My June 11th blog introduced merchant Thomas Williams and his partners as new players to watch in the real-life drama of Annapolis 250 years ago. Back in 1770, Williams and Company had just acquired rum and molasses from Capt. James Whitney of Rhode Island. This was problematic, as patriotic Annapolitans resolved to do no business with Rhode Islanders until they resumed their boycott of British imports. Thomas Williams placed a notice in the Maryland Gazette, protesting his company’s innocence of the charge of knowingly trading with a violator of the American nonimportation pact. If Williams thought that he had successfully deflected unwelcome attention away from his business, he was sorely mistaken.
In late July 1770, the local Committee of Inspection received information that Williams and Company was selling bohea tea (pronounced boo-hee, this was a popular Chinese black tea) at an inflated price. Under the nonimportation association the Committee was trying to enforce, Annapolis merchants could still sell banned imports they already had in stock, but they couldn’t raise their prices too sharply to take advantage of the low supply/high demand economic situation.
Following up on the tip, a few Committee members, including William Paca, went to the Williams and Company store on Market Space to ask questions and demand answers. They published an account of their fact-finding visit in the July 26th Maryland Gazette.
According to the Committee men, they confronted Joseph Williams at his store. When they asked Williams the price at which he sold bohea tea, he answered ten shillings a pound. When pressed to reveal how much he paid for the tea and how much his company stood to profit from its sale, Williams questioned the authority of his visitors and said they had no business making such enquiries. From his refusal to answer further questions, the Committee men inferred that the information against Williams and Company was true and that the partners “have been infamous and base enough to break through the Association of this Province, without any Regard or Feeling for the sacred Rights of their Country.”
The report continued: Annapolitans and Marylanders should “hold the said treacherous and faithless Williams and Company, in that Contempt and Abhorrence which such despicable Characters justly merit.” The Committee members pulled no punches, calling on their fellow citizens “to desert all Connexion” with Joseph, Thomas, and Thomas Charles Williams, because dealing “with Men so infamously inclined, is to give Encouragement to the Enemies of this Country, and to make a Sacrifice of the honest Man and fair Trader.”
The Committee of Inspection had thrown down the gauntlet. Would one of the Williamses pick it up?
Read the July 26, 1770 issue of the Maryland Gazette starting here: https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc4800/sc4872/001281/html/m1281-1080.html
Glenn E. Campbell
HA Senior Historian
#history #annapolis #annapolishistory #news #annapolisnews #1770news #colonialnews #colonialhistory #marylandgazette
Are you enjoying our posts? We invite you to consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Historic Annapolis to help sustain our organization through this difficult time. Thank you!
