The marketing of the staples of the South
was largely in the hands of English and Scotch merchants
and factors, whose business had been very little affected by
the parliamentary duties of 1766 and 1767.
was largely in the hands of English and Scotch merchants
and factors, whose business had been very little affected by
the parliamentary duties of 1766 and 1767.
Arthur Schlesinger - Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution
, vol.
xiii, pp.
355-356; Papers of Phila.
Mer-
chants, p. 7. For an explanation of their failure to urge the petition
in the subsequent months, vide Franklin Papers, Misc. (L. C. Mss. ),
vol. i, no. 71; and Pa. Journ. , May 4, 1769.
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? 130
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
a general meeting of the subscribers should determine other-
wise. 1 The paper was circulated among the merchants
and traders of the city and " a very great majority" signed
in the course of the next few weeks. At a later meeting,
it was determined that goods arriving at Philadelphia con-
trary to the agreement should not be stored but be sent back.
The principle of the boycott was further extended: any
person violating the word or spirit of the agreement should
be stigmatized "an Enemy of the Liberties of America,"
and it was held proper that his name should be published
in the newspapers. 2
No conspicuous activity in local manufacturing was dis-
played until the high price of imported goods, produced by
the non-importation regulation, caused people to turn their
energies in that direction. * Even then their activity was
not comparable with that of the provinces farther north. A
report to the American Philosophical Society showed that,
in the little town of Lancaster, fifty looms and seven hundred
spinning-wheels were in constant use. In the twelvemonth
beginning May 1, 1769, the net output was close to thirty-
five thousand yards. 4 An effort was made to foster the
production of domestic silks. In 1769 sixty-four families
raised silkworms, many of them raising from ten to twenty
thousand; but little benefit came of the venture because of
the inexpertness of the people in reeling the silk. To over-
come this obstacle, a number of citizens subscribed ? 250. in
March, 1770, for the erection of a filature. Some of the
1 Papers of Phila. Merchants, pp. 2-5, 19-21. For orders for all kinds
of goods, to be shipped when the revenue acts were repealed, vide
Stephen Collins's Letter-Book 1760-1773, under the dates Mch. 12, 15,
Sept. 23, Oct. 14, Nov. 6, 25, Dec. 11, 12, 1769; Apr. 7, 1770.
1 August 2, 1769. Pa. Gas. , Aug. 3, 1769.
? Pa. Chron. , July 24, 1769. Article by "A Merchant. "
4 Pa. Gas. , June 14, 1770; also Gentleman's Magazine (1770), p. 348.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM I-jI
leading merchants of the city were chosen on the board of
managers; and by November, 1771, one hundred and fifty-
five pounds of raw silk had been exported to England. The
Society for the Promotion of Silk Culture offered annual
premiums for silk production until the outbreak of the war. 1
Rv foe sprang nf 1760, the three frreat ports had finally
united in non-importation measi"-*^ pp^intt tr*t nn"th"
country, Philadelphia acting tardily about six months later
"than the merchants of Boston and New York. This con-
summation soon prompted the progressive merchants of
Boston to urge on their brethren more radical measures for
trade redemption. The Townshend revenue acts, against
which all the existing agreements were directed, represented
only one source of mercantile distress. The wine duties
and the revised duty on molasses drew from them con-
siderably more cash than the imposts of 1767,2 and violated
as seriously the new American notion of the unconstitu-
tional character of revenue tariffs. The New Englanders
realized that the mere repeal of the Townshend duties would
not restore their prosperity; and, despite the fact that they
had failed to denominate the earlier taxes as unconstitutional
in their petition of January, 1767, they now decided to take
an advanced stand in conformity with the recent develop-
ments in colonial theory. In a letter of September 2, 1769,
they pressed the merchants of Philadelphia to extend their
agreement to comprehend the repeal of all revenue acts,
1 Pa. Gas. , Mch. 15, 22, 1770, and passim to 1775; Franklin Bicenten-
nial Celebration, vol. ii, p. 126; Pa. Mag. , vol. xxvi, pp. 304-305.
2 For all the colonies, the Townshend duties on tea, etc. , amounted to
? 17,912 in the period from September 8, 1767 to January 3, 1770. In
the same length of time, the wine duties (6 George II and 4 George
III) amounted to ? 20,130, and the molasses duty (6 George III) to
? 22,652. Channing, History of U. S. , vol. iii, p. 90 n.
