Tarring and Feathering, American Style

Tarring and feathering was an Old World practice dating back to the medieval period. It was brought to British North America by sailors in the mid-eighteenth century. By the late 1760s, it had become a “popular method of intimidating customs officials and castigating informants,” writes historian Benjamin H. Irvin. In the wake of the Townshend Revenue Act of 1766-1767, the practice spread from major ports like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia throughout the colonies as a revolutionary way of attempting to enforce conformity to the cause.