Abstract on George Robert Twelves Hewes

By

Chris Athens

September 7, 2009

History 304: History of the American Peoples

 Alfred Young, in his historical essay “George Robert Twelves Hewes, A Patriot

Shoemaker of Boston”, argues that whereas in the beginning of the 1760s, the common

man was deferent to nobles and the crown, a shift of thinking occurred as a result of pre-

revolutionary events. Young notes that experiences the lower classes partook in gave

them a shared sense of equality and importance with the upper classes. Young focuses

his research on primary accounts from George Robert Twelves Hewes and his

involvement in many key pre-revolutionary events. Through Hewes, Young proves that

the change in the common man’s attitude came from events such as large town meetings

where all were welcome and encouraged to participate. Young goes on to state that at the

end of the American Revolution, this sense of equality definitely permeated Hewes and

possibly many other people who fought to create the new United States of America.

At the center of Young’s argument are a series of eyewitness accounts from the

cobbler George Hewes. Hewes’ active involvement in three of the most significant pre-

revolution events, the Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, and the tarring and feathering

of John Malcolm provide insight into his changing attitude about certain social

conceptions such as deference and “gentlemen”. Young notes that in the early 1760s,

Hewes could barely speak to a figure such as John Hancock. During the famous Boston

Tea Party however, Hewes recalls being side by side with Hancock casting tea overboard.

This is crucial to Young’s argument because it proves that such concepts as deference no

longer applied to Hewes. Another example in the text that Young highlights is that

George Hewes, after many years of bowing to people in “higher classes” than he, refuses

to bow or remove his cap to others. He clearly sees himself as an equal to all and this is

the crux of Young’s argument.