Since these provinces were, in most cases,
tributary commercially to the great trading-towns, their
action was not of great importance.
tributary commercially to the great trading-towns, their
action was not of great importance.
Arthur Schlesinger - Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution
8
The great body of the merchants would have nothing
1 5. C. Gas. . June 29. 1769. * Ibid. , July 6, 13, 1769.
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? I44 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
to do with these proceedings, objecting bitterly to the
non-representative character of the meetings which had
formed the agreement, and denouncing the measure as
"an unjust attempt of one part of the community . . . to
throw a burthen on the rest, more grievous than ever was
conceived by the most arbitrary minister of the most des-
potic King. " They charged that the agreement was so
framed as to enable the planters and mechanics to import
the articles that they deemed indispensable, while the mer-
chants received no special favors; and they considered that
their interests were assailed by the mourning agreement,
since their stores were well stocked with mourning ma-
terials. 1 The merchants held their first meeting to con-
sider the situation on Friday afternoon, June 30, and, after
appointing a committee to draw up a report, adjourned to
July 7, when final action was taken. Nearly eighty mer-
chants were present at the adjourned meeting. The non-
importation retaliations, wh|ch themeeting- adopted, were
much less r1gorous than thrw ot tfr> ~t*-r inhabitant!
The agreement was limited to January 1, 1771, unless the
revenue acts should be repealed sooner; and a larger and
different list of articles was permitted to be imported. All
the other terms of the rival agreement were taken over by
the merchants, except the pledges for promoting local
manufacturing and for casting aside mourning apparel. In
addition, it was specified that, because of the heavy duty,
no wine should be imported or marketed during the year
1770. 8
Affairs were now in a bad state of confusion. Two
forms of agreement were being actively circulated for signa-
tures; and the feeling of animosity between the classes was
1 " The Merchants of Charles-Town," 5". C. & Am. Gen. Ga*. , July
13, 1769-
1 5. C. Gas. , July 6, 13, 1769.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
growing each day more acute. "A Mechanic" demanded
of the public how the planters and mechanics could be ex-
pected to subscribe to an agreement which did not contain
one syllable in favor of American manufactures or any
provision against the use of mourning. 1 The intolerable
situation was brought to an end by overtures from the
merchants for a joint committee to draft a uniform agree-
ment containing the p^ontialg nf thp twrv formg The
joint committee completed its work on Wednesday, July 19.
On the following day, the merchants unanimously accepted
the plan that had been agreed upon, and appointed a com-
mittee of thirteen to act as an executive body for doing
"whatever might be farther necessary to give Force to the
new Association. " 2 On Saturday, the twenty-second, a
great meeting was held, under Liberty Tree, of the me-
chanics and such planters as happened to be in town.
Christopher Gadsden read the new form, paragraph by
paragraph, so that objections might be offered, but the whole
was immediately voted satisfactory. * The association
was quickly signed by two hundred and sixty-eight people,
headed by the members of the House of Representatives
who were in town. A committee of thirteen planters and
of as many mechanics was appointed to serve with the
merchants' committee as one General Committee of thirty-
nine, for the purpose of supervising the enforcement of
the association. 4 By the following Thursday, one hundred
and forty-two merchants had signed the new resolutions.
1 5. C. Gaz. , July 13, 1769.
1 Ibid. , July 27, 1769; also Bos. News-Letter, Aug. 17.
1 5. C. Gas. , July 27, 1769; Bos. Gas. , Aug. 14. The names of the
members of the General Committee may be found in MoCrady, S. C.
under Royal Govt. , p. 651 n.
* Among the planters named were some who had mercantile interests
as well. Before the vote was taken, Gadsden withdrew his own name,
and induced the meeting to strike out of the planters' list all others
who were similarly situated.
