No More Learning

Spy, July 21, 1774.
1 They declared that the staple articles of trade would cease, such as
oil, pot and pearlash, flax seed, naval stores and lumber, and that ship-
building would be seriously affected. Mass. Gos. & Post-Boy, July 4,
1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 490-491.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:36 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CONTEST IN COMMERCIAL PROVINCES
32I
up by many newspaper writers in the mercantile interest,
who declaimed against the harebrained scheme and under-
handed methods of the committee of correspondence. 1 The
very legality of the existence of the committee of corres-
pondence was questioned in view of the fact that it had
been appointed in November, 1772, to perform a particular
task and its tenure could not continue longer than the end
of that year at the furthest. 2
In anticipation of the gathering storm, the radicals has-
tened to call a town meeting on June 1 7, which jurnished
sanction which its existence had lacked. The committee
were thanked for the faithful discharge of their trust and
desired to continue their vigilance and activity. 8 Though
taken by surprise, the merchants and, cnnservatiyes deter-
mined fo hringr flhOUll thp HigrV1prgp r>f the rnmmirtqe nt
correspondence. After a number of secret conferences,
tHey decided that the^fioct should he marifc at a town meet-
ing on Monday,. Tune 27. 4 Great numbers of both parties
1 The whale fishery and the cod fishery, which employed so many,
would be ruined, declared some, and without these profits merchants
would be unable to pay debts owing to entirely blameless persons in
England. Mass. Gas. & Post-Boy, June 23, July 4, 1774. How could
two-thirds of the traders in the seaports, live? queried "Zach Free-
man. " Ibid. , July 18. "Y. Z. " spoke tearfully of his "sweet little
prattling Innocents" who were now being threatened with "all the
Horrors of Poverty, Beggary and Misery. " Ibid. , June 27. Others
pointed out that the boycott feature made the Covenant " as tyrannical as
the Spanish inquisition. " Ibid. , July 4, 18.
1 Vide particularly the protest signed by John Andrews, Thomas
Amory, John Amory, Caleb Blanchard, Samuel Eliot and four others.
Ibid. , July 4, 1774.
1 Ibid. , June ao, 1774; also Bos. Town Recs. (/770-J777), pp. 176-1 77-
4 The official account of this meeting is in ibid. , pp. 177-178; also
Mass. Spy, June 30, 1774. For other contemporary accounts, vide
"Candidus" in Mass. Spy, July 7; Gage's account, 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i,
pp. SI4-SIS; letter of William Barrell, M. H. S. Mss. , 41 F 66; anony-
mous account in Mass. Spy, June 30.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:36 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 322
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
attended, and Sam Adams was chosen moderator. A mo-
tion was passed for the reading of all letters sent by the
committee of correspondence since the receipt of the Boston
Port Act; and when this performance promised to be too
lengthy, another motion was carried for confining the read-
ing to the Covenant and letters particularly called for. This
done, Mr. [Harrison? ] Gray offered the momentous motion
that the committee of correspondence be censured and dis-
missed from further service. Adams now voluntarily
vacated the chair until the subject of the committee, whereof
he was chairman, should be disposed of; and a moderate
radical, Thomas Cushing, was chosen in his stead. The
debates which ensued lasted far into dusk; and the meeting
was adjourned to the following morning to continue the
discussion. The speakers on the mercantile side marshaled
forth all the arguments which had been ventilated in the
newspapers; and pvfn somy; pf fh<> mpre radical merchants
comglained_against the sfrurtr0"0 ~f t:TMt a"^ii">f1 f~- re-
^JYinc gr'H'r frnm ^rghnd btfprft thr finyenant wemlinto
effect. Ardent enthusiasm and a well-knitted organization
now served well the purposes of the radicals; the motion
for censure was lost bv q IftTfiP TM^JTM-trYI not more than
fifty or sixty hands being in favor. The town then voted
their approval of "the upright Intentions and . . . honest
Zeal of the Committee of Correspondence . . . " To Gov-
ernpj Gage the whole affair appeared to be clearly a case
oft. the better sort of people" being " out voted by a great
majority of the lower class. " J
Defeated in their main purpose, the merchants now used
such means as were yet at hand to discredit the Covenant.