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? I32 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
including the molasses and wine duties; and they revised
their own agreement on October 17 to incorporate the new
demands. 1 A letter of October 25 carried the news of the
new agreement to Philadelphia, with an urgent plea for
similar action there. It was probably not a coincidence that
John Hancock was in Philadelphia at this time for the ex-
press purpose of visiting the author of the " Farmer's Let-
ters," who was also the great advocate of non-importation
in that city. 2 If his visit had a political motive, his mission
was a failure.
In reply to the Boston letters, the Committee of Merchants
at Philadelphia admitted "that the acts of the 4th and 6th
George 3rd, being expressly for the purpose of raising a
revenue and containing many grievous and unreasonable
burdens upon trade, are . . . as exceptionable as" the
Townshend duties; and they agreed " that the design of the
Merchants through the continent was not only to procure a
repeal of any Single Act but to give weight to the petitions
. . . of their representatives in Assembly met against the
Parliament's claim to tax the Colonies and to prevent any
future attempts of like Nature, that a precedent admitted
will operate against us, and that an acquiescence under the
acts of the 4th and 6th, even though that of the 7th of
George 3d should be repealed, will be establishing a pre-
cedent. " Nevertheless, they declared that, as this con-
sideration "has unfortunately been so long neglected, our
Merchants are extremely averse to making it now an object
of their non-importation agreement. " They refused,
furthermore, to prohibit all incoming trade from Great
Britain, for the reason that this restriction would simply
1 Mass. Gas. &? News-Letter, Nov. 9, 17, 1769. This revised agree-
ment was widely signed, only ten or twelve importers declining.
1 Letter of William Palfrey; M. H. S. Procs. , vol. 47, pp. 2-1-212.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
133
divert the trade to laxer ports. They did promise, how-
ever, that if Parliament failed to remove all the revenue
acts, they would then be ready to unite with the other
colonies " in any measure that may be thought prudent and
practicable for obtaining a full redress of all grievances. " *
The Boston proposal met with the same sort of treatment
at the hands of the New York merchants;2 and, at a meet-
ing on December 4, the Boston merchants reluctantly yielded
up their project upon a plea of the necessity for uniformity
among the chief trading towns. 8
The tangible outcome of this episode was the publication,
in the same month, by the merchants of Boston, of a pamph-
let, entitled Observations on several Acts of Parliament
passed in the 4th, 6th and Jth years of his present Majesty's
Reign; and also on the Conduct of the Officers of the Cus-
toms since those Acts were passed, and the Board of Com-
missioners appointed to reside in America,* This pamphlet
was the clearest and strongest statement-angr_ formulatgd of
the position of the American merchant class, particularly
that of New England. In the compass ot some tn1rtv pages
1 These quotations are from letters of Sept. 21 and Nov. 11, 1769.
Papers of Phila. Merchants, pp. 27-28, 37-42. In their next letter to
the London Committee of Merchants, the Philadelphia Committee
wrote: Though the merchants have confined their agreements to the
repeal of the Townshend duties, "yet nothing less than a Repeal of all
the Revenue Acts and putting Things on the same Footing they were
before the late Innovations, can or will satisfy the Minds of the
People. " London Chron. , Mch. 3, 1770; also Pa. Gas. , May 10.
* Colden, Letter Books, vol. ii, p. 193.
* Mass. Arch. , vol. xxvi, pp. 411, 413; Am. Hist. Rev. , vol. viii, pp.
313-314.
* Mss. 1745-1770 (in M. H. S. ), p. 15, contain the letter of the Com-
mittee of Merchants to Dcnnys d<< Berdt, explaining the inception of
the pamphlet. The committee, which was appointed to draft the
pamphlet, was composed of Arnold Welles, Henderson Inches, William
Dennie, William Molineux and Isaac Smith. Mass. Gas. , July 31, 1769. .
