8 But be-
fore the committee on rights and redress had submitted its
report, Congress had already taken the definite steps which
established the policy of trade coercion.
fore the committee on rights and redress had submitted its
report, Congress had already taken the definite steps which
established the policy of trade coercion.
Arthur Schlesinger - Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution
, vol.
i, p.
324 n.
1Adams, J. , Works (Adams), vol. ii, pp. 357-364; N. Y. Hist. Soc.
Colls. , vol. xix, pp. 12-19.
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? 408 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763. 1776
peared from the twelve provinces, most of the men met
for the first time. 1 A large proportion of them had taken
active part in the popular house of the provincial legisla-
tures; 2 six of them had served in the Stamp Act Congress;
practically all of them were members of committees of cor-
respondence. All of them were of American nativity; and
they must have felt a responsibility almost personal for the
critical situation in which America found herself. As lead-
ers of local movements for larger colonial rights and ex-
emptions in the preceding years, their names were, for the
most part, well known to each other. Their present inten-
tions, however, were a matter for conjecture and appre-
hension.
Friends and foes of the Congress alike appreciated the
difficulties of the situation. "An assembly like this," wrote
the Connecticut delegates, "though it consists of less than
sixty members, yet, coming from remote Colonies, each of
which has some modes of transacting public business pecu-
liar to itself,--some particular Provincial rights and inter-
ests to guard and secure, must take some time to become
1John Dickinson, who had earlier been excluded from election
through the efforts of Galloway, took his seat on October 17. Prior
to this time, however, Dickinson was in close touch with the delegates
in small dinner-groups and in other informal ways; e. g. , vide Adams,
J. , Works (Adams), vol. ii, pp. 360, 363, 379, 381, 382, 386, 397. James
Bowdoin, of Massachusetts, had refused his election at the hands of
the Assembly, because his relatives thought his great fortune ought
not to be hazarded. Hazelton, Decl. of Inde. , p. 9; Hibernian Chronicle
(London), October 27, 1774. William Samuel Johnson, of Connecticut,
had declined his appointment on the ground of an important law case
which required his attendance at Albany, an excuse which produced
no end of skeptical comment. 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 895; Conn. Cour. ,
Aug. 2, 1774; Journals Cant. Cong. (L. C. Edition), vol. i, p. 18 n.
Wolcott and Law, of the same province, had also declined, pleading
poor health.
* Forty of them had served in provincial legislatures, ten or more
of them in the speakership.
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? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION 409
so acquainted with each one's situations and connections, as
to be able to give an united assent to the ways and means
proposed for effecting what all are ardently desirous of
. . . Every one must be heard even on those points or sub-
jects which in themselves are not of the last importance;
and indeed, it often happens that what is of little or no
consequence to one Colony is of the last to another. "' In
this Congress, affirmed John Adams, "is a diversity of re-
ligions, educations, manners, interests, such as it would
seem impossible to unite in one plan of conduct. " 2
The delegates from the plantation provinces were, as we
have seen, for the most part instructed to push for a limited
non-importation and non-exportation agreement; and the
rising tide of radical feeling in the North, as indicated in
the newspapers, gave promise that many delegates from
that section would also join in the movement. Ljndeed, con-
sidering that only eleven delegates in the whole Congress
were merchants and these, for the most part, men more
addicted to politics than to trade, some plan of non-impor-
tation and non-exportation was the inevitable outcome of
the Congresaj The agricultural interests clearly possessed
the controlling influence; but it is impossible to give precise
figures, for one-half of the membership were content to
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 854-855.
? Adams, J. , Works (Adams), vol. ix, pp. 346-348. Vide also Ward's
view, in Staples, R. I. in Cont. Cong. , pp. 16-17. A comment of an
unfriendly observer (probably William Kelly, the New York merchant)
is not without significance in this connection. After predicting that
the Congress would end in confusion, he wrote: "My Reasons for
thinking so are, that Men, 1500 Miles asunder, have very different
Interests; that there will be near a Hundred Deputies assembled, most
of which being Merchants, Shopkeepers, and Attornies, the latter of
them will certainly rule, for no Men are so true to their own Inter-
est as Lawyers, for they will not stick at any Thing in prosecuting
their Interest. " He proposed that the ministry should bribe some of
the leading lawyers! London Gazetteer, Sept. 28, 1774; also Y <:
Gaz. , Dec. 5.
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? 41o THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
classify themselves as lawyers although frequently their in-
comes were derived in large part, if not chiefly, from agri-
cultural holdings. 1 The ultimate conscious object of the
boycotters in Congress was not merely the repeal of the
punitive acts of 1774 but the goal that had formerly been
so dear to the merchant class--a return to the conditions
of the years before 1763. Within the ranks of this group
there was a clear understanding of the economic interests
endangered by a suspension of trade and a willingness, on
the part of many of them, to shift the anticipated losses on
their brethren in the other provinces.
