Could it be prudent to entrust the public good to a
body "whose private interest is glaringly against us?
body "whose private interest is glaringly against us?
Arthur Schlesinger - Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution
; Rowland, K.
M.
, Life of George Mason (New York, 1892), voL
>, PP- 392-393.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
137
amble, it was declared that the debt for British merchandise
was very great and that the means of paying were becoming
more and more precarious because of the restrictive legis-
lation of Parliament, particularly the Townshend Acts.
The subscribers pledged themselves never thereafter to im-
port any goods, which were then or should thereafter be
subject to a revenue duty, save paper not exceeding eight
shillings per ream. They agreed, further, not to import
thereafter a long list of luxuries and fineries from Great
Britain or any part of Europe, this abstention to continue
while the duties continued or until a general meeting of
subscribers decided otherwise. 1 In all cases, orders already
sent for goods might be received; and the subscribers were
not restricted from buying such goods in local trade until
September 1. They further agreed to buy no slaves im-
ported after November 1. There were also resolutions to
encourage frugality and to prevent the killing of lambs.
Copies of the association were carried back to the coun-
ties by the gentlemen who attended the Williamsburg meet-
ing. One month later Washington was able to report from
1 Certain Irish wares imported from Ireland were excluded. This
blacklist was typical of similar lists in other of the plantation provinces
and is here given in full: "Spirits, Wines, Cyder, Perry, Beer, Ale,
Malt, Barley, Pease, Beef, Pork, Fish, Butter, Cheese, Tallow, Candles,
Oil, Fruit, Sugar, Pickles, Confectionary, Pewter, Hoes, Axes, Watches,
Clocks, Tables, Chairs, Looking Glasses, Carriages, Joiners and Cab-
inet Work of all Sorts, Upholstery of all Sorts, Trinkets and Jewellery,
Plate and Gold, and Silversmith's Work of all Sorts, Ribbons and
Millinery of all Sorts, Lace of all Sorts; India Goods of all Sorts, ex-
cept Spices; Silks of all Sorts except Sewing Silk; Cambrick, Lawn,
Muslin; Gauze except Boulting Goths; Callico or Cotton Stuffs of
more then 2s. per Yard; Linens of more than 2s. per Yard; Woollens,
Worsted Stuffs of all Sorts of more than 1s. 6d. per Yard; Broad
Cloths of all Kinds at more than 8s. per Yard; Narrow Cloths of all
Kinds at more than 3s. per Yard; Hats; Stockings (Plaid and Irish
Hose excepted); Shoes and Boots, Saddles and all Manufactures of
Leather and Skins of all Kinds. "
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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
Fairfax county that " the association in this and in the two
neighboring counties of Prince William and Loudoun is
compleat, or near it. " * In Dinwiddie county nearly one
thousand people signed. Its reception generally was favor-
able, the merchants being the only class to hold aloof. 2 As
we shall see, after a year's experience under the association
it was found necessary to adopt a new plan, which the mer-
chants evinced a willingness to support.
Meantime, a similar movement had been going forward
in Maryland. In the middle of March, 1769, the Mer-
chants' Committee of Philadelphia had transmitted their
agreement to the merchants of Baltimore and Chester with
the admonition that, "though the Merchants and traders
here have entered into this agreement without any condition,
yet many will be very uneasy under it if you do not come
into the Like. " * The result was that, on March 30, the
merchants of Baltimore adopted an agreement.
Outside of this chief commercial center, there was total
apathy among the traders and factors. "Atticus" came
forward in the Maryland Gasette, May 11, 1769, with a plea
to the inhabitants of the province not to wait on the factors
to act--for they were powerless because of their English
connections--but to take measures for themselves against
the use of British fineries. The principal inhabitants of
Annapolis and Anne Arundel county led the way on May
23 with an association for a limited importation. Soon
similar associations had been entered into by most of the
1 Washington, Writings (Ford), vol. ii, p. 269 n.
? AT. Y. Journ. , Aug. 10, 1769; 5. C. Gas. , Sept. 12.
1 Papers of Phila. Merchants, pp. 5-6. A letter of April 17 from
Bristol, England, to Philadelphia affirmed: "Some People here are
evading the Resolution of your Merchants. Large Quantities of Goods
now are shipping for Maryland which are intended for your Place and
New York. " N. Y. Journ. , June 29, 1769.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
139
counties of the province. 1 The promoters of the original
Annapolis association now invited representatives from each
county to meet at Annapolis and draw up a uniform associa-
tion for the whole province. "Merchants, Traders, Free-
holders, Mechanics and other Inhabitants " were represented
at the meeting on June 22.
