In response to the Tea Act of 1773, the Provincial Deputies of North Carolina resolved to boycott all British tea and cloth received after September 10, 1774. The women of Edenton signed an agreement saying they were “determined to give memorable proof of their patriotism” and could not be “indifferent on any occasion that appears nearly to affect the peace and happiness of our country . . . it is a duty that we owe, not only to our near and dear connections . . . but to ourselves.”
The custom of drinking tea was a long-standing social English tradition. Social gatherings were defined by the amount and quality of tea provided. Boycotting a substance that was consumed on a daily basis, and that was so highly regarded in society, demonstrated the colonists’ strong disapproval of the 1773 Tea Act. The Boston Tea Party, in December 1773, resulted in Parliament passing the “Intolerable Acts” as proof of the Crown’s absolute authority. Following the example of their Boston patriots, the women of Edenton boldly protested Britain’s what they considered unjust laws.
News of the Edenton Tea Party quickly reached Britain. During the 1770s, political resistance was common. But an organized women’s movement was not. So, the Edenton Tea Party shocked the Western world. From England, in January 1775, Arthur Iredell wrote his brother, James Iredell, describing England’s reaction to the Edenton Tea Party. According to Arthur Iredell, the incident was not taken seriously because it was led by women. He sarcastically remarked, “The only security on our side … is the probability that there are but few places in America which possess so much female artillery as Edenton.”
The Edenton women were also satirized in a political cartoon published in London in March 1775. Even though the Edenton Tea Party was ridiculed in England, it was praised in the colonies. The women of Edenton represented American frustrations with English monarchical rule and the need for American separation and independence.
Background
In the 1760s, the British government was eager to find new ways to pay for their costly victory in the French & Indian War. First, they began enforcing the trade regulations that governed their North American colonies, cracking down on the smuggling of foreign goods that had been a part of the colonial economy for decades.
In an attempt to solve their financisal worries, in 1767–68, British Parliament passed a series of five acts known as the Townshend Acts. These placed taxes on glass, lead, paints, paper, & tea. The money raised from these taxes was supposed to offset the cost of defending the colonies. But they were very unpopular in the American colonies, who believed the trade regulations the government forced on them were already costly enough. When the new taxes were implemented, colonists refused to buy any British goods at all.
By 1773, the British East India Company was in danger of going bankrupt. To help the East India Company, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773. This law allowed the company to sell tea directly to the colonists without having to use middlemen. This made their prices so low that they were cheaper than any other foreign seller, even with the taxes. The government probably expected that the colonists would be happy to have a perfectly legal, very cheap tea to buy. Instead, the colonists were furious at what they saw as a further abuse of power, & new protests swept the colonies. The famous Boston Tea Party is the most famous Tea Act protest.
The Edenton Tea Party was one of the earliest organized women’s political actions in United States history. On October 25, 1774, Mrs. Penelope Barker arranged, at the home of Mrs. Elizabeth King, fifty-one women in Edenton, North Carolina. Together they formed an alliance wholeheartedly supporting the American cause against “taxation without representation.”
Penelope Barker, one of the signatories of the Edenton Tea Party agreement, wrote: "We, the aforesaid Ladies, do hereby solemnly engage not to conform to that Pernicious Custom of Drinking Tea, or that of importing Goods from Great Britain, until such time as all Acts Prohibitory of our Patriotic Citizens are Repealed"
In response to the British Tea Act of 1773, the Provincial Deputies in the colony of North Carolina resolved to boycott all British tea & cloth received after September 10, 1774. The 51 women of Edenton signed an agreement saying "As we cannot be indifferent on any occasion that appears nearly to affect the peace & happiness of our country, & as it has been thought necessary, for the public good, to enter into several particular resolves by a meeting of Members deputed from the whole Province it is a duty which we owe, not only to our near & dear connections who have concurred in them, but to ourselves who are essentially interested in their welfare, to do everything as far as lies in our power to testify our sincere adherence to the same; & we do therefore accordingly subscribe this paper, as a witness of our fixed intention & solemn determination to do so." (See: “Edenton, North Carolina, October 25, 1774,” Postscript. The Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg, VA: November 3, 1774).
The custom of drinking tea was a long-standing social English tradition. Social gatherings seemed to be defined by the amount & quality of tea provided. Boycotting a substance that was consumed on a daily basis, & that was so highly regarded in society, demonstrated the colonists’ strong disapproval of the 1773 Tea Act. The Boston Tea Party, in December 1773, resulted in Parliament passing the “Intolerable Acts” as proof of the Crown’s absolute authority. Following the example of their Boston patriots, the women of Edenton boldly protested Britain’s what they considered unjust laws.