(The chief danger to the adoption of a plan of continental
non-intercourse came from a determine4_and plausible
group of moderates, led by Joseph Galloway! who insisted
that the only permanent relief was to be found in an en-
lightened definition of imperial relations and colonial liber-
ties in the form of a plan of union. This group saw in
commercial coercion only a 'source of irritation to Great
Britain, and wagered their faith on memorializing and
petitioning. Galloway averred, somewhat unjustly, that
the men who favored his plan of union " were men of loyal
principles, and possessed of the greatest fortunes in Amer-
ica; the other were congregational and presbyterian repub-
licans, or men of bankrupt fortunes, overwhelmed in debt
to the British merchants. " 2
The first three weeks of the meeting of the Continental
Congress might furnish an object-lesson for the skilled par-
liamentarian of any age. 8 "We [Massachusetts delegates]
1 E. g. , Sullivan of N. H. , Dickinson of Pa. , Henry of Va. and the
Rutledges of S. C.
* Historical and Political Reflections on the Rise and Progress of the
American Rebellion (London, 1780), pp. 66-67.
1The sources of information for the proceedings of the First Conti-
nental Congress are meager, however. They are contained in: Journals
of the Continental Congress (L. C. Edition), vol. i; John Adams's notes,
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? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
411
have had numberless prejudices to remove here," wrote
John Adams on September 27. "We have been obliged to
act with great delicacy and caution. We have been obliged
to keep ourselves out of sight, and to feel pulses and sound
the depths; to insinuate our sentiments, designs, and de-
sires, by means of other persons; sometimes of one Prov-
ince, and sometimes of another. " * Sam Adams found
himself in his element. "He eats little, drinks little, sleeps
little, thinks much and is most decisive and indefatigable in
the pursuit of his objects," declared the organizing spirit of
the opposite party. 2
The first test of strength between the groups came on the
very first day of meeting, Monday, September 5, when
Congress refused the invitation, tendered by Galloway, to
meet in the State House and, in face of negative votes from
Pennsylvania and New York, resolved to hold their sessions
in Carpenters' Hall, a decision naturally " highly agreeable
to the mechanics and citizens in general. " * Congress then
proceeded to the unanimous election of Charles Thomson
as secretary, much to the surprise of Galloway who deemed
him " one of the most violent Sons of Liberty (so called)
in America," and contrary to the expressed desires of Jay
and Duane. 4 Both measures, according to Galloway, had
Works (Adams), vol. ii, pp. 365-402; Samuel Ward's diary, in Mag.
Am. Hist. , vol. i, 438-442, 503-506, 549-561; certain pamphlets of Joseph
Galloway; the correspondence of the members; and a few contempor-
ary pamphlets and newspaper articles. On the whole, the pledge of
secrecy was excellently observed.
1 Works (Adams), vol. ii, p. 382 n. Vide also ibid. , vol. ii, p. 391 n. ;
vol. ix, pp. 342-346.
1. Galloway, Reflections, pp. 66-67.
? Conn. Hist. Soc. Colls. , vol. ii, p. 172; Adams, J. , Works (Adams),
vol. ii, p. 365.
* 1 N. J. Arch. , vol. x, pp. 477-478; Adams, Works (Adams), vol. ii,
p. 365. Adams dubbed Thomson "the Sam Adams of Philadelphia. "
Ibid. , p. 358.
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? 412
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
been " privately settled by an Interest made out of Doors. "
Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, late Speaker of the House
of Burgesses, was chosen president without opposition.
For the next few weeks the proceedings assumed an ap-
pearance of "flattering tranquillity," as Galloway put it.
The radicals were biding their time; * and meanwhile the
members established a rule of secrecy (except upon occa-
sion when Congress should direct otherwise), and agreed
that the delegates of each province should cast one vote
collectively. Both regulations later served the purposes of
the radicals by giving to the proceedings a false appearance
of unanimity. v? ne umt ru^e made it possible to publish
resolutions as having passed unanimously, even when large
minorities in various delegations, amounting sometimes to
one-third of the total membership of Congress, were in
the negativej
The first committee appointed by the Continental Congress
was one to state the rights and grievances of the colonies
and propose the best means of obtaining redress; and on
the same day another committee was named "to examine
and report the several Statutes which affect the Trade and
Manufactures of the Colonies. " The second committee
submitted its report ten days later, when it was thought
proper that the report should be referred to the former
committee for further consideration and action.
8 But be-
fore the committee on rights and redress had submitted its
report, Congress had already taken the definite steps which
established the policy of trade coercion.
The r^d'fals threw off their mask on September 17, when
they carried thfo. "gh a v>te endorsing a set of resolutions
1Galloway, Reflections, pp. 66-67; Cooper, What Think Ye of Con-
gress Nowf (New York, 1775). p. 13-
1Galloway, Examination (London, 1780), p. 61.
1 Journals Cont. Cong. (L. C. Edition), vol. i, pp. 25-29, 40-41, 63-73.
All later references to the Journals are to this edition.
