The Globe reports that Governor Baker sees progress through compromise (“Baker sees slow change bearing fruit,’’ Page A1, Jan. 25). In his State of the Commonwealth speech Tuesday, Charlie Baker praised the reasonableness of Massachusetts, birthplace of the American Revolution, where colonists, not seeking compromise, dumped British tea into Boston Harbor.

The governor owes much of his considerable popularity to his agility in walking a fine line in a state full of Democrats, and with a Republican administration in Washington. This feat was never more evident than in his public declaration that he would not vote for Donald Trump.

It was a surprise then to read last week of how he headed to Washington, not only for the inauguration, but to attend some pre-inaugural celebrations. Surely, I thought, we will see the governor on stage beside Mayor Marty Walsh and Senator Elizabeth Warren when they speak to the crowd on Boston Common on Saturday, the day after the inauguration. I was wrong. Baker apparently was too busy working on his upcoming speech.

Of course Baker is not alone in trying to have it both ways. Politicians of both parties are scrambling to walk back positions taken during the contentious days of the campaign. But here in Massachusetts, we remember the original patriots, men like John Adams and Paul Revere, men of conviction and courage, who called not for compromise but for resistance and, if need be, revolution.

Ann Madigan

Milton