" He proposed that the
ministry
should bribe some of
the leading lawyers!
the leading lawyers!
Arthur Schlesinger - Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution
handle.
net/2027/mdp.
39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.
hathitrust.
org/access_use#pd-google
? 404
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
of the British Parliament. " 1 "There will be opposers
to this scheme even among our friends (self-interest is
strong)," he added. "I know it requires a great sacrifice
to stop trade to the West Indies. . . . But / see no justice
that the merchant trading to Great Britain should be the
only sufferer, the West-India merchant ought to suffer also,
and especially when his sufferings will absolutely work the
most forceably. " A third writer recalled a long-rankling
grievance of the Americans against the West India plant-
ing element. No less than seventy-four members of Par-
liament " are West India planters and proprietors," he de-
clared. "And I am also credibly informed that they were
the means of fomenting these difficulties by first getting [in
1764] a duty laid on all sugars, molasses, coffee, &c. , not
imported from the English West-India Islands; it will
therefore be necessary to shew them of how much impor-
tance we are, by distressing them for want of our trade. " *
An animated discussion occurred over the question
whether remittances shouldJb,e_withheld_from the British
merchants as well as trade connections. If we liquidate
our annual indebtedness of ? 3,000,000 sterling as usual,
queried "A Plain Dealer," will the British merchants not
be enabled thereby to employ the manufacturers for one
whole year after importation has ceased, a period during
which our measures will be felt only by ourselves ? 3 While
conceding the theoretical injustice involved in a refusal to
pay debts, a Philadelphia writer contended that the case
under consideration was an exception to the rule; for, if
two neighbors shared a lifelong friendship and one of them
took it into his head to kidnap and enslave the child of the
1 "A Distressed Bostonian," Bos. Eve. Post, Sept. 5, 1774.
* Mass. Spy, Aug. 25, 1774, quoting from Conn. Gas.
1 N. Y. Journ. , July 21, 1774.
? ? 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
405
other at a time when the other owed him money, would it
be unjust for the debtor to withhold payment until the
child was returned? He concluded that, though Britain
had a demand of debt against the colonists, the Americans
had a demand of a different nature, but superior in value,
against her; and that when Britain granted " liberty, peace
and a free trade," the colonists should repay their debts. " J
The opponents of non-remittance held that it was a dis-
honorable expedient and not necessary under the circum-
stances. Indeed, a "Citizen of Philadelphia" believed
that, if the colonists should suspend the payment of their
debts, the British merchants would retaliate and influence
Parliament to stop all trade connections between American
ports and Europe in order to prevent trade with foreign
nations from being carried on on capital properly theirs. 2
As John Adams and his brother delegates of Massachu-
setts traveled the irksome distance from Boston to the
meeting-place of the Continental Congress at Philadelphia
in the latter weeks of August, they received first-hand evi-
dence of the accelerated progress of popular sentiment
toward extreme measures of boycott, and learned better
than through correspondence the character of the opposi-
tion elements in other provinces. Upon his arrival at Hart-
ford, Adams had a talk with Silas Deane and his step-sons
who had come over from Wethersfield to greet the Massa-
chusetts delegates; and though these men were " largely in
trade," they announced that they were "willing to re-
nounce all their trade," Deane declaring that the resolu-
tions of Congress would be regarded in Connecticut as
"the laws of the Medes and Persians. " 8 Stopping at
1 Pa. Journ. , Sept . 28, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 811-814.
*"A Few Political Reflections," Pa. Packet, June 27, 1774; also
N. Y. Gas. , July 4.
1Adams, J. , Works (Adams), vol. ii, p. 341.
? ? 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
? 406 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
Middletown, the members of the local committee of corres-
pondence and many other persons assured the delegates
that " they would abide by whatever should be determined
on, even to a total stoppage of trade to Europe and the
West Indies. " * Reaching New Haven, a chief trading
town of Connecticut, the chorus of approval was marred
by a false note or two. In one discussion some serious
doubts were cast upon the coercive effect of a total non-
exportation to the West Indies, even if well executed;
while from another source Adams was informed that a
boycott agreement would serve no good purpose because
Congress would lack power to enforce it. He learned from
the tavern keeper that the fine parade which had greeted
the delegates seven miles from the city on their arrival had
been contrived at the last moment by the moderates "in
order to divert the populace from erecting a liberty pole,
&c. " 2
Arriving in due time in New York city, the delegates
lingered nearly a week, sightseeing and "breakfasting,
dining, drinking coffee, &c. ," amidst " all the opulence and
splendor" of that city. Much of this time was spent in
the company of McDougall, John Morin Scott, Isaac Sears
and other radicals, from whom Adams gained much inti-
mate knowledge of the local political situation. McDou-
gall warned the Massachusetts delegates to moderate their
language in order not to frighten the timorous elements
there that had combined, from various motives, in support
of the Congress. 8 While the visiting delegates were yet in
1 Adams, J. , Works (Adams), vol. ii, p. 342.
* Ibid. , vol. ii, p. 344.