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? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
413
adopted by a convention of Suffolk County in Massachu-
setts. This step was, according to Galloway, a " complete
declaration of war" on the part of the "republicans. " *
The "Suffolk_Resolves" rejected the recent legislation
aga1nst Massachusetts as unconstitutional and void, and
called for a civil government to be organized by the people
and for the establishment of a militia for defensive pur-
poses. Furthermore, the fourteenth resolve declared that,
as a measure for obtaining redress, the people of Suffolk
County (and the same action was recommended to the
other counties) would "withhold all commercial inter-
course with Great Britain, Ireland and the West Indies"
and enter into a non-consumption of British and East India
wares, subject to such alterations as Congress might make. 2
By endorsing these resolutions, Congress, among other
things, committed itself to the principle of an extensive plan
of commercial opposition.
As a matter of practical strategy, however, it was deemed
safer to induce the members to agree to several separate
propositions regarding trade suspension before uniting the
parts into a single comprehensive whole. First was brought
up the proposal of a non-importation with Great Britain
and Ireland, the mildest kind of commercial warfare and
therefore the most widely acceptable of any. On Thursday,
September 22, Congress paved the way for its own action
by ordering the publication throughout the continent of an
official request that the merchants should send no more
orders to Great Britain and should suspend the execution
of orders already given, until the further sense of Con
gress should be signified. 8
1 Galloway, Reflections, pp. 66-67.
1Journals, vol. i, pp. 31-39.
1 Ibid. , vol. i, p. 41. Among other newspapers, this resolution appeared
in the Pa. Packet, Sept. 26, 1774; Md. Gas. , Sept. 29; Rind's (Pinkney)
Va. Gas. , Sept. 29; S. C. Gas. , Oct. 10; Mass. Spy, Oct. 13.
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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
Parts of three days were given over by Congress to a
consideration of the exact form of the non-importation. 1
The original motion for a non-importation with the British
Isles was made by Richard Henry Lee. Chase of Mary-
land, an impetuous radical during these years of his life,
spoke in opposition to non-importation as an insufficient
measure, and proposed instead the cessation of exportation
and the withholding of remittances. But Chase's plan ap-
parently had a single supporter, Lynch of South Carolina.
The chief question at issue was as to the time at which
Lee's motion would become operative. Cushing, a mer-
chant from the blockaded port of Boston, favored an im-
mediate non-importation and non-consumption. Most
speakers thought otherwise. Mifflin of Pennsylvania be-
lieved that the first of November would be sufficiently late
to allow for the arrival of orders already sent to Great
Britain in April and May, and he held that orders given
after that date had been dishonestly given to defeat the
anticipated non-importation. Gadsden of South Carolina
likewise argued for the first of November. It would ap-
pear that there were a number who strenuously favored a
much longer postponement; and Patrick Henry therefore
moved, by way of compromise, that December be inserted
instead of November, remarking: "We don't mean to hurt
even our rascals, if we have any. " The non-importation
resolution, as adopted by Congress on September 27, thus
fixed December I as the date after which no goods should
be imported, directly or indirectly, from Great Britain and
Ireland; and as a warning to stubborn importers, it was
resolved that goods imported contrary to this resolution
should not be purchased or used.
On the next day, Galloway formally presented tr> fon-
'Sept. 24, 26, 27; Journals, vol. i, pp. 42-43. Notes on the discussion
are in Adams, J. , Works, vol. ii, pp. 382-386.
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? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION 4I5
? s the plan of union, which, cnnstitnted, thp platform of
;. and he solemnly warned the body against
oy on i11>>go1 mm'WIT which would bring
British warships and troops down upon American ports.
Galloway's extremely reasonable proposal received warm
support--from Jay and Duane of New York, from Ed-
ward Rutledge of South Carolina, and in general from the
members of fortune and property. 1f^n spite of all the
efforts of the radicals, the plan was entered in the minutes
by a vote of six provinces to five; but, notwithstanding
this temporary success, the moderates were never thereafter
able to secure consideration for the plan. The zeal of the
radicals in later expunging from the record all traces of
this proceeding throws an interesting sidelight on their
methodsj
The time of Congress was now devoted, for a consider-
able part of three days, to debates over the adoption of a
non-exportation resolution. 2 No good account remains of
the protracted discussion at this stage; but the nature of
the remarks and the attitude of leading members may be
reconstructed from John Adams's notes on an earlier occa-
sion and from some scattered comments to be found else-
where. 8 Cushing adopted as his slogan: "a non-importa-
tion, non-exportation, and non-consumption, and imme-
diately," and was joined in this by Dyer of Connecticut.
Lynch and the Rutledges of South Carolina favored Cush-
1 Journals, vol. i, pp. 43-51; Adams, J. , Works, vol. ii, pp. 387-391;
1 N. J. Arch. , vol. x, pp. 503-507; Galloway, Reflections, pp. 72, 81; his
Examination, pp. 48, 52 n. ; his A Reply to an Address to the Author of
a Pamphlet, entitled "A Candid Examination . . . " (London, 1780),
p. 109-
1 Sept. 28, 29, 30; Journals, vol. i, pp. 51-52.
1 Works, vol. ii, pp. 382-386, 391 n. , 394, 476-478; Drayton, Memoirs,
vol. i, p. 168.
