Note 276 — Chapter II · (continued 2)

Cf. ch. viii. of W. E. Foster’s Stephen Hopkins (Rhode Island Tracts, no. 19), tracing these restrictions of trade as a proximate cause of the Amer. Revolution, and his references. A petition of the town of Boston in 1735, to the General Court, asking for relief from taxation, sets forth the condition of trade at this time, and gives the following schedule of the cost of maintaining the town’s affairs: For the poor, £2,069; the watch, £1,200; ministry, £8,000; other purposes, £4,630; county tax, £1,682; imposts, £1,400. Boston Town Records (1729-1742), p. 120.