1 These groups, McDougall reported, were chiefly the following: those
men who had been induced to join the movement by assurances that
commercial coercion would secure relief without any danger of civil
commotions; those who were fearful "lest the levelling spirit of the
? ? 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 407
the city, the "Fifty-One" held a session to discuss the
business of the approaching Congress for the benefit of the
New York delegates. Three of the latter attended; and a
very clear intimation was given that the best course would
be for Congress to recommend to the Bostonians to reim-
burse the East India Company and that America should
then return to a non-importation of dutied goods; but
should they be reduced to the " last sad alternative of en-
tering into a non-importation agreement," then it should
not be a partial one as before, but should include every
European commodity from all parts of the world. 1
Whether or not this measured advice reached the ears of
John Adams he does not record in his diary; and he prob-
ably lost his best opportunity of hearing of it a few nights
later when the "Fifty-One" dined the Massachusetts
delegates with "a profusion of rich dishes, &c. , &c. ," and
Adams spent the evening talking shop with James Duane,
the lawyer of the "sly, surveying eye. "
When the Massachusetts delegation rode into Philadel-
phia on Monday, August 29, "dirty, dusty, and fatigued,"
they found a score or more of the delegates already gath-
ered in the city. The few days intervening before the open-
ing of Congress were spent by the waiting delegates in
meeting and appraising each other and in comparing notes
as to recent political developments in various parts of
America. 2 Of the fifty-six delegates who eventually ap-
New England Colonies should propagate itself into New York; " those
who entertained "Episcopalian prejudices" against New England;
"merchants largely concerned in navigation, and therefore afraid of
non-importation, non-consumption, and non-exportation agreements;"
and those who looked to the government for favors. Adams, J. , Works
(Adams), vol. ii, pp. 345-355-
1 N. Y. Gasetteer, Sept. 2, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 324 n.
1Adams, J. , Works (Adams), vol. ii, pp. 357-364; N. Y. Hist. Soc.
Colls. , vol. xix, pp. 12-19.
? ? 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
? 408 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763. 1776
peared from the twelve provinces, most of the men met
for the first time. 1 A large proportion of them had taken
active part in the popular house of the provincial legisla-
tures; 2 six of them had served in the Stamp Act Congress;
practically all of them were members of committees of cor-
respondence. All of them were of American nativity; and
they must have felt a responsibility almost personal for the
critical situation in which America found herself. As lead-
ers of local movements for larger colonial rights and ex-
emptions in the preceding years, their names were, for the
most part, well known to each other. Their present inten-
tions, however, were a matter for conjecture and appre-
hension.
Friends and foes of the Congress alike appreciated the
difficulties of the situation. "An assembly like this," wrote
the Connecticut delegates, "though it consists of less than
sixty members, yet, coming from remote Colonies, each of
which has some modes of transacting public business pecu-
liar to itself,--some particular Provincial rights and inter-
ests to guard and secure, must take some time to become
1John Dickinson, who had earlier been excluded from election
through the efforts of Galloway, took his seat on October 17. Prior
to this time, however, Dickinson was in close touch with the delegates
in small dinner-groups and in other informal ways; e. g. , vide Adams,
J. , Works (Adams), vol. ii, pp. 360, 363, 379, 381, 382, 386, 397. James
Bowdoin, of Massachusetts, had refused his election at the hands of
the Assembly, because his relatives thought his great fortune ought
not to be hazarded. Hazelton, Decl. of Inde. , p. 9; Hibernian Chronicle
(London), October 27, 1774. William Samuel Johnson, of Connecticut,
had declined his appointment on the ground of an important law case
which required his attendance at Albany, an excuse which produced
no end of skeptical comment. 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 895; Conn. Cour. ,
Aug. 2, 1774; Journals Cant. Cong. (L. C. Edition), vol. i, p. 18 n.
Wolcott and Law, of the same province, had also declined, pleading
poor health.
* Forty of them had served in provincial legislatures, ten or more
of them in the speakership.
? ? 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 409
so acquainted with each one's situations and connections, as
to be able to give an united assent to the ways and means
proposed for effecting what all are ardently desirous of
. . . Every one must be heard even on those points or sub-
jects which in themselves are not of the last importance;
and indeed, it often happens that what is of little or no
consequence to one Colony is of the last to another. "' In
this Congress, affirmed John Adams, "is a diversity of re-
ligions, educations, manners, interests, such as it would
seem impossible to unite in one plan of conduct. " 2
The delegates from the plantation provinces were, as we
have seen, for the most part instructed to push for a limited
non-importation and non-exportation agreement; and the
rising tide of radical feeling in the North, as indicated in
the newspapers, gave promise that many delegates from
that section would also join in the movement. Ljndeed, con-
sidering that only eleven delegates in the whole Congress
were merchants and these, for the most part, men more
addicted to politics than to trade, some plan of non-impor-
tation and non-exportation was the inevitable outcome of
the Congresaj The agricultural interests clearly possessed
the controlling influence; but it is impossible to give precise
figures, for one-half of the membership were content to
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 854-855.
