March 21, 1776

Tarring and feathering was a gruesome means of fighting back against British tyranny. Protestors would pour hot pitch onto the skin of a person who was loyal to the king and then throw feathers at them. Other acts of corporal violence typically accompanied this event. 

In 1776, many people who wanted to remain loyal put their hopes on the king’s Commissioners for Restoring Peace. Rumors and speculation spread through colonial newspapers about how many commissioners would come to North America, who they would be, and what powers they would have to bring an end to the conflict. As it became clear that the commissioners’ authority would be limited to the ability to give pardons to anyone who had been caught up in the revolution, the idea of tarring and feathering loyalists resurfaced in the Pennsylvania Evening Post. One of the newspaper’s correspondents speculated about whether it would be a “featherable” offense “for a man to be detected” with one of the commissioners’ pardons “in his pocket.”

Pennsylvania Evening Post
Printed by Benjamin Towne

A correspondent upon hearing that the real errand of the Commissioners coming from England was to grant Pardons, from the King, asked, “Whether it would be featherable for a man to be detected with one of them in his pocket.”