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Conceived in Liberty Companion · Volume III, chapter 41 · 12 September 1768

There are the arms

In a long plain hall crowded with men, a stout man in a blue coat and white wig points down at two open chests of upright muskets, a plainly dressed man beside him with folded arms, tall arched windows behind.
Boston, September 1768. Britain is sending troops, and at the town meeting in Faneuil Hall, moderator James Otis points at the town’s chests of muskets and says “there are the Arms.” The meeting orders every citizen to bear arms against a supposed French invasion. Rothbard writes that Bostonians knew very well whose invasion they had in mind. Chapter 41 of Conceived in Liberty.

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Adapted from Murray N. Rothbard, Conceived in Liberty (Mises Institute, 2011), CC BY 3.0.

The story, from several sources

This account blends Rothbard’s chapter with the other sources listed below and has not yet been separated into Rothbard’s own account and the fuller story. Read Rothbard’s chapter 41 for his account.

In the summer of 1768 Boston learned that British regiments were on their way. Governor Bernard had dissolved the Assembly, so the town meeting was the only legal body left, and Otis, Sam Adams and Dr. Joseph Warren planned its session of 12 September. James Otis moderated. Faneuil Hall could not hold the crowd, which an informer put at three thousand, and the meeting moved on to Dr. Sewall’s meeting house. Bernard reported that about four hundred town arms stood in chests in the middle of the hall, and that the chairman, pointing with his hand, said “there are the Arms.” The town voted that every citizen should bear arms against a coming French war nobody believed in. Rothbard notes that the Bostonians knew very well whose invasion they had in mind (CiL, p. 946). The meeting named Otis, Cushing, Samuel Adams and John Hancock to call a convention of towns. Ninety-six towns sent delegates on 22 September, and the convention broke up in haste when the troops landed on 29 September.

Where the record differs from Rothbard

Errata notes. Rothbard’s text and his account above are left as he wrote them. Every erratum.

Conceived in Liberty, p. 946
Rothbard says The Boston town meeting of September 12 (place unnamed) ordered every citizen to bear arms.
The evidence The meeting ran two days and its resolutions are dated 13 September. It met in Faneuil Hall, with the town’s arms in chests in the middle of the hall; an informer says the crowd (about three thousand) was too big and it adjourned to Old South (Bernard to Hillsborough, 16 Sept 1768; Avalon Project).
Source Bernard to Hillsborough, 16 Sept 1768; Avalon Project

Sources

  1. Murray N. Rothbard, Conceived in Liberty (Mises Institute, 2011 single-volume ed.), vol. III, ch. 41, ‘British Troops Occupy Boston’, pp. 945-947. CC BY 3.0. Rothbard
  2. Francis Bernard to the Earl of Hillsborough, Castle William, 16 September 1768, with an informer’s account of the town meeting, The Papers of Francis Bernard, vol. 4 (Colonial Society of Massachusetts), letter 681 (read 2026-09-30): the Town Arms, about 400, in chests in the middle of the hall; the Chairman ‘pointing with his hand added “there are the Arms”’; Otis chosen Moderator; about three thousand present; Faneuil Hall ‘too small’, the meeting adjourned to Dr. Sewall’s meeting house. Primary source
  3. ‘Resolutions of the Boston Town Meeting, September 13, 1768’, Avalon Project, Yale Law School: the declaration on arms and the committee of Otis, Cushing, Samuel Adams and John Hancock to meet with delegates of other towns at Faneuil Hall on 22 September at ten o’clock. Primary source
  4. Joseph Blackburn, portrait of James Otis, 1755, Historic New England (white waistcoat, blue coat, lace collar, powdered wig); see registry/figures/james-otis-jr. Secondary source
  5. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, John Singleton Copley, Portrait of Samuel Adams, about 1772 (plain reddish-brown suit), read 2026-09-30 through a search summary; see registry/figures/samuel-adams. Secondary source
  6. National Park Service, National Register inventory, Faneuil Hall (Boston National Historical Park): 1742 building, originally two stories, 40 by 100 feet, market stalls below and an assembly room above; read 2026-09-30 through a search summary because the PDF would not parse. Secondary source
  7. Era registry entry urban-colonial-1760-1775 (data/cil/registry/eras/), dress and architecture for Boston; its own sources are listed in its notes. Secondary source
  8. Place registry entry faneuil-hall-1768 (data/cil/registry/places/); its own sources are listed there. Secondary source