No More Learning

iii, p. 213.
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? 552
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763. 1776
neither Law, Government, or Regular Authority have any
Weight or are at all attended to. " l
The April events had meanwhile been leaving their im-
press on the character and functions of the committees of
observation and inspection in the several provinces. By
swift, though natural, stages, these committees appointed
to enforce the Continental Association became the nuclei
of military organization and the engines for crushing loyal-
ist opinion. In the chief commercial provinces, where
political activity radiated from the centers of population,
the new functions devolving upon the committees were
frankly recognized by the selection of new city committees. 2
Where the population was diffused and urban communities
unimportant, the central radical organization usually de-
creed a new establishment of committees for the whole
province, with the dual purpose of standardizing their
method of selection and of entrusting them with the addi-
tional powers necessitated by the imminence of war. 8 In
all cases provincial conventions and congresses were assem-
bled to guide and supplement the committees in the dis-
charge of their new functions.
These committees were of great practical assistance to
the patriot military. The wide scope of their services may
1 Ga. Hist. Soc. Colls. , Tol. iii, p. 215.
1Thus, the Boston Committee of Correspondence, Safety and In-
spection, appointed May I ? the New York Committee of One Hundred,
on May I; the Philadelphia Committee of One Hundred, on Aug. 16.
Bos. Town Recs. (1770-1777), p. 233; 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, p. 459; vol.
iii, pp. 145-146.
1Thus, the South Carolina provincial congress on June 17; the New
Jersey provincial congress on Aug. 12; the Maryland convention on
Aug. 14; the Virginia convention on Aug. 25; the North Carolina pro-
vincial congress on Sept. 9. Ibid. , vol. ii. p. 1016; vol. iii, pp. 42, 114-116,
420-424, 207-208.
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION 553
be indicated by some illustrative instances in various prov-
inces. 1 The Kensington, N. H. , committee exacted obe-
dience from a man who had refused to equip himself with
arms and ammunition as directed by a resolution of the
provincial congress. The New York committee declared a
boycott against any person who should dispose of arms and
ammunition to any person inimical to American liberty.
The New York provincial congress instructed the local
committees to purchase and rent weapons, and to organize
their jurisdiction into " beats" for the formation of mili-
tary companies. The Morris County, N. J. , committee col-
lected arms and ammunition and promoted the enlistment
of men. All committees of the province were instructed by
the New Jersey congress in October to apprehend deserters
from the American army. The Maryland committees
played an important part in organizing and training the
militia of the province. The Virginia committees under-
took to supervise enlistments and to examine all strangers
and suspects for correspondence and the like. In North
Carolina four committees raised money for the purchase
of gunpowder; and the Newbern committee intercepted
some letters written by the governor.
Efforts that had hitherto been turned to the promotion
of manufacturing in general were now frankly devoted to
the production and increased output of weapons and gun-
powder, saltpetre and sulphur. Some of the money induce-
ments offered for the carrying on of such manufactures
have already been noted. Every province joined in the
movement with zest and determination, through action of
its central organization or its local committees or both.
The Philadelphia committee erected its own saltpetre works.
1 These examples and many others like them may be found in 4 Am.
Arch. , vols. ii and iii, passim.
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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
The Virginia convention established a factory at Fred-
ericksburg for the manufacture of arms.
The most characteristic, if not most important, aspect of
the new work of the committees and conventions was their
activity in drawing a sharp line between friends and ene-
mies of the American cause and in converting and silencing
all opponents. The phrase, "enemies of American liberty,"
had been used in the Continental Association to stigmatize
persons who had actually violated the commercial regula-
tions of that document; now its meaning was rapidly ex-
tended to comprehend any persons who expressed verbal
disapproval of any phase of radical activities, or who acted
in an unfriendly manner with respect to them. Under the
Continental Association the only punishment visited on
offenders was the suspension of all dealings with them:
with the new developments the boycott gave place, in an
increasing number of cases, to such penalties as fine, im-
prisonment and banishment.