The association adopted closely resembled the Virginia
agreement in its preamble of justification, its pledges against
lamb consumption, and its resolutions against the importa-
tion of dutied articles and of foreign luxuries, save that in
the latter case the Maryland list was more than twice as
long. In providing machinery of enforcement, the Mary-
land association went beyond any plan yet formulated in any
province. The subscribers, whether merchants, tradesmen
or manufacturers, agreed not to take advantage of the pros-
pective scarcity of goods but to maintain the prices usual
during the last three years. Business relations were to be
severed with any persons acting contrary to the spirit of
the association; they were to be considered "Enemies to
the Liberties of America" and treated "on all Occasions
with the Contempt they deserve. " The subscribers further
pledged themselves not to purchase from any other province
the articles that were debarred by the agreement. The
association was to continue in force until the Townshend
revenue act was repealed or until a general meeting of county
representatives should decide otherwise. Twelve copies of
the paper were sent to each county to be signed by the
people. 2
1 Md. Hist. Mag. , vol. iii, p. 144.
1 Ibid. , pp. 144-149; also Md. Gas. , June 29, 1769. Again on December
21, a numerous meeting assembled at Annapolis, including many mem-
bers of the county committees, and resolved unanimously that the asso-
ciation be "most strictly adhered to and preserved inviolate. " Ibid. ,
Dec. 21, 1769; also Pa. Gaz. , Jan. 4, 1770.
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? I4o THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
The mercantile influence in South Carolina politics was
stronger than in any of the other plantation provinces, al-
though, of course, it was very different in character from
that in the commercial provinces. Charleston was the most
important trading town of the South; and its citizens domin-
ated the politics of the province. The movement for non-
importation was supported by the workingmen of Charles-
ton, who, for some years, had been developing a degree of
group consciousness, and by the planters of the province.
In the election of the new lower house of the Assembly in
October, 1768, the mechanics of the two town parishes ven-
tured to make up a slate and succeeded in securing the
election of three of their men, or one-half of their ticket. 1
In the same election, the planting representation in the
legislature was vastly increased, because of the admission
of four thousand freeholders to the electorate through the
establishment of parish boundaries in the interior. 2
The chief leader of the forces for non-importation was
Christopher Gadsden, a native-born merchant who had
learned business methods in the commercial provinces and
who possessed large planting interests, also. His indomit-
able spirit was illustrated by his conduct upon the death of
his wife in January, 1769, when he appeared in a suit of
blue homespun at the funeral rather than wear imported
black cloth. 8 His chief lieutenant among the mechanic
class was Peter Timothy, printer of the South Carolina
Gasette and correspondent of the Massachusetts Adamses.
The members of the new Assembly lent moral support to
the cause. The standing order for the wearing of wigs
1 ? C. Gas. , Oct. 3, 10, 1768.
1 Brit. Papers ("Sparks MM. "), vol. ii, pp. 193-195.
1" The whole expense of her funeral, of the manufacture of England,
did not amount to more than 3! . ros. our currency. " Boz. News-Letter,
Mch. 9, 1769.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
141
and stockings was altered so as to permit members to
transact committee business in caps and long trousers. If
the Assembly had occasion to send a committee to greet a
newly-arrived governor, wrote a shocked contemporary,
"he would probably from their dress take them for so
many unhappy persons ready for execution who had come
to petition him for a pardon. " 1
In September, 1768, a letter arrived from the Boston
Committee of Merchants, urging the Charleston merchants
to adopt regulations of non-importation. The letter was
handed about among several of the principal merchants but
received no favor; and the body of merchants were not even
called together to confer upon it. 2 Governor Bull wrote
home approvingly of this "silent neglect;" but a great
many people began to feel differently, especially when re-
ports of the widespread adoption of agreements in the
North continued to pour in and hope of relief from Parlia-
ment grew smaller. The South Carolina Gazette of Febru-
ary 2, 1769 published a form of agreement for the non-
consumption of hnports, which all people were advised to
adopt unless news of the repeal of the Townshend duties
should come speedily. A few days later, "A Planter"
wrote in favor of an association to buy no newly-imported
slaves until American rights should be restored. * In the
latter part of May, another " Planter" urged his brethren
to foster local manufacturing and to patronize non-importers
only. "You cannot expect the merchants will begin this
matter themselves," he wrote. ". . . Oblige them to it, by
declaring you will deal with none that do import extra
articles," and, by this method, you will bring about "a
1 S. C. Gas. , Nov. 2, 1769.
1 5. C. 6r Am. Gen. Gas. , July 10, 1769; B. if. Papers ("Sparks MM. "),
vol. ii, p. 195.
'5'. C. Gas. Gf Country Journ. , Feb. 7, 1769.
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? 142
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
happy Coalition of our Interest and that of Merchants into
one immediate self-interest. " l These various pleas brought
no satisfactory results. 2
Evidently the time had arrived to force the issue on the
merchants. Gadsden opened the hostilities on June 22 by
writing an article, under the pseudonym, "Pro Grege et
Rege," addressed to the " Planters, Mechanicks and Free-
holders . . . no ways concerned in the importation of
British manufactures. " a The importers of European goods
were stigmatized as strangers in the province, many of
them of a very few years' residence. To listen to any
more assurances that the revenue acts would be repealed if
the people remained quiet, was declared to be folly. Had
the people had enough real friends among the merchants to
obtain even one meeting to consult what they could do to
aid the general good, though every newspaper informed
them of the generous actions of the merchants to the north-
ward? On the contrary, had not the people been "af-
fronted with numberless weak and groundless reasons . . .
in order to frighten and deter" them from acting as they
ought?