One hundred and twenty-nine inhabitants of the town signed
a protest against the doings of the town meeting, and a
second protest, differing but slightly, appeared with eight
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:36 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CONTEST IN COMMERCIAL PROVINCES
323
signatures. 1 Governor Gage also issued a proclamation
which denounced "certain persons calling themselves a
Committee of Correspondence for the town of Boston,"
for attempting to excite the people of the province "to
enter into an unwarrantable, hostile and traitorous com-
bination," and which comm^nde^ ^11 mapgfrfl|^ f"
all
disapproval of the Boston merchants and of the
government served only to increase the popularity of the
Covenant in the rural districts,J At Hardwicke, a magis-
trate, brave old Brigadier Ruggles, announced that he would
conform to Gage's proclamation and jail any man who
signed the paper; whereupon almost one hundred men
signed and left him powerless. * Worcester adopted a modi-
fied form of the Covenant, inserting the date August I in
place of October 1 as the time after which all British im-
ports should be boycotted. 4 The Worcester alteration soon
superseded the Boston plan in popular favor. Exclusive of
the places already named, the Covenant in one form or
other was adopted by at least thirteen towns, before the
meeting of the Continental Congress in September, 1774. '
Many other towns sympathized with the intent of the Cove-
nant but postponed action because of the certainty that an
1 Mass. Gaz. & Post-Boy, July 4, 1774; also / M. H. S. Procs. , vol. >>,
PP. 394-395.
'Mass. Spy, June 30, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 491-492. The
justices of the County of Plymouth also adopted an address, in which
they promised to maintain order and justice in face of all illegal com-
binations. Mass. Gas. <&' Post-Boy, July 18, 1774; also Am. Arch. , vol.
i, PP. 515-5I6.
1 Bos. Gas. , July 4, 1774.
4 Pickering Papers, vol. xxxix, p. 54.
* Athol, Bernardston, Billerica, Braintree, Brimfield, Cape Elizabeth,
Charlton, Colerain, Gloucester, Gorham, Hopkinton, Lincoln, Shrews-
bury. Vide correspondence of Bos. Com. Cor. and current newspapers.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:36 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 324 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763. 1776
interprovjnt'al TM"grp<^ would assemble to deal with the
whole question. 1 Of serious opposition, there was little or
none. 8
The covenant movement gained further impetus by reason
of the fact that various county conventions took an in-
terest in the matter; and when the provincial convention of
Massachusetts met in October, that body resolved, on the
twenty-eighth of the month, that whereas no explicit direc-
tions had yet arrived from the Continental Congress (which
had adjourned but two days before), and as the great
majority of the people of the province had entered into
agreements of non-importation and non-consumption, they
earnestly recommended to all the inhabitants of Massachu-
setts to conform to these regulations until the Continental
Congress or the provincial convention should direct other-
wise. The convention recommended that all recalcitrant
importers be boycotted, and declared the non-consumption
of " all kinds of East India teas," urging the local commit-
tees to post the names of violators. 8 The action of the pro-
1 The committees of the maritime towns of Marblehead and Salem
named this as the cause of their inactivity, and entered the further
objection that Boston herself had not adopted the Covenant. Bos. Com.
Cor. Papers, vol. iii, pp. 475-477, 491-492; Pickering Papers, vol. xxxiii,
p. 96. At least six other towns announced themselves in favor of the
principles of the Covenant, but declared they would await the outcome
of the Continental Congress: Acton, Charlemont, Charlestown, Fal-
rrouth, f a1mer, Springfield. Bos. Com. Cor. Papers, vol. iii, passim;
Pickering Papers, vol. xxxiii, passim.
* Forty-six traders and freeholders of Easton announced to Governor
Gage, under their signatures, that they were opposed to the Covenant
and to riots and routs. 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 613-614; also Mass.
Gas. & Post-Boy, July 25, 1774. At Worcester, the conservatives made
an abortive attempt to unseat the local committee of correspondence.
Ibid. , July 4. Vide also Mass. Spy, Dec. 8.
14 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 840, 848; also Mass. Spy, Oct. 27, Nov. 3,
1774. County conventions in Berkshire, Suffolk, Plymouth and Bristol
had gone furthest in their resolutions of non-importation and non-
consumption. Ibid. , July 28, Sept. 15, Oct. 6, 13.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:36 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CONTEST IN COMMERCIAL PROVINCES
325
vincial convention capped the movement that had begun in
a small way through locally adapted covenants.
Because
of the lateness of the occurrence, however, the event had
no practical importance.