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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
a well-reasoned argument, buttressed with evidence, was pre-
sented for a restoration of American trade to the footing it
had enjoyed before the passage of the old Molasses Act of
1733. This step, it was asserted, would unite Great Britain
and the colonies on a lasting foundation and eliminate all
clandestine trade. The repeal of the recent Townshend
duties would not suffice; for the colonies must again enjoy
the free importation of molasses, sugars and Madeira wine,
and must obtain the right of a free and direct importation
of fruit, wine and oil from Spain and Portugal. The acts
of Parliament prior to 1764 had been intended merely as
regulations of trade and, in one instance, a duty had been
placed on foreign molasses in order to encourage the British
West Indies; but the present statute could not be so con-
strued, for it imposed duties on all molasses and expressly
for the purpose of raising a revenue. According to the
figures cited in the pamphlet, the various restraints on
trade with the foreign West Indies, Africa, Madeira and
Southern Europe had rendered unprofitable the employment
of four hundred vessels in the fisheries, and of one hun-
dred and eighty vessels in the lumber and provisions trade
to the West Indies, not to mention the decrease in the
coasting-trade and other channels of commerce. The ship-
building industry had also been seriously affected, only one
hundred vessels being built annually instead of three hun-
dred as before the late restrictions on trade. In closing,
a representation was made of the embarrassments to com-
merce, due to the unlimited amount of red tape required
for trading voyages, and to the excessive power, officious-
ness and unlawful conduct of the customs officers and the
Customs Board.
The non-importation movement ran a different course in
the plantation provinces from that in the commercial prov-
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
135
inces, due to the characteristic methods of doing business
in each section.
The marketing of the staples of the South
was largely in the hands of English and Scotch merchants
and factors, whose business had been very little affected by
the parliamentary duties of 1766 and 1767. The planters
constituted the chief discontented class, because of their
losing struggle to pay the debts they owed to their mercan-
tile creditors. Animated by a desire to curtail living ex-
penses and to strike at their creditors, the planters assumed
the initiative in promoting non-importation associations,
while the southern trading class shMl aluuf ui were ac-
tively hostile. These circumstances caused the non-1mpor-
tation movement to assume many of the characteristics of
the non-consumption movement that had been promoted by-
New England town meetings in late 1767 and early 1768.
As one contemporary said, the associations of the planta-
tion provinces, besides being less restrictive than the north-
ern agreements, " excluded a great number of articles which
are mere luxuries, confin'd their importations from Britain
to the necessaries of life, and thereby answered the purpose
of a sumptuary law. " l
George Washington, of Virginia, spoke of the peculiari-
ties of the local trading situation when he transmitted a copy
of the Philadelphia non-importation agreement, in a letter
of April 5, 1769, to his neighbor, George Mason. He ex-
pressed approval of a non-importation plan for Virginia;
but he pointed out that it could be made successful only by
going over the heads of the factors and inducing the people
throughout the province to buy no imported articles, except
certain enumerated ones. He proposed the meeting of the
Assembly in May as the best time for launching the project
with any prospect of uniform action by the several counties. 2
1 Bos. Gas. , Jan. 29, 1770; also Pa. Journ. , Feb. 15.
1 Writings (Ford), vol. ii, pp. 263-267.
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? 136 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
Mason agreed cordially with Washington's views, and yet
made it clear that no plan could be enforced in the tobacco
provinces unless it should be considerably more liberal in the
number of importations permitted. Mason seemed to be
aware of the lack of support for the measure in a well-
fertilized public opinion, as in the North; and, like a good
propagandist, he urged the necessity of publishing " some-
thing preparatory to it in our gazettes, to warn the people
of the impending danger and to induce them the more
readily and cheerfully to concur in the proper measures to
avert it. " He proposed also that the association should
provide for the non-exportation of tobacco. 1
The House of Burgesses convened at Williamsburg in
May. Washington found ready backing for a non-importa-
tion measure among such men as Peyton Randolph, Richard
Bland, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee and Thomas
Jefferson. But the house proceeded first to declare, in a set
of resolutions, its official opinion that the sole right of
taxing Virginians lay with that body and to state its ob-
jections to certain recent acts of the British administration;
whereupon Governor Botetourt peremptorily dissolved the
body. The members, though now divested of their legal
character, met at a private house in town and, electing
Peyton Randolph their chairman, promulgated a plan of
non-importation. 2
The, association hprf tho Ho>>o Miy T? , -J^ In the pre-
1 Washington, Writings (Ford), pp. 267-268 n.
'Pa. Journ. , June 1, 1769; also 5. C. Gas. , July 20. This plan of
association was presented by Washington; and in its essentials fol-
lowed a draft, made several weeks before, by George Mason. One pro-
posal of Mason's was rejected, however, vis. , if the other measures
proved ineffectual, a non-exportation of tobacco and naval supplies
should go into effect. Washington, Writings (Ford), vol. ii, pp. 268-
269 n. ; 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.
chants, p. 7. For an explanation of their failure to urge the petition
in the subsequent months, vide Franklin Papers, Misc. (L. C. Mss. ),
vol. i, no. 71; and Pa. Journ. , May 4, 1769.