Could it be prudent to entrust the public good to a
body "whose private interest is glaringly against us? "
Let the freeholders and fixed settlers resolve upon non-
consumption, and the merchants would immediately decide
not to import. A suggested form of agreement was ap-
pended to the article.
1 S. C. Gas. , June 1, 1769.
1 It was claimed that a number of people in different parts of the
province did come into the association, proposed on February 2, by a
show of hands; but the evidence of this is not very satisfactory. Ibid. ,
June 8, 1769.
1 S. C. Co*. , June 22, 1769. Replies were made by "The Merchants
of Charles-Town," S. C. & Am. Gen. Gas. , July 10, and by "Pro
Libertate et Leffe," S. C. Gas. , July 13; but Gadsden's views were not
effectively refuted.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
The following week, the South Carolina Gasette pub-
lished a non-importation agreement, which was being pushed
by Gadsden and Peter Timothy and which had already been
subscribed by a number of people, including twenty-five
members of the Assembly. This form was recommended
as one suitable for workingmen and planters; and it was
announced that the present measure would supersede any
earlier forms that might have been accepted. Necessity for
this measure was attributed to the heavy and unconstitu-
tional burden of the Townshend revenue acts and the failure
of petitions to secure relief. The agreement was to be oper-
ative until the acts were repealed. By its provisions, the
subscribers agreed to stop all importation from Great
Britain thereafter, and to countermand all orders, wherever
possible, except for negro cloth, osnaburgs and duffel
blankets, workmen's tools, nails, woolcards, cardwire, can-
vas, ammunition, books, salt and coal. They agreed that
prices should not advance; and that they would promote
American manufactures and discard the use of mourning.
The inhabitants were given notice to sign the subscription
within one month, on pain of being boycotted. 1
Thp mechanjffr of Charleston met under Liberty Tree on
Tulv j and A to act nnon theL agreement: and after inserting
two new articles, the amended agreement was quickly signed
by two hundred and thirty people. The added parts pro-
vided that no goods, usually imported from Britain, should
be purchased from transient traders; and that no negroes
should be bought who were brought into the province after
January 1, 1770. A few days later, some of the mechanics
began to make a list of the merchants who signed the agree-
ment with the avowed purpose of trading only with such. 8
The great body of the merchants would have nothing
1 5. C. Gas. . June 29. 1769. * Ibid. , July 6, 13, 1769.
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? I44 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
to do with these proceedings, objecting bitterly to the
non-representative character of the meetings which had
formed the agreement, and denouncing the measure as
"an unjust attempt of one part of the community . . . to
throw a burthen on the rest, more grievous than ever was
conceived by the most arbitrary minister of the most des-
potic King. " They charged that the agreement was so
framed as to enable the planters and mechanics to import
the articles that they deemed indispensable, while the mer-
chants received no special favors; and they considered that
their interests were assailed by the mourning agreement,
since their stores were well stocked with mourning ma-
terials. 1 The merchants held their first meeting to con-
sider the situation on Friday afternoon, June 30, and, after
appointing a committee to draw up a report, adjourned to
July 7, when final action was taken. Nearly eighty mer-
chants were present at the adjourned meeting. The non-
importation retaliations, wh|ch themeeting- adopted, were
much less r1gorous than thrw ot tfr> ~t*-r inhabitant!
The agreement was limited to January 1, 1771, unless the
revenue acts should be repealed sooner; and a larger and
different list of articles was permitted to be imported. All
the other terms of the rival agreement were taken over by
the merchants, except the pledges for promoting local
manufacturing and for casting aside mourning apparel. In
addition, it was specified that, because of the heavy duty,
no wine should be imported or marketed during the year
1770. 8
Affairs were now in a bad state of confusion. Two
forms of agreement were being actively circulated for signa-
tures; and the feeling of animosity between the classes was
1 " The Merchants of Charles-Town," 5". C. & Am. Gen. Ga*. , July
13, 1769-
1 5. C. Gas. , July 6, 13, 1769.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
growing each day more acute. "A Mechanic" demanded
of the public how the planters and mechanics could be ex-
pected to subscribe to an agreement which did not contain
one syllable in favor of American manufactures or any
provision against the use of mourning. 1 The intolerable
situation was brought to an end by overtures from the
merchants for a joint committee to draft a uniform agree-
ment containing the p^ontialg nf thp twrv formg The
joint committee completed its work on Wednesday, July 19.
On the following day, the merchants unanimously accepted
the plan that had been agreed upon, and appointed a com-
mittee of thirteen to act as an executive body for doing
"whatever might be farther necessary to give Force to the
new Association. " 2 On Saturday, the twenty-second, a
great meeting was held, under Liberty Tree, of the me-
chanics and such planters as happened to be in town.
Christopher Gadsden read the new form, paragraph by
paragraph, so that objections might be offered, but the whole
was immediately voted satisfactory. * The association
was quickly signed by two hundred and sixty-eight people,
headed by the members of the House of Representatives
who were in town. A committee of thirteen planters and
of as many mechanics was appointed to serve with the
merchants' committee as one General Committee of thirty-
nine, for the purpose of supervising the enforcement of
the association. 4 By the following Thursday, one hundred
and forty-two merchants had signed the new resolutions.