Outside of Massachusetts^ the SqlernjL League, and. Cove-
nant failed to make hgadwjiy, although the Boston Com-
mittee urged it on all the New England provinces. The
Portsmouth, N. H. , Committee sent out a covenant for
adoption closely modeled on the Worcester plan, but it was
apparently adopted nowhere. 1 The towns of Rhode Island
and Connecticut objected to the measure as inexpedient.
As Silas Deane wrote to the Boston Committee in behalf of
the Connecticut General Assembly, it was the general opin-
ion that:
A congress is absolutely necessary previous to almost every
other measure . . . The resolves of merchants of any indi-
vidual town or province, however generously designed, must
be partial when considered in respect to the whole Colonies
in one general view; while, on the other hand, every measure
recommended, every resolve come into by the whole united,
colonies must carry weight and influence with it on the mind
of the people and tend effectually to silence those base insinu-
ations . . . of interested motives, sinister views, unfair prac-
tices and the like, for the vile purposes of sowing seeds of
jealousy between the Colonies . . . *
In Rhode Island the towns of Providence, Newport and
Westerly expressed their willingness to enter into a plan of
1 2 M. H. S. Procs. , vol. ii, pp. 481-486. Vide also 4 Am. Arch. > vol. i,
PP. 745-746.
'Letter of June 3, 1774; N. Y. Journ. , Mch. 9, 1775; also 4 Ant.
Arch. , vol. i, pp. 303-304. Vide also Bos. Com. Cor. Papers, vol. ii, pp.
111-112, 251-253; Conn. Hist. Soc. Colls. , vol. ii, pp. 120-130; Adams, S,
Writings (d1shing), vol. iii, pp. 114-116, 125-126.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:36 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 326 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
joint non-intercourse, as proposed in the Boston circular
letter of May 13; and Providence instructed her deputies
in the General Assembly to propose a continental congress
as the best means of devising an effective plan. 1 In Con-
necticut New Haven responded favorably to the Boston
circular letter on May 23; and in June, town meetings in
at least fourteen towns pledged their support to any reason-
able plan of non-intercourse drawn up by a general con-
gress. * In almost every case committees of correspond-
ence were appointed; and thus this occasion marks the ex-
tension to Connecticut of the plan of municipal committees
for radical propaganda.
The truth was that the Covenant was a device that was
particularly well adapted to the purposes of the radicals of
Massachusetts, where there had been imminent danger that
the conservative merchants would stem the tide of opposi-
tion. But there was no very good reason why other New
England provinces should join in the measure; the Boston
1 These instructions, adopted May 17, were the first instance of agi-
tation for a continental congress by a public body. R. I. Col. Recs. , vol.
vii, pp. 280-281, 289-290; 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 343-344.
1 Canterbury, Farmington, Glastenbury, Groton, Hartford, Lyme,
Middfctown, New Haven, New London, Norfolk, Norwich, Preston,
Wethersfield, Windham. Five towns adopted similar resolves later:
Bolton, Enfield, Goshen, Greenwich, Windsor. Vide files of Conn. Gas. ,
Conn. Cour. and Conn. Journ. in this period. Only two communities,
Brooklyn parish in Pomfret and the town of Stonington, entered an
immediate agreement of non-consumption along the lines of the Cove-
nant. Bos. Com. Cor. Papers, vol. ii, 199-200, 215-218, 237-239. As late
as September an effort was made by the Hartford Committee, while
Silas Deane was absent at the Continental Congress, to call a provin-
cial convention in order to adopt a general non-consumption agreement
for the province. On September 15, delegates from four counties
gathered to consider the matter, but concluded upon vigorous resolu-
tions in support of the anticipated measures of the Continental Con-
gress. Conn. Cour. , Sept. 19, 1774; Conn. Hist. Soc. Colls. , vol. ii, pp.
15I-152.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:36 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CONTEST IN COMMERCIAL PROVINCES 327
invitation of May 13 for co-operative measures among the
provinces commended itself as a more feasible mode of pro-
cedure. As the movement for a continental rones'; fpineH
jrround in other provinces, the New England provinces did
not lag in taking effective action in that direction. The
radicals used the instruments which came readiest to hand.
