American Revolutionary War paintings of Isaiah thomas in the Union Oyster House, Boston

Art and paintings of the
American Revolutionary War
by D. W. Roth

as Found in the Restaurant and Historical Landmark in Boston, Ye Olde Union Oyster House (Americas oldest restaurant)
View a copy of an article with these paintings from CNN.com

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Isaiah Thomas
Revolutionary War Printer and Publisher -
Prints of this painting are available for purchase.
This print is only available here and is signed by the artist D. W. Roth.

Isaiah Thomas

Please click image to see enlargements

The Summons, Challenging Freedom of Speech Catalogue No. 518

$20.00 (plus $5 shipping and handling, U.S. only)

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Who was Isaiah Thomas?

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Israel Bissell

Who was Israel Bissell?

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Print of D. W. Roth's painting
"The Summons, Challenging Freedom of Speech":

13 x 19 in. giclee print on archival watercolor paper
signed in pencil by D. W. Roth

The Summons, Challenging Freedom of Speech

Painting by D. W. Roth

Isaiah Thomas being summonsed to the British governing council for blatant defiance of British authority as written and printed by Thomas in the Massachusetts Spy November 14th 1771 issue,

By October, 1771 Isaiah Thomas had moved his press and types from Union Street (near the market) to the South corner of Marshall Lane where it joins Union Street. Today, this would be the site of the left half of Ye Olde Union Oyster House. Here he established his own printing business to set up his Massachusetts Spy office.

Funded by John Hancock, Thomas started to shift his newspaper’s editorial political views from neutral and “open to all parties” to only supporting the side of the patriots, thus openly attacking the British authorities. November the 14^th, 1771 under the pseudonym of “Mucious Scaevola” a writer for Thomas, Joseph Greenleaf, wrote a scathing article attacking Governor Hutchinson, the acting Governor of Boston at that time. Here, among many other attacks, he said Hutchinson was not the legal governor but a usurper and should be removed from office and punished. Greenleaf and Thomas were then summoned to appear before the Provincial Council. Thomas refused to go due to “pressure of business", and Greenleaf lost his position of Justice of the Peace.

On November the 28^th, 1771 in The Massachusetts Spy, Isaiah Thomas came back with a powerful response to the summons, and proceeded to open the doors to the fight for freedom of speech.

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