? Adams, J. , Works (Adams), vol. ix, pp. 346-348. Vide also Ward's
view, in Staples, R. I. in Cont. Cong. , pp. 16-17. A comment of an
unfriendly observer (probably William Kelly, the New York merchant)
is not without significance in this connection. After predicting that
the Congress would end in confusion, he wrote: "My Reasons for
thinking so are, that Men, 1500 Miles asunder, have very different
Interests; that there will be near a Hundred Deputies assembled, most
of which being Merchants, Shopkeepers, and Attornies, the latter of
them will certainly rule, for no Men are so true to their own Inter-
est as Lawyers, for they will not stick at any Thing in prosecuting
their Interest.
" He proposed that the ministry should bribe some of
the leading lawyers! London Gazetteer, Sept. 28, 1774; also Y <:
Gaz. , Dec. 5.
? ? 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
? 41o THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
classify themselves as lawyers although frequently their in-
comes were derived in large part, if not chiefly, from agri-
cultural holdings. 1 The ultimate conscious object of the
boycotters in Congress was not merely the repeal of the
punitive acts of 1774 but the goal that had formerly been
so dear to the merchant class--a return to the conditions
of the years before 1763. Within the ranks of this group
there was a clear understanding of the economic interests
endangered by a suspension of trade and a willingness, on
the part of many of them, to shift the anticipated losses on
their brethren in the other provinces.
(The chief danger to the adoption of a plan of continental
non-intercourse came from a determine4_and plausible
group of moderates, led by Joseph Galloway! who insisted
that the only permanent relief was to be found in an en-
lightened definition of imperial relations and colonial liber-
ties in the form of a plan of union. This group saw in
commercial coercion only a 'source of irritation to Great
Britain, and wagered their faith on memorializing and
petitioning. Galloway averred, somewhat unjustly, that
the men who favored his plan of union " were men of loyal
principles, and possessed of the greatest fortunes in Amer-
ica; the other were congregational and presbyterian repub-
licans, or men of bankrupt fortunes, overwhelmed in debt
to the British merchants. " 2
The first three weeks of the meeting of the Continental
Congress might furnish an object-lesson for the skilled par-
liamentarian of any age. 8 "We [Massachusetts delegates]
1 E. g. , Sullivan of N. H. , Dickinson of Pa. , Henry of Va. and the
Rutledges of S. C.
* Historical and Political Reflections on the Rise and Progress of the
American Rebellion (London, 1780), pp. 66-67.
1The sources of information for the proceedings of the First Conti-
nental Congress are meager, however. They are contained in: Journals
of the Continental Congress (L. C. Edition), vol. i; John Adams's notes,
? ? 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
411
have had numberless prejudices to remove here," wrote
John Adams on September 27. "We have been obliged to
act with great delicacy and caution. We have been obliged
to keep ourselves out of sight, and to feel pulses and sound
the depths; to insinuate our sentiments, designs, and de-
sires, by means of other persons; sometimes of one Prov-
ince, and sometimes of another. " * Sam Adams found
himself in his element. "He eats little, drinks little, sleeps
little, thinks much and is most decisive and indefatigable in
the pursuit of his objects," declared the organizing spirit of
the opposite party. 2
The first test of strength between the groups came on the
very first day of meeting, Monday, September 5, when
Congress refused the invitation, tendered by Galloway, to
meet in the State House and, in face of negative votes from
Pennsylvania and New York, resolved to hold their sessions
in Carpenters' Hall, a decision naturally " highly agreeable
to the mechanics and citizens in general. " * Congress then
proceeded to the unanimous election of Charles Thomson
as secretary, much to the surprise of Galloway who deemed
him " one of the most violent Sons of Liberty (so called)
in America," and contrary to the expressed desires of Jay
and Duane. 4 Both measures, according to Galloway, had
Works (Adams), vol. ii, pp. 365-402; Samuel Ward's diary, in Mag.
Am. Hist. , vol. i, 438-442, 503-506, 549-561; certain pamphlets of Joseph
Galloway; the correspondence of the members; and a few contempor-
ary pamphlets and newspaper articles. On the whole, the pledge of
secrecy was excellently observed.
1 Works (Adams), vol. ii, p. 382 n. Vide also ibid. , vol. ii, p. 391 n. ;
vol. ix, pp. 342-346.
1. Galloway, Reflections, pp. 66-67.
? Conn. Hist. Soc. Colls. , vol. ii, p. 172; Adams, J. , Works (Adams),
vol. ii, p. 365.
* 1 N. J. Arch. , vol. x, pp. 477-478; Adams, Works (Adams), vol. ii,
p. 365. Adams dubbed Thomson "the Sam Adams of Philadelphia. "
Ibid. , p. 358.