On June 15 the General Assembly of Rhode Island chose
delegates to the Continental Congress. 1 In Connecticut the
House of Representatives delegated the function to the
legislative committee of correspondence, which designated
delegates to the congress on July 13. " The path of the
radicals in New Hampshire was beset with greater difficul-
ties. Early in July the legislative committee of correspond-
ence called a meeting of the late members of the House of
Representatives at Portsmouth for the selection of dele-
gates to Congress; but when the gentlemen convened, Gov-
ernor Wentworth confronted them with doughty speech
and deterrent proclamation, and they betook themselves to
the tavern where, over the warming victuals, they agreed to
call a provincial convention to accomplish what they had
failed to do. This convention, composed of representatives
from many towns, met on July 21 and duly chose delegates
to the congress. 1
The Boston circular letter of May 13 was carried to the
main ports throughout the commercial provinces by Paul
Revere. Before the swift rider had started for New York,
however, a copy of the Port Act had arrived there; and
Isaac Sears and Alexander McDougall, acting, it would
appear, for the ultra-radical committee of correspondence
appointed during the anti-tea commotions, transmitted to
1 Mass. Spy, June 23, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 416-417.
1 Conn. Hist. Soc. Colls. , vol. ii, p. 138 n.
'Letters of Wentworth, 4 Ant. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 516, 536, 745-746.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:36 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 328 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
the Boston Committee a promise of ardent support. The
writers stated that they had " stimulated " the merchants to
meet on the next evening in order to agree upon non-inter-
course with England and a limited non-exportation to the
West Indies. 1 Apparently they had no suspicion that they
would not be able to carry things their own way; but they
had strangely misapprehended the situation. For their task,
the radicals, confronted with heavy odds, needed a leader
of the caliber of Sam Adams. Could their forces have been
directed by a man of dominant personality, with a mind
skilled in political artifice and a single-minded devotion to
a great idea, the story of the subsequent two months might
have been different. Instead, these qualities were possessed
by the moderate party; and the fate of the radical cause
was in the hands of men of second-rate abilityj^ho sought
to promote their ends by a species of indirection and who
were, in the disappointing sense of the word, opportunists^
McDougall was regarded by the moderates as "the Wilkes
of New York," 2 Sears as "a political cracker" and a
"quidnunc in politics;" s and they experienced "great
pain . . . to see a number of persons [such as John Morin
Scott and John Lamb, no doubt] who have not a shilling to
lose in the contest, taking advantage of the present dispute
and forcing themselves into public notice. " * As for the
committee of correspondence, it was composed "of eight
or teji flaming patriots without property or anything else
hut jmpuHence. " 5 Colden correctly pictured the reaction
1 Bos. Com. Cor. Papers, vol. ii, pp. 343-346. Letter of May 15.
1 Colden to Dartmouth, Letter Books, vol. ii, pp. 346-347.
5 " A Merchant of New York" in N. Y. Gasetteer, Aug. 18, 1774.
4"Mercator" in ibid. , Aug. 11, 1774.
* Letter from New York in London Morning Post, reprinted in N. Y.
Journ. , Aug. 25, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 299-302 n. Vide
also Colden's characterization, Letter Books, vol. ii, pp. 339-340.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:36 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CONTEST IN COMMERCIAL PROVINCES 329
which had set in since the destruction of the tea at New
York, when he wrote on September 7, 1774: " the Gentle-
men of Property and principal Merchants attended the
meetings of the populace, when called together by their
former Demagogues, who thereby have lost their Influence
and are neglected. The Populace are now directed by Men
of different Principles & who have much at stake. " 1
The merchants' meeting was duly held on Monday eve-
ning, May 16, and the radicals who attended found that,
instead of having their own way, the existing committee
was discharged, their slate for a new committee of twenty-
five was rejected, and a new gntnnjfrtee of fifty, proposed
hy_ $\c men yf property, wns nnnTJnnted2 The committee
thus nominated included in its membership such men as
Sears and McDougall as a concession to the radicals, but
the majority of the members were "the most considerable
Merchts and Men of cool Tempers who would endeavour
to avoid all extravagant and dangerous Measures. " * Some
of them had never before " join'd in the public proceedings
of the Opposition and were induced to appear in what they
are sensible is an illegal Character, from a Consideration
that if they did not the business would be left in the same
rash Hands as before. "* Others, such as the chairman,
Isaac Low, had been the prime movers in the earlier con-
tests for remedial trade legislation, and were now deter-
mined to master the whirlwind which they had then so
recklessly sown. At least twenty-five of the fifty committee-
1 Letter to Dartmouth; Letter Books, vol. ii, pp. 359-3&>-
*4 Am. Arch.