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? 146
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
The new association represented a victory for the non-
mercantile classes, in most respects, although it contained
most of the provisions of both earlier associations. In one
respect, it was the most comprehensive agreement on the
continent, for it was to remain in operation until the various
regulatory acts of Parliament, including the establishment
of the Customs Board and the extension of vice-admiralty
jurisdiction, were repealed. The subscribers contracted to
import no European or East Indian goods from Great
Britain or elsewhere, except such orders as it was too late
to countermand and excluding a list of articles which com-
prehended all those of the earlier agreements. They en-
gaged to maintain the usual prices; to foster provincial
manufactures; to dispense with mourning apparel; to trade
with no transient vessels for any goods after November I,
save salt and coal; to import no negroes from Africa dur-
ing the year 1770 nor to import any wine after January 1,
1770. Finally a boycott was declared against every resident
of the province, who failed to sign within one month; and
any subscriber who became delinquent was to be treated with
"the utmost contempt. " Later in the year, the General
Committee amended the association so as to include a non-
exportation of tanned leather until the revenue acts were
repealed, since saddlery and shoes were no longer to be im-
ported from abroad. 1
Effects of the mourning regulation were soon manifest;
and by October the use of scarves and gloves at funerals
was totally discarded at Charleston. 2 The practice of the
wealthier families of educating their sons in Great Britain
was, in a number of cases, given up, " now that the Mother
Country seems unfriendly to us. " Thus, in August, 1769,
15. C. Gaz. , Oct. 26, 1769.
'Ibid. , Oct. 5, 1769.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM 147
seven youths sailed on the same vessel to Philadelphia to
enter the college there. 1 Some sporadic interest was shown
in manufacturing.
The . situation in Georgia revealed the same discord be-
tween the merchants and the other 1nhabitants that existed
elsewhere in the plantation provinces. Spurred on by a
letter from the General Committee of South Carolina, a
radical group, known as the "Amicable Society," met at
Liberty Hall in Savannah, and issued a call for a meeting
of all inhabitants on Tuesday, September 12, to consider
methods of obtaining relief from the Townshend Acts.
Notwithstanding the claim that "Merchants, Planters,
Tradesmen and others" attended the public gathering, it is
evident that the merchants, if any were present, formed an
ineffective minority. A committee was appointed to submit
a form of agreement to the inhabitants a week later. 2
The merchants of Savannah now determined to head off
the popular movement; and three days before the appointed
time they assembled at a private house and adopted an agree-
ment against the importation of dutied articles alone. In
the preamble, the recent acts of Parliament were declared
unconstitutional; and the particular grievance of Georgia
was asserted to be the requirement that the duties should
be paid in specie, this in face of the fact that the stoppage
of the Spanish trade, some years before, had plugged the
source of specie supply. *
Their efforts proved unavailing. The mass meeting of
September 19 adopted a comprehensive agreement, pat-
terned after that of South Carolina of July 20 and 22. The
terms of the agreement were to expire with the repeal of the
1S. C. Gas. , Aug. 24, 1769.
1 Ga. Gas. , Sept. 6, 13, 1769.
* Ibid. , Sept. 20, 1769; also White, Ga. Hist. Colls. , p. 42.
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? 148 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
Townshend duties. The subscribers engaged to import no
European or East Indian goods, save thirty-seven varieties
and such former orders as it was too late to countermand.
They pledged themselves to sell goods at the customary
rates; to promote provincial manufactures, and to discard
mourning; to import no negroes from Africa after June 1,
1770 nor to import any wine after March 1 of the same
year. All trade should be severed with inhabitants of the
province and with transient traders who neglected to sign
the agreement within five weeks; and every violator should
be deemed " no Friend to his Country. " * This agreement
adopted, it remained for the future to reveal whether the
merchants would deem themselves bound by an ordinance
not of their own making.
All the southern provinces but North Carolina had now
taken action. The excellent example of the neighboring prov-
inces seemed to make little impression on North Carolina.
Here, as elsewhere in the South, the merchants of the chief
trading community used their influence to retard the move-
ment. 2 Finally, on September 30, 1769, under the leader-
ship of Cornelius Harnett, the " Sons of Liberty" of Wil-
mington and Brunswick adopted resolutions of non-im-
portation. 1 The next step was the adoption of a provincial
association; and this was accomplished under circumstances
closely parallel to those in Virginia six months earlier. It
was the verbatim adoption of the defiant resolutions of Vir-
ginia that caused Governor Tryon to dissolve the North
Carolina Assembly. The members, in their private capaci-
ties, then held a meeting in the courthouse at Newbern; and
1 Ca. Gas. , Sept. 20, 1769; also Ga. Rev. Recs. , vol. i, pp. 8-11. Jona-
than Bryan was suspended from the provincial council because he pre-
sided over this meeting. Brit. Papers ("Sparks Mss. "), vol. ii, p. 284.
