The year 1771 broke upon New Hampshire with international rumors of a possible war with Spain and her ally, France, over the Falkland Islands.   The British army and navy continued to have trouble with desertion and 40 shilling rewards were being posted for the return of British sailors to their ships.   Governor Wentworth began cracking down on violators of the white pine act, a very unpopular measure that kept farmers from clearing their land.    The winter began mild, but then turned bitterly cold by March, with the greatest snowstorm in memory washing away many mills and bridges.

The end of 1770 brought news that a Boston jury had essentially acquitted the Boston Massacre soldiers, and American patriots found this news outrageous.   Commemorations of the March 5th event began taking place on a yearly basis through to and beyond the Revolution.   Endless rumors about war with Spain increased calls for the militia to train and muster.   Fully one thousand men turned up at muster in Marblehead, Mass.   This attention to military duty could take place under the pretense of preparing for war with Spain, but it must have made loyalists nervous at the possibility these troops would be turned against the crown.

All over America, news of a “regulator” revolt in North Carolina was discussed in the newspapers.  In protest against corrupt officials, a band of back country militia closed down court houses and intimidated royal sheriffs.    In May of 1771, Governor Tryon broke up the rebellion and later one of the ringleaders was sentenced to hang.   Political opinion on the regulator’s cause was mixed, with most reporting running against them.

In England, John Wilkes was leading a crusade to print, verbatim, the speeches of members of parliament.  His arrest for doing so was the subject of near constant attention, as well, in the colonies.

In the summer of 1771, Governor Wentworth led a party of country gentlemen from his estate in Wolfesborough on a journey towards the first commencement exercises of Dartmouth University.  By all accounts, everyone had a little too much to drink.

A bad plague of worms hits the apple crops of New England.   Ladies band together into spinning societies to prove America can produce its own wool.   A terrible outbreak of “putrid fever” breaks out in some New England towns, killing as many as 150 people per township.  Though not specific to 1771, there was an ongoing debate about the propriety of masquerade balls in the colonies.

In the fall of 1771, the Brig Resolution, a Yankee ship, had its cargo of molasses impounded at the port of Portsmouth, by customs officials.   A disguised mob appears on the dock, steals back the molasses, and an irate Governor Wentworth offers a reward for their identity.  No one ever comes forward.