Violators were
not only to be boycotted but were to lose the protection of
the committee for their person and property.
not only to be boycotted but were to lose the protection of
the committee for their person and property.
Arthur Schlesinger - Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution
235; vol.
iii, pp.
294, 298, 388-389.
* The negative provinces were New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Delaware and Maryland. 4 Am. Arch. , vol. iv, p. 887; Am. Hist. Rev. ,
vol. i, pp. 308, 309.
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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
tion of tea drinking was serving no useful purpose and was,
on the other hand, fomenting divisions within radical ranks.
"Whenever the reason of any law ceases," declared "Aescu-
lapius," "the law ceases . . . whether the law is in a
formal manner repealed or not;" and he added: "If we
should drink tea three times a day, we shall not be taxed for
it to Great-Britain--no one can import it from there while
we remain in our present situation. " * Congress yielded to
the increasing pressure finally on April 13, one week after
trade had been opened with foreign nations. They voted
that all teas imported before December 1, 1774, should be
placed on sale, except such as had been imported by the East
India Company. To guard against excessive prices, it was
provided that Bohea tea should not retail at more than
three-fourths of a dollar a pound and that the prices of
other teas should be fixed by the local committees. 5
In somewhat similar fashion, the provisions of the Asso-
ciation for maintaining the customary level of prices had,
after the first year of the non-importation, become increas-
ingly difficult to administer. In the plantation provinces
the chief trouble was found in regulating the price of salt.
That commodity was of essential importance as being prac-
tically the only preservative of meat and fish; and the
supply in the South had nearly reached the point of exhaus-
tion by the autumn following the cessation of importation.
Beginning in the spring of 1775, the provincial conventions
of Virginia, Maryland and the Carolinas offered pecuniary
inducements to private individuals who would undertake the
manufacture of salt. 8 The people in the uplands of Vir-
1 Conn. Cour. , Apr. 8, 1776.
* Teas found in the cargo of prizes were also permitted to be sold.
Journals, vol. iv, pp. 277-278.
1Virginia, Mch. 27; Maryland, Aug. 14; North Carolina, Sept. 10;
and South Carolina, Nov. 28; Smith, C. S. , "Scarcity of Salt in the
Revolutionary War," / M. H. S. Procs. , vol. xv, pp. 221-227.
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION -85
ginia, suffering from the great scarcity, did not hesitate on
several occasions to descend upon some of the tidewater
merchants and seize such salt as they could lay hands on. 1
The local committees in these provinces did what they
could to prevent the inevitable rise in prices. For example,
in August, 1775, the Surry County committee in Virginia
published Robert Kennon, a factor, for advancing the price
from 2s. 6d. per bushel to 3s. 2 In November the Baltimore
County, Md. , committee established a maximum price for
salt, and authorized past purchasers of salt to collect from
dealers any money charged beyond that amount. 8 Such
treatment, however, did not penetrate to the source of the
trouble; so, on December 29, 1775, the Continental Con-
gress took measures to afford relief. Virginia, Maryland
and North Carolina, where the need was greatest, were
authorized to import as much salt from any foreign coun-
try as their conventions or committees of safety might
think necessary and to export produce therefor. 4 The con-
ventions of all the continental provinces were urged to
offer bounties for salt making. Most of the provinces acted
upon this advice in the following year. 0
At the leading northern ports and in the rural districts
which were their markets, the regulation of prices had
created more or less trouble from the beginning of non-
importation. 3 The cause of high prices in the early months
had been the greed of forestallers and monopolists; nor did
the city committees always take prompt action in such cases,
especially if the articles in question were not widely used or
1 Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Dec. 6, 1775.
1 Ibid. , Aug. 22, 1775.
1 Md. Journ. , Nov. 22, 1775; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. iii, p. 1541.
4 Journals, vol. iii, pp. 464-465; Am. Hist. Rev. , vol. i, p. 299.
? Smith, he. cit.
supra, chapter xii.
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? 586 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
the advance in price moderate. By the winter of 1775-1776,
after the non-importation had been effective for about a
year, the upward trend of prices indicated the approaching
depletion of mercantile stocks;* but the radicals in general
still preferred to believe that private avarice was the sole
animating cause. The chief centers of trouble were the
ports of Philadelphia and New York and the markets tribu-
tary to them. The dearth and high price of West India
commodities created greatest uneasiness because of their
former cheapness and wide household use.