1 5. C. Gaz. , July 13, 1769.
1 Ibid. , July 27, 1769; also Bos. News-Letter, Aug. 17.
1 5. C. Gas. , July 27, 1769; Bos. Gas. , Aug. 14. The names of the
members of the General Committee may be found in MoCrady, S. C.
under Royal Govt. , p. 651 n.
* Among the planters named were some who had mercantile interests
as well. Before the vote was taken, Gadsden withdrew his own name,
and induced the meeting to strike out of the planters' list all others
who were similarly situated.
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? 146
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
The new association represented a victory for the non-
mercantile classes, in most respects, although it contained
most of the provisions of both earlier associations. In one
respect, it was the most comprehensive agreement on the
continent, for it was to remain in operation until the various
regulatory acts of Parliament, including the establishment
of the Customs Board and the extension of vice-admiralty
jurisdiction, were repealed. The subscribers contracted to
import no European or East Indian goods from Great
Britain or elsewhere, except such orders as it was too late
to countermand and excluding a list of articles which com-
prehended all those of the earlier agreements. They en-
gaged to maintain the usual prices; to foster provincial
manufactures; to dispense with mourning apparel; to trade
with no transient vessels for any goods after November I,
save salt and coal; to import no negroes from Africa dur-
ing the year 1770 nor to import any wine after January 1,
1770. Finally a boycott was declared against every resident
of the province, who failed to sign within one month; and
any subscriber who became delinquent was to be treated with
"the utmost contempt. " Later in the year, the General
Committee amended the association so as to include a non-
exportation of tanned leather until the revenue acts were
repealed, since saddlery and shoes were no longer to be im-
ported from abroad. 1
Effects of the mourning regulation were soon manifest;
and by October the use of scarves and gloves at funerals
was totally discarded at Charleston. 2 The practice of the
wealthier families of educating their sons in Great Britain
was, in a number of cases, given up, " now that the Mother
Country seems unfriendly to us. " Thus, in August, 1769,
15. C. Gaz. , Oct. 26, 1769.
'Ibid. , Oct. 5, 1769.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM 147
seven youths sailed on the same vessel to Philadelphia to
enter the college there. 1 Some sporadic interest was shown
in manufacturing.
The . situation in Georgia revealed the same discord be-
tween the merchants and the other 1nhabitants that existed
elsewhere in the plantation provinces. Spurred on by a
letter from the General Committee of South Carolina, a
radical group, known as the "Amicable Society," met at
Liberty Hall in Savannah, and issued a call for a meeting
of all inhabitants on Tuesday, September 12, to consider
methods of obtaining relief from the Townshend Acts.
Notwithstanding the claim that "Merchants, Planters,
Tradesmen and others" attended the public gathering, it is
evident that the merchants, if any were present, formed an
ineffective minority. A committee was appointed to submit
a form of agreement to the inhabitants a week later. 2
The merchants of Savannah now determined to head off
the popular movement; and three days before the appointed
time they assembled at a private house and adopted an agree-
ment against the importation of dutied articles alone. In
the preamble, the recent acts of Parliament were declared
unconstitutional; and the particular grievance of Georgia
was asserted to be the requirement that the duties should
be paid in specie, this in face of the fact that the stoppage
of the Spanish trade, some years before, had plugged the
source of specie supply. *
Their efforts proved unavailing. The mass meeting of
September 19 adopted a comprehensive agreement, pat-
terned after that of South Carolina of July 20 and 22. The
terms of the agreement were to expire with the repeal of the
1S. C. Gas. , Aug. 24, 1769.
1 Ga. Gas. , Sept. 6, 13, 1769.
* Ibid. , Sept. 20, 1769; also White, Ga. Hist. Colls. , p. 42.
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? 148 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
Townshend duties. The subscribers engaged to import no
European or East Indian goods, save thirty-seven varieties
and such former orders as it was too late to countermand.
They pledged themselves to sell goods at the customary
rates; to promote provincial manufactures, and to discard
mourning; to import no negroes from Africa after June 1,
1770 nor to import any wine after March 1 of the same
year. All trade should be severed with inhabitants of the
province and with transient traders who neglected to sign
the agreement within five weeks; and every violator should
be deemed " no Friend to his Country. " * This agreement
adopted, it remained for the future to reveal whether the
merchants would deem themselves bound by an ordinance
not of their own making.
All the southern provinces but North Carolina had now
taken action. The excellent example of the neighboring prov-
inces seemed to make little impression on North Carolina.
Here, as elsewhere in the South, the merchants of the chief
trading community used their influence to retard the move-
ment. 2 Finally, on September 30, 1769, under the leader-
ship of Cornelius Harnett, the " Sons of Liberty" of Wil-
mington and Brunswick adopted resolutions of non-im-
portation. 1 The next step was the adoption of a provincial
association; and this was accomplished under circumstances
closely parallel to those in Virginia six months earlier. It
was the verbatim adoption of the defiant resolutions of Vir-
ginia that caused Governor Tryon to dissolve the North
Carolina Assembly. The members, in their private capaci-
ties, then held a meeting in the courthouse at Newbern; and
1 Ca. Gas. , Sept. 20, 1769; also Ga. Rev. Recs.
>, PP- 392-393.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
137
amble, it was declared that the debt for British merchandise
was very great and that the means of paying were becoming
more and more precarious because of the restrictive legis-
lation of Parliament, particularly the Townshend Acts.
