Gary, we seem to have read some of the same history. Good recap of probabilities. Proclamations of the Committee were likely interpreted and applied by the local militia commanders on an as-needed basis. The Bill of Rights was yet to be, and the war was the focus.
Not focused on in most public school history books is the fact that not all colonists were subscribers to the patriotic cause, and that Tories were present in substantial (in some regions a majority) numbers. Up around my home in central PA there weren't too many Brit supporters, but down in Bucks, Chester and Montgomery counties, not to mention Phila. proper, Tories were like air pollution...they were everywhere. Some farmers sold their grain to the British forces while Washington starved at Valley Forge, because the Brits were paying in pounds sterling while the Patriots were paying in Continental Script, mere promissory notes that said the bearer would get paid, if and when the revolutionary forces were successful in winning the war. Such was the backdrop that the Committee of Safety had dealt to them. Lancaster, being a gun production center, would have reasonably been under maximum scrutiny, regarding expectations. JWH