? ? 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
? 412
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
been " privately settled by an Interest made out of Doors. "
Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, late Speaker of the House
of Burgesses, was chosen president without opposition.
For the next few weeks the proceedings assumed an ap-
pearance of "flattering tranquillity," as Galloway put it.
The radicals were biding their time; * and meanwhile the
members established a rule of secrecy (except upon occa-
sion when Congress should direct otherwise), and agreed
that the delegates of each province should cast one vote
collectively. Both regulations later served the purposes of
the radicals by giving to the proceedings a false appearance
of unanimity. v? ne umt ru^e made it possible to publish
resolutions as having passed unanimously, even when large
minorities in various delegations, amounting sometimes to
one-third of the total membership of Congress, were in
the negativej
The first committee appointed by the Continental Congress
was one to state the rights and grievances of the colonies
and propose the best means of obtaining redress; and on
the same day another committee was named "to examine
and report the several Statutes which affect the Trade and
Manufactures of the Colonies. " The second committee
submitted its report ten days later, when it was thought
proper that the report should be referred to the former
committee for further consideration and action. 8 But be-
fore the committee on rights and redress had submitted its
report, Congress had already taken the definite steps which
established the policy of trade coercion.
The r^d'fals threw off their mask on September 17, when
they carried thfo. "gh a v>te endorsing a set of resolutions
1Galloway, Reflections, pp. 66-67; Cooper, What Think Ye of Con-
gress Nowf (New York, 1775). p. 13-
1Galloway, Examination (London, 1780), p. 61.
1 Journals Cont. Cong. (L. C. Edition), vol. i, pp. 25-29, 40-41, 63-73.
All later references to the Journals are to this edition.
? ? 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
413
adopted by a convention of Suffolk County in Massachu-
setts. This step was, according to Galloway, a " complete
declaration of war" on the part of the "republicans. " *
The "Suffolk_Resolves" rejected the recent legislation
aga1nst Massachusetts as unconstitutional and void, and
called for a civil government to be organized by the people
and for the establishment of a militia for defensive pur-
poses. Furthermore, the fourteenth resolve declared that,
as a measure for obtaining redress, the people of Suffolk
County (and the same action was recommended to the
other counties) would "withhold all commercial inter-
course with Great Britain, Ireland and the West Indies"
and enter into a non-consumption of British and East India
wares, subject to such alterations as Congress might make. 2
By endorsing these resolutions, Congress, among other
things, committed itself to the principle of an extensive plan
of commercial opposition.
As a matter of practical strategy, however, it was deemed
safer to induce the members to agree to several separate
propositions regarding trade suspension before uniting the
parts into a single comprehensive whole. First was brought
up the proposal of a non-importation with Great Britain
and Ireland, the mildest kind of commercial warfare and
therefore the most widely acceptable of any. On Thursday,
September 22, Congress paved the way for its own action
by ordering the publication throughout the continent of an
official request that the merchants should send no more
orders to Great Britain and should suspend the execution
of orders already given, until the further sense of Con
gress should be signified. 8
1 Galloway, Reflections, pp. 66-67.
1Journals, vol. i, pp. 31-39.
1 Ibid. , vol. i, p. 41. Among other newspapers, this resolution appeared
in the Pa. Packet, Sept. 26, 1774; Md. Gas. , Sept. 29; Rind's (Pinkney)
Va. Gas. , Sept. 29; S. C. Gas. , Oct. 10; Mass. Spy, 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
? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
Parts of three days were given over by Congress to a
consideration of the exact form of the non-importation. 1
The original motion for a non-importation with the British
Isles was made by Richard Henry Lee. Chase of Mary-
land, an impetuous radical during these years of his life,
spoke in opposition to non-importation as an insufficient
measure, and proposed instead the cessation of exportation
and the withholding of remittances. But Chase's plan ap-
parently had a single supporter, Lynch of South Carolina.
The chief question at issue was as to the time at which
Lee's motion would become operative. Cushing, a mer-
chant from the blockaded port of Boston, favored an im-
mediate non-importation and non-consumption. Most
speakers thought otherwise. Mifflin of Pennsylvania be-
lieved that the first of November would be sufficiently late
to allow for the arrival of orders already sent to Great
Britain in April and May, and he held that orders given
after that date had been dishonestly given to defeat the
anticipated non-importation. Gadsden of South Carolina
likewise argued for the first of November. It would ap-
pear that there were a number who strenuously favored a
much longer postponement; and Patrick Henry therefore
moved, by way of compromise, that December be inserted
instead of November, remarking: "We don't mean to hurt
even our rascals, if we have any. " The non-importation
resolution, as adopted by Congress on September 27, thus
fixed December I as the date after which no goods should
be imported, directly or indirectly, from Great Britain and
Ireland; and as a warning to stubborn importers, it was
resolved that goods imported contrary to this resolution
should not be purchased or used.
On the next day, Galloway formally presented tr> fon-
'Sept. 24, 26, 27; Journals, vol. i, pp. 42-43. Notes on the discussion
are in Adams, J. , Works, vol. ii, pp. 382-386.
