Journal of Occurrences

In addition to this act of colonial defiance, Hillsborough also heard reports from the Board of Customs—who were in charge of enforcing trade regulations—that Boston was in a state of anarchy.

Subsequent issues appeared once a week, with an average lapse of about twelve days between the reported events and the date of publication.

[3] Historian Richard Frothingham Jr. claimed that William Cooper, the town clerk, did most of the writing; Governor Francis Bernard attributed it to Samuel Adams and his associates.

Historian Oliver M. Dickerson suggests that John Adams or Josiah Quincy II helped with the legal material, such as the discussion of the writs of assistance in April 1769.

[3] Bernard complained in a letter to Lord Hillsborough that "if the Devil himself was of the party, as he virtually is, there could not have been got together a greater collection of impudent, virulent, and seditious lies, perversions of the truth, and misrepresentations, than are to be found in this publication."

A wide view of a port town with several wharves. In the foreground there are eight large sailing ships and an assortment of smaller vessels. Soldiers are disembarking from small boats onto a long wharf. The skyline of the town, with nine tall spires and many smaller buildings, is in the distance. A key at the bottom of the drawing indicates some prominent landmarks and the names of the warships.
Paul Revere 's engraving of British troops landing in Boston in 1768.