brother, and will strictly abide by the rules and keep all the secrets of Freemasonry."

"We have heard about your affairs from Warren. So now, you should tell us frankly and sincerely what happened in the Bahamas."

"What did those pagans say to you? What is their purpose? How do they view the trade issues between Britain and the thirteen states?"

At least at this time, the anti-British sentiment of these people in Massachusetts was not so strong.

The implementation of the Sugar Tax Act at this time was equal to zero. On the legal level, it can indeed be regarded as the British government levying taxes without representation, but on the actual material level, this tax cannot be levied at all - just like some later sayings: In theory, the Ming Dynasty also levied tea taxes.

Slave traders and smugglers like John Law were more sensitive to the taxation of sugar and wine.

And craftsmen like Paul Levi - this is the brilliance of Samuel Adams later, abstracting specific tax issues into abstract freedom - these abstract things are what these small producers, mainly craftsmen, can be passionate about.

As for the real anti-British road of these craftsmen, it was not until the European economic depression after the end of the Seven Years' War and the most stringent "Coinage Act" at the end of 63 that they really went to resist economically.

It's still that simple truth. The economic system of New England, the reality of the extension of small producers of self-cultivating farmers inward, and the reality of big businessmen controlling the smuggling of gold and silver, can only rely on paper money to circulate internally, because he has neither gold and silver mountains nor trade with Europe; it is different from the plantation economy facing Europe in the southern states.

The plantation economy has European gold and silver, and it must participate in world trade. The internal market has too little demand for the plantation industry.

The tradition of self-employed farmers before New England made many industries self-sufficient, and paper money could be used in theory, at least as a medium among the people. The key is where can craftsmen and self-employed farmers get precious metal currency?

The Coinage Act requires New England to abandon paper money and use gold and silver coins, which is equivalent to killing these petty bourgeois small producers and craftsmen. They have to rebel.

The things here need to be looked at separately. Slave traders and smugglers are sensitive to sugar taxes and tariffs, while craftsmen are sensitive to the post-war economic depression and paper money reform.

In addition, at this time, the French were still in Canada, and there was a worry about revenge from the Acadian expulsion incident; the Indians were ambushing their militia in the forest...

At this time, their anti-British sentiment was really not very radical, and it was more about some economic and religious issues.

Now, everyone is still concerned about John Hancock's contact with the Dashun group in the Bahamas. What exactly does the Dashun group want to do?

This is a great opportunity to participate in politics. At least, the Freemasons should reach a consensus and determine what attitude they should take when facing the Dashun issue.

The current situation is somewhat magical and uneasy.

The British navy has begun to withdraw back to the strait, and smuggling in North America is completely messed up and cannot be controlled at all.

But the hidden danger behind this is whether the French will fight back? Will they take revenge?

If the Dashun and French navies defeat Britain, will many British people flee to North America? At that time, what about religious issues, Congregationalism and Quakers, aristocracy issues, and king issues?

What attitude should North America, New England, or Massachusetts have towards the war? Is it possible for the Chinese to land in North America with the French?

These issues are related to everyone present. And once the worst situation occurs, they have to consider one thing: if they do not accept the group of people in Britain who have been breached by the strait and flee here, they will not be able to resist the French and Indians; if they accept them, then what about land issues and legal issues?

This is of course the worst case scenario.

This worst-case scenario depends on the attitude of the Dashun side, because the French themselves are unable to cross the strait, or even to send more troops to North America.

And if... Dashun just wants to trade, or as rumored, is practicing free trade... then North America can naturally contact Dashun privately, and use China to gain respect, and achieve some demands that have never been achieved in the British Parliament.