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Digital Paxton: Digital Collection, Critical Edition, and Teaching Platform

Democracy and Dispossession: The Legacy of the Paxton Crisis

The Paxton crisis unfolded on the eve of the American Revolution. Relative to other northern colonial assemblies, Pennsylvania’s borderlands settlers possessed less representation in the legislature. The 1764 election, however, was a turning point, and Paxton supporters gained greater representation in the assembly.

The Stamp Act crisis of 1765 manifested a similar crisis of representation in the British empire. Colonists argued that colonial assemblies, not parliament, had the right to impose direct taxes. Although parliament repealed the Stamp Act, the crisis continued with the Townshend and Tea Acts, and helped to precipitate the American revolution.

The Northwest Ordinance (1787) resolved the tension between democratic representation and westward colonization, in favor of both, but at the expense of native sovereignty.

The Paxton crisis foreshadowed this resolution. The territory was carved out of the trans-Appalachian west, including territories contested by the Paxtons. As those territories secured statehood, they were admitted with equal representation, on the same constitutional footing as the original colonies. By the same token, the Northwest Ordinance formalized the dispossession of native peoples residing in those territories and provided a template for subsequent colonization.

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The Election, a Medley A pro-Franklin cartoon depicting a crowd gathered to vote at the Philadelphia courthouse during the Pennsylvania Assembly Election of October 1764. The print advocates Franklin's appointment as provincial agent to Britain despite his election loss which was a result of his double-sided politics in dealing with the "Paxton Boys;" white frontiersmen who murdered peaceful Native Americans. Contains thirty-three verses attributed to Rev. Isaac Hunt to be sung to various tunes. Created as an attack on satirist James Dove, referred to in this title as "Squire Lilliput Professor of Scurrility," in response to his anti-Franklin print, "The Paxton Expedition." The courthouse crowd includes caricatures of James Dove and five African Americans, including a woman stating "Mase Lidiput you puchuss a me;" a reference to a character pursued sexually by Dove in an earlier anti-Dove cartoon, "A Conference between the Devil and Mr. Dove" (1764). Place and date of publication provided by Snyder and Murrell. Possibly after the work of Henry Dawkins. Manuscript note on recto in Watson's hand: Wrote by the Revd. Isaac Hunt at or before 1764 - when Franklin was made agent to London for this "Medley" says "Franklin will be agent." [and] Property of John F. Watson. Manuscript note on verso: Purchased from John F. Watson, Esq. June 14 1860. C.P. [Charles Poulson].