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? 416 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763. 1776
ing's proposal if the suspension of trade were made abso-
lute with the whole world, not merely with British terri-
tory. John Adams asked Congress to accept the logical
implication of endorsing the "Suffolk Resolves," and to
resolve that, should further hostilities be pursued against
Massachusetts, or any persons seized under the revived
statute of Henry VIII, the several provinces " ought imme-
diately to cease all exportation of goods, wares and mer-
chandise to Great Britain, Ireland, and the West Indies. "
Chase, who had sniffed at a non-importation, argued for
an immediate non-exportation and a withholding of debts,
which, he believed, would represent a total loss to British
merchants and manufacturers of ? 7,000,000 for the year.
He also urged an immediate non-exportation of lumber to
the West Indies, for the lumber-vessels exchanged their
cargoes for sugar and carried the latter to England, to the
great gain of the merchants there and of the British reve-
nue. In this latter position he was supported by Mifflin of
Pennsylvania and Sullivan of New Hampshire; but Isaac
Low of New York warned against a total prohibition of all
exports to the West Indies, as a measure which would
"annihilate the fishery" by wiping out the West Indian
market. Dyer proposed the withholding of flaxseed from
Ireland.
These and other suggestions were made by various dele-
gates; but it quickly became clear that, although opinion
was rapidly converging upon a plan of non-exportation, the
Virginia tobacco planters, and the South Carolina delegates
representing powerful rice and indigo interests, were de-
termined to protect the industries of their respective prov-
inces, in case such a plan were adopted. For a time, atten-
tion was centered upon the question of suspending tobacco
exportation. The Maryland delegates had instructions not
to enter into any arrangement for the non-exportation of
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? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
tobacco without the concurrence of Virginia and North
Carolina; and the Virginia delegates were explicitly in-
structed not to consent to a non-exportation before August
10, 1775, in order to allow time for the marketing of the
growing crop. This situation caused the exasperated Chase
to declare: "A non-exportation at a future day cannot
avail us. What is the situation of Boston and the Massa-
chusetts? A non-exportation at the Virginia day will not
operate before the fall of 1776. " It was urged by Gadsden
and others that the other provinces should, in this measure,
act independently of Virginia; but for taking this step the
Marylanders pleaded their lack of power and claimed that,
even were a different course possible, it would be undesir-
able, for Maryland and North Carolina tobacco would be
carried to Virginia ports and. the latter would run away
with their trade. Fortunately for the Virginians, other
provinces were also willing to postpone the operation of the
non-exportation; and the date agreed upon in the resolu-
tion eventually adopted was September 10, 1775, one month
later than the Virginia instructions required.
The South Carolina delegates, from the narrow nature
of their demands, were not equally successful in enlisting
the support of other provinces in their cause. What they
desired (Gadsden excepted) was nothing less than that rice
and indigo, the staples of the province, should be exempted
from the operation of the non-exportation to Great Britain. 1
They held that, out of due regard to the interests of their
constituents, it was necessary either that the non-exporta-
tion should be made operative against the whole world, or
that, in case exportation were suspended with Great Britain
alone, rice and indigo should be made exceptions to the
regulation, being products which could (except under cer-
1 Drayton, Memoirs, vol. i, pp. 169-170; Izard, Correspondence, voL i,
pp. 21-25; statement of S. C. delegates, N. Y. Journ. , Dec. 8, 1774.
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? 4I8 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
tain limited circumstances) be exported to Great Britain
only, whereas the markets of the world were open to the
wheat, flour, fish and oil of the commercial provinces. 1
The South Carolina delegates were able to show that but
a small part of the export trade of the commercial provinces
was with Great Britain, while on the contrary nearly all of
the indigo and two thirds of the rice of South Carolina
went to the ports of Great Britain. Edward Rutledge felt
justified in remarking that: "People who are affected but
in speculation [>>". e. in theory] and submit to all the hard-
ships attending it will not shut up their ports, while their
neighbors, who are objects of ministerial vengeance, enjoy,
in a great degree, the benefits of commerce. " Furthermore,
they maintained that the commercial provinces would be
enabled to pay off their British debts by the returns of their
foreign trade and thus greatly ameliorate the rigor of the
trade suspension. In explaining the position of the South
Carolina delegation before the South Carolina convention a
few months later, John Rutledge declared that: "Upon the
whole, . . . the affair seemed rather like a commercial
scheme among the flour Colonies to find a better vent for
their Flour through the British Channel, by preventing, if
possible, any Rice from being sent to those markets; and
that, for his part, he could never consent to our becoming
the dupes to the people of the North or in the least to yield
to their unreasonable expectations. "
Much bitter feeling was generated in the Congress. Ed-
ward Rutledge declared: "A gentleman from the other end
of the room talked of generosity. True equality is the
1 It will be recalled that only enumerated commodities of the colonies
were required to be exported to Great Britain and that many American
products were not on the enumerated list. iRice and indigo were enu-
merated, but under temporary acts a way was opened by which rice
could be exported to Southern Europe and to regions in America
south of Georgia.