1 S. C. Gas. , Oct. 26, 1769; 5. C. Gas. & Country Journ. , Sept. 12.
1 Cape Pear Merc. , July 11, 1770; also 5". C. Gas. , Aug. 9.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
149
on the next day, November 7, 1769, an association of
non-importation was agreed upon and signed by the sixty-
four members present. The first part of the association
attributed the current depression to the revenue acts and
other statutes depriving Americans of their rights as Eng-
lishmen, and called upon all inhabitants of the province to
concur in the association until the oppressive acts should
be repealed. Derelict subscribers were " to be treated with
the utmost contempt;" the customary standard of prices for
domestic goods was to be maintained; and the terms of the
document were to go into effect beginning January 1, 1770.
In other respects, the association was almost precisely like
that of Virginia of May 18. The subscribers agreed not to
import the same list of foreign wares, nor to buy newly im-
ported slaves, nor ever again to import dutied goods, except
paper. There were also similar regulations for encourag-
ing economy and preventing the killing of lambs. 1
in thp commercial group had expressed formal
to the measure.
Since these provinces were, in most cases,
tributary commercially to the great trading-towns, their
action was not of great importance. Only two provinces,
JU1ode Island and New Ha7ipgh;'-'', h>>1f| j. . ff for a wl^le-
and the course of Rhode Island created a situation of some
perplexity because of the importance of Newport as a com-
mercial center.
Delaware was the first of the minor provinces to act. At
the August session of the grand jury of Newcastle county
on the Delaware, a "compact" was entered into to con-
form to the spirit of the Philadelphia agreement, and to
1 S. C. Gas. &r Country Journ. , Dec. 8, 1769; also AT. C. Booklet, vol.
viii, pp. 22-26.
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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
boycott and publish any offenders against it. On Saturday,
August 26, 1769, a meeting of the principal freeholders of
the county approved and unanimously signed the compact. 1
Apparently no action was taken by the other counties on
the Delaware.
On October 18, the members of the House of Assembly of
New Jersey passed a vote of thanks to the merchants and
traders of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania " for
their disinterested and public spirited Conduct in withhold-
ing their Importations of British Merchandize. " 2 The
only other evidence of formal action on the part of the in-
habitants came at mass meetings in Essex county and at New
Brunswick in June, 1770, when loyalty to non-importation
was pledged and a sentence of boycott pronounced upon all
importers and their allies. 8
On April 26, 1769, the Committee of Merchants at New
York wrote a letter to the merchants at New Haven, the
chief trading place in Connecticut, appealing to them to
adopt the same measures that Boston, New York and Phila-
delphia had united upon. 4 The merchants of New Haven
met for that purpose on July 10, and agreed neither to
receive nor purchase any goods from Great Britain until
the Townshend duties should be repealed, with the exception
of certain specified articles and such commodities as were
excluded by the Boston and New York agreements. Delin-
quent subscribers were to be boycotted as " enemies to their
Country. " 5 In August the merchants at New London
and Groton adopted regulations of a similar tendency. *
1 Pa. Journ. , Aug. 31, 1769; also S. C. Gas. , Oct. 12.
1 Pa. Gas. , Oct. 26, 1769; also / N. J. Arch. , vol. xxvi, p. 546.
1 N. J. Journ. , June 7, 28, 1770; also I N. J. Arch. , vol. xxvii, pp. 169-
172, 186-189.
* Conn. Cour. , July 30, 1770; also N. Y. Gas. & Post-Boy, Aug. 6.
4 Bos. Eve. Post, Aug. 7, 1769; Conn. Cour. , July 30, 1770.
? Bos. Chron. , Aug. 28, 1769.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
The support of the farmers of the province was manifested
in a resolution passed, on October 12, by the House of
Representatives, a body which they entirely controlled.
High approval was expressed of the merchants of Con-
necticut and the other provinces for stopping importation
from Great Britain. 1 On Christmas day, a town meeting
at Wethersfield congratulated the merchants on their con-
duct, and voted to use no goods debarred by the merchants'
agreement. Silas Deane, a local merchant in the West
Indian trade, had worked actively for these resolutions and
was made chairman of the committee of enforcement. 1
Norwich followed the example of Wethersfield a month
later. *
Now occurred a moveme1it_t^^taftdMdtgfc4lumg? eements
of the various towns; and a call was sent forth for a meet-
ing of the principal merchants and traders at Middletown
on February 20, 1770, to take proper measures. The mer-
cantile convention met at the appointed time and there were
also " a Number of the respectable Inhabitants " in attend-
ance. After a three days' session, the meeting formulated
a program of action, designed to free the province from
the economic domination not only of England but of the
neighboring provinces as well. A uniform agreement of
non-importation was drawn up. 4 Old prices were to con-
tinue; violators of the non-importation, whether merchants
or others, were to be boycotted; and a similar treatment was
to be visited on any provinces that did not observe non-
importation. A project was launched for a "society for
1 N. Y. Gas. & Merc. , Nov. 20, 1769.
'Bos. Eve. Post, Jan. 22, 1770.