? ? 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 4I5
?
? 404
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
of the British Parliament. " 1 "There will be opposers
to this scheme even among our friends (self-interest is
strong)," he added. "I know it requires a great sacrifice
to stop trade to the West Indies. . . . But / see no justice
that the merchant trading to Great Britain should be the
only sufferer, the West-India merchant ought to suffer also,
and especially when his sufferings will absolutely work the
most forceably. " A third writer recalled a long-rankling
grievance of the Americans against the West India plant-
ing element. No less than seventy-four members of Par-
liament " are West India planters and proprietors," he de-
clared. "And I am also credibly informed that they were
the means of fomenting these difficulties by first getting [in
1764] a duty laid on all sugars, molasses, coffee, &c. , not
imported from the English West-India Islands; it will
therefore be necessary to shew them of how much impor-
tance we are, by distressing them for want of our trade. " *
An animated discussion occurred over the question
whether remittances shouldJb,e_withheld_from the British
merchants as well as trade connections. If we liquidate
our annual indebtedness of ? 3,000,000 sterling as usual,
queried "A Plain Dealer," will the British merchants not
be enabled thereby to employ the manufacturers for one
whole year after importation has ceased, a period during
which our measures will be felt only by ourselves ? 3 While
conceding the theoretical injustice involved in a refusal to
pay debts, a Philadelphia writer contended that the case
under consideration was an exception to the rule; for, if
two neighbors shared a lifelong friendship and one of them
took it into his head to kidnap and enslave the child of the
1 "A Distressed Bostonian," Bos. Eve. Post, Sept. 5, 1774.
* Mass. Spy, Aug. 25, 1774, quoting from Conn. Gas.
1 N. Y. Journ. , July 21, 1774.
? ? 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
405
other at a time when the other owed him money, would it
be unjust for the debtor to withhold payment until the
child was returned? He concluded that, though Britain
had a demand of debt against the colonists, the Americans
had a demand of a different nature, but superior in value,
against her; and that when Britain granted " liberty, peace
and a free trade," the colonists should repay their debts. " J
The opponents of non-remittance held that it was a dis-
honorable expedient and not necessary under the circum-
stances. Indeed, a "Citizen of Philadelphia" believed
that, if the colonists should suspend the payment of their
debts, the British merchants would retaliate and influence
Parliament to stop all trade connections between American
ports and Europe in order to prevent trade with foreign
nations from being carried on on capital properly theirs. 2
As John Adams and his brother delegates of Massachu-
setts traveled the irksome distance from Boston to the
meeting-place of the Continental Congress at Philadelphia
in the latter weeks of August, they received first-hand evi-
dence of the accelerated progress of popular sentiment
toward extreme measures of boycott, and learned better
than through correspondence the character of the opposi-
tion elements in other provinces. Upon his arrival at Hart-
ford, Adams had a talk with Silas Deane and his step-sons
who had come over from Wethersfield to greet the Massa-
chusetts delegates; and though these men were " largely in
trade," they announced that they were "willing to re-
nounce all their trade," Deane declaring that the resolu-
tions of Congress would be regarded in Connecticut as
"the laws of the Medes and Persians. " 8 Stopping at
1 Pa. Journ. , Sept . 28, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 811-814.
*"A Few Political Reflections," Pa. Packet, June 27, 1774; also
N. Y. Gas. , July 4.
1Adams, J. , Works (Adams), vol. ii, p. 341.
? ? 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
? 406 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
Middletown, the members of the local committee of corres-
pondence and many other persons assured the delegates
that " they would abide by whatever should be determined
on, even to a total stoppage of trade to Europe and the
West Indies. " * Reaching New Haven, a chief trading
town of Connecticut, the chorus of approval was marred
by a false note or two. In one discussion some serious
doubts were cast upon the coercive effect of a total non-
exportation to the West Indies, even if well executed;
while from another source Adams was informed that a
boycott agreement would serve no good purpose because
Congress would lack power to enforce it. He learned from
the tavern keeper that the fine parade which had greeted
the delegates seven miles from the city on their arrival had
been contrived at the last moment by the moderates "in
order to divert the populace from erecting a liberty pole,
&c. " 2
Arriving in due time in New York city, the delegates
lingered nearly a week, sightseeing and "breakfasting,
dining, drinking coffee, &c. ," amidst " all the opulence and
splendor" of that city. Much of this time was spent in
the company of McDougall, John Morin Scott, Isaac Sears
and other radicals, from whom Adams gained much inti-
mate knowledge of the local political situation. McDou-
gall warned the Massachusetts delegates to moderate their
language in order not to frighten the timorous elements
there that had combined, from various motives, in support
of the Congress. 8 While the visiting delegates were yet in
1 Adams, J. , Works (Adams), vol. ii, p. 342.
* Ibid. , vol. ii, p. 344.