At Philadelphia the committee reported in September,
1775, after a careful investigation of the rising price of
salt, that there was a sufficient supply of the article in the
city; and they warned the dealers to charge prices that
would not call for the interference of the committee. 2 In
December the committee fixed wholesale and retail prices
for oil. 8 On March 5, 1776, the district committees of
Philadelphia made a careful examination into the prices of
certain West India commodities and others, and reached the
conclusion that the exorbitant prices were the result of en-
grossing. Therefore, on March 6, the committee estab-
lished a schedule of prices, with the warning that violators
of the regulation would be published "as sordid vultures
who are preying on the vitals of their country in a time of
general distress. " The commodities regulated were molasses,
common West India rum, country rum, coffee, cocoa, choc-
olate, pepper, several varieties of sugar, Lisbon and Liver-
pool salt, and Jamaica spirits. 4 Before the month was past
1 Vide a clear analysis of this situation in a circular letter of the
Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, May 22, 1776; Pa. lourn. , June
19, I77<5.
1 Pa. Eve. Post, Sept. 7, 1775.
1 Pa. Journ. , Dec. 20, 1775.
4 Pa. Ledger, Mch. 9, 1776; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. v, pp. 74, 85-86.
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION 587
two inhabitants had violated the resolution: William Sit-
greaves had sold coffee at a penny more than the commit-
tee's rate, and Peter Ozeas had bought and sold two barrels
of coffee at a price higher than the limit. Both offenses
were published, and the men quickly sued for pardon. 1
At New York the extravagant price of pins aroused feel-
ing in September, 1775; and the city committee appointed
a sub-committee to inform the offending merchants that
their conduct would be published unless they reformed their
ways. 2 In November it was proven to the committee that
Robinson & Price had overcharged for pins and other arti-
cles, and the firm was duly published. 8 In March, 1776, the
merchant Archibald M'Vicker was held up for a similar
offence. 4 The extraordinary enhancement in the price of
West India products caused the New York committee, on
March 9, to establish a scale of wholesale prices after the
fashion of Philadelphia. The committee, however, declared
that they intended, from time to time, to examine into the
circumstances of newly-imported commodities from the
West Indies and to regulate the prices accordingly. 8 Five
days later, six or seven hundred mechanics held a meeting
with the Committee of Mechanics and "delivered a very
pathetic address of thanks to the general committee of in-
spection for their kind attention to the public good, in par-
ticular for their resolve of the ninth instant limiting the
prices of West-India produce. "' The committee at New-
1 Pa. Ledger, Apr. 6, 1776.
* 4 Am. Arch. , vol. iii, p. 702.
* Ibid. , vol. iii, pp. 1625-1627. They were restored to public favor by
the New York provincial congress in March, 1776, after an expression
of contrition. N. Y. Journ. , Mch. 14, 1776.
4 N. Y. Co*. , Mch. 4, 1776.
* Ibid. , Mch. 11, 1776; also N. Y. Journ. , Mch. 14.
? N. Y. Gas. , Mch. 18, 1776.
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? 588 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
ark, N. J. , followed the example of the New York com-
mittee with reference to West India commodities on March
15, advancing the scale of prices sufficiently to allow for
transportation, waste and retailers' profits.
Violators were
not only to be boycotted but were to lose the protection of
the committee for their person and property. 1
The people of Connecticut had been complaining since
the early months of trade suspension against the high prices
which the New York merchants charged the Connecticut
merchants and retailers and which the latter had sought to
shift on to the consumers. Various expedients had been
tried to eradicate this evil; but by the early months of 1776
these efforts had definitely failed of their purpose. Many
protests appeared in the local newspapers. The New York
merchants were said to have raised their rates thirty to
forty per cent; the local dealers were accused of "making
merchandize of their country and its liberties;" the " poor
consumer" and the "poor mechanic and labourer" were
shown to be the victims of this situation. 2 Other writers
charged that the farmers were equally guilty of extortion. 8
At length the leading towns adopted the device, which had
become popular elsewhere, of establishing prices for the
chief West India commodities. The committees of inspec-
tion of the towns in New London County resolved upon this
measure at a joint meeting on March 14, 1776, and the
committees of the fifteen towns of Hartford County took
like action on the twenty-seventh. 4
The same upward climb of prices was to be found in the
1 N. Y. Gas. , Apr. 22, 1776; also 2 N. J. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 86-87.
*"R" in Conn. Cow. , Jan. 29, 1776; "Fabius" in ibid. , Mch. a5;
"Philo Patriae" in Conn. Gas. , Mch. 8.