The subscribers pledged themselves never thereafter to im-
port any goods, which were then or should thereafter be
subject to a revenue duty, save paper not exceeding eight
shillings per ream. They agreed, further, not to import
thereafter a long list of luxuries and fineries from Great
Britain or any part of Europe, this abstention to continue
while the duties continued or until a general meeting of
subscribers decided otherwise. 1 In all cases, orders already
sent for goods might be received; and the subscribers were
not restricted from buying such goods in local trade until
September 1. They further agreed to buy no slaves im-
ported after November 1. There were also resolutions to
encourage frugality and to prevent the killing of lambs.
Copies of the association were carried back to the coun-
ties by the gentlemen who attended the Williamsburg meet-
ing. One month later Washington was able to report from
1 Certain Irish wares imported from Ireland were excluded. This
blacklist was typical of similar lists in other of the plantation provinces
and is here given in full: "Spirits, Wines, Cyder, Perry, Beer, Ale,
Malt, Barley, Pease, Beef, Pork, Fish, Butter, Cheese, Tallow, Candles,
Oil, Fruit, Sugar, Pickles, Confectionary, Pewter, Hoes, Axes, Watches,
Clocks, Tables, Chairs, Looking Glasses, Carriages, Joiners and Cab-
inet Work of all Sorts, Upholstery of all Sorts, Trinkets and Jewellery,
Plate and Gold, and Silversmith's Work of all Sorts, Ribbons and
Millinery of all Sorts, Lace of all Sorts; India Goods of all Sorts, ex-
cept Spices; Silks of all Sorts except Sewing Silk; Cambrick, Lawn,
Muslin; Gauze except Boulting Goths; Callico or Cotton Stuffs of
more then 2s. per Yard; Linens of more than 2s. per Yard; Woollens,
Worsted Stuffs of all Sorts of more than 1s. 6d. per Yard; Broad
Cloths of all Kinds at more than 8s. per Yard; Narrow Cloths of all
Kinds at more than 3s. per Yard; Hats; Stockings (Plaid and Irish
Hose excepted); Shoes and Boots, Saddles and all Manufactures of
Leather and Skins of all Kinds. "
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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
Fairfax county that " the association in this and in the two
neighboring counties of Prince William and Loudoun is
compleat, or near it. " * In Dinwiddie county nearly one
thousand people signed. Its reception generally was favor-
able, the merchants being the only class to hold aloof. 2 As
we shall see, after a year's experience under the association
it was found necessary to adopt a new plan, which the mer-
chants evinced a willingness to support.
Meantime, a similar movement had been going forward
in Maryland. In the middle of March, 1769, the Mer-
chants' Committee of Philadelphia had transmitted their
agreement to the merchants of Baltimore and Chester with
the admonition that, "though the Merchants and traders
here have entered into this agreement without any condition,
yet many will be very uneasy under it if you do not come
into the Like. " * The result was that, on March 30, the
merchants of Baltimore adopted an agreement.
Outside of this chief commercial center, there was total
apathy among the traders and factors. "Atticus" came
forward in the Maryland Gasette, May 11, 1769, with a plea
to the inhabitants of the province not to wait on the factors
to act--for they were powerless because of their English
connections--but to take measures for themselves against
the use of British fineries. The principal inhabitants of
Annapolis and Anne Arundel county led the way on May
23 with an association for a limited importation. Soon
similar associations had been entered into by most of the
1 Washington, Writings (Ford), vol. ii, p. 269 n.
? AT. Y. Journ. , Aug. 10, 1769; 5. C. Gas. , Sept. 12.
1 Papers of Phila. Merchants, pp. 5-6. A letter of April 17 from
Bristol, England, to Philadelphia affirmed: "Some People here are
evading the Resolution of your Merchants. Large Quantities of Goods
now are shipping for Maryland which are intended for your Place and
New York. " N. Y. Journ. , June 29, 1769.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
139
counties of the province. 1 The promoters of the original
Annapolis association now invited representatives from each
county to meet at Annapolis and draw up a uniform associa-
tion for the whole province. "Merchants, Traders, Free-
holders, Mechanics and other Inhabitants " were represented
at the meeting on June 22.