'Ibid. , Feb. 5, 1770.
4 About thirty articles were permitted to be imported, most of which
were useful for local manufacturing. This list was further extended
at a general meeting of September 13. Conn. Cour. , Sept. 17, 1770.
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? 152
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
the purpose of promoting and extending the arts, agricul-
ture, manufactures, trade and commerce of this colony;"
and a committee was appointed to float the enterprise by
means of popular subscriptions. 1 Another committee was
instructed to seek preferential treatment from the legis-
lature for the exportation of Connecticut flour in Con-
necticut vessels, for local ships in the fisheries, and for the
establishment of a glass factory. The convention further
resolved that, in view of the extreme scarcity of cash, they
would urge the legislature at its May session "to make
notes of hand negotiable with us, under proper regula-
tions, as they are in Great Britain, and in some of our
sister colonies. " 2
At first thought, it may seem strange that the merchants
of Rhode Island were not abreast of Boston and New York
in opposition to the trade restrictions of Parliament. With
the course of these greater towns their true interest un-
doubtedly lay; but the temptation in hard times {o turn the
self-denial of their neitrhhnrs to thpir mv>>]
Moreover, they had so long
1 This society was duly organized; and, at its first meeting, on May
22, 1770, it offered premiums for domestic wheat, wool, textiles, stock-
ings and nails. New-London Gas. , June 15, 1770. But the breakdown
of the non-importation movement later in the year prevented this soci-
ety from accomplishing its purpose.
1Conn, Journ. , Jan. 19, 1770; Conn. Cour. , Feb. 26.
1 Thus, newspapers in New York and Boston alluded to recent "large
Importations of British Goods into 'Rhode Island with Intent to take
an Advantage of the Sister Colonies. " N. Y. Journ. , June 29, Nov. 30,
1769; Mass. Gas. , July 10. Vide also R. I. Commerce, vol. i, p. 246.
In August, 1769, two British manufacturers, who had been expelled
from Charleston, S. C. , and later from New London, Conn. , for trying
to sell imported British wares, journeyed on to Newport and quickly
disposed of their goods there. Bos. Chron. , Aug. 28, 1769; N. Y. Gas.
6- Post-Boy. Aug. 28. In December, a trader in "a Country Town
Southward of Boston" complained that the trade of the western part
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
153
accustomed themselves to defiances of the trade regulations
of Parliament that it violated no moral scruple to ignore
the extra-legal ordinances of nearby provinces. The mer-
chants of Newport, the leading town, were the chief of-
fenders. As one observer put it, the merchants there " have
been pretty unanimous in disputing fees with their Col-
lector &c. " but have failed to adopt non-importation meas-
ures. "They have been busy in killing flies while they
should have been destroying wolves and tygers! " *
After some preliminary agitation on the part of the local
merchants, a town meeting at Providence on October 24,
1769 resolved not to import or purchase any of the com-
modities listed in the old town agreement of December 2,
1767. ' This, it should however be noted, was an ex-
tremely liberal form of non-importation regulation in com-
parison with the agreements in the other commercial prov-
inces. As the snow Tristram was soon expected from
London with goods forbidden by the agreement, the various
importers, some of whom had been unmoved before, arose
in the meeting and agreed to store the goods with a com-
mittee of the town. Later, precaution was taken to prevent
inhabitants from buying goods, which local merchants were
forbidden to sell, from strolling vendors, all purchasers
being warned that their names would be publicly advertised. 5
of Massachusetts was being absorbed by Rhode Island merchants, be-
cause prices at Newport were twenty per cent cheaper than at Boston.
Mass. Gas. & News-Letter, Dec. 21, 1769. "A Bostonian" charged in
the Boston Chronicle, Feb. 5, 1770, that Providence had developed a
considerable trade with western Massachusetts. In like vein, the
Chronicle, Dec. I1, 1769, reported that twenty chests of tea had been
brought overland from Rhode Island within the fortnight.
1 N. Y. Journ. , Nov. 9, 1769.
? Mass. Gas. & Post-Boy, Oct. 16, 1769; Bos. Gas. , Oct. 30; Mass.