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? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
419
only public generosity.
1Adams, J. , Works (Adams), vol. ii, pp. 357-364; N. Y. Hist. Soc.
Colls. , vol. xix, pp. 12-19.
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? 408 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763. 1776
peared from the twelve provinces, most of the men met
for the first time. 1 A large proportion of them had taken
active part in the popular house of the provincial legisla-
tures; 2 six of them had served in the Stamp Act Congress;
practically all of them were members of committees of cor-
respondence. All of them were of American nativity; and
they must have felt a responsibility almost personal for the
critical situation in which America found herself. As lead-
ers of local movements for larger colonial rights and ex-
emptions in the preceding years, their names were, for the
most part, well known to each other. Their present inten-
tions, however, were a matter for conjecture and appre-
hension.
Friends and foes of the Congress alike appreciated the
difficulties of the situation. "An assembly like this," wrote
the Connecticut delegates, "though it consists of less than
sixty members, yet, coming from remote Colonies, each of
which has some modes of transacting public business pecu-
liar to itself,--some particular Provincial rights and inter-
ests to guard and secure, must take some time to become
1John Dickinson, who had earlier been excluded from election
through the efforts of Galloway, took his seat on October 17. Prior
to this time, however, Dickinson was in close touch with the delegates
in small dinner-groups and in other informal ways; e. g. , vide Adams,
J. , Works (Adams), vol. ii, pp. 360, 363, 379, 381, 382, 386, 397. James
Bowdoin, of Massachusetts, had refused his election at the hands of
the Assembly, because his relatives thought his great fortune ought
not to be hazarded. Hazelton, Decl. of Inde. , p. 9; Hibernian Chronicle
(London), October 27, 1774. William Samuel Johnson, of Connecticut,
had declined his appointment on the ground of an important law case
which required his attendance at Albany, an excuse which produced
no end of skeptical comment. 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 895; Conn. Cour. ,
Aug. 2, 1774; Journals Cant. Cong. (L. C. Edition), vol. i, p. 18 n.
Wolcott and Law, of the same province, had also declined, pleading
poor health.
* Forty of them had served in provincial legislatures, ten or more
of them in the speakership.
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? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION 409
so acquainted with each one's situations and connections, as
to be able to give an united assent to the ways and means
proposed for effecting what all are ardently desirous of
. . . Every one must be heard even on those points or sub-
jects which in themselves are not of the last importance;
and indeed, it often happens that what is of little or no
consequence to one Colony is of the last to another. "' In
this Congress, affirmed John Adams, "is a diversity of re-
ligions, educations, manners, interests, such as it would
seem impossible to unite in one plan of conduct. " 2
The delegates from the plantation provinces were, as we
have seen, for the most part instructed to push for a limited
non-importation and non-exportation agreement; and the
rising tide of radical feeling in the North, as indicated in
the newspapers, gave promise that many delegates from
that section would also join in the movement. Ljndeed, con-
sidering that only eleven delegates in the whole Congress
were merchants and these, for the most part, men more
addicted to politics than to trade, some plan of non-impor-
tation and non-exportation was the inevitable outcome of
the Congresaj The agricultural interests clearly possessed
the controlling influence; but it is impossible to give precise
figures, for one-half of the membership were content to
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 854-855.
? Adams, J. , Works (Adams), vol. ix, pp. 346-348. Vide also Ward's
view, in Staples, R. I. in Cont. Cong. , pp. 16-17. A comment of an
unfriendly observer (probably William Kelly, the New York merchant)
is not without significance in this connection. After predicting that
the Congress would end in confusion, he wrote: "My Reasons for
thinking so are, that Men, 1500 Miles asunder, have very different
Interests; that there will be near a Hundred Deputies assembled, most
of which being Merchants, Shopkeepers, and Attornies, the latter of
them will certainly rule, for no Men are so true to their own Inter-
est as Lawyers, for they will not stick at any Thing in prosecuting
their Interest. " He proposed that the ministry should bribe some of
the leading lawyers! London Gazetteer, Sept. 28, 1774; also Y <:
Gaz. , Dec. 5.
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? 41o THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
classify themselves as lawyers although frequently their in-
comes were derived in large part, if not chiefly, from agri-
cultural holdings. 1 The ultimate conscious object of the
boycotters in Congress was not merely the repeal of the
punitive acts of 1774 but the goal that had formerly been
so dear to the merchant class--a return to the conditions
of the years before 1763. Within the ranks of this group
there was a clear understanding of the economic interests
endangered by a suspension of trade and a willingness, on
the part of many of them, to shift the anticipated losses on
their brethren in the other provinces.
