At this time he had stock on his shelves
amounting
to about ?
Arthur Schlesinger - Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution
? Art. xiii. 4 Art. viii.
* Art. iv. * Art. vii.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 428 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
conduct of all persons touching this association," and, in
case of a violation, to publish " the truth of the case " in the
newspapers, to the end that all such " enemies of American
liberty" might be universally contemned and boycotted. 1
At this point the Association exposed its real character as
a quasi-law, inasmuch as its binding force was not limited to
those who accepted its provisions but was made applicable
to "all persons. " It was one thing for two or more men
to agree with each other not to buy goods from British
merchants; quite another to agree that, if a man not a
party to the compact, bought goods, they would restrain
him and ruin his business. For fear that this regulation
would not reach non-residents, it was provided that any
British or Irish merchant guilty of transgressing the non-
importation should likewise be published and boycotted; 2
that captains of American vessels should be forbidden to
receive on board prohibited imports on pain of immediate
dismissal;* and that no vessels should be hired or com-
modities sold to those engaged in the slave trade after De-
cember 1, 1774. 4 The principle of the boycott was invoked
against whole provinces in the provision that "no trade,
commerce, dealings or intercourse whatsoever" should be
sustained with any province in North America which did
not accede to or hereafter violated the Association. 5 The
committees of correspondence of the various provinces were
instructed to inspect the custom-house entries frequently
and to inform each other of "every material circumstance
that may occur relative to this association. "" Finally, great
elasticity was given to the enforcement provisions by the
blanket recommendation that the provincial conventions
and the committees in the various provinces should " estab-
1 Art. xi. * Art. v.
1 Art. vi. * Art. ii.
1Art. xiv. 'Art. xii.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
429
lish such farther regulations as they may think proper, for
carrying into execution this association. " 1
A few days after Congress had completed the Associa-
tion, a resolution was passed for calling another continental
congress to meet on May 10, 177$, if American grievances
jhould not then be_redressed. 2 Thus, asecohd congress
was to be held four months before the time at which the
non-exportation regulation was scheduled to go into effect,
--which obviously meant that an opportunity would be
afforded for further modifications of that measure, if any
should prove desirable. The balance of the time of Con-
gress was spent in drawing up a declaration of rights and
grievances, and in formulating addresses to the people of
Great Britain, to the inhabitants of the British colonies, to
the inhabitants of Quebec, and to the king. 8 These papers
varied widely in form and phraseology and intent, but all
joined in endorsing the sentiment: "Place us in the same
situation that we were at the close of the last war, and our
former harmony will be restored. ' * The declaration of
rights and grievances undertook to define the colonial theory
of the power of Parliament. This matter had caused con-
siderable difficulty in Congress. Five provinces maintained
that Parliament had the right to regulate trade; five prov-
inces denied this view; and Massachusetts and Rhode
Island were divided within themselves. 5 A statement was
finally agreed upon to the effect that the colonial legisla-
1 Art. xiv.
* Oct. 22; Journals, vol. i, p. 102.
1John Adams wrote to Jefferson in 1813: "I never bestowed much
attention on any of those addresses, which were all but repetitions of
the same things, the same facts and arguments . . . I was in a great
error, no doubt, . . . for those things were necessary to give popularity
to our cause, both at home and abroad. " Works, vol. x, p. 80.
4 Journals, vol. i, p. 89.
5 Adams, J. , Works, vol. ii, p. 357.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 430
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
tures had exclusive powers of law-making in all cases of
taxation and internal polity, subject only to the royal nega-
tive; and that from the necessity of the case the colonists
did " cheerfully consent" to the bona fide regulation of their
external commerce by Parliament when it was done for the
good of the whole empire and contained no " idea of taxa-
tion, internal or external, for raising a revenue on the sub-
jects in America, without their consent. " * The list of acts,
whose repeal was held by the declaration of rights and
grievances to be "essentially necessary," was somewhat
more comprehensive than the group of laws named as the
object of the Association, and included the Currency Act
of 1764, the act establishing the board of customs commis-
sioners and reorganizing the customs service, and the quar-
tering act of 1774. 2
The Boston Tea Party--the episode that had precipitated
the present crisis--received scant notice. In the address to
the colonists, it was noted that the British administration
had entered into a " monopolizing combination" with the
East India Company to send a dutied commodity to Amer-
ica, and that the tea sent to Boston was destroyed because
Governor Hutchinson would not suffer it to be returned. 8
A longer discussion of the affair appeared in the address to
the people of Great Britain; some slight effort was made to
justify the destruction, but most emphasis was placed on
the thought that: "even supposing a trespass was thereby
committed and the proprietors of the Tea entitled to dam-
ages, the Courts of Law were open" for the prosecution of
suits, instead of which thirty thousand souls had been re-
duced to poverty and distress upon unauthenticated ex parte
1 Journals, vol. i, pp. 68-69.
1Ibid. , vol. i, pp. 71-73.