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? 130
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
a general meeting of the subscribers should determine other-
wise. 1 The paper was circulated among the merchants
and traders of the city and " a very great majority" signed
in the course of the next few weeks. At a later meeting,
it was determined that goods arriving at Philadelphia con-
trary to the agreement should not be stored but be sent back.
The principle of the boycott was further extended: any
person violating the word or spirit of the agreement should
be stigmatized "an Enemy of the Liberties of America,"
and it was held proper that his name should be published
in the newspapers. 2
No conspicuous activity in local manufacturing was dis-
played until the high price of imported goods, produced by
the non-importation regulation, caused people to turn their
energies in that direction. * Even then their activity was
not comparable with that of the provinces farther north. A
report to the American Philosophical Society showed that,
in the little town of Lancaster, fifty looms and seven hundred
spinning-wheels were in constant use. In the twelvemonth
beginning May 1, 1769, the net output was close to thirty-
five thousand yards. 4 An effort was made to foster the
production of domestic silks. In 1769 sixty-four families
raised silkworms, many of them raising from ten to twenty
thousand; but little benefit came of the venture because of
the inexpertness of the people in reeling the silk. To over-
come this obstacle, a number of citizens subscribed ? 250. in
March, 1770, for the erection of a filature. Some of the
1 Papers of Phila. Merchants, pp. 2-5, 19-21. For orders for all kinds
of goods, to be shipped when the revenue acts were repealed, vide
Stephen Collins's Letter-Book 1760-1773, under the dates Mch. 12, 15,
Sept. 23, Oct. 14, Nov. 6, 25, Dec. 11, 12, 1769; Apr. 7, 1770.
1 August 2, 1769. Pa. Gas. , Aug. 3, 1769.
? Pa. Chron. , July 24, 1769. Article by "A Merchant. "
4 Pa. Gas. , June 14, 1770; also Gentleman's Magazine (1770), p. 348.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM I-jI
leading merchants of the city were chosen on the board of
managers; and by November, 1771, one hundred and fifty-
five pounds of raw silk had been exported to England. The
Society for the Promotion of Silk Culture offered annual
premiums for silk production until the outbreak of the war. 1
Rv foe sprang nf 1760, the three frreat ports had finally
united in non-importation measi"-*^ pp^intt tr*t nn"th"
country, Philadelphia acting tardily about six months later
"than the merchants of Boston and New York. This con-
summation soon prompted the progressive merchants of
Boston to urge on their brethren more radical measures for
trade redemption. The Townshend revenue acts, against
which all the existing agreements were directed, represented
only one source of mercantile distress. The wine duties
and the revised duty on molasses drew from them con-
siderably more cash than the imposts of 1767,2 and violated
as seriously the new American notion of the unconstitu-
tional character of revenue tariffs. The New Englanders
realized that the mere repeal of the Townshend duties would
not restore their prosperity; and, despite the fact that they
had failed to denominate the earlier taxes as unconstitutional
in their petition of January, 1767, they now decided to take
an advanced stand in conformity with the recent develop-
ments in colonial theory. In a letter of September 2, 1769,
they pressed the merchants of Philadelphia to extend their
agreement to comprehend the repeal of all revenue acts,
1 Pa. Gas. , Mch. 15, 22, 1770, and passim to 1775; Franklin Bicenten-
nial Celebration, vol. ii, p. 126; Pa. Mag. , vol. xxvi, pp. 304-305.
2 For all the colonies, the Townshend duties on tea, etc. , amounted to
? 17,912 in the period from September 8, 1767 to January 3, 1770. In
the same length of time, the wine duties (6 George II and 4 George
III) amounted to ? 20,130, and the molasses duty (6 George III) to
? 22,652. Channing, History of U. S. , vol. iii, p. 90 n.