The great body of the merchants would have nothing
1 5. C. Gas. . June 29. 1769. * Ibid. , July 6, 13, 1769.
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? I44 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
to do with these proceedings, objecting bitterly to the
non-representative character of the meetings which had
formed the agreement, and denouncing the measure as
"an unjust attempt of one part of the community . . . to
throw a burthen on the rest, more grievous than ever was
conceived by the most arbitrary minister of the most des-
potic King. " They charged that the agreement was so
framed as to enable the planters and mechanics to import
the articles that they deemed indispensable, while the mer-
chants received no special favors; and they considered that
their interests were assailed by the mourning agreement,
since their stores were well stocked with mourning ma-
terials. 1 The merchants held their first meeting to con-
sider the situation on Friday afternoon, June 30, and, after
appointing a committee to draw up a report, adjourned to
July 7, when final action was taken. Nearly eighty mer-
chants were present at the adjourned meeting. The non-
importation retaliations, wh|ch themeeting- adopted, were
much less r1gorous than thrw ot tfr> ~t*-r inhabitant!
The agreement was limited to January 1, 1771, unless the
revenue acts should be repealed sooner; and a larger and
different list of articles was permitted to be imported. All
the other terms of the rival agreement were taken over by
the merchants, except the pledges for promoting local
manufacturing and for casting aside mourning apparel. In
addition, it was specified that, because of the heavy duty,
no wine should be imported or marketed during the year
1770. 8
Affairs were now in a bad state of confusion. Two
forms of agreement were being actively circulated for signa-
tures; and the feeling of animosity between the classes was
1 " The Merchants of Charles-Town," 5". C. & Am. Gen. Ga*. , July
13, 1769-
1 5. C. Gas. , July 6, 13, 1769.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
growing each day more acute. "A Mechanic" demanded
of the public how the planters and mechanics could be ex-
pected to subscribe to an agreement which did not contain
one syllable in favor of American manufactures or any
provision against the use of mourning. 1 The intolerable
situation was brought to an end by overtures from the
merchants for a joint committee to draft a uniform agree-
ment containing the p^ontialg nf thp twrv formg The
joint committee completed its work on Wednesday, July 19.
On the following day, the merchants unanimously accepted
the plan that had been agreed upon, and appointed a com-
mittee of thirteen to act as an executive body for doing
"whatever might be farther necessary to give Force to the
new Association. " 2 On Saturday, the twenty-second, a
great meeting was held, under Liberty Tree, of the me-
chanics and such planters as happened to be in town.
Christopher Gadsden read the new form, paragraph by
paragraph, so that objections might be offered, but the whole
was immediately voted satisfactory. * The association
was quickly signed by two hundred and sixty-eight people,
headed by the members of the House of Representatives
who were in town. A committee of thirteen planters and
of as many mechanics was appointed to serve with the
merchants' committee as one General Committee of thirty-
nine, for the purpose of supervising the enforcement of
the association. 4 By the following Thursday, one hundred
and forty-two merchants had signed the new resolutions.
1 5. C. Gaz. , July 13, 1769.
1 Ibid. , July 27, 1769; also Bos. News-Letter, Aug. 17.
1 5. C. Gas. , July 27, 1769; Bos. Gas. , Aug. 14. The names of the
members of the General Committee may be found in MoCrady, S. C.
under Royal Govt. , p. 651 n.
* Among the planters named were some who had mercantile interests
as well. Before the vote was taken, Gadsden withdrew his own name,
and induced the meeting to strike out of the planters' list all others
who were similarly situated.
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? 146
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
The new association represented a victory for the non-
mercantile classes, in most respects, although it contained
most of the provisions of both earlier associations. In one
respect, it was the most comprehensive agreement on the
continent, for it was to remain in operation until the various
regulatory acts of Parliament, including the establishment
of the Customs Board and the extension of vice-admiralty
jurisdiction, were repealed. The subscribers contracted to
import no European or East Indian goods from Great
Britain or elsewhere, except such orders as it was too late
to countermand and excluding a list of articles which com-
prehended all those of the earlier agreements. They en-
gaged to maintain the usual prices; to foster provincial
manufactures; to dispense with mourning apparel; to trade
with no transient vessels for any goods after November I,
save salt and coal; to import no negroes from Africa dur-
ing the year 1770 nor to import any wine after January 1,
1770. Finally a boycott was declared against every resident
of the province, who failed to sign within one month; and
any subscriber who became delinquent was to be treated with
"the utmost contempt. " Later in the year, the General
Committee amended the association so as to include a non-
exportation of tanned leather until the revenue acts were
repealed, since saddlery and shoes were no longer to be im-
ported from abroad. 1
Effects of the mourning regulation were soon manifest;