1 These groups, McDougall reported, were chiefly the following: those
men who had been induced to join the movement by assurances that
commercial coercion would secure relief without any danger of civil
commotions; those who were fearful "lest the levelling spirit of the
? ? 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 407
the city, the "Fifty-One" held a session to discuss the
business of the approaching Congress for the benefit of the
New York delegates. Three of the latter attended; and a
very clear intimation was given that the best course would
be for Congress to recommend to the Bostonians to reim-
burse the East India Company and that America should
then return to a non-importation of dutied goods; but
should they be reduced to the " last sad alternative of en-
tering into a non-importation agreement," then it should
not be a partial one as before, but should include every
European commodity from all parts of the world. 1
Whether or not this measured advice reached the ears of
John Adams he does not record in his diary; and he prob-
ably lost his best opportunity of hearing of it a few nights
later when the "Fifty-One" dined the Massachusetts
delegates with "a profusion of rich dishes, &c. , &c. ," and
Adams spent the evening talking shop with James Duane,
the lawyer of the "sly, surveying eye. "
When the Massachusetts delegation rode into Philadel-
phia on Monday, August 29, "dirty, dusty, and fatigued,"
they found a score or more of the delegates already gath-
ered in the city. The few days intervening before the open-
ing of Congress were spent by the waiting delegates in
meeting and appraising each other and in comparing notes
as to recent political developments in various parts of
America. 2 Of the fifty-six delegates who eventually ap-
New England Colonies should propagate itself into New York; " those
who entertained "Episcopalian prejudices" against New England;
"merchants largely concerned in navigation, and therefore afraid of
non-importation, non-consumption, and non-exportation agreements;"
and those who looked to the government for favors. Adams, J. , Works
(Adams), vol. ii, pp. 345-355-
1 N. Y. Gasetteer, Sept. 2, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 324 n.
1Adams, J. , Works (Adams), vol. ii, pp. 357-364; N. Y. Hist. Soc.
Colls. , vol. xix, pp. 12-19.
? ? 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
? 408 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763. 1776
peared from the twelve provinces, most of the men met
for the first time. 1 A large proportion of them had taken
active part in the popular house of the provincial legisla-
tures; 2 six of them had served in the Stamp Act Congress;
practically all of them were members of committees of cor-
respondence. All of them were of American nativity; and
they must have felt a responsibility almost personal for the
critical situation in which America found herself. As lead-
ers of local movements for larger colonial rights and ex-
emptions in the preceding years, their names were, for the
most part, well known to each other. Their present inten-
tions, however, were a matter for conjecture and appre-
hension.
Friends and foes of the Congress alike appreciated the
difficulties of the situation. "An assembly like this," wrote
the Connecticut delegates, "though it consists of less than
sixty members, yet, coming from remote Colonies, each of
which has some modes of transacting public business pecu-
liar to itself,--some particular Provincial rights and inter-
ests to guard and secure, must take some time to become
1John Dickinson, who had earlier been excluded from election
through the efforts of Galloway, took his seat on October 17. Prior
to this time, however, Dickinson was in close touch with the delegates
in small dinner-groups and in other informal ways; e. g. , vide Adams,
J. , Works (Adams), vol. ii, pp. 360, 363, 379, 381, 382, 386, 397. James
Bowdoin, of Massachusetts, had refused his election at the hands of
the Assembly, because his relatives thought his great fortune ought
not to be hazarded. Hazelton, Decl. of Inde. , p. 9; Hibernian Chronicle
(London), October 27, 1774. William Samuel Johnson, of Connecticut,
had declined his appointment on the ground of an important law case
which required his attendance at Albany, an excuse which produced
no end of skeptical comment. 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 895; Conn. Cour. ,
Aug. 2, 1774; Journals Cant. Cong. (L. C. Edition), vol. i, p. 18 n.
Wolcott and Law, of the same province, had also declined, pleading
poor health.
* Forty of them had served in provincial legislatures, ten or more
of them in the speakership.
? ? 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 409
so acquainted with each one's situations and connections, as
to be able to give an united assent to the ways and means
proposed for effecting what all are ardently desirous of
. . . Every one must be heard even on those points or sub-
jects which in themselves are not of the last importance;
and indeed, it often happens that what is of little or no
consequence to one Colony is of the last to another. "' In
this Congress, affirmed John Adams, "is a diversity of re-
ligions, educations, manners, interests, such as it would
seem impossible to unite in one plan of conduct. " 2
The delegates from the plantation provinces were, as we
have seen, for the most part instructed to push for a limited
non-importation and non-exportation agreement; and the
rising tide of radical feeling in the North, as indicated in
the newspapers, gave promise that many delegates from
that section would also join in the movement. Ljndeed, con-
sidering that only eleven delegates in the whole Congress
were merchants and these, for the most part, men more
addicted to politics than to trade, some plan of non-impor-
tation and non-exportation was the inevitable outcome of
the Congresaj The agricultural interests clearly possessed
the controlling influence; but it is impossible to give precise
figures, for one-half of the membership were content to
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 854-855.
