The Bostonians Paying the Excise - Man or Tarring & Feathering

Inscriptions

Inscribed, lower left to right: Copied on stone by D.C. Johnston from a print published in London 1774 Lith of Pendleton, Boston, 1830

Label

In this political cartoon, men have tarred and feathered a British customs agent, John Malcolm, to protest the excise tax. The Bostonians hold the collector by the neck and force him to drink tea—a reference to the infamous dumping of imported tea in 1774. Here, Johnston republishes a print originally developed by Philip Dawe from that same year, just months after the event originally occurred. As the focal point of this scene, tea represents both a desired commodity as well as a tool for political leverage and power. 

The cynical expressions of the five men and the contorted figure of the tax collector underline the harsh, mocking challenge contained in this lithograph. Behind the figures, recognizable symbols such as the Liberty Tree, the Stamp Act poster, and the dumping of tea further emphasize these patriots’ appetite for revolution.

From the 2024 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 118, Coffee and Tea in Art: A Brew of Cultural Symbolism, Solace, and Introspection, curated by Jeffrey Liu '24, Class of 1954 Intern

While the threat of British imperialism had faded by 1830, the Revolutionary spirit remained, especially in advance of the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This lithograph updates a print first published in 1774, after American colonists captured the British customs agent John Malcom, covered him in tar and feathers, and forced him to drink tea. In the background, men dump tea into Boston Harbor, an act of protest that took place at the end of 1773 and was afterwards known as the Boston Tea Party. With the Liberty Tree labeled in the background and the Stamp Act torn and turned upside down, the print celebrates the colonists’ resistance to British rule.

From the 2025-26 exhibition Revolution Reconsidered: History, Myth, and Propaganda, curated by Michael W. Hartman (Jonathan Little Cohen Curator of American Art), Haely Chang (Jane and Raphael Bernstein Associate Curator of East Asian Art), Elizabeth Rice Mattison (Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art), Ashley B. Offill (Curator of Collections), and Evonne Fuselier (Hood Museum Board of Advisors Mutual Learning Fellow)

Exhibition History

A Space for Dialogue 118, Coffee and Tea in Art: A Brew of Cultural Symbolism, Solace, and Introspection, Jeffrey Liu '24, Class of 1954 Intern, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 11 - July 7, 2024

American Intellectual and Cultural History Through the Civil War, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, History 30, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 10-September 6, 1992.

Lower Jewett Corridor, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 23-February 21, 1976.

Revolution Reconsidered: History, Myth, and Propaganda, Harteveldt Family Gallery and Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 18, 2025 - August 8, 2026.

Provenance

John Wilmerding; sold to present collection, 1974.

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