1"Fabius" in Conn. Cour. , Mch. 25, 1776; "A Small Merchant" in
ibid. , Apr. 8.
* Conn. Gas. , Mch. 8, 1776; Conn. Cour. , Apr. 8.
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION 589
other New England provinces. Abigail Adams wrote to
her husband at Philadelphia on December 10, 1775, that at
Braintree English goods of all kinds had doubled in price,
West India molasses had advanced from 1s. 8d. , 1. m. , to
2s. 8d. , cotton-wool from 1s. per bag to 3s. ; linens were to
be had at no price. 1 The Providence, R. I. , committee re-
ported numerous complaints and issued warnings from time
to time against advanced prices "on any pretence what-
ever. " 2 The New Hampshire provincial congress, in a
resolution of September 1, 1775, acknowledged gross vio-
lations of the price regulation of the Association and attrib-
uted them to the fact that many members of the committees
of inspection were themselves engaged in trade. The con-
gress therefore resolved that such violators might be cited
before any committee within a radius of ten miles of the
scene of the offense. *
The unavailing efforts of the committees to prevent the
rise of prices furnished a strong argument in favor of a
frank abandonment of the plan by the Continental Con-
gress. The depletion of the colonial warehouses and the
opening of trade with the world convinced Congress that
the time for taking the step had arrived. Asserting that
merchant adventurers should be encouraged to import from
foreign countries by the prospect of profits proportionate to
the danger and expense incurred, they resolved on April 30,
1776, that " the power of committees of inspection and ob-
servation to regulate the prices of goods (in other instances
than the article of green Tea) ought to cease. " *
1 Adams, John, and Abigail, Familiar Letters (Adams, C. F. , ed. ,
Boston, 1875), p. 130. Vide also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. iv, p. 159 n.
1 Ibid. , vol . iii, pp. 662, 075.
'Ibid. , vol. iii, p. 521.
4 Journals, vol. iv, p. 320.
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? S90 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
Like the resolution of a few weeks earlier for re-opening
the sale of teas, this resolution was a douceur to the mer-
chants within radical ranks and to those wavering in their
allegiance. The merchants availed themselves of these new
opportunities without delay. Teas were everywhere dis-
played for sale, little regard being paid in most cases to the
rates prescribed by the Continental Congress or by the local
committees. 1 The prices of other commodities, freed of all
restrictions by Congress, soared beyond anything dreamed
of before. The "enormous rise of the article of rum"
caused Connecticut innkeepers to agree to buy no more
until the price was somewhat reduced. 2 In the middle of
May it was reported that at Boston pins had advanced from
8d. to 6s. , cards from 2s. 6d. to 6s. 6d. , handkerchiefs from
4s. to I2s. , steel from o/l. to 33. 8 The worthy spouse of
John Adams declared that the cost of living had doubled
within the space of a year. 4 In various parts of New Jer-
sey mobs were formed to intimidate merchants into lower-
ing prices; and the provincial committee of safety were
forced to warn the people that the enforced reduction of
prices would discourage smugglers from undertaking trade
with foreign countries and would thus work a hardship on
the poorer people in the long run. 8
The greatest distress was everywhere caused by the ex-
orbitant charge made for the necessary article of salt; and
Congress intervened on May 30 to advise the committees
1E. g. , Mass. Spy, July 5, 1776; Conn. Cour. , Aug. 5; N. Y. Gas. ,
May 6, June 10; Pa. Gas. , Aug. 28; Adamses, Familiar Letters, pp.
182-183.
"At Windham and in Hartford County; Conn. Gas. , May 24, 1776;
Conn. Cour. , June 10.
1 Conn. Gas. , May 17, 1776.
* Adamses, Familiar Letters, pp. 182-183.
