The power of III

Summum ius summa iniuria--More law, less justice
--Cicero.

06 November 2010

Third war for American independence, Revolutionists' Guide


Y'all'll know that we have begun the Third War for American Independence.  The first being concluded successfully, and the second fought valiantly, to the bitter end, without success.  

Here's a tradition that would be nice to see revived, say, here:

Tarring and feathering practices of the American Revolution:

Victims were often partly or completely stripped. If the tar applied was hot, the victim’s skin would blister. But few reports indicate that the tar was heated before being applied. Also, in some cases, the tar was painted on over the victim’s clothes. Sometimes the victim was even permitted to wear a sheet or frock to protect his clothes. Hot or not, tar applied directly to the skin and allowed to dry would be difficult to get off. Sometimes, strips of skin would come off in the process of removing the tar.
The feathers from two pillows were about enough to cover a victim. In one incident, a feather mattress was cut open and dumped on a victim. In another case, members of a crowd repeatedly hurled a goose at their victim. In still another incident the feathers on the victim were set on fire.

Five-Hour Ordeal in Boston

In one of the cruelest tar-and-feather incidents, a man in Boston had his arm dislocated as he was stripped naked on one of the coldest nights of the year. Then over the course of five hours, he was not only tarred and feathered, but also carried through the town on a cart, beaten with clubs, whipped, forced to stand at the town gallows with a rope around his neck, and then forced to drink tea until he vomited.
In Charleston, South Carolina, one tarring and feathering apparently ended with a lynching. A mob there seized a minister suspected of being an enemy. After tarring and feathering the man, they erected a gibbet, and then hanged the man.
Sometimes, crowds applied tar and feathers to houses of those who violated patriotic demands. On one occasion, a merchant found his horse tarred and feathered. In Monmouth County, New Jersey, a pamphlet critical of the Continental Congress was given a “suit of tar and turkey-buzzard's feathers” and nailed to a pillory post.
People on the other side of the quarrel also employed the tactic. British soldiers, annoyed with constant harassment on the eve of the war, tarred and feathered a Massachusetts man who illegally attempted to buy a gun from a soldier. They also forced him to wear a placard that read "American Liberty: a Speciment of Democrasy" and carted him around to the tune of Yankee Doodle.
Records indicate that crowds of patriotic women also applied tar and feathers. In Stamford, Connecticut, women got word that a local mother had named her newborn after a former British commander. About 170 women gathered, marched to the mother’s house, and presented the mother “with a suit of tar and feathers.”

For Speaking Against Continental Congress

According to a contemporary newspaper report, women in Kinderhook, New York, who had gathered for a quilting bee, “tarred and feathered” a man for speaking against the Continental Congress. The “tar” they used was molasses. The “feathers” were the “downy tops of flags”—probably cattails—from a nearby meadow.


Modern equivalent materials:  Gorilla glue, Super glue, JB Weld, goose down available in bulk...





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