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? I32 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
including the molasses and wine duties; and they revised
their own agreement on October 17 to incorporate the new
demands. 1 A letter of October 25 carried the news of the
new agreement to Philadelphia, with an urgent plea for
similar action there. It was probably not a coincidence that
John Hancock was in Philadelphia at this time for the ex-
press purpose of visiting the author of the " Farmer's Let-
ters," who was also the great advocate of non-importation
in that city. 2 If his visit had a political motive, his mission
was a failure.
In reply to the Boston letters, the Committee of Merchants
at Philadelphia admitted "that the acts of the 4th and 6th
George 3rd, being expressly for the purpose of raising a
revenue and containing many grievous and unreasonable
burdens upon trade, are . . . as exceptionable as" the
Townshend duties; and they agreed " that the design of the
Merchants through the continent was not only to procure a
repeal of any Single Act but to give weight to the petitions
. . . of their representatives in Assembly met against the
Parliament's claim to tax the Colonies and to prevent any
future attempts of like Nature, that a precedent admitted
will operate against us, and that an acquiescence under the
acts of the 4th and 6th, even though that of the 7th of
George 3d should be repealed, will be establishing a pre-
cedent. " Nevertheless, they declared that, as this con-
sideration "has unfortunately been so long neglected, our
Merchants are extremely averse to making it now an object
of their non-importation agreement. " They refused,
furthermore, to prohibit all incoming trade from Great
Britain, for the reason that this restriction would simply
1 Mass. Gas. &? News-Letter, Nov. 9, 17, 1769. This revised agree-
ment was widely signed, only ten or twelve importers declining.
1 Letter of William Palfrey; M. H. S. Procs. , vol. 47, pp. 2-1-212.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
133
divert the trade to laxer ports. They did promise, how-
ever, that if Parliament failed to remove all the revenue
acts, they would then be ready to unite with the other
colonies " in any measure that may be thought prudent and
practicable for obtaining a full redress of all grievances. " *
The Boston proposal met with the same sort of treatment
at the hands of the New York merchants;2 and, at a meet-
ing on December 4, the Boston merchants reluctantly yielded
up their project upon a plea of the necessity for uniformity
among the chief trading towns. 8
The tangible outcome of this episode was the publication,
in the same month, by the merchants of Boston, of a pamph-
let, entitled Observations on several Acts of Parliament
passed in the 4th, 6th and Jth years of his present Majesty's
Reign; and also on the Conduct of the Officers of the Cus-
toms since those Acts were passed, and the Board of Com-
missioners appointed to reside in America,* This pamphlet
was the clearest and strongest statement-angr_ formulatgd of
the position of the American merchant class, particularly
that of New England. In the compass ot some tn1rtv pages
1 These quotations are from letters of Sept. 21 and Nov. 11, 1769.
Papers of Phila. Merchants, pp. 27-28, 37-42. In their next letter to
the London Committee of Merchants, the Philadelphia Committee
wrote: Though the merchants have confined their agreements to the
repeal of the Townshend duties, "yet nothing less than a Repeal of all
the Revenue Acts and putting Things on the same Footing they were
before the late Innovations, can or will satisfy the Minds of the
People. " London Chron. , Mch. 3, 1770; also Pa. Gas. , May 10.
* Colden, Letter Books, vol. ii, p. 193.
* Mass. Arch. , vol. xxvi, pp. 411, 413; Am. Hist. Rev. , vol. viii, pp.
313-314.
* Mss. 1745-1770 (in M. H. S. ), p. 15, contain the letter of the Com-
mittee of Merchants to Dcnnys d<< Berdt, explaining the inception of
the pamphlet. The committee, which was appointed to draft the
pamphlet, was composed of Arnold Welles, Henderson Inches, William
Dennie, William Molineux and Isaac Smith. Mass. Gas. , July 31, 1769. .