? AT. Y. Gas. , May 27, 1776.
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION
of observation and inspection " so to regulate the price of
salt, as to prevent unreasonable exactions on the part of the
seller, having due regard to the difficulty and risque of im-
portation; subject however to such regulations as have been,
or shall hereafter be made, by the legislatures of the respec-
tive colonies. " * Provincial authorities and committees of
observation acted upon the recommendation, not only regu-
lating the price of salt but offering bounties for its produc-
tion. 2 In all other respects prices were left undisturbed by
Congress until the latter part of the year 1777, upon the
hope that the influx of goods from foreign countries under
the resolution of April 6, 1776, would bring down prices. 8
Before considering the critical decision which confronted
the merchants when independence was declared, it seems
desirable to re-state, by way of summary, the part which the
merchant class had played in the development of the revo-
lutionary movement prior to that event. Threatened with
bankruptcy by the parliamentary legislation of 1764-1765,
the merchants of the commercial provinces were the insti-
gators of the first discontents in the colonies. The small
factor class in the plantation provinces, by reason of the
limited nature of their trade, had no interest in the adverse
effects of this legislation, and because of their close connec-
tion with their British employers were not at this or any
other time inclined, as a group, to lend support to the
1 Journals, vol. iv, pp. 397-398, 404.
* Contemporary newspapers; Smith, loc. cit.
1 Before this could occur, however, the excessive issues of paper
money served to keep prices in an inflated condition. For a lucid dis-
cussion of the troubles over prices in the later period with special
reference to Massachusetts, vide Davis, A. McF. , "The Limitation of
Prices in Massachusetts, 1776-1779," Col. Soc. Mass. Pubs. , vol. x,
pp. 110-134,
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? 592
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
projects of the northern merchants. Their attitude there-
fore need not be considered in the present summary.
The merchants of the great northern ports were startled
by the mob excesses and destruction of property which their
agitation had caused; but only the official class and the
social class with which it was allied were moved to place
themselves squarely on the side of parliamentary authority
thereafter. The developments of the years 1767-1770,
fomented by the mercantile interests in large part, brought
the merchants to a serious realization of the growing power
of the irresponsible elements and of the drift of events
toward lawlessness. But for the ill-advised attempt of the
British ministry to assist the East India Company to
monopolize the tea market at the expense of the colonial
merchants, it is probable that the great influence of the
trading class would have been thrown on the side of law
and order at this time, and the separation of the colonies
from the mother country postponed or prevented. Some
merchants did indeed abstain from further activity against
parliamentary measures; but a majority joined with the
radicals to defeat the dangerous purposes of the British
trading company.
The disastrous outcome of this unnatural alliance con-
vinced the merchants as a class that their future welfare
rested with the maintenance of British authority. As a
matter of tactics, many individuals lingered in the radical
movement for the purpose of controlling it; others were
there because persuaded in spite of their self-interest. With
the advent of the First Continental Congress and its brood
of committees, other merchants withdrew from radical
affiliations, some of them becoming active loyalists. The
outbreak of hostilities at Lexington and Concord furnished
another opportunity for decision. Finally, in the spring
and summer months of 1776,' when the dismemberment of
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION
the British empire was impending, came the time for the
supreme choice. The position of the merchants in these
last months needs to be examined in some detail.
Their natural disrelish for the idea of separation was in-
creased by the character of the arguments which the rad-
icals were using at this time to inform and consolidate the
mechanic and agrarian classes in support of independence. 1
Thus, Tom Paine's pamphlet, Common Sense, which ap-
peared on January 9, 1776, repelled the typical merchant
while it carried ready conviction to the man of ordinary
"common sense," who, impatient of the fine-spun political
disquisitions and cautious policies of past years, was eager
for a political philosophy of plain, unqualified phrases and
for a definite program of action in which he could take
aggressive part. That this great piece of propagandist
writing, with its crudities and bad taste, proved entirely
satisfactory to men of this type is shown by the fact that
one hundred thousand copies were quickly needed to spread
the gospel of Common Sense to the uttermost portions of
the United Colonies,2 and that Paine's pamphlet became the
progenitor of a brood of lesser tracts and articles.