The association adopted closely resembled the Virginia
agreement in its preamble of justification, its pledges against
lamb consumption, and its resolutions against the importa-
tion of dutied articles and of foreign luxuries, save that in
the latter case the Maryland list was more than twice as
long. In providing machinery of enforcement, the Mary-
land association went beyond any plan yet formulated in any
province. The subscribers, whether merchants, tradesmen
or manufacturers, agreed not to take advantage of the pros-
pective scarcity of goods but to maintain the prices usual
during the last three years. Business relations were to be
severed with any persons acting contrary to the spirit of
the association; they were to be considered "Enemies to
the Liberties of America" and treated "on all Occasions
with the Contempt they deserve. " The subscribers further
pledged themselves not to purchase from any other province
the articles that were debarred by the agreement. The
association was to continue in force until the Townshend
revenue act was repealed or until a general meeting of county
representatives should decide otherwise. Twelve copies of
the paper were sent to each county to be signed by the
people. 2
1 Md. Hist. Mag. , vol. iii, p. 144.
1 Ibid. , pp. 144-149; also Md. Gas. , June 29, 1769. Again on December
21, a numerous meeting assembled at Annapolis, including many mem-
bers of the county committees, and resolved unanimously that the asso-
ciation be "most strictly adhered to and preserved inviolate. " Ibid. ,
Dec. 21, 1769; also Pa. Gaz. , Jan. 4, 1770.
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? I4o THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
The mercantile influence in South Carolina politics was
stronger than in any of the other plantation provinces, al-
though, of course, it was very different in character from
that in the commercial provinces. Charleston was the most
important trading town of the South; and its citizens domin-
ated the politics of the province. The movement for non-
importation was supported by the workingmen of Charles-
ton, who, for some years, had been developing a degree of
group consciousness, and by the planters of the province.
In the election of the new lower house of the Assembly in
October, 1768, the mechanics of the two town parishes ven-
tured to make up a slate and succeeded in securing the
election of three of their men, or one-half of their ticket. 1
In the same election, the planting representation in the
legislature was vastly increased, because of the admission
of four thousand freeholders to the electorate through the
establishment of parish boundaries in the interior. 2
The chief leader of the forces for non-importation was
Christopher Gadsden, a native-born merchant who had
learned business methods in the commercial provinces and
who possessed large planting interests, also. His indomit-
able spirit was illustrated by his conduct upon the death of
his wife in January, 1769, when he appeared in a suit of
blue homespun at the funeral rather than wear imported
black cloth. 8 His chief lieutenant among the mechanic
class was Peter Timothy, printer of the South Carolina
Gasette and correspondent of the Massachusetts Adamses.
The members of the new Assembly lent moral support to
the cause. The standing order for the wearing of wigs
1 ? C. Gas. , Oct. 3, 10, 1768.
1 Brit. Papers ("Sparks MM. "), vol. ii, pp. 193-195.
1" The whole expense of her funeral, of the manufacture of England,
did not amount to more than 3! . ros. our currency. " Boz. News-Letter,
Mch. 9, 1769.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
141
and stockings was altered so as to permit members to
transact committee business in caps and long trousers. If
the Assembly had occasion to send a committee to greet a
newly-arrived governor, wrote a shocked contemporary,
"he would probably from their dress take them for so
many unhappy persons ready for execution who had come
to petition him for a pardon. " 1
In September, 1768, a letter arrived from the Boston
Committee of Merchants, urging the Charleston merchants
to adopt regulations of non-importation. The letter was
handed about among several of the principal merchants but
received no favor; and the body of merchants were not even
called together to confer upon it. 2 Governor Bull wrote
home approvingly of this "silent neglect;" but a great
many people began to feel differently, especially when re-
ports of the widespread adoption of agreements in the
North continued to pour in and hope of relief from Parlia-
ment grew smaller. The South Carolina Gazette of Febru-
ary 2, 1769 published a form of agreement for the non-
consumption of hnports, which all people were advised to
adopt unless news of the repeal of the Townshend duties
should come speedily. A few days later, "A Planter"
wrote in favor of an association to buy no newly-imported
slaves until American rights should be restored. * In the
latter part of May, another " Planter" urged his brethren
to foster local manufacturing and to patronize non-importers
only. "You cannot expect the merchants will begin this
matter themselves," he wrote. ". . . Oblige them to it, by
declaring you will deal with none that do import extra
articles," and, by this method, you will bring about "a
1 S. C. Gas. , Nov. 2, 1769.
1 5. C. 6r Am. Gen. Gas. , July 10, 1769; B. if. Papers ("Sparks MM. "),
vol. ii, p. 195.
'5'. C. Gas. Gf Country Journ. , Feb. 7, 1769.
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? 142
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
happy Coalition of our Interest and that of Merchants into
one immediate self-interest. " l These various pleas brought
no satisfactory results. 2
Evidently the time had arrived to force the issue on the
merchants. Gadsden opened the hostilities on June 22 by
writing an article, under the pseudonym, "Pro Grege et
Rege," addressed to the " Planters, Mechanicks and Free-
holders . . . no ways concerned in the importation of
British manufactures. " a The importers of European goods
were stigmatized as strangers in the province, many of
them of a very few years' residence. To listen to any
more assurances that the revenue acts would be repealed if
the people remained quiet, was declared to be folly. Had
the people had enough real friends among the merchants to
obtain even one meeting to consult what they could do to
aid the general good, though every newspaper informed
them of the generous actions of the merchants to the north-
ward? On the contrary, had not the people been "af-
fronted with numberless weak and groundless reasons . . .
in order to frighten and deter" them from acting as they
ought?
Could it be prudent to entrust the public good to a
body "whose private interest is glaringly against us? "
Let the freeholders and fixed settlers resolve upon non-
consumption, and the merchants would immediately decide
not to import. A suggested form of agreement was ap-
pended to the article.