Satirical Political Cartoon of Edenton Women portrayed with the faces of British Polititions Published in London in March 1775
News of the Edenton Tea Party quickly reached Britain. During the 1770s, political resistance was common. But an organized women’s movement was not. So, the Edenton Tea Party shocked the Western world. From England, in January 1775, Arthur Iredell wrote his brother, James Iredell, describing England’s reaction to the Edenton Tea Party. According to Arthur Iredell, the incident was not taken seriously because it was led by women. He sarcastically remarked, “The only security on our side … is the probability that there are but few places in America which possess so much female artillery as Edenton.”
The Edenton women were also satirized in a political cartoon published in London in March 1775. Even though the Edenton Tea Party was ridiculed in England, it was praised in the colonies. The women of Edenton helped define & represented American frustrations with English monarchical rule & the need for American separation & independence.
The 51 women signers were a diverse group.
Signing one’s name to a public protest of the British government wasn’t a small act. Just as Massachusetts was punished for the events of the Boston Tea Party, it was possible that the women who signed the Edenton Tea Party Resolves might face harsh consequences as well when the British government heard of their protests.
The women who signed the resolves did so even though they had something to lose. The signers were not rash teenagers caught up in the moment. Instead, of the 45 signers who have been identified, 84% of them were married. The average age of the signers was 35 years old. Only 3 signers were younger than 20. For all these women, the decision to sign was likely a deliberate one, & one on which the women carefully weighed their options, thinking not only about their own political beliefs, but also the responsibilities that they owed to their spouses, children, & larger families & communities.
Here are some of the signers of the Edenton Tea Party Resolves. These brief biographies are not complete summaries of their lives but demonstrate the wide breadth of the signers’ backgrounds & experiences.
Signers included a
Women whose average age was 35 years old
84% were Married Signers
73% were Chowan County Residents
22% were Edenton Residents
10% were Bertie County Residents
75% were Interrelated Signers
Signers of the Edenton Tea Party Resolves included Penelope Barker (née Padgett) helped Organize the Tea Party
Whether Penelope Barker truly was the organizer of the resolves or not, it’s clear that she certainly had the leadership skills & organizational capacity to do so. At the time of the signing, Penelope Barker’s husband Thomas had been away for thirteen years, working most of that time as an agent for the colony’s interests in Britain. Though the Barkers maintained a correspondence, Penelope was responsible for the day-to-day management of their property.
Moreover, her husband’s absence was by no means the only hardship Penelope had faced in her life. At age seventeen she lost her sister Elizabeth & subsequently married Elizbeth’s widow John Hodgson, becoming the stepmother to her three nieces & nephews. Just two years later John Hodgson died, leaving Penelope, still a teenager, with five children to care for. Penelope was widowed a second time in 1755 when her next husband James Craven died. By the time of the signing in 1774, Penelope had borne the loss of not only two husbands, but also all five of her biological children.
After the resolves’ signing, Penelope’s husband Thomas finally returned home in 1778 after having escaped Britain via France. The couple later built a house together which still stands at the Edenton waterfront as the welcome center for the Edenton Historical Commission.
Signers of the Edenton Tea Party Resolves included a Noble: Margaret Duckenfield Pearson (née Jolly)
Margaret Jolly was likely born in Lancashire, England in 1719. At age twenty-three, she attracted the attention of Nathaniel Duckenfield, an aristocrat from Cheshire who was nearly her father’s age. Duckenfield had extensive landholdings in England, but also importantly he maintained a plantation near Salmon Creek in Bertie County, North Carolina. Through this connection, Nathaniel had worked as an agent & advocate for the colony during the 1720s.
Margaret & Nathaniel married in 1745 & a year later their son Nathaniel Jr. was born. When Nathaniel Sr. died in 1749, Margaret assumed ownership of the family’s property & in 1756 she arrived in Bertie County to take over the plantation there, called Duckenfield. By the 1760s Margaret had settled permanently in North Carolina & married John Pearson, a lawyer. Margaret’s fortunes improved again when her son Nathaniel Jr. became the Baronet of Dukinfield in 1768. Although Margaret was firmly attached to North Carolina, her son’s aristocratic title tied him to the other side of the Atlantic & he returned to Britain in 1771.
As the American Revolution neared, questions of allegiances put a strain on colonists like Margaret who still held tangible ties to Britain. In 1774 she was among the first signers of the Edenton Tea Party Resolves. Just a year earlier however, her son Nathaniel Jr. had become an officer in the British Army. Perhaps out of respect for his mother’s political leanings, he became an adjutant in 1775, but only on the condition that he never be forced to serve against American forces. Regardless of his own politics however, the State of North Carolina still considered Nathaniel Jr. a loyalist & in 1778 they confiscated his property. Trying to defend her son & maintain the family’s wealth, Margaret unsuccessfully petitioned the state to get his land back.1 Despite the setback, Margaret remained in North Carolina, & she died at the Duckenfield Plantation in 1784.