(The chief danger to the adoption of a plan of continental
non-intercourse came from a determine4_and plausible
group of moderates, led by Joseph Galloway! who insisted
that the only permanent relief was to be found in an en-
lightened definition of imperial relations and colonial liber-
ties in the form of a plan of union. This group saw in
commercial coercion only a 'source of irritation to Great
Britain, and wagered their faith on memorializing and
petitioning. Galloway averred, somewhat unjustly, that
the men who favored his plan of union " were men of loyal
principles, and possessed of the greatest fortunes in Amer-
ica; the other were congregational and presbyterian repub-
licans, or men of bankrupt fortunes, overwhelmed in debt
to the British merchants. " 2
The first three weeks of the meeting of the Continental
Congress might furnish an object-lesson for the skilled par-
liamentarian of any age. 8 "We [Massachusetts delegates]
1 E. g. , Sullivan of N. H. , Dickinson of Pa. , Henry of Va. and the
Rutledges of S. C.
* Historical and Political Reflections on the Rise and Progress of the
American Rebellion (London, 1780), pp. 66-67.
1The sources of information for the proceedings of the First Conti-
nental Congress are meager, however. They are contained in: Journals
of the Continental Congress (L. C. Edition), vol. i; John Adams's notes,
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? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
411
have had numberless prejudices to remove here," wrote
John Adams on September 27. "We have been obliged to
act with great delicacy and caution. We have been obliged
to keep ourselves out of sight, and to feel pulses and sound
the depths; to insinuate our sentiments, designs, and de-
sires, by means of other persons; sometimes of one Prov-
ince, and sometimes of another. " * Sam Adams found
himself in his element. "He eats little, drinks little, sleeps
little, thinks much and is most decisive and indefatigable in
the pursuit of his objects," declared the organizing spirit of
the opposite party. 2
The first test of strength between the groups came on the
very first day of meeting, Monday, September 5, when
Congress refused the invitation, tendered by Galloway, to
meet in the State House and, in face of negative votes from
Pennsylvania and New York, resolved to hold their sessions
in Carpenters' Hall, a decision naturally " highly agreeable
to the mechanics and citizens in general. " * Congress then
proceeded to the unanimous election of Charles Thomson
as secretary, much to the surprise of Galloway who deemed
him " one of the most violent Sons of Liberty (so called)
in America," and contrary to the expressed desires of Jay
and Duane. 4 Both measures, according to Galloway, had
Works (Adams), vol. ii, pp. 365-402; Samuel Ward's diary, in Mag.
Am. Hist. , vol. i, 438-442, 503-506, 549-561; certain pamphlets of Joseph
Galloway; the correspondence of the members; and a few contempor-
ary pamphlets and newspaper articles. On the whole, the pledge of
secrecy was excellently observed.
1 Works (Adams), vol. ii, p. 382 n. Vide also ibid. , vol. ii, p. 391 n. ;
vol. ix, pp. 342-346.
1. Galloway, Reflections, pp. 66-67.
? Conn. Hist. Soc. Colls. , vol. ii, p. 172; Adams, J. , Works (Adams),
vol. ii, p. 365.
* 1 N. J. Arch. , vol. x, pp. 477-478; Adams, Works (Adams), vol. ii,
p. 365. Adams dubbed Thomson "the Sam Adams of Philadelphia. "
Ibid. , p. 358.
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? 412
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
been " privately settled by an Interest made out of Doors. "
Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, late Speaker of the House
of Burgesses, was chosen president without opposition.
For the next few weeks the proceedings assumed an ap-
pearance of "flattering tranquillity," as Galloway put it.
The radicals were biding their time; * and meanwhile the
members established a rule of secrecy (except upon occa-
sion when Congress should direct otherwise), and agreed
that the delegates of each province should cast one vote
collectively. Both regulations later served the purposes of
the radicals by giving to the proceedings a false appearance
of unanimity. v? ne umt ru^e made it possible to publish
resolutions as having passed unanimously, even when large
minorities in various delegations, amounting sometimes to
one-third of the total membership of Congress, were in
the negativej
The first committee appointed by the Continental Congress
was one to state the rights and grievances of the colonies
and propose the best means of obtaining redress; and on
the same day another committee was named "to examine
and report the several Statutes which affect the Trade and
Manufactures of the Colonies. " The second committee
submitted its report ten days later, when it was thought
proper that the report should be referred to the former
committee for further consideration and action.
8 But be-
fore the committee on rights and redress had submitted its
report, Congress had already taken the definite steps which
established the policy of trade coercion.
The r^d'fals threw off their mask on September 17, when
they carried thfo. "gh a v>te endorsing a set of resolutions
1Galloway, Reflections, pp. 66-67; Cooper, What Think Ye of Con-
gress Nowf (New York, 1775). p. 13-
1Galloway, Examination (London, 1780), p. 61.
1 Journals Cont. Cong. (L. C. Edition), vol. i, pp. 25-29, 40-41, 63-73.
All later references to the Journals are to this edition.