and by October the use of scarves and gloves at funerals
was totally discarded at Charleston. 2 The practice of the
wealthier families of educating their sons in Great Britain
was, in a number of cases, given up, " now that the Mother
Country seems unfriendly to us. " Thus, in August, 1769,
15. C. Gaz. , Oct. 26, 1769.
'Ibid. , Oct. 5, 1769.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM 147
seven youths sailed on the same vessel to Philadelphia to
enter the college there. 1 Some sporadic interest was shown
in manufacturing.
The . situation in Georgia revealed the same discord be-
tween the merchants and the other 1nhabitants that existed
elsewhere in the plantation provinces. Spurred on by a
letter from the General Committee of South Carolina, a
radical group, known as the "Amicable Society," met at
Liberty Hall in Savannah, and issued a call for a meeting
of all inhabitants on Tuesday, September 12, to consider
methods of obtaining relief from the Townshend Acts.
Notwithstanding the claim that "Merchants, Planters,
Tradesmen and others" attended the public gathering, it is
evident that the merchants, if any were present, formed an
ineffective minority. A committee was appointed to submit
a form of agreement to the inhabitants a week later. 2
The merchants of Savannah now determined to head off
the popular movement; and three days before the appointed
time they assembled at a private house and adopted an agree-
ment against the importation of dutied articles alone. In
the preamble, the recent acts of Parliament were declared
unconstitutional; and the particular grievance of Georgia
was asserted to be the requirement that the duties should
be paid in specie, this in face of the fact that the stoppage
of the Spanish trade, some years before, had plugged the
source of specie supply. *
Their efforts proved unavailing. The mass meeting of
September 19 adopted a comprehensive agreement, pat-
terned after that of South Carolina of July 20 and 22. The
terms of the agreement were to expire with the repeal of the
1S. C. Gas. , Aug. 24, 1769.
1 Ga. Gas. , Sept. 6, 13, 1769.
* Ibid. , Sept. 20, 1769; also White, Ga. Hist. Colls. , p. 42.
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? 148 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
Townshend duties. The subscribers engaged to import no
European or East Indian goods, save thirty-seven varieties
and such former orders as it was too late to countermand.
They pledged themselves to sell goods at the customary
rates; to promote provincial manufactures, and to discard
mourning; to import no negroes from Africa after June 1,
1770 nor to import any wine after March 1 of the same
year. All trade should be severed with inhabitants of the
province and with transient traders who neglected to sign
the agreement within five weeks; and every violator should
be deemed " no Friend to his Country. " * This agreement
adopted, it remained for the future to reveal whether the
merchants would deem themselves bound by an ordinance
not of their own making.
All the southern provinces but North Carolina had now
taken action. The excellent example of the neighboring prov-
inces seemed to make little impression on North Carolina.
Here, as elsewhere in the South, the merchants of the chief
trading community used their influence to retard the move-
ment. 2 Finally, on September 30, 1769, under the leader-
ship of Cornelius Harnett, the " Sons of Liberty" of Wil-
mington and Brunswick adopted resolutions of non-im-
portation. 1 The next step was the adoption of a provincial
association; and this was accomplished under circumstances
closely parallel to those in Virginia six months earlier. It
was the verbatim adoption of the defiant resolutions of Vir-
ginia that caused Governor Tryon to dissolve the North
Carolina Assembly. The members, in their private capaci-
ties, then held a meeting in the courthouse at Newbern; and
1 Ca. Gas. , Sept. 20, 1769; also Ga. Rev. Recs. , vol. i, pp. 8-11. Jona-
than Bryan was suspended from the provincial council because he pre-
sided over this meeting. Brit. Papers ("Sparks Mss. "), vol. ii, p. 284.