The radicals in Massachusetts had already employed the
boycott in pointing out persons who supported the Massa-
chusetts Charter Act of 1774. especially in designating for
discipline the detested "mandamus councillors. " * In Jan-
uary, 1775, the town of Marblehead had even deemed it
necessary to appoint a committee "to attend to the Con-
duct of ministerial Tools and Jacobites in this Town, and
to report their Names to the Town from Time to Time,
that it may take effectual Measures for either silencing or
expelling them from this Community. " * With the out-
break of rebellion, committees in the other provinces as-
sumed inquisitorial powers and began a systematic cam-
paign to suppress freedom of speech on the part of the
loyalists.
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 984, 1000, 1335. 1346.
1 Mass. Gas. & Post-Boy, Jan. 16, 1775.
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION 555
Regarding the radicals, "A Converted Whig" bemoaned:
"' In contending for liberty, they seem inclinable to engross
it all themselves; . . . they are arbitrary and even tyran-
nical in the whole tenour of their conduct; they allow not
to others who differ from them the same liberty of thinking
and acting that they claim themselves, but shamefully abuse
them, and treat them with spite, malice, and revenge. " *
The justification of the radicals was neatly put in a resolu-
tion of the Philadelphia committee in September, 1775:
"That, in the opinion of the Committee, no person has a
right to the protection of a community or society he wishes
to destroy; and that if any inhabitant, by speeches or writ-
ing, evidences a disposition to aid and assist our enemies,
or endeavours to persuade others to break the Association,
or by force or fraud to oppose the friends of liberty and
the Constitution, . . . such person, being duly convicted
thereof before the Committee, ought to be deemed a foe to
the rights of British America, and unworthy of those bless-
ings which it is hoped will yet be secured to this and suc-
ceeding generations by the strenuous and noble efforts of
the United Colonies. " 2
The nature and scope of this new function of the com-
mittees may be suggested by a few typical examples. Abiel
Wood was deprived of the benefits of society by the com-
mittee of inspection of the East Precinct of Pownalborough,
Mass. , because, among other offenses, he had declared that
"Hancock, Adams and others acted out of selfish views in
destroying the tea" and offered his oath that Hancock was
the first man on board, and because he had stated that the
members of the Continental Congress had drunk thirty
bumpers of wine apiece before passing their resolutions
and that the provincial congress consisted of "dam'd vil-
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, p. 106.
1 Ibid. , vol. iii, p. 731; also Pa. Eve. Post, Sept. 23, 1775.
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? 556 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
lains. " * Abijah Brown was found guilty by the Waltham
selectmen of having belittled the general of the Massachu-
setts army and the committeemen as "a set of idiots and
lunaticks;" but he was restored to public favor by the pro-
vincial committee of safety on the ground that he had tem-
porarily fallen under the influence of "disaffected antag-
onists. " 2 The committee of Sheffield, Mass. , subjected Job
Westover to boycott for holding the sentiment that Parlia-
ment had a right to tax the Americans and that an Amer-
ican victory in the impending war would be prejudicial to
the best interests of the colonies. 8 The extra-legal "Gen-
eral Court" recommended to the Corporation and Over-
seers of Harvard College to dismiss from the faculty all
those who by their present or past conduct appeared to be
unfriendly to the liberties of the colonies. 4 On May 19 the
New Hampshire congress recommended to the committees
to have a watchful eye over all "persons who, through in-
advertence, wilful malice, or immoderate heat, have thrown
out many opprobrious expressions respecting the several
Congresses, and the methods of security they have thought
proper to adopt . . . " *
The committee at New Milford, Conn. , published the
names of seven for having declared their opposition to the
Continental Congress and announced the recantation of
forty others. 6 Amos Knapp was found guilty by the Green-
wich committee of "cursing the honourable Continental
1 Bos. Gas. , Sept. I1, 1775. For later proceedings with reference to
Wood, vide 4 Am. Arch. , vol. iii, pp. 151-156, 041.
11bid. , vol. ii, pp. 720-721.
'Ibid. , vol. ii, p. 545.
4 Ibid. , vol. iii, p. 1451.
6 Ibid. , vol. ii, p. 652. For examples of enforcement, ride ibid. , pp.
552, 701, 1652, 1659.
