Nantucket during the American Revolutionary War era
Because most of this trade was with England, the leading citizens of Nantucket chose to be neutral during the American Revolutionary War, siding neither with those who supported revolution nor with the British Crown, in order to maintain the viability of the island's economy.
A rise in crime rates in London was blamed in part on the city's widespread lack of street lights, which soon became chief among the concerns and prompted the creation of a program to counteract that issue in 1736.
"[4] By the time the American Revolution began in 1775, the island had become the premier whaling economy on the Eastern Seaboard and had developed into a crucial trade partner for the British Empire across the Atlantic.
Due to the island's Wampanoag origin, it developed a liberal and accepting social culture, which prompted a large influx of Quakers who were seeking to escape religious persecution from the British.
British acts of Parliament, the importance of the island's trade with Britain, and the tendency of influential Quakers towards pacifism set the stage for neutrality between the colony and the mother country.
The British Parliament had enacted measures, including the Massachusetts Bay Restraining Bill of 1774, that prohibited trade out of Boston and banned the use of fisheries on the East Coast and in Newfoundland, but exempted Nantucket.
The success of the island's commercial ventures, including "merchants, blacksmiths, coopers, boat-builders, riggers, sailmakers, oil and candle manufacturers, carpenters, seamen, and similar intertwining occupations" was primarily based on trans-Atlantic trade.
Quaker sympathizer and Scottish merchant, Robert Barclay, testified before Parliament as early as 1774 that Nantucket's supply of spermaceti oil was crucial for London's economy, and that neutrality might allow trade with the island to bypass the rebellious factions in Boston and be conducted directly with England.
"[12] Historians have cited Quaker beliefs as being, "a powerful factor in their non-partisanship or neutrality was the spirit of non-resistance",[6] noting that their "well-known aversion to war has proved a far better shield to them than fleets and fortifications could have been," as they were "exposed on all sides, without a single fort, arsenal, or military company.
[13] One historian noted that, "When the sting came during and following the war, the Nantucket oil magnates demonstrated how little their attachment to a new nation or affection for their island home counted against prospective gain from hunting and processing the whale.
Nantucket sent a committee of Benjamin Tucker, Timothy Folger, William Rotch, and Samuel Starbuck was immediately sent to Newport, Rhode Island and New York City to parlay with British commanders so that trade could continue unmolested.
[13]: 591 The British also cooperated with islanders during this time, when, in April 1779, loyalist forces came to Nantucket with orders not to harm or uproot local citizens, but to "destroy rebel property wherever it be found.
[7] As a result, on September 25, 1782 Nantucket convened a town meeting and drafted a letter to the Court of Massachusetts, which explained the islanders' economic constraints and their desire to remain neutral during the war.