1 The radical writers made it clear that merchants were no longer
to be regarded as the directors of public policy. "Remember the
influence of wealth upon the morals and principles of mankind,"
admonished "A Watchman" in the Pa.
* The negative provinces were New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Delaware and Maryland. 4 Am. Arch. , vol. iv, p. 887; Am. Hist. Rev. ,
vol. i, pp. 308, 309.
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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
tion of tea drinking was serving no useful purpose and was,
on the other hand, fomenting divisions within radical ranks.
"Whenever the reason of any law ceases," declared "Aescu-
lapius," "the law ceases . . . whether the law is in a
formal manner repealed or not;" and he added: "If we
should drink tea three times a day, we shall not be taxed for
it to Great-Britain--no one can import it from there while
we remain in our present situation. " * Congress yielded to
the increasing pressure finally on April 13, one week after
trade had been opened with foreign nations. They voted
that all teas imported before December 1, 1774, should be
placed on sale, except such as had been imported by the East
India Company. To guard against excessive prices, it was
provided that Bohea tea should not retail at more than
three-fourths of a dollar a pound and that the prices of
other teas should be fixed by the local committees. 5
In somewhat similar fashion, the provisions of the Asso-
ciation for maintaining the customary level of prices had,
after the first year of the non-importation, become increas-
ingly difficult to administer. In the plantation provinces
the chief trouble was found in regulating the price of salt.
That commodity was of essential importance as being prac-
tically the only preservative of meat and fish; and the
supply in the South had nearly reached the point of exhaus-
tion by the autumn following the cessation of importation.
Beginning in the spring of 1775, the provincial conventions
of Virginia, Maryland and the Carolinas offered pecuniary
inducements to private individuals who would undertake the
manufacture of salt. 8 The people in the uplands of Vir-
1 Conn. Cour. , Apr. 8, 1776.
* Teas found in the cargo of prizes were also permitted to be sold.
Journals, vol. iv, pp. 277-278.
1Virginia, Mch. 27; Maryland, Aug. 14; North Carolina, Sept. 10;
and South Carolina, Nov. 28; Smith, C. S. , "Scarcity of Salt in the
Revolutionary War," / M. H. S. Procs. , vol. xv, pp. 221-227.
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION -85
ginia, suffering from the great scarcity, did not hesitate on
several occasions to descend upon some of the tidewater
merchants and seize such salt as they could lay hands on. 1
The local committees in these provinces did what they
could to prevent the inevitable rise in prices. For example,
in August, 1775, the Surry County committee in Virginia
published Robert Kennon, a factor, for advancing the price
from 2s. 6d. per bushel to 3s. 2 In November the Baltimore
County, Md. , committee established a maximum price for
salt, and authorized past purchasers of salt to collect from
dealers any money charged beyond that amount. 8 Such
treatment, however, did not penetrate to the source of the
trouble; so, on December 29, 1775, the Continental Con-
gress took measures to afford relief. Virginia, Maryland
and North Carolina, where the need was greatest, were
authorized to import as much salt from any foreign coun-
try as their conventions or committees of safety might
think necessary and to export produce therefor. 4 The con-
ventions of all the continental provinces were urged to
offer bounties for salt making. Most of the provinces acted
upon this advice in the following year. 0
At the leading northern ports and in the rural districts
which were their markets, the regulation of prices had
created more or less trouble from the beginning of non-
importation. 3 The cause of high prices in the early months
had been the greed of forestallers and monopolists; nor did
the city committees always take prompt action in such cases,
especially if the articles in question were not widely used or
1 Pinkney's Va. Gas. , Dec. 6, 1775.
1 Ibid. , Aug. 22, 1775.
1 Md. Journ. , Nov. 22, 1775; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. iii, p. 1541.
4 Journals, vol. iii, pp. 464-465; Am. Hist. Rev. , vol. i, p. 299.
? Smith, he. cit.
supra, chapter xii.
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? 586 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
the advance in price moderate. By the winter of 1775-1776,
after the non-importation had been effective for about a
year, the upward trend of prices indicated the approaching
depletion of mercantile stocks;* but the radicals in general
still preferred to believe that private avarice was the sole
animating cause. The chief centers of trouble were the
ports of Philadelphia and New York and the markets tribu-
tary to them. The dearth and high price of West India
commodities created greatest uneasiness because of their
former cheapness and wide household use.