1 Ibid. , vol. i, p. 98.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
431
evidence, for the act of thirty or forty. 1 No mention what-
ever was made of the matter in the other documents.
Congress adjourned on Wednesday, October 26, and the
great majority of the delegates departed for their homes
with the feeling that effective measures for a reconciliation
had been taken. But there were some dissenting minds. 2
Furthermore, the supreme test was yet to come: what would
the country think of the work of Congress? how would
the people receive the Association? would the Association
prove workable?
1 Journals, . vol. i, pp. 85-87.
1Adams, J. , Works, vol. x, pp. 278-279; letter of Dickinson, 4 Am.
vol. i, p. 047.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAPTER XI
RATIFICATION OF THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
(NOVEMBER, 1774-JuNE, 1775)
has been said to make clear that the action of the
First Continental Congress involved a defeat for the moder-
ates and the mercantile interests. The radicals had achieved
several important ends. They had reproduced on a national
scale a type of organization and a species of tactics that in
many parts of British America had enabled a determined
minority to seize control of affairs. It is not too fantastic
to say that they had snatched from the merchant class the
weapons which the latter had fashioned to advance their own
selfish interests in former years, and had now reversed the
weapons on them in an attempt to secure ends desired solely
by the radicals. Finally, they had defined -- nationalized -- the
issue at stake in such a manner as to afford prestige to rad-
ical groups, wherever they were to be found, and to weaken
the hold of the moderate elements, on the ground that the
latter were at variance with the Continental Congress!
An ultra-radical interpretation of the radical victory was
made at the time in these words: "The American Congress
derives all its power, wisdom and justice, not from scrolls
of parchment signed by Kings, but from the People. A
more august, and a more equitable Legislative body never
existed in any quarter of the globe . . . The Congress,
like other Legislative bodies, have annexed penalties to their
laws. They do not consist of the gallows, the rack, and the
stake . . . but INFAMY, a species of infamy . . . more
432
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? RATIFICATION OF THE ASSOCIATION
433
dreadful to a freeman than the gallows, the rack, or the
stake. It is this, he shall be declared in the publick papers
to be an enemy to his country. . . . The least deviation
from the Resolves of the Congress will be treason:--such
treason as few villains have ever had an opportunity of
committing. It will be treason against the present inhabi-
tants of the Colonies: Against the millions of unborn gen-
erations who are to exist hereafter in America: Against
the only liberty and happiness which remain to mankind:
Against the last hopes of the wretched in every corner of
the world. --In a word, it will be treason against God. " *
Such sentiments stiffened the radical party in all parts of
the continent, and it hardly occasions wonder that a rever-
end divine of Charleston, S. C, should have been dismissed
from his congregation "for his audacity in standing up in his
pulpit, and impudently saying that mechanics and country
clowns had no right to dispute about politics, or what kings,
lords and commons had done! " Nor was it necessary for
the Newport Mercury to add that: "All such divines should
be taught to know that mechanics and country clowns (in-
famously so called) are the real and absolute masters of
king, lords, commons and priests . . . " 2
The moderates began to realize that they had committed
an error in lending countenance to the movement for an
extra-legal congress. In the eyes of many of them, any
direct connection with this congress and its committees be-
came equivalent to rebellion; typical of this group, Joseph
Galloway now withdrew from the extra-legal activities alto-
gether. Others, like Isaac Low. lingered in the movement.
1"Political Observations, without Order; Addressed to the People
of America," Pa. Packet, Nov. 14, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp.
976-977. This article created wide interest . Two replies appeared in
the N. Y. Gasetteer, Dec. 1, 1774-
1 Newport Merc. , Sept. 26, 1774; also Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Oct. 13.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 434 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1783-1776
persuaded that they could salvage in their local politics what
had seemed shipwrecked in the Continental Congress, or
because, like John Andrews of Boston, they were swayed
by the impalpable influences of environment, temperament,
habit, education or social connections. 1 As the months
1John Andrews was a well-to-do merchant of Boston, who sat com-
placently at home drinking tea while the mob made their descent upon
the East India Company's shipments at the wharf. He wrote a witty
letter about it a few days later, and did not discover his indignation
over the destruction until it became apparent to him that, between the
Scylla of the Boston Port Act and the Charybdis of the radicals'
Solemn League and Covenant, his business would surely be wrecked.
