On Friday, May 24, the Colonel Tench Tilghman Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) celebrated the Talbot Resolves in partnership with the Talbot Historical Society, the Talbot County Council, and the Talbot County Department of Economic Development and Tourism.
To celebrate this 250th anniversary of the Talbot Resolves Town Crier Richard "Rick" Culotta began the celebration by walking around the Talbot County Courthouse square ringing his bell and calling all citizens to assemble on the courthouse lawn to hear urgent news from Boston. Culotta also ended the commemorative event with his inspired reading of the Talbot Resolves. His rendition was moving and made the intent and meaning of these historic words come alive for all those who heard him speak.
Peggy Morey, executive director of the Talbot Historical Society welcomed all guests, thanked them for coming to remember this historic event, and introduced the first speaker Pete Lesher, vice-chairman of the Talbot County Council. Lesher provided an excellent historic overview of the resolves.
Following Lesher, Wes Hagood, a member of the Colonel Tench Tilghman Chapter of the SAR answered the question, “Who wrote the Talbot Resolves?”
Afterwards, J.D. Urbach, president of the Maryland Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) described the actions taken by the other 15 counties in Maryland during May and June 1774 to place the Talbot Resolves in larger context of all the resolve being pronounced throughout Maryland.
State Senator Johnny Mautz presented Maryland General Assembly Official Citations to recognize and thank the four organizations that planned, organized, and facilitated this event kicking off Talbot’s 250th Anniversary celebration of the Founding of America.
The Talbot Resolves were a proclamation made in front of the Talbot Courthouse on May 24, 1774, by several citizens of Talbot County. These American patriots declared they would act “as friends to liberty, and to the general interests of mankind” in support of the citizens in their sister city of Boston, Massachusetts.
Why were the Talbot resolves written?
Great Britain was preparing to shut down the Port of Boston on June 1, 1774 in response to the Boston Tea Party that occurred on December 16, 1773. Parliament passed the Boston Port Act on March 31, 1774 declaring they would blockade Boston Harbor “since the commerce by his Majesty’s subjects cannot be safely carried on there” to punish the troublemakers for the Boston Tea Party who chose to dump the tea in the harbor rather than paying the tea tax. King George III gave his approval on May 15, 1774.
Even though the colonist resisted this oppressive acts of Parliament, that they believe violated their rights as English citizens, they were still loyal to the king. They believed King George would intervene and overrule Parliament. However, when the King supported this act it created a crises in the colonies and evoked strong resistance among the colonists. In fact, the colonists in Maryland and elsewhere were enraged. One observer said, “All America is in a flame. I hear strange language every day. The colonists are ripe for any measure that will tend to the preservation of what they call their natural rights.”
A blockade of the Boston Harbor meant the citizens of Boston would neither be able to import goods from England nor export any raw materials to England, or anywhere else. They understood this blockade would destroy their economy, upend their way or life, and create great hardship for the citizens of Boston and Massachusetts.
The king and Parliament had underestimated the colonist’s willingness to resist, whatever the consequences may be.
The Boston Port Act was the first of four acts passed by Parliament known as the Coercive Acts (or as the Intolerable Acts as they were known within the colonies). These acts contributed to, and set the stage for, the Revolutionary War that began a little more than a year later.
Who wrote the Talbot Resolves?
The short answer to this question is we don’t know and may never know with certainty. However, there are clues that point to the author of this document. After Parliament passed the Boston Port Act, Samuel Adams, a member of the Sons of Liberty, sent a letter to Maryland and the other colonies pleading for help. The letter reached Maryland’s Committee of Correspondence headed by Matthew Tilghman on May 23, 1774.
Tilghman immediately sent word about the Boston Port Act throughout Maryland and Virginia. He also called the gentleman of Talbot County to meet the very next day May 24, 1774 on the lawn of Talbot Court House to address the situation.
After pronouncing the citizens of Talbot County would “Act as friends to liberty, and to the general interests of mankind,” the gentlemen elected four men to represent Talbot County at a convention that would occur the following month In Annapolis. The purpose of the convention was for Maryland to decide how best to respond to the Boston Port Act. The four men elected were as follows:
Matthew Tilghman of Rich Neck Manor
Edward Lloyd the IV of Wye House
Robert Goldsborough IV of Myrtle Grove
Nicholas Thomas of Anderton
Tilghman was elected head of Talbot’s four-man committee. In addition, after arriving in Annapolis, Matthew Tilghman was elected as the head of the 92-member convention. Clearly, Matthew Tilghman was recognized as a leader.
A past president of the Talbot Historical Society, Norman W. Harrington, said “circumstantial evidence is overwhelming that the man who dipped a quill pen in the inkwell at Talbot Court House and wrote the historical document that came to be known as the Talbot Resolves was Matthew Tilghman.” Additional evidence that Tilghman was the author of the resolves includes that he was a good writer, and the best educated of the four men who were sent to represent Talbot County in Annapolis. Tilghman was also elected as a representative to the first Continental Congress that occurred later than year.
Although we do not know exactly who wrote the words that came to be known as the Talbot Resolves, it is very likely Matthew Tilghman played a significant role in drafting these words and may have been the sole author of the document. It is also possible, and perhaps even likely, that Matthew Tilghman and the gentlemen who gathered on the courthouse lawn 250 years ago drafted this document on the spot.
After pronouncing that the citizens of Talbot would stand with the citizens of Boston, the gentlemen who gathered at Talbot Court House (as Easton was then known) sent a written copy of their pronouncement to declare their position on the current situation in Boston to the Maryland Gazette and it was published on June 2, 1774.
One hundred eighty eight years later, on May 24, 1962, a historical marker was dedicated and placed at the entrance of the Talbot County Courthouse in Easton, Maryland commemorating the Talbot Resolves, where it still stands today.
The next meeting of the Colonel Tench Tilghman Chapter of the SAR will occur on June 15, at 11 a.m. at the Chester River Yacht and Country Club in Chestertown. The guest speaker will be Dr. Michael P. Gabriel, professor and chair Department of History, Kutztown University. He will describe Saratoga and several other key battles that occurred during the Revolutionary War. Prospective members interested in learning more about the SAR are welcome to attend this meeting and should RSVP to wdtewes@gmail.com by June 10.
The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (NSSAR), founded in 1889, is a non-profit and non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American History, and promoting education to our future generations.
To learn more about Maryland Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, please go to the society’s website at https://www.mdssar.org/
To learn more about the Col. Tench Tilghman Chapter of the SAR, please go to the chapter’s Facebook Group page: https://www.facebook.com/ColTenchTilghman
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