? Adams, J. , Works (Adams), vol. ix, pp. 346-348. Vide also Ward's
view, in Staples, R. I. in Cont. Cong. , pp. 16-17. A comment of an
unfriendly observer (probably William Kelly, the New York merchant)
is not without significance in this connection. After predicting that
the Congress would end in confusion, he wrote: "My Reasons for
thinking so are, that Men, 1500 Miles asunder, have very different
Interests; that there will be near a Hundred Deputies assembled, most
of which being Merchants, Shopkeepers, and Attornies, the latter of
them will certainly rule, for no Men are so true to their own Inter-
est as Lawyers, for they will not stick at any Thing in prosecuting
their Interest.
" He proposed that the ministry should bribe some of
the leading lawyers! London Gazetteer, Sept. 28, 1774; also Y <:
Gaz. , Dec. 5.
? ? 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
? 41o THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
classify themselves as lawyers although frequently their in-
comes were derived in large part, if not chiefly, from agri-
cultural holdings. 1 The ultimate conscious object of the
boycotters in Congress was not merely the repeal of the
punitive acts of 1774 but the goal that had formerly been
so dear to the merchant class--a return to the conditions
of the years before 1763. Within the ranks of this group
there was a clear understanding of the economic interests
endangered by a suspension of trade and a willingness, on
the part of many of them, to shift the anticipated losses on
their brethren in the other provinces.
(The chief danger to the adoption of a plan of continental
non-intercourse came from a determine4_and plausible
group of moderates, led by Joseph Galloway! who insisted
that the only permanent relief was to be found in an en-
lightened definition of imperial relations and colonial liber-
ties in the form of a plan of union. This group saw in
commercial coercion only a 'source of irritation to Great
Britain, and wagered their faith on memorializing and
petitioning. Galloway averred, somewhat unjustly, that
the men who favored his plan of union " were men of loyal
principles, and possessed of the greatest fortunes in Amer-
ica; the other were congregational and presbyterian repub-
licans, or men of bankrupt fortunes, overwhelmed in debt
to the British merchants. " 2
The first three weeks of the meeting of the Continental
Congress might furnish an object-lesson for the skilled par-
liamentarian of any age. 8 "We [Massachusetts delegates]
1 E. g. , Sullivan of N. H. , Dickinson of Pa. , Henry of Va. and the
Rutledges of S. C.
* Historical and Political Reflections on the Rise and Progress of the
American Rebellion (London, 1780), pp. 66-67.
1The sources of information for the proceedings of the First Conti-
nental Congress are meager, however. They are contained in: Journals
of the Continental Congress (L. C. Edition), vol. i; John Adams's notes,
? ? 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
411
have had numberless prejudices to remove here," wrote
John Adams on September 27. "We have been obliged to
act with great delicacy and caution. We have been obliged
to keep ourselves out of sight, and to feel pulses and sound
the depths; to insinuate our sentiments, designs, and de-
sires, by means of other persons; sometimes of one Prov-
ince, and sometimes of another. " * Sam Adams found
himself in his element. "He eats little, drinks little, sleeps
little, thinks much and is most decisive and indefatigable in
the pursuit of his objects," declared the organizing spirit of
the opposite party. 2
The first test of strength between the groups came on the
very first day of meeting, Monday, September 5, when
Congress refused the invitation, tendered by Galloway, to
meet in the State House and, in face of negative votes from
Pennsylvania and New York, resolved to hold their sessions
in Carpenters' Hall, a decision naturally " highly agreeable
to the mechanics and citizens in general. " * Congress then
proceeded to the unanimous election of Charles Thomson
as secretary, much to the surprise of Galloway who deemed
him " one of the most violent Sons of Liberty (so called)
in America," and contrary to the expressed desires of Jay
and Duane. 4 Both measures, according to Galloway, had
Works (Adams), vol. ii, pp. 365-402; Samuel Ward's diary, in Mag.
Am. Hist. , vol. i, 438-442, 503-506, 549-561; certain pamphlets of Joseph
Galloway; the correspondence of the members; and a few contempor-
ary pamphlets and newspaper articles. On the whole, the pledge of
secrecy was excellently observed.
1 Works (Adams), vol. ii, p. 382 n. Vide also ibid. , vol. ii, p. 391 n. ;
vol. ix, pp. 342-346.
1. Galloway, Reflections, pp. 66-67.
? Conn. Hist. Soc. Colls. , vol. ii, p. 172; Adams, J. , Works (Adams),
vol. ii, p. 365.
* 1 N. J. Arch. , vol. x, pp. 477-478; Adams, Works (Adams), vol. ii,
p. 365. Adams dubbed Thomson "the Sam Adams of Philadelphia. "
Ibid. , p. 358.
? ? 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
? 412
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
been " privately settled by an Interest made out of Doors. "
Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, late Speaker of the House
of Burgesses, was chosen president without opposition.