'Conn. Cour. , July 3, 1775.
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION 557
Congress, with all the leading men of the Country, and
threatening to join the enemy, in case the King's standard
was erected. " 1 On August 4, the New York committee held
one Archer up as an enemy because he had spread the report
that the Continental Congress had passed a resolution for
independence if American grievances were not redressed by
March 1. 2 In February, 1776, J. Thorn of Dutchess
County was proscribed for refusing to accept continental
paper money. 8 A boycott was declared against Ezekiel
Beach of Mendham, N. J. , for failing to appear before the
committee of observation to defend himself against the
charge of "unfriendly conversation and conduct towards
the Continental Association. " 4 The committee of Bucks
County, Pa.
, accepted as satisfactory the contrition ex-
pressed by Thomas Smith " for having uttered expressions
derogatory to the Continental Congress, invidious to a par-
ticular denomination of Christians, and tending to impede
the opposition of my countrymen to ministerial oppres-
sion. " 5
The Dover committee in the Delaware Counties found
Daniel Varnum guilty of using such expressions as "he
had as lief be under a tyrannical King as a tyrannical Com-
monwealth, especially if the d d Presbyterians had the
rule of it," and then accepted his recantation. 3 George
Munro's unfriendliness was discovered by the committee of
Bladensburgh, Md. , through an intercepted letter, and his
protestations of contrition availed him nothing. 7 Thomas
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. iii, p. 941.
1Ibid. , vol. iii, p. 21.
? AT. Y. Gas. , Mch. 11,1776.
4 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, p. 1610.
* Ibid. , vol. iii, p. 690.
* Ibid. , vol. iii, p. 1072.
1 Ibid. , vol. iii, pp. 51-56.
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? 558 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
Anderson of Hanover County, Va. , was exempted by the
committee from further prosecution when he expressed his
deep sorrow for "declaring that this Country was in a
state of rebellion, and aimed at a state of independence
more than opposition to parliamentary taxation. " * The
committee of Pitt County, N. C, advertised John Tison in
May for speaking disrespectfully of the committee and
Congress, and in October he confessed his offense and
promised under oath never to do the like again. 2
In the instances here cited, the boycott was the punish-
ment prescribed. But the boycott was essentially a weapon
to be resorted to by a minority in a community; as the gov-
ernment of one community after the other fell under con-
trol of the rebels, methods of punishment more immediately
efficacious were adopted. Thus, in May, 1775, the Massa-
chusetts provincial congress recommended to the commit-
tees of correspondence and selectmen of the various towns
to confiscate the arms of those persons who were unfriendly
to the American cause, and forbade any inhabitants to re-
move from the province with their effects, except by leave
of the local committee of correspondence or the provincial
congress. In June the provincial congress directed the
selectmen and committees of correspondence of the several
towns to take charge of the effects and estates of those per-
sons who had fled within the British lines at Boston or
elsewhere, to improve the same to the best advantage, and
to render a true account of the profits arising therefrom to
the congress. 8 The New Hampshire provincial congress on
June 30 sentenced Colonel John Fenton to an indefinite
confinement in jail for being " an enemy to the liberties of
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. iii, p. 644.
* A''. C. Col. Recs. , vol. ix. pp. 1240, 1266; vol. x, pp. 243, 261.
? 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, pp. 793, 1804, 1431 n.
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION
America. " * The Rhode Island General Assembly in No-
vember passed a law punishing, with death and forfeiture
of property, any persons assisting the British enemy with
information, provisions or munitions. 2 In September the
New York provincial congress established a series of penal-
ties for persons inimical to America; and these penalties in-
cluded imprisonment, disarming, fines, and banishment from
the province, according to the enormity of the offence. 8
Several persons were sent to jail in October by the Penn-
sylvania committee of safety for unfriendly correspond-
ence with the enemy, and one of them was later released
under bond of ? 500 for good behavior. 4 The committee of
Newbern, N. C. ,. ordered the disarming of all those who
had not signed the defense association. 8 In June, 1775, the
secret committee of the General Committee at Charleston
sentenced two men, who had declined the defense associa-
tion, to tar and feathers. "
The radical committees and organizations in many of the
provinces also found it necessary to limit or prohibit expor-
tations, although the non-exportation regulation of the Con-
tinental Association was not to become effective until Sep-
tember 10. The prime purpose of such regulations was to
distress the British troops; a subsidiary object was to facili-
tate the provisioning of the American forces. The Connec-
ticut Assembly was the first to act, in April, 1775, by plac-
ing an embargo upon the exportation by water of cereals,
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, pp. 698. 1180, 1181.