At this time he had stock on his shelves amounting to about ? 2000
sterling and almost as much more out in debts. He could say with
feeling that he opposed "Tyranny exerciz'd either in England or
America. " He was disposed to favor the opening of the port of
Boston through reimbursing the East India Company for their losses.
Later, he entertained hopes that the Continental Congress would af-
ford relief that would be "lasting and permanent. " About this time
it would appear that he began to be affected by the excited state of
public opinion and was himself much irritated by the rudeness and
immorality of the soldiers. He wrote on August 20, 1774: "When
I seriously reflect on the unhappy situation we are in, I cant but be
uneasy least ye trade of the town should never be reinstated again: but
on the other hand, when I consider that our future welfare depends
altogether upon a steady and firm adherence to the common cause, I
console myself with the thoughts that if, after using every effort in
our power, we are finally oblig"d to submit, we shall leave this testi-
mony behind us, that, not being able to stem the stream, we were of
necessity borne down by the torrent. " However, his mood became less
exalted in October, and he wrote, with reference to mob violence:
"every day's experience tells me that not only good policy, but our
own quiet, absolutely depends upon a bare acquiescence at least.
Therefore I esteem them very blameable who have persisted in
opposition to them, as vox populi, vox Dei--and their resentment is
so great in return, that it's a chance whether (if their struggles should
produce better times) they will ever admit of such passing their future
days uninterrupted among "em. " Andrews became more closely identi-
fied with the radical side as time passed and was a patriot at the time
of the Declaration of Independence. / M. H. S. Procs. , vol. viii, pp.
326-331, 339, 343-344, 377-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? RATIFICATION OF THE ASSOCIATION
435
passed, there was presented to every merchant, with in-
creasing sharpness, the alternative of adhering to Congress,
even if it meant rebellion and independence, to which his
class had always been opposed, or of adhering to Great
Britain, even if that meant submission to those parliamen-
tary measures to which his class were also opposed. The
increasing tendency of the moderates was to follow the
counsel offered by one who himself had once been zealous
in meetings and organizations of the people: "As we have
already done what we ought not to have done, and left un-
done what we ought to have done, let us . . . in time re-
turn to our Constitution, and by our Representatives, like
honest men, state our grievances, and ask relief of the
mother state; let us do this with that plainness and decency
of language that will . . . remove every suspicion that we
have the least intention or desire to be independent. " 1
The_ publication oj the Continental Association was
greeted w1rh a *tr,rm nf protit *rnIn the moderate press in
the leading commercial provinces. These tracts were rem-
iniscent of the controversial literature produced under
somewhat similar circumstances by Drayton at Charleston
and by the writers in Mein's Boston Chronicle in the years
1769-1770. 8 The chief plaint was directed against those
l"Z" in N. Y. Gasetteer, Dec. 1, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp.
987-989. (For identity of "Z," vide ibid. , pp. 1096-1097. ) Vide also
Seabury, Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Continental Con-
gress . . . (New York, 1774), p. 29: "Renounce all dependence on
Congress and committees. . . . Turn your eyes to your constitutional
representatives . . . "
1 The principal writings were: the articles by "Massachusettensis"
(Daniel Leonard) in Mass. Gas. & Post-Boy, at intervals from Dec. 12,
1774, to April 3, 1775, afterwards published as a pamphlet; a series,
addressed "To the Honourable Peyton Randolph, Esq. , late President
of the American Continental Congress," by "Grotius" in the same
newspaper; the anonymous pamphlets, What Think Ye of Congress
Now? , Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Continental Congress
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 436 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
provisions which seemed to establish the Continental Con-
gress as a sort of de facto government. "Massachusettensis"
claimed that the Association contained all the constituent
parts of a law, including an enacting clause, the establish-
ment of rules of conduct, and the affixing of pains and
penalties. Although the terms "request" and "recom-
mend '' were sometimes used, the usual style was that used
by an authoritative assemblage--that such and such a
thing "be" done. VllBy their assuming the powers of
legislation, the Congress have not only superseded our pro-
vincial legislatures, but have excluded every idea of mon-
archy; and not content with the havock already made in our
constitution, in the plenitude of their power have appointed
another Congress to be held in May. "JLJ The Association,
according to another writer, " is calculated for the meridian
of a Spanish Inquisition; it is subversive of, inconsistent
with, the wholesome laws of our happy Constitution; it ab-
rogates or suspends many of them essential to the peace
and order of Government; it takes the Government out of
the hands of the Governour, Council, and General Assem-
bly; and the execution of the laws out of the hands of the
Civil Magistrates and Juries. " a
A third writer agreed that the committees appointed to
enforce the Association were " a court established upon the
same principles with the popish Inquisition. No proofs, no
evidence are called for. . . . No jury is to be impannelled.