1 S. C. Gas. , Oct. 26, 1769; 5. C. Gas. & Country Journ. , Sept. 12.
1 Cape Pear Merc. , July 11, 1770; also 5". C. Gas. , Aug. 9.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
149
on the next day, November 7, 1769, an association of
non-importation was agreed upon and signed by the sixty-
four members present. The first part of the association
attributed the current depression to the revenue acts and
other statutes depriving Americans of their rights as Eng-
lishmen, and called upon all inhabitants of the province to
concur in the association until the oppressive acts should
be repealed. Derelict subscribers were " to be treated with
the utmost contempt;" the customary standard of prices for
domestic goods was to be maintained; and the terms of the
document were to go into effect beginning January 1, 1770.
In other respects, the association was almost precisely like
that of Virginia of May 18. The subscribers agreed not to
import the same list of foreign wares, nor to buy newly im-
ported slaves, nor ever again to import dutied goods, except
paper. There were also similar regulations for encourag-
ing economy and preventing the killing of lambs. 1
in thp commercial group had expressed formal
to the measure.
Since these provinces were, in most cases,
tributary commercially to the great trading-towns, their
action was not of great importance. Only two provinces,
JU1ode Island and New Ha7ipgh;'-'', h>>1f| j. . ff for a wl^le-
and the course of Rhode Island created a situation of some
perplexity because of the importance of Newport as a com-
mercial center.
Delaware was the first of the minor provinces to act. At
the August session of the grand jury of Newcastle county
on the Delaware, a "compact" was entered into to con-
form to the spirit of the Philadelphia agreement, and to
1 S. C. Gas. &r Country Journ. , Dec. 8, 1769; also AT. C. Booklet, vol.
viii, pp. 22-26.
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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
boycott and publish any offenders against it. On Saturday,
August 26, 1769, a meeting of the principal freeholders of
the county approved and unanimously signed the compact. 1
Apparently no action was taken by the other counties on
the Delaware.
On October 18, the members of the House of Assembly of
New Jersey passed a vote of thanks to the merchants and
traders of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania " for
their disinterested and public spirited Conduct in withhold-
ing their Importations of British Merchandize. " 2 The
only other evidence of formal action on the part of the in-
habitants came at mass meetings in Essex county and at New
Brunswick in June, 1770, when loyalty to non-importation
was pledged and a sentence of boycott pronounced upon all
importers and their allies. 8
On April 26, 1769, the Committee of Merchants at New
York wrote a letter to the merchants at New Haven, the
chief trading place in Connecticut, appealing to them to
adopt the same measures that Boston, New York and Phila-
delphia had united upon. 4 The merchants of New Haven
met for that purpose on July 10, and agreed neither to
receive nor purchase any goods from Great Britain until
the Townshend duties should be repealed, with the exception
of certain specified articles and such commodities as were
excluded by the Boston and New York agreements. Delin-
quent subscribers were to be boycotted as " enemies to their
Country. " 5 In August the merchants at New London
and Groton adopted regulations of a similar tendency. *
1 Pa. Journ. , Aug. 31, 1769; also S. C. Gas. , Oct. 12.
1 Pa. Gas. , Oct. 26, 1769; also / N. J. Arch. , vol. xxvi, p. 546.
1 N. J. Journ. , June 7, 28, 1770; also I N. J. Arch. , vol. xxvii, pp. 169-
172, 186-189.
* Conn. Cour. , July 30, 1770; also N. Y. Gas. & Post-Boy, Aug. 6.
4 Bos. Eve. Post, Aug. 7, 1769; Conn. Cour. , July 30, 1770.
? Bos. Chron. , Aug. 28, 1769.
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
The support of the farmers of the province was manifested
in a resolution passed, on October 12, by the House of
Representatives, a body which they entirely controlled.
High approval was expressed of the merchants of Con-
necticut and the other provinces for stopping importation
from Great Britain. 1 On Christmas day, a town meeting
at Wethersfield congratulated the merchants on their con-
duct, and voted to use no goods debarred by the merchants'
agreement. Silas Deane, a local merchant in the West
Indian trade, had worked actively for these resolutions and
was made chairman of the committee of enforcement. 1
Norwich followed the example of Wethersfield a month
later. *
Now occurred a moveme1it_t^^taftdMdtgfc4lumg? eements
of the various towns; and a call was sent forth for a meet-
ing of the principal merchants and traders at Middletown
on February 20, 1770, to take proper measures. The mer-
cantile convention met at the appointed time and there were
also " a Number of the respectable Inhabitants " in attend-
ance. After a three days' session, the meeting formulated
a program of action, designed to free the province from
the economic domination not only of England but of the
neighboring provinces as well. A uniform agreement of
non-importation was drawn up. 4 Old prices were to con-
tinue; violators of the non-importation, whether merchants
or others, were to be boycotted; and a similar treatment was
to be visited on any provinces that did not observe non-
importation. A project was launched for a "society for
1 N. Y. Gas. & Merc. , Nov. 20, 1769.
'Bos. Eve. Post, Jan. 22, 1770.