1 S. C. Gas. , June 1, 1769.
1 It was claimed that a number of people in different parts of the
province did come into the association, proposed on February 2, by a
show of hands; but the evidence of this is not very satisfactory. Ibid. ,
June 8, 1769.
1 S. C. Co*. , June 22, 1769. Replies were made by "The Merchants
of Charles-Town," S. C. & Am. Gen. Gas. , July 10, and by "Pro
Libertate et Leffe," S. C. Gas. , July 13; but Gadsden's views were not
effectively refuted.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
The following week, the South Carolina Gasette pub-
lished a non-importation agreement, which was being pushed
by Gadsden and Peter Timothy and which had already been
subscribed by a number of people, including twenty-five
members of the Assembly. This form was recommended
as one suitable for workingmen and planters; and it was
announced that the present measure would supersede any
earlier forms that might have been accepted. Necessity for
this measure was attributed to the heavy and unconstitu-
tional burden of the Townshend revenue acts and the failure
of petitions to secure relief. The agreement was to be oper-
ative until the acts were repealed. By its provisions, the
subscribers agreed to stop all importation from Great
Britain thereafter, and to countermand all orders, wherever
possible, except for negro cloth, osnaburgs and duffel
blankets, workmen's tools, nails, woolcards, cardwire, can-
vas, ammunition, books, salt and coal. They agreed that
prices should not advance; and that they would promote
American manufactures and discard the use of mourning.
The inhabitants were given notice to sign the subscription
within one month, on pain of being boycotted. 1
Thp mechanjffr of Charleston met under Liberty Tree on
Tulv j and A to act nnon theL agreement: and after inserting
two new articles, the amended agreement was quickly signed
by two hundred and thirty people. The added parts pro-
vided that no goods, usually imported from Britain, should
be purchased from transient traders; and that no negroes
should be bought who were brought into the province after
January 1, 1770. A few days later, some of the mechanics
began to make a list of the merchants who signed the agree-
ment with the avowed purpose of trading only with such. 8
The great body of the merchants would have nothing
1 5. C. Gas. . June 29. 1769. * Ibid. , July 6, 13, 1769.
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? I44 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
to do with these proceedings, objecting bitterly to the
non-representative character of the meetings which had
formed the agreement, and denouncing the measure as
"an unjust attempt of one part of the community . . . to
throw a burthen on the rest, more grievous than ever was
conceived by the most arbitrary minister of the most des-
potic King. " They charged that the agreement was so
framed as to enable the planters and mechanics to import
the articles that they deemed indispensable, while the mer-
chants received no special favors; and they considered that
their interests were assailed by the mourning agreement,
since their stores were well stocked with mourning ma-
terials. 1 The merchants held their first meeting to con-
sider the situation on Friday afternoon, June 30, and, after
appointing a committee to draw up a report, adjourned to
July 7, when final action was taken. Nearly eighty mer-
chants were present at the adjourned meeting. The non-
importation retaliations, wh|ch themeeting- adopted, were
much less r1gorous than thrw ot tfr> ~t*-r inhabitant!
The agreement was limited to January 1, 1771, unless the
revenue acts should be repealed sooner; and a larger and
different list of articles was permitted to be imported. All
the other terms of the rival agreement were taken over by
the merchants, except the pledges for promoting local
manufacturing and for casting aside mourning apparel. In
addition, it was specified that, because of the heavy duty,
no wine should be imported or marketed during the year
1770. 8
Affairs were now in a bad state of confusion. Two
forms of agreement were being actively circulated for signa-
tures; and the feeling of animosity between the classes was
1 " The Merchants of Charles-Town," 5". C. & Am. Gen. Ga*. , July
13, 1769-
1 5. C. Gas. , July 6, 13, 1769.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
growing each day more acute. "A Mechanic" demanded
of the public how the planters and mechanics could be ex-
pected to subscribe to an agreement which did not contain
one syllable in favor of American manufactures or any
provision against the use of mourning. 1 The intolerable
situation was brought to an end by overtures from the
merchants for a joint committee to draft a uniform agree-
ment containing the p^ontialg nf thp twrv formg The
joint committee completed its work on Wednesday, July 19.
On the following day, the merchants unanimously accepted
the plan that had been agreed upon, and appointed a com-
mittee of thirteen to act as an executive body for doing
"whatever might be farther necessary to give Force to the
new Association. " 2 On Saturday, the twenty-second, a
great meeting was held, under Liberty Tree, of the me-
chanics and such planters as happened to be in town.
Christopher Gadsden read the new form, paragraph by
paragraph, so that objections might be offered, but the whole
was immediately voted satisfactory. * The association
was quickly signed by two hundred and sixty-eight people,
headed by the members of the House of Representatives
who were in town. A committee of thirteen planters and
of as many mechanics was appointed to serve with the
merchants' committee as one General Committee of thirty-
nine, for the purpose of supervising the enforcement of
the association. 4 By the following Thursday, one hundred
and forty-two merchants had signed the new resolutions.
1 5. C. Gaz. , July 13, 1769.