For the next few weeks the proceedings assumed an ap-
pearance of "flattering tranquillity," as Galloway put it.
The radicals were biding their time; * and meanwhile the
members established a rule of secrecy (except upon occa-
sion when Congress should direct otherwise), and agreed
that the delegates of each province should cast one vote
collectively. Both regulations later served the purposes of
the radicals by giving to the proceedings a false appearance
of unanimity. v? ne umt ru^e made it possible to publish
resolutions as having passed unanimously, even when large
minorities in various delegations, amounting sometimes to
one-third of the total membership of Congress, were in
the negativej
The first committee appointed by the Continental Congress
was one to state the rights and grievances of the colonies
and propose the best means of obtaining redress; and on
the same day another committee was named "to examine
and report the several Statutes which affect the Trade and
Manufactures of the Colonies. " The second committee
submitted its report ten days later, when it was thought
proper that the report should be referred to the former
committee for further consideration and action. 8 But be-
fore the committee on rights and redress had submitted its
report, Congress had already taken the definite steps which
established the policy of trade coercion.
The r^d'fals threw off their mask on September 17, when
they carried thfo. "gh a v>te endorsing a set of resolutions
1Galloway, Reflections, pp. 66-67; Cooper, What Think Ye of Con-
gress Nowf (New York, 1775). p. 13-
1Galloway, Examination (London, 1780), p. 61.
1 Journals Cont. Cong. (L. C. Edition), vol. i, pp. 25-29, 40-41, 63-73.
All later references to the Journals are to this edition.
? ? 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
413
adopted by a convention of Suffolk County in Massachu-
setts. This step was, according to Galloway, a " complete
declaration of war" on the part of the "republicans. " *
The "Suffolk_Resolves" rejected the recent legislation
aga1nst Massachusetts as unconstitutional and void, and
called for a civil government to be organized by the people
and for the establishment of a militia for defensive pur-
poses. Furthermore, the fourteenth resolve declared that,
as a measure for obtaining redress, the people of Suffolk
County (and the same action was recommended to the
other counties) would "withhold all commercial inter-
course with Great Britain, Ireland and the West Indies"
and enter into a non-consumption of British and East India
wares, subject to such alterations as Congress might make. 2
By endorsing these resolutions, Congress, among other
things, committed itself to the principle of an extensive plan
of commercial opposition.
As a matter of practical strategy, however, it was deemed
safer to induce the members to agree to several separate
propositions regarding trade suspension before uniting the
parts into a single comprehensive whole. First was brought
up the proposal of a non-importation with Great Britain
and Ireland, the mildest kind of commercial warfare and
therefore the most widely acceptable of any. On Thursday,
September 22, Congress paved the way for its own action
by ordering the publication throughout the continent of an
official request that the merchants should send no more
orders to Great Britain and should suspend the execution
of orders already given, until the further sense of Con
gress should be signified. 8
1 Galloway, Reflections, pp. 66-67.
1Journals, vol. i, pp. 31-39.
1 Ibid. , vol. i, p. 41. Among other newspapers, this resolution appeared
in the Pa. Packet, Sept. 26, 1774; Md. Gas. , Sept. 29; Rind's (Pinkney)
Va. Gas. , Sept. 29; S. C. Gas. , Oct. 10; Mass. Spy, 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
? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
Parts of three days were given over by Congress to a
consideration of the exact form of the non-importation. 1
The original motion for a non-importation with the British
Isles was made by Richard Henry Lee. Chase of Mary-
land, an impetuous radical during these years of his life,
spoke in opposition to non-importation as an insufficient
measure, and proposed instead the cessation of exportation
and the withholding of remittances. But Chase's plan ap-
parently had a single supporter, Lynch of South Carolina.
The chief question at issue was as to the time at which
Lee's motion would become operative. Cushing, a mer-
chant from the blockaded port of Boston, favored an im-
mediate non-importation and non-consumption. Most
speakers thought otherwise. Mifflin of Pennsylvania be-
lieved that the first of November would be sufficiently late
to allow for the arrival of orders already sent to Great
Britain in April and May, and he held that orders given
after that date had been dishonestly given to defeat the
anticipated non-importation. Gadsden of South Carolina
likewise argued for the first of November. It would ap-
pear that there were a number who strenuously favored a
much longer postponement; and Patrick Henry therefore
moved, by way of compromise, that December be inserted
instead of November, remarking: "We don't mean to hurt
even our rascals, if we have any. " The non-importation
resolution, as adopted by Congress on September 27, thus
fixed December I as the date after which no goods should
be imported, directly or indirectly, from Great Britain and
Ireland; and as a warning to stubborn importers, it was
resolved that goods imported contrary to this resolution
should not be purchased or used.
On the next day, Galloway formally presented tr> fon-
'Sept. 24, 26, 27; Journals, vol. i, pp. 42-43. Notes on the discussion
are in Adams, J. , Works, vol. ii, pp. 382-386.
? ? 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 4I5
?