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? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
413
adopted by a convention of Suffolk County in Massachu-
setts. This step was, according to Galloway, a " complete
declaration of war" on the part of the "republicans. " *
The "Suffolk_Resolves" rejected the recent legislation
aga1nst Massachusetts as unconstitutional and void, and
called for a civil government to be organized by the people
and for the establishment of a militia for defensive pur-
poses. Furthermore, the fourteenth resolve declared that,
as a measure for obtaining redress, the people of Suffolk
County (and the same action was recommended to the
other counties) would "withhold all commercial inter-
course with Great Britain, Ireland and the West Indies"
and enter into a non-consumption of British and East India
wares, subject to such alterations as Congress might make. 2
By endorsing these resolutions, Congress, among other
things, committed itself to the principle of an extensive plan
of commercial opposition.
As a matter of practical strategy, however, it was deemed
safer to induce the members to agree to several separate
propositions regarding trade suspension before uniting the
parts into a single comprehensive whole. First was brought
up the proposal of a non-importation with Great Britain
and Ireland, the mildest kind of commercial warfare and
therefore the most widely acceptable of any. On Thursday,
September 22, Congress paved the way for its own action
by ordering the publication throughout the continent of an
official request that the merchants should send no more
orders to Great Britain and should suspend the execution
of orders already given, until the further sense of Con
gress should be signified. 8
1 Galloway, Reflections, pp. 66-67.
1Journals, vol. i, pp. 31-39.
1 Ibid. , vol. i, p. 41. Among other newspapers, this resolution appeared
in the Pa. Packet, Sept. 26, 1774; Md. Gas. , Sept. 29; Rind's (Pinkney)
Va. Gas. , Sept. 29; S. C. Gas. , Oct. 10; Mass. Spy, Oct. 13.
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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
Parts of three days were given over by Congress to a
consideration of the exact form of the non-importation. 1
The original motion for a non-importation with the British
Isles was made by Richard Henry Lee. Chase of Mary-
land, an impetuous radical during these years of his life,
spoke in opposition to non-importation as an insufficient
measure, and proposed instead the cessation of exportation
and the withholding of remittances. But Chase's plan ap-
parently had a single supporter, Lynch of South Carolina.
The chief question at issue was as to the time at which
Lee's motion would become operative. Cushing, a mer-
chant from the blockaded port of Boston, favored an im-
mediate non-importation and non-consumption. Most
speakers thought otherwise. Mifflin of Pennsylvania be-
lieved that the first of November would be sufficiently late
to allow for the arrival of orders already sent to Great
Britain in April and May, and he held that orders given
after that date had been dishonestly given to defeat the
anticipated non-importation. Gadsden of South Carolina
likewise argued for the first of November. It would ap-
pear that there were a number who strenuously favored a
much longer postponement; and Patrick Henry therefore
moved, by way of compromise, that December be inserted
instead of November, remarking: "We don't mean to hurt
even our rascals, if we have any. " The non-importation
resolution, as adopted by Congress on September 27, thus
fixed December I as the date after which no goods should
be imported, directly or indirectly, from Great Britain and
Ireland; and as a warning to stubborn importers, it was
resolved that goods imported contrary to this resolution
should not be purchased or used.
On the next day, Galloway formally presented tr> fon-
'Sept. 24, 26, 27; Journals, vol. i, pp. 42-43. Notes on the discussion
are in Adams, J. , Works, vol. ii, pp. 382-386.
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? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION 4I5
? s the plan of union, which, cnnstitnted, thp platform of
;. and he solemnly warned the body against
oy on i11>>go1 mm'WIT which would bring
British warships and troops down upon American ports.
Galloway's extremely reasonable proposal received warm
support--from Jay and Duane of New York, from Ed-
ward Rutledge of South Carolina, and in general from the
members of fortune and property. 1f^n spite of all the
efforts of the radicals, the plan was entered in the minutes
by a vote of six provinces to five; but, notwithstanding
this temporary success, the moderates were never thereafter
able to secure consideration for the plan. The zeal of the
radicals in later expunging from the record all traces of
this proceeding throws an interesting sidelight on their
methodsj
The time of Congress was now devoted, for a consider-
able part of three days, to debates over the adoption of a
non-exportation resolution. 2 No good account remains of
the protracted discussion at this stage; but the nature of
the remarks and the attitude of leading members may be
reconstructed from John Adams's notes on an earlier occa-
sion and from some scattered comments to be found else-
where. 8 Cushing adopted as his slogan: "a non-importa-
tion, non-exportation, and non-consumption, and imme-
diately," and was joined in this by Dyer of Connecticut.
Lynch and the Rutledges of South Carolina favored Cush-
1 Journals, vol. i, pp. 43-51; Adams, J. , Works, vol. ii, pp. 387-391;
1 N. J. Arch. , vol. x, pp. 503-507; Galloway, Reflections, pp. 72, 81; his
Examination, pp. 48, 52 n. ; his A Reply to an Address to the Author of
a Pamphlet, entitled "A Candid Examination . . . " (London, 1780),
p. 109-
1 Sept. 28, 29, 30; Journals, vol. i, pp. 51-52.
1 Works, vol. ii, pp. 382-386, 391 n. , 394, 476-478; Drayton, Memoirs,
vol. i, p. 168.