Signers of the Edenton Tea Party Resolves included a Royal Governor's Heiress: Penelope Dawson (née Johnston)
Penelope Johnston was perhaps one the most unlikely signers of the Edenton Tea Party Resolves. Several of her cousins were also signers, but she, unlike them, was the daughter of formal royal governor of North Carolina Gabriel Johnston. Penelope’s ties to the British establishment did not stop there either. Her grandfather was Charles Eden, another colonial governor, & through these connections Penelope became an heiress to an immense fortune.
When Penelope was orphaned at age eleven, she fell under the guardianship of Virgina’s governor Robert Dinwiddie. Spending time in both Edenton & Williamsburg, Penelope enjoyed a cosmopolitan lifestyle & was unusually highly educated compared to her peers. This is all to say that Penelope’s fortunes were intensely tied to the British Empire.
Despite these ties however, Penelope also had a bit of a rebellious streak. In 1758 she had eloped with John Dawson, a young surveyor from Virginia. Her family initially was shocked by the match, but they eventually came around & the couple settled at Eden House, Governor Eden’s former estate, in Bertie County. There, when the time came in 1774, Penelope Dawson signed the Edenton Tea Party Resolves & firmly affixed her name to the protest of Great Britain’s policies.
Signers of the Edenton Tea Party Resolves included a Churchwarden's Daughter: Anne Hall
Anne Hall was one of the younger signers, aged just twenty years old. Unlike the vast majority of the signers, Anne was unmarried, & given her signature’s placement on the document, she likely followed her mother & older sister Mary in affixing her name.
The Halls were a notable family in the area. Anne & her sister Mary were two of the family’s nine children born out of the union of Clement Hall & Frances Foster. Clement, an Anglican missionary, was also the author of the first non-legal text published in North Carolina, a collection of poems. He died unexpectedly when Anne was just four years old, leaving her mother Frances to manage the large household on a diminished income. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel no longer supported the family following Clement’s death, & it’s possible this soured the Halls toward British policy. Whatever the reason, Anne, her mother, & two of her sisters signed the resolves.
The family’s support of the evolving Patriot cause didn’t stop there either. Not only was Anne’s brother Clement Jr. an officer in the Continental Army, but Anne herself married the colonel of the Chowan County Regiment of the North Carolina Militia, James Blount.
Signerof the Edenton Tea Party Resolvess included a Tavernkeeper: Anne Horniblow (née Rombough
One of the last signers of the Edenton Tea Party Resolves was Anne Horniblow (née Rombough). A lifelong resident of Chowan County, Anne came from a family of skilled craftspeople. Her father John Rombough was a joiner & cabinetmaker, & two of Anne's brothers also followed him into woodworking. When she was about eighteen, her parents arranged for Anne's marriage to John Horniblow, the proprietor of one of Edenton’s local taverns. The Horniblows’ marriage may not have been a happy one, at least at its outset. When they married in November 1772, the town gossip was that Anne “was averse to the Match, & forced to it by her Father & Mother.”
As Mrs. Horniblow, Anne likely worked in the tavern alongside her husband, keeping drinks filled, the floor swept, & fires stoked. There Anne surely overheard many political debates of the day, such as questions of taxation without representation & the balance between royal authority & democracy. On these political questions, Anne sided with the Patriots. In 1774, aged about twenty, Anne Horniblow signed the resolves & pledged to support the colonial boycott movement. Sources suggest Anne’s decision to sign the agreement had her family’s full support. Not only did her husband sign an oath in support of the American government during the later Revolutionary War, but Anne’s father was a member of the Edenton Committee of Safety, an early form of Patriot governance which enforced the boycotts.
Signers of the Edenton Tea Party Resolves included a Colonel's Daughter: Elizabeth Johnston (née Williams)
Elizabeth Williams was born in North Carolina in 1751 & married John Johnston in about 1767. Their union marked a melding of two important political families in northeastern North Carolina. Elizabeth’s father, William Williams, had represented Bertie County in the North Carolina Colonial Assembly. By the time Elizabeth signed the Edenton Tea Party Resolves, her husband John was serving in the body as well. Perhaps spurred on by her support of the boycott agreement, both her father & husband later served as delegates to the North Carolina Provincial Congress.
By the outbreak of the American Revolution, Elizabeth’s family’s patriotic fervor had not diminished. John served as the clerk of the Bertie County Court, where he swore local citizens’ allegiance to the State of North Carolina. Meanwhile her father was a colonel in the Martin County Regiment of the North Carolina Militia. (See: https://mosaicnc.org/edenton-tea-party/signers)