At Philadelphia the committee reported in September,
1775, after a careful investigation of the rising price of
salt, that there was a sufficient supply of the article in the
city; and they warned the dealers to charge prices that
would not call for the interference of the committee. 2 In
December the committee fixed wholesale and retail prices
for oil. 8 On March 5, 1776, the district committees of
Philadelphia made a careful examination into the prices of
certain West India commodities and others, and reached the
conclusion that the exorbitant prices were the result of en-
grossing. Therefore, on March 6, the committee estab-
lished a schedule of prices, with the warning that violators
of the regulation would be published "as sordid vultures
who are preying on the vitals of their country in a time of
general distress. " The commodities regulated were molasses,
common West India rum, country rum, coffee, cocoa, choc-
olate, pepper, several varieties of sugar, Lisbon and Liver-
pool salt, and Jamaica spirits. 4 Before the month was past
1 Vide a clear analysis of this situation in a circular letter of the
Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, May 22, 1776; Pa. lourn. , June
19, I77<5.
1 Pa. Eve. Post, Sept. 7, 1775.
1 Pa. Journ. , Dec. 20, 1775.
4 Pa. Ledger, Mch. 9, 1776; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. v, pp. 74, 85-86.
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION 587
two inhabitants had violated the resolution: William Sit-
greaves had sold coffee at a penny more than the commit-
tee's rate, and Peter Ozeas had bought and sold two barrels
of coffee at a price higher than the limit. Both offenses
were published, and the men quickly sued for pardon. 1
At New York the extravagant price of pins aroused feel-
ing in September, 1775; and the city committee appointed
a sub-committee to inform the offending merchants that
their conduct would be published unless they reformed their
ways. 2 In November it was proven to the committee that
Robinson & Price had overcharged for pins and other arti-
cles, and the firm was duly published. 8 In March, 1776, the
merchant Archibald M'Vicker was held up for a similar
offence. 4 The extraordinary enhancement in the price of
West India products caused the New York committee, on
March 9, to establish a scale of wholesale prices after the
fashion of Philadelphia. The committee, however, declared
that they intended, from time to time, to examine into the
circumstances of newly-imported commodities from the
West Indies and to regulate the prices accordingly. 8 Five
days later, six or seven hundred mechanics held a meeting
with the Committee of Mechanics and "delivered a very
pathetic address of thanks to the general committee of in-
spection for their kind attention to the public good, in par-
ticular for their resolve of the ninth instant limiting the
prices of West-India produce. "' The committee at New-
1 Pa. Ledger, Apr. 6, 1776.
* 4 Am. Arch. , vol. iii, p. 702.
* Ibid. , vol. iii, pp. 1625-1627. They were restored to public favor by
the New York provincial congress in March, 1776, after an expression
of contrition. N. Y. Journ. , Mch. 14, 1776.
4 N. Y. Co*. , Mch. 4, 1776.
* Ibid. , Mch. 11, 1776; also N. Y. Journ. , Mch. 14.
? N. Y. Gas. , Mch. 18, 1776.
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? 588 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
ark, N. J. , followed the example of the New York com-
mittee with reference to West India commodities on March
15, advancing the scale of prices sufficiently to allow for
transportation, waste and retailers' profits.
Violators were
not only to be boycotted but were to lose the protection of
the committee for their person and property. 1
The people of Connecticut had been complaining since
the early months of trade suspension against the high prices
which the New York merchants charged the Connecticut
merchants and retailers and which the latter had sought to
shift on to the consumers. Various expedients had been
tried to eradicate this evil; but by the early months of 1776
these efforts had definitely failed of their purpose. Many
protests appeared in the local newspapers. The New York
merchants were said to have raised their rates thirty to
forty per cent; the local dealers were accused of "making
merchandize of their country and its liberties;" the " poor
consumer" and the "poor mechanic and labourer" were
shown to be the victims of this situation. 2 Other writers
charged that the farmers were equally guilty of extortion. 8
At length the leading towns adopted the device, which had
become popular elsewhere, of establishing prices for the
chief West India commodities. The committees of inspec-
tion of the towns in New London County resolved upon this
measure at a joint meeting on March 14, 1776, and the
committees of the fifteen towns of Hartford County took
like action on the twenty-seventh. 4
The same upward climb of prices was to be found in the
1 N. Y. Gas. , Apr. 22, 1776; also 2 N. J. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 86-87.
*"R" in Conn. Cow. , Jan. 29, 1776; "Fabius" in ibid. , Mch. a5;
"Philo Patriae" in Conn. Gas. , Mch. 8.