. . . by a Farmer, and The Congress Canvassed . . . by A. W. Farmer,
probably written by Samuel Seabury; a pamphlet, Alarm to the Legis-
lature of New York . . . . by Isaac Wilkins; articles in the N. Y.
Gasetteer by "Z," "A Freeholder of Essex," and others.
1Mow. Gas. & Post-Boy, Mch. 27, 1775. Vide also Congress Can-
vassed, p. 14.
W. K. Gasetteer, Feb. 16, 1775; also 4 Am. Areh. , vol. i, pp. 1211-
1213. Vide also Congress Canvassed, p. 20; Alarm to Legislature,
PP. 7, 9-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? RATIFICATION OF THE ASSOCIATION
437
No check is appointed upon this court; no appeal from its
determination. " * The means prescribed for carrying out
the Association, affirmed "Grotius" in an open letter to
the recent president of Congress, " would shock the soul of
a savage; your tenth, eleventh and fourteenth articles con-
tain such a system of lawless tyranny as a Turk would
startle at; it is a barbarous inroad upon the first rights of
men in a social state; it is a violent attack upon the lawfully
acquired property of honest, industrious individuals. " 2
One unworldly Connecticut parson furnished another
ground for objection: "The Saviour of the world, whose
servant I am, hath commanded me to feed the hungry, tc
give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked . . . Here it
will be to no purpose to say that such and such persons are
mine ENEMIES; because our Lord hath expressly . . .
commanded me to extend my good offices to mine enemies
as such. And I beg the Committee to remember that Min-
isters of the gospel are. Jn a particular manner, commanded
to keep hospitality. " * \^ Had an Act of Parliament formed
such an inquisition . . . ," declared another writer, "how
should we have heard of the liberty of the subject, his right
to trial by his peers, &c. , &c. Yet these men, at the same
time they arraign the highest authority on earth, insolently
trample on the liberties of their fellow-subjects; and, with-
out the shadow of a trial, take from them their property,
grant it to others, and not content with all this, hold them
up to contempt, and expose them to the vilest injuries. "^
1 Congress Canvassed, p. 14.
1 Mass. Gas. & Post-Boy, Feb. 6, 1775.
1"I am no politician, am not connected with politicians as such;
and never will be either," he added. Rev. John Sayre, Fairfield, Conn. ,
in N. Y. Journ. , Sept. 28, 1775. For a scriptural answer, vide ibid. ,
Oct. a6.
4"Z" in N. Y. Gasetteer, Dec. 1, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , voL i,
pp. 987-^89.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 438 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
The opinion of the average moderate was well expressed
by the sentiment :t If I must be enslaved, let it be by a
KING at least, and not by a parcel of upstart lawless Com-
mittee-men. If I must be devoured, let me be devoured by
the jaws of a lion, and not gnawed to death by rats and
vermin. " J
A great deal was said about the impracticability of the
Association as a means of redress. The pamphlet, Free
Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Continental Congress,
went extensively into the matter. It was predictedJ that
there would be twenty times as much confusion and distress
in America as in Great Britain; that prices would soar;
that the American merchants would lose their trade per-
manently, for Great Britain would look elsewhere for raw
materials; that Parliament would block up all American
ports; that legal processes would be suspended; that the
farmers would be the chief sufferers; and all this calamity
in a fruitless effort to obtain results which should be sought
only through the usual legal channels.
The moderate members of Congress were frankly accused
of having been outwitted and outmaneuvered by the radicals.
"You had all the honors,--you had all the leading cards in
every sute in your own hands," one writer told the moder-
ates, "and yet, astonishing as it may appear to by-standers,
you suffered sharpers to get the odd trick. " 2 A New York
writer stated that he had reason to believe that the New
York delegates had opposed the headlong measures of Con-
gress and still disapproved of them; and he called upon
lFree Thoughts, p. 23. Vide also "A Freeholder of Essex" in N. Y.
Gasetteer, Jan. 5, 1775; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 1094-1096.
"Grotius" in Mass. Gas. & Post-Boy, Feb. 6, 1775. "Adams, with
his crew, and the haughty Sultans of the South juggled the whole con-
clave of the Delegates," was the way a Maryland merchant phrased it
in a published letter. 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 1194.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:37 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.