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? 416 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763. 1776
ing's proposal if the suspension of trade were made abso-
lute with the whole world, not merely with British terri-
tory. John Adams asked Congress to accept the logical
implication of endorsing the "Suffolk Resolves," and to
resolve that, should further hostilities be pursued against
Massachusetts, or any persons seized under the revived
statute of Henry VIII, the several provinces " ought imme-
diately to cease all exportation of goods, wares and mer-
chandise to Great Britain, Ireland, and the West Indies. "
Chase, who had sniffed at a non-importation, argued for
an immediate non-exportation and a withholding of debts,
which, he believed, would represent a total loss to British
merchants and manufacturers of ? 7,000,000 for the year.
He also urged an immediate non-exportation of lumber to
the West Indies, for the lumber-vessels exchanged their
cargoes for sugar and carried the latter to England, to the
great gain of the merchants there and of the British reve-
nue. In this latter position he was supported by Mifflin of
Pennsylvania and Sullivan of New Hampshire; but Isaac
Low of New York warned against a total prohibition of all
exports to the West Indies, as a measure which would
"annihilate the fishery" by wiping out the West Indian
market. Dyer proposed the withholding of flaxseed from
Ireland.
These and other suggestions were made by various dele-
gates; but it quickly became clear that, although opinion
was rapidly converging upon a plan of non-exportation, the
Virginia tobacco planters, and the South Carolina delegates
representing powerful rice and indigo interests, were de-
termined to protect the industries of their respective prov-
inces, in case such a plan were adopted. For a time, atten-
tion was centered upon the question of suspending tobacco
exportation. The Maryland delegates had instructions not
to enter into any arrangement for the non-exportation of
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? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
tobacco without the concurrence of Virginia and North
Carolina; and the Virginia delegates were explicitly in-
structed not to consent to a non-exportation before August
10, 1775, in order to allow time for the marketing of the
growing crop. This situation caused the exasperated Chase
to declare: "A non-exportation at a future day cannot
avail us. What is the situation of Boston and the Massa-
chusetts? A non-exportation at the Virginia day will not
operate before the fall of 1776. " It was urged by Gadsden
and others that the other provinces should, in this measure,
act independently of Virginia; but for taking this step the
Marylanders pleaded their lack of power and claimed that,
even were a different course possible, it would be undesir-
able, for Maryland and North Carolina tobacco would be
carried to Virginia ports and. the latter would run away
with their trade. Fortunately for the Virginians, other
provinces were also willing to postpone the operation of the
non-exportation; and the date agreed upon in the resolu-
tion eventually adopted was September 10, 1775, one month
later than the Virginia instructions required.
The South Carolina delegates, from the narrow nature
of their demands, were not equally successful in enlisting
the support of other provinces in their cause. What they
desired (Gadsden excepted) was nothing less than that rice
and indigo, the staples of the province, should be exempted
from the operation of the non-exportation to Great Britain. 1
They held that, out of due regard to the interests of their
constituents, it was necessary either that the non-exporta-
tion should be made operative against the whole world, or
that, in case exportation were suspended with Great Britain
alone, rice and indigo should be made exceptions to the
regulation, being products which could (except under cer-
1 Drayton, Memoirs, vol. i, pp. 169-170; Izard, Correspondence, voL i,
pp. 21-25; statement of S. C. delegates, N. Y. Journ. , Dec. 8, 1774.
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? 4I8 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
tain limited circumstances) be exported to Great Britain
only, whereas the markets of the world were open to the
wheat, flour, fish and oil of the commercial provinces. 1
The South Carolina delegates were able to show that but
a small part of the export trade of the commercial provinces
was with Great Britain, while on the contrary nearly all of
the indigo and two thirds of the rice of South Carolina
went to the ports of Great Britain. Edward Rutledge felt
justified in remarking that: "People who are affected but
in speculation [>>". e. in theory] and submit to all the hard-
ships attending it will not shut up their ports, while their
neighbors, who are objects of ministerial vengeance, enjoy,
in a great degree, the benefits of commerce. " Furthermore,
they maintained that the commercial provinces would be
enabled to pay off their British debts by the returns of their
foreign trade and thus greatly ameliorate the rigor of the
trade suspension. In explaining the position of the South
Carolina delegation before the South Carolina convention a
few months later, John Rutledge declared that: "Upon the
whole, . . . the affair seemed rather like a commercial
scheme among the flour Colonies to find a better vent for
their Flour through the British Channel, by preventing, if
possible, any Rice from being sent to those markets; and
that, for his part, he could never consent to our becoming
the dupes to the people of the North or in the least to yield
to their unreasonable expectations. "
Much bitter feeling was generated in the Congress. Ed-
ward Rutledge declared: "A gentleman from the other end
of the room talked of generosity. True equality is the
1 It will be recalled that only enumerated commodities of the colonies
were required to be exported to Great Britain and that many American
products were not on the enumerated list. iRice and indigo were enu-
merated, but under temporary acts a way was opened by which rice
could be exported to Southern Europe and to regions in America
south of Georgia.
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? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
419
only public generosity.