1"Fabius" in Conn. Cour. , Mch. 25, 1776; "A Small Merchant" in
ibid. , Apr. 8.
* Conn. Gas. , Mch. 8, 1776; Conn. Cour. , Apr. 8.
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION 589
other New England provinces. Abigail Adams wrote to
her husband at Philadelphia on December 10, 1775, that at
Braintree English goods of all kinds had doubled in price,
West India molasses had advanced from 1s. 8d. , 1. m. , to
2s. 8d. , cotton-wool from 1s. per bag to 3s. ; linens were to
be had at no price. 1 The Providence, R. I. , committee re-
ported numerous complaints and issued warnings from time
to time against advanced prices "on any pretence what-
ever. " 2 The New Hampshire provincial congress, in a
resolution of September 1, 1775, acknowledged gross vio-
lations of the price regulation of the Association and attrib-
uted them to the fact that many members of the committees
of inspection were themselves engaged in trade. The con-
gress therefore resolved that such violators might be cited
before any committee within a radius of ten miles of the
scene of the offense. *
The unavailing efforts of the committees to prevent the
rise of prices furnished a strong argument in favor of a
frank abandonment of the plan by the Continental Con-
gress. The depletion of the colonial warehouses and the
opening of trade with the world convinced Congress that
the time for taking the step had arrived. Asserting that
merchant adventurers should be encouraged to import from
foreign countries by the prospect of profits proportionate to
the danger and expense incurred, they resolved on April 30,
1776, that " the power of committees of inspection and ob-
servation to regulate the prices of goods (in other instances
than the article of green Tea) ought to cease. " *
1 Adams, John, and Abigail, Familiar Letters (Adams, C. F. , ed. ,
Boston, 1875), p. 130. Vide also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. iv, p. 159 n.
1 Ibid. , vol . iii, pp. 662, 075.
'Ibid. , vol. iii, p. 521.
4 Journals, vol. iv, p. 320.
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? S90 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
Like the resolution of a few weeks earlier for re-opening
the sale of teas, this resolution was a douceur to the mer-
chants within radical ranks and to those wavering in their
allegiance. The merchants availed themselves of these new
opportunities without delay. Teas were everywhere dis-
played for sale, little regard being paid in most cases to the
rates prescribed by the Continental Congress or by the local
committees. 1 The prices of other commodities, freed of all
restrictions by Congress, soared beyond anything dreamed
of before. The "enormous rise of the article of rum"
caused Connecticut innkeepers to agree to buy no more
until the price was somewhat reduced. 2 In the middle of
May it was reported that at Boston pins had advanced from
8d. to 6s. , cards from 2s. 6d. to 6s. 6d. , handkerchiefs from
4s. to I2s. , steel from o/l. to 33. 8 The worthy spouse of
John Adams declared that the cost of living had doubled
within the space of a year. 4 In various parts of New Jer-
sey mobs were formed to intimidate merchants into lower-
ing prices; and the provincial committee of safety were
forced to warn the people that the enforced reduction of
prices would discourage smugglers from undertaking trade
with foreign countries and would thus work a hardship on
the poorer people in the long run. 8
The greatest distress was everywhere caused by the ex-
orbitant charge made for the necessary article of salt; and
Congress intervened on May 30 to advise the committees
1E. g. , Mass. Spy, July 5, 1776; Conn. Cour. , Aug. 5; N. Y. Gas. ,
May 6, June 10; Pa. Gas. , Aug. 28; Adamses, Familiar Letters, pp.
182-183.
"At Windham and in Hartford County; Conn. Gas. , May 24, 1776;
Conn. Cour. , June 10.
1 Conn. Gas. , May 17, 1776.
* Adamses, Familiar Letters, pp. 182-183.
? AT. Y. Gas. , May 27, 1776.
