The Shoemaker And The Revolution Summary

In the article The Shoemaker and the Revolution written by Alfred F. Young, the transition from ordinary citizen to an assertive patriot is clearly articulated. This article focuses on one man specifically, George Robert Twelve Hewes, an apprenticing shoemaker who was personally affected by events in the revolution. The changes in Hewe’s occurred because of the Boston Massacre of 1770, The Boston Tea Party of 1773, and the tarring and feathering of John Malcolm in 1774.
The events before and during the Boston Massacre of 1770 affected Hewes personally. The first of which was when he was cheated in payment from Sergeant Mark Burk. He claimed to be picking up shoes for Captain Thomas Preston and in the process didn’t pay Hewes for the shoes.

Preston suggested that Hewes issue a formal complaint about the payment of the shoes, which he did.

After the hearing for the crime, Sergeant Burk was sentenced to three hundred and fifty lashes, much to Hewe’s horror. Then there was the murder of Christopher Seider on the 23 of February. Seider was in a group of schoolboys that was picketing a shop for selling british imports during the anti-import resolutions. Seider was shot by Ebenezer Richardson, who fired into the crowd without a true target. This happened 10 days before the Boston Massacre. The final event before the massacre was the fight between soldiers and colonists on Gray’s ropewalk on the night of Friday, March 3. The soldiers were beaten because they came to Gray’s ropewalk for work. The ropewalk workers didn’t want the soldiers to take their work from them because they thought that the british were already being payed too much and were being greedy by looking for more work. On the night of the massacre Hewes was attracted to the sounds of the townspeople. During the confrontation, Private Kilroy hit Hewe’s on the shoulder with the butt of his gun. When Captain Preston told the townspeople to disperse, Hewe’s told him that they had just as much right as the soldiers to be on the King’s highway. During the massacre five men were killed, four

of which Hewe’s claimed to know; Samuel Grey- a rope worker, Samuel Maverick- an apprentice to an ivory turner, Patrick Carr- an apprentice to a leather breeches worker, and James Caldwell who was a 2nd mate on a ship. The only man he did not know was Christopher Attucks. Hewes does a great job explaining events leading up to the massacre and the massacre itself, but he doesn’t explain why the soldiers are there to begin with and that the British troops leave in the end.
The next event that affected Hewes was the Boston Tea Party which occurred on December 16, 1773. Hewes participated in the Boston Tea Party itself, he even dressed himself as a Mohawk indian. The organization of the Boston Tea Party was do to the determined colonist of Boston. They had anywhere from 50-100 men who volunteered. These men were strong willed, hardworking, and willing to take on the position of being a leader to the men around them. Hewes himself became a leader. He was told by the commander of his division to go and collect the keys of the hatches and candles from the British ship's captain. Over the span of the 3 hours that it took to dump all the tea chests into the Boston Harbor, Hewes took his leadership role to heart and helped find anyone that was trying to smuggle tea into their pockets to take home. One man specifically was Captain O’Connor who came onto the ships specifically to smuggle fallen tea into his pockets. This gave Hewes the leadership experience that he needed to further his political authority. Though Hewes doesn’t tell us about the tea acts or the intolerable acts, he does tell us about the strength and leadership of colonist as well as the breaking of the social class system and everyone coming to work together.