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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
a well-reasoned argument, buttressed with evidence, was pre-
sented for a restoration of American trade to the footing it
had enjoyed before the passage of the old Molasses Act of
1733. This step, it was asserted, would unite Great Britain
and the colonies on a lasting foundation and eliminate all
clandestine trade. The repeal of the recent Townshend
duties would not suffice; for the colonies must again enjoy
the free importation of molasses, sugars and Madeira wine,
and must obtain the right of a free and direct importation
of fruit, wine and oil from Spain and Portugal. The acts
of Parliament prior to 1764 had been intended merely as
regulations of trade and, in one instance, a duty had been
placed on foreign molasses in order to encourage the British
West Indies; but the present statute could not be so con-
strued, for it imposed duties on all molasses and expressly
for the purpose of raising a revenue. According to the
figures cited in the pamphlet, the various restraints on
trade with the foreign West Indies, Africa, Madeira and
Southern Europe had rendered unprofitable the employment
of four hundred vessels in the fisheries, and of one hun-
dred and eighty vessels in the lumber and provisions trade
to the West Indies, not to mention the decrease in the
coasting-trade and other channels of commerce. The ship-
building industry had also been seriously affected, only one
hundred vessels being built annually instead of three hun-
dred as before the late restrictions on trade. In closing,
a representation was made of the embarrassments to com-
merce, due to the unlimited amount of red tape required
for trading voyages, and to the excessive power, officious-
ness and unlawful conduct of the customs officers and the
Customs Board.
The non-importation movement ran a different course in
the plantation provinces from that in the commercial prov-
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
135
inces, due to the characteristic methods of doing business
in each section.
The marketing of the staples of the South
was largely in the hands of English and Scotch merchants
and factors, whose business had been very little affected by
the parliamentary duties of 1766 and 1767. The planters
constituted the chief discontented class, because of their
losing struggle to pay the debts they owed to their mercan-
tile creditors. Animated by a desire to curtail living ex-
penses and to strike at their creditors, the planters assumed
the initiative in promoting non-importation associations,
while the southern trading class shMl aluuf ui were ac-
tively hostile. These circumstances caused the non-1mpor-
tation movement to assume many of the characteristics of
the non-consumption movement that had been promoted by-
New England town meetings in late 1767 and early 1768.
As one contemporary said, the associations of the planta-
tion provinces, besides being less restrictive than the north-
ern agreements, " excluded a great number of articles which
are mere luxuries, confin'd their importations from Britain
to the necessaries of life, and thereby answered the purpose
of a sumptuary law. " l
George Washington, of Virginia, spoke of the peculiari-
ties of the local trading situation when he transmitted a copy
of the Philadelphia non-importation agreement, in a letter
of April 5, 1769, to his neighbor, George Mason. He ex-
pressed approval of a non-importation plan for Virginia;
but he pointed out that it could be made successful only by
going over the heads of the factors and inducing the people
throughout the province to buy no imported articles, except
certain enumerated ones. He proposed the meeting of the
Assembly in May as the best time for launching the project
with any prospect of uniform action by the several counties. 2
1 Bos. Gas. , Jan. 29, 1770; also Pa. Journ. , Feb. 15.
1 Writings (Ford), vol. ii, pp. 263-267.
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? 136 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
Mason agreed cordially with Washington's views, and yet
made it clear that no plan could be enforced in the tobacco
provinces unless it should be considerably more liberal in the
number of importations permitted. Mason seemed to be
aware of the lack of support for the measure in a well-
fertilized public opinion, as in the North; and, like a good
propagandist, he urged the necessity of publishing " some-
thing preparatory to it in our gazettes, to warn the people
of the impending danger and to induce them the more
readily and cheerfully to concur in the proper measures to
avert it. " He proposed also that the association should
provide for the non-exportation of tobacco. 1
The House of Burgesses convened at Williamsburg in
May. Washington found ready backing for a non-importa-
tion measure among such men as Peyton Randolph, Richard
Bland, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee and Thomas
Jefferson. But the house proceeded first to declare, in a set
of resolutions, its official opinion that the sole right of
taxing Virginians lay with that body and to state its ob-
jections to certain recent acts of the British administration;
whereupon Governor Botetourt peremptorily dissolved the
body. The members, though now divested of their legal
character, met at a private house in town and, electing
Peyton Randolph their chairman, promulgated a plan of
non-importation. 2
The, association hprf tho Ho>>o Miy T? , -J^ In the pre-
1 Washington, Writings (Ford), pp. 267-268 n.
'Pa. Journ. , June 1, 1769; also 5. C. Gas. , July 20. This plan of
association was presented by Washington; and in its essentials fol-
lowed a draft, made several weeks before, by George Mason. One pro-
posal of Mason's was rejected, however, vis. , if the other measures
proved ineffectual, a non-exportation of tobacco and naval supplies
should go into effect. Washington, Writings (Ford), vol. ii, pp. 268-
269 n. ; 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.