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION
of observation and inspection " so to regulate the price of
salt, as to prevent unreasonable exactions on the part of the
seller, having due regard to the difficulty and risque of im-
portation; subject however to such regulations as have been,
or shall hereafter be made, by the legislatures of the respec-
tive colonies. " * Provincial authorities and committees of
observation acted upon the recommendation, not only regu-
lating the price of salt but offering bounties for its produc-
tion. 2 In all other respects prices were left undisturbed by
Congress until the latter part of the year 1777, upon the
hope that the influx of goods from foreign countries under
the resolution of April 6, 1776, would bring down prices. 8
Before considering the critical decision which confronted
the merchants when independence was declared, it seems
desirable to re-state, by way of summary, the part which the
merchant class had played in the development of the revo-
lutionary movement prior to that event. Threatened with
bankruptcy by the parliamentary legislation of 1764-1765,
the merchants of the commercial provinces were the insti-
gators of the first discontents in the colonies. The small
factor class in the plantation provinces, by reason of the
limited nature of their trade, had no interest in the adverse
effects of this legislation, and because of their close connec-
tion with their British employers were not at this or any
other time inclined, as a group, to lend support to the
1 Journals, vol. iv, pp. 397-398, 404.
* Contemporary newspapers; Smith, loc. cit.
1 Before this could occur, however, the excessive issues of paper
money served to keep prices in an inflated condition. For a lucid dis-
cussion of the troubles over prices in the later period with special
reference to Massachusetts, vide Davis, A. McF. , "The Limitation of
Prices in Massachusetts, 1776-1779," Col. Soc. Mass. Pubs. , vol. x,
pp. 110-134,
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? 592
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
projects of the northern merchants. Their attitude there-
fore need not be considered in the present summary.
The merchants of the great northern ports were startled
by the mob excesses and destruction of property which their
agitation had caused; but only the official class and the
social class with which it was allied were moved to place
themselves squarely on the side of parliamentary authority
thereafter. The developments of the years 1767-1770,
fomented by the mercantile interests in large part, brought
the merchants to a serious realization of the growing power
of the irresponsible elements and of the drift of events
toward lawlessness. But for the ill-advised attempt of the
British ministry to assist the East India Company to
monopolize the tea market at the expense of the colonial
merchants, it is probable that the great influence of the
trading class would have been thrown on the side of law
and order at this time, and the separation of the colonies
from the mother country postponed or prevented. Some
merchants did indeed abstain from further activity against
parliamentary measures; but a majority joined with the
radicals to defeat the dangerous purposes of the British
trading company.
The disastrous outcome of this unnatural alliance con-
vinced the merchants as a class that their future welfare
rested with the maintenance of British authority. As a
matter of tactics, many individuals lingered in the radical
movement for the purpose of controlling it; others were
there because persuaded in spite of their self-interest. With
the advent of the First Continental Congress and its brood
of committees, other merchants withdrew from radical
affiliations, some of them becoming active loyalists. The
outbreak of hostilities at Lexington and Concord furnished
another opportunity for decision. Finally, in the spring
and summer months of 1776,' when the dismemberment of
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION
the British empire was impending, came the time for the
supreme choice. The position of the merchants in these
last months needs to be examined in some detail.
Their natural disrelish for the idea of separation was in-
creased by the character of the arguments which the rad-
icals were using at this time to inform and consolidate the
mechanic and agrarian classes in support of independence. 1
Thus, Tom Paine's pamphlet, Common Sense, which ap-
peared on January 9, 1776, repelled the typical merchant
while it carried ready conviction to the man of ordinary
"common sense," who, impatient of the fine-spun political
disquisitions and cautious policies of past years, was eager
for a political philosophy of plain, unqualified phrases and
for a definite program of action in which he could take
aggressive part. That this great piece of propagandist
writing, with its crudities and bad taste, proved entirely
satisfactory to men of this type is shown by the fact that
one hundred thousand copies were quickly needed to spread
the gospel of Common Sense to the uttermost portions of
the United Colonies,2 and that Paine's pamphlet became the
progenitor of a brood of lesser tracts and articles.
1 The radical writers made it clear that merchants were no longer
to be regarded as the directors of public policy. "Remember the
influence of wealth upon the morals and principles of mankind,"
admonished "A Watchman" in the Pa.