1 Ibid. , July 27, 1769; also Bos. News-Letter, Aug. 17.
1 5. C. Gas. , July 27, 1769; Bos. Gas. , Aug. 14. The names of the
members of the General Committee may be found in MoCrady, S. C.
under Royal Govt. , p. 651 n.
* Among the planters named were some who had mercantile interests
as well. Before the vote was taken, Gadsden withdrew his own name,
and induced the meeting to strike out of the planters' list all others
who were similarly situated.
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? 146
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
The new association represented a victory for the non-
mercantile classes, in most respects, although it contained
most of the provisions of both earlier associations. In one
respect, it was the most comprehensive agreement on the
continent, for it was to remain in operation until the various
regulatory acts of Parliament, including the establishment
of the Customs Board and the extension of vice-admiralty
jurisdiction, were repealed. The subscribers contracted to
import no European or East Indian goods from Great
Britain or elsewhere, except such orders as it was too late
to countermand and excluding a list of articles which com-
prehended all those of the earlier agreements. They en-
gaged to maintain the usual prices; to foster provincial
manufactures; to dispense with mourning apparel; to trade
with no transient vessels for any goods after November I,
save salt and coal; to import no negroes from Africa dur-
ing the year 1770 nor to import any wine after January 1,
1770. Finally a boycott was declared against every resident
of the province, who failed to sign within one month; and
any subscriber who became delinquent was to be treated with
"the utmost contempt. " Later in the year, the General
Committee amended the association so as to include a non-
exportation of tanned leather until the revenue acts were
repealed, since saddlery and shoes were no longer to be im-
ported from abroad. 1
Effects of the mourning regulation were soon manifest;
and by October the use of scarves and gloves at funerals
was totally discarded at Charleston. 2 The practice of the
wealthier families of educating their sons in Great Britain
was, in a number of cases, given up, " now that the Mother
Country seems unfriendly to us. " Thus, in August, 1769,
15. C. Gaz. , Oct. 26, 1769.
'Ibid. , Oct. 5, 1769.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM 147
seven youths sailed on the same vessel to Philadelphia to
enter the college there. 1 Some sporadic interest was shown
in manufacturing.
The . situation in Georgia revealed the same discord be-
tween the merchants and the other 1nhabitants that existed
elsewhere in the plantation provinces. Spurred on by a
letter from the General Committee of South Carolina, a
radical group, known as the "Amicable Society," met at
Liberty Hall in Savannah, and issued a call for a meeting
of all inhabitants on Tuesday, September 12, to consider
methods of obtaining relief from the Townshend Acts.
Notwithstanding the claim that "Merchants, Planters,
Tradesmen and others" attended the public gathering, it is
evident that the merchants, if any were present, formed an
ineffective minority. A committee was appointed to submit
a form of agreement to the inhabitants a week later. 2
The merchants of Savannah now determined to head off
the popular movement; and three days before the appointed
time they assembled at a private house and adopted an agree-
ment against the importation of dutied articles alone. In
the preamble, the recent acts of Parliament were declared
unconstitutional; and the particular grievance of Georgia
was asserted to be the requirement that the duties should
be paid in specie, this in face of the fact that the stoppage
of the Spanish trade, some years before, had plugged the
source of specie supply. *
Their efforts proved unavailing. The mass meeting of
September 19 adopted a comprehensive agreement, pat-
terned after that of South Carolina of July 20 and 22. The
terms of the agreement were to expire with the repeal of the
1S. C. Gas. , Aug. 24, 1769.
1 Ga. Gas. , Sept. 6, 13, 1769.
* Ibid. , Sept. 20, 1769; also White, Ga. Hist. Colls. , p. 42.
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? 148 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
Townshend duties. The subscribers engaged to import no
European or East Indian goods, save thirty-seven varieties
and such former orders as it was too late to countermand.
They pledged themselves to sell goods at the customary
rates; to promote provincial manufactures, and to discard
mourning; to import no negroes from Africa after June 1,
1770 nor to import any wine after March 1 of the same
year. All trade should be severed with inhabitants of the
province and with transient traders who neglected to sign
the agreement within five weeks; and every violator should
be deemed " no Friend to his Country. " * This agreement
adopted, it remained for the future to reveal whether the
merchants would deem themselves bound by an ordinance
not of their own making.
All the southern provinces but North Carolina had now
taken action. The excellent example of the neighboring prov-
inces seemed to make little impression on North Carolina.
Here, as elsewhere in the South, the merchants of the chief
trading community used their influence to retard the move-
ment. 2 Finally, on September 30, 1769, under the leader-
ship of Cornelius Harnett, the " Sons of Liberty" of Wil-
mington and Brunswick adopted resolutions of non-im-
portation. 1 The next step was the adoption of a provincial
association; and this was accomplished under circumstances
closely parallel to those in Virginia six months earlier. It
was the verbatim adoption of the defiant resolutions of Vir-
ginia that caused Governor Tryon to dissolve the North
Carolina Assembly. The members, in their private capaci-
ties, then held a meeting in the courthouse at Newbern; and
1 Ca. Gas. , Sept. 20, 1769; also Ga. Rev. Recs.