1 Ibid. , vol. iii, pp. 1376-1377.
1 Ibid. , vol. iii, pp. 573-574-
4Ibid. , vol. iii, pp. 1815, 1822-1823.
6 Ibid. , vol. iii, p. 100.
? Ibid. , vol. ii, pp. 922-923.
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? 560 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
meats and live cattle, except necessary ship supplies. 1 In
May the Rhode Island Assembly passed a similar act. " The
Massachusetts provincial congress in June resolved that no
fish or other provision should be shipped from the province
unless the committee having jurisdiction should decide that
the victuals were intended for the use of the inhabitants of
some New England province. 8
Even before the fateful day at Lexington, the populace
at New York had become alarmed at the exportation of
nails, spades and other implements to the British troops at
Boston, and at a mass meeting on April 6 they adopted
resolutions demanding that the practice stop. Two mer-
chants, William and Henry Ustick, who were active in this
traffic, were held up as " inveterate foes to American free-
dom," although, as these gentlemen maintained, they had
not violated any part of the Continental Association. 4 In
May the One Hundred forbade the exportation of provis-
ions from New York city, and in August the provincial
congress applied the same principle to shipments from the
entire province. 5 The Virginia convention resolved, on July
24, to withhold the exportation of cereals and other pro-
visions after August 5 and to prevent even the collection of
them in large quantities in towns or near navigable streams.
The merchants and inhabitants of Norfolk and Northamp-
ton entered vigorous protests; and when word arrived, on
August 8, that the Maryland convention would not join in
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, pp. 410, 562; vol. iii, pp. 269, 1018.
1 Ibid. , vol. ii, p. 1151.
1 Ibid. , vol. ii, p. 1404. For subsequent modifications of this resolution,
vide ibid. , vol. ii, pp. 1435, 1440, 1462; vol. iii, pp. 320, 362, 1440-1441.
4 Ibid. , vol. ii, pp. 242-243, 282-283; A'. Y. Gas. , Apr. 17, 24, 1775.
? 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, pp. 636-637; vol. iii, pp. 445-447, 536-537. More
stringent regulations were adopted later in the month. Ibid. , vol. iii,
pp. SS8-559, 560, 561, 565.
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION 56r
similar resolutions, the convention rescinded its action. 1
However, the various county committees endeavored to
keep supplies away from British warships in Virginia
waters. 2 The General Committee at Charleston resolved
on May 26, that no rice or Indian corn should thereafter be
exported from the province; and on June 9 the provincial
congress declared that this embargo should continue for
three months. 8
The conduct of the fishermen of Nantucket furnished a
knotty problem for the radicals to solve and involved again
the use of non-exportation prior to the time set by the Con-
tinental Association. The islanders had no scruples about
profiting by their exemption from the New England Re-
straining Act in respect to the whale fisheries. Further-
more, they were suspected of furnishing the British ships
and troops in Massachusetts with food, and of carrying pro-
visions to Newfoundland and the fishing settlements. In
order to check this traffic, the Second Continental Congress
voted on May 29, 1775, that no provisions or necessities of
life should be exported to Nantucket, except from Massa-
chusetts, and then only in sufficient quantities for domestic
consumption. 4 This proved to be an impracticable arrange-
ment because of the difficulty of providing an adequate
supervision. The Massachusetts provincial congress placed
the regulation of exportation under charge of the provincial
committee of safety; but it soon became evident that, not-
withstanding their precautions, the islanders were prepar-
ing a large quantity of provisions with the intention of
availing themselves of their exclusive privilege to engage in
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. iii, pp. 102, 103. 122, 369, 372, 373. 376.
1 Ibid. , vol.