'Ibid. , Feb. 5, 1770.
4 About thirty articles were permitted to be imported, most of which
were useful for local manufacturing. This list was further extended
at a general meeting of September 13. Conn. Cour. , Sept. 17, 1770.
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? 152
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
the purpose of promoting and extending the arts, agricul-
ture, manufactures, trade and commerce of this colony;"
and a committee was appointed to float the enterprise by
means of popular subscriptions. 1 Another committee was
instructed to seek preferential treatment from the legis-
lature for the exportation of Connecticut flour in Con-
necticut vessels, for local ships in the fisheries, and for the
establishment of a glass factory. The convention further
resolved that, in view of the extreme scarcity of cash, they
would urge the legislature at its May session "to make
notes of hand negotiable with us, under proper regula-
tions, as they are in Great Britain, and in some of our
sister colonies. " 2
At first thought, it may seem strange that the merchants
of Rhode Island were not abreast of Boston and New York
in opposition to the trade restrictions of Parliament. With
the course of these greater towns their true interest un-
doubtedly lay; but the temptation in hard times {o turn the
self-denial of their neitrhhnrs to thpir mv>>]
Moreover, they had so long
1 This society was duly organized; and, at its first meeting, on May
22, 1770, it offered premiums for domestic wheat, wool, textiles, stock-
ings and nails. New-London Gas. , June 15, 1770. But the breakdown
of the non-importation movement later in the year prevented this soci-
ety from accomplishing its purpose.
1Conn, Journ. , Jan. 19, 1770; Conn. Cour. , Feb. 26.
1 Thus, newspapers in New York and Boston alluded to recent "large
Importations of British Goods into 'Rhode Island with Intent to take
an Advantage of the Sister Colonies. " N. Y. Journ. , June 29, Nov. 30,
1769; Mass. Gas. , July 10. Vide also R. I. Commerce, vol. i, p. 246.
In August, 1769, two British manufacturers, who had been expelled
from Charleston, S. C. , and later from New London, Conn. , for trying
to sell imported British wares, journeyed on to Newport and quickly
disposed of their goods there. Bos. Chron. , Aug. 28, 1769; N. Y. Gas.
6- Post-Boy. Aug. 28. In December, a trader in "a Country Town
Southward of Boston" complained that the trade of the western part
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? COMMERCIAL REFORM
153
accustomed themselves to defiances of the trade regulations
of Parliament that it violated no moral scruple to ignore
the extra-legal ordinances of nearby provinces. The mer-
chants of Newport, the leading town, were the chief of-
fenders. As one observer put it, the merchants there " have
been pretty unanimous in disputing fees with their Col-
lector &c. " but have failed to adopt non-importation meas-
ures. "They have been busy in killing flies while they
should have been destroying wolves and tygers! " *
After some preliminary agitation on the part of the local
merchants, a town meeting at Providence on October 24,
1769 resolved not to import or purchase any of the com-
modities listed in the old town agreement of December 2,
1767. ' This, it should however be noted, was an ex-
tremely liberal form of non-importation regulation in com-
parison with the agreements in the other commercial prov-
inces. As the snow Tristram was soon expected from
London with goods forbidden by the agreement, the various
importers, some of whom had been unmoved before, arose
in the meeting and agreed to store the goods with a com-
mittee of the town. Later, precaution was taken to prevent
inhabitants from buying goods, which local merchants were
forbidden to sell, from strolling vendors, all purchasers
being warned that their names would be publicly advertised. 5
of Massachusetts was being absorbed by Rhode Island merchants, be-
cause prices at Newport were twenty per cent cheaper than at Boston.
Mass. Gas. & News-Letter, Dec. 21, 1769. "A Bostonian" charged in
the Boston Chronicle, Feb. 5, 1770, that Providence had developed a
considerable trade with western Massachusetts. In like vein, the
Chronicle, Dec. I1, 1769, reported that twenty chests of tea had been
brought overland from Rhode Island within the fortnight.
1 N. Y. Journ. , Nov. 9, 1769.
? Mass. Gas. & Post-Boy, Oct. 16, 1769; Bos. Gas. , Oct. 30; Mass.
