Addressers

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Addressers

ADDRESSERS. In May 1774 twenty-three citizens of Marblehead, Massachusetts, signed an address thanking Governor Thomas Hutchinson, who was retiring, for his services to the colony. Another one hundred subscribed to an address welcoming his replacement, General Thomas Gage, to Boston. Opponents of increased imperial control published the names of these "Addressers" in an effort to subject them to public scorn and ridicule. The radicals also singled out by name others, called "Protesters" and "Mandamus Councillors," as people they believed were lukewarm in the defense of the liberties of Massachusetts. This effort to isolate and intimidate potential supporters of royal authority was largely successful.

SEE ALSO Mandamus Councillors; Protesters.

                      revised by Harold E. Selesky

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