No More Learning

When the time was ripe,
the thought seemed to leap from the minds of men with
the thrill of an irresistible conclusion. It would be mis-
leading to give Providence, Rhode Island, the credit of
originating the idea, simply because the town meeting there
proposed a continental congress four days before the Phila-
delphia Committee, six days before the New York Com-
mittee, and ten days before the dissolved burgesses of Vir-
ginia. All these proposals were antedated by suggestions
in private letters and by a newspaper propaganda to the
same end; * and all advocates drew their inspiration from
a common source--the logic of the times.
^In its inception the project of a general congress was
favored -- and feared -- by all shades of opinionTjgovern-
mental and non-governmental, conservative, moderate and
radical, mercantile and non-mercantile. Governor Franklin
and " many of the Friends of Government " in New Jersey
approved of such a congress if it should be authorized by
the Crown and be composed of governors and selected mem-
bers of the provincial legislatures. 2 Joseph Galloway
1 For a summary of newspaper writings in support of a general con-
gress, vide Frothingham, Rise of Republic, pp. 314, 329, 331-333 n.
1 / N. J. Arch. , vol. x, pp. 464-465.
393
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? 394 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
wanted a congress consisting preferably of delegates
"chosen either by the Representatives in Assembly or by
them in Convention. " * Both men desired to forestall a
resort to lawless action and to have the relations of the
mother country and the colonies defined in enlightened
terms. Many conservatives of Massachusetts believed that
a general congress would be "eminently serviceable" in
prevailing upon the Bostonians to make restitution to the
East India Company and in formulating a plan of perma-
nent conciliation; " Tories as well as whigs bade the dele-
gates God speed. " 2 The Rhode Island legislators and the
Virginians meeting at Raleigh Tavern appeared to have in
mind a permanent union of the provinces in annual con-
gresses, chosen by the several legislatures, for the sake of
the common concerns. The merchants of New York and
Philadelphia wanted a congress, constituted upon almost
any principle, in order to postpone or prevent the adoption
of a plan of non-intercourse, and in order to effect a uni-
form and lenient plan in case non-intercourse could not be
prevented. Dickinson advocated a congress, elected by
assemblies wherever possible, for the purpose of formulat-
ing a uniform boycott against England and avoiding the
dreadful necessity of war. 8 Sam Adams rendered lip-
service to the cause of a congress, but strained every energy
to committing the continent to a radical program before the
body could assemble,* Silas Deane criticized the premature
activity of Adams and favored a congress as a preventive
of " narrow partial and indigested " plans of action. 5
On the other hand. Governor Franklin in June feared
14 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 485-486.
1" Massachusettensis" in Mass. Gas. & Post-Boy, Mch. 27, 1775.
* Pa. Journ. , June IS, I774; also Writings (Ford), vol. i, pp. 499-500.
4 Writings (Gushing), vol. iii, pp. 114-116, 125-127.
6Conn. Hist. Soc. Colls. , vol. ii, pp. 129-190.
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? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
395
"the Consequences which may result from such a Con-
gress as is now intended in America, chosen by the Assem-
blies, or by Committees from all the several Counties, in
each of the Provinces;" * while, conversely, the radical,
Josiah Quincy, warned Dickinson two months later that:
"Corruption (which delay gives time to operate) is the de-
stroying angel we have most to fear. . . . I fear much that
timid or lukewarm counsels will be considered by our Con-
gress as prudent and politic. " z And Governor Gage, of
Massachusetts, writing at almost the same moment as Gov-
ernor Franklin, inclined to the opinion of Quincy when he
said: "I believe a Congress, of some sort, may be ob-
tained; but when or how it will be composed is yet at a
distance, and after all, Boston may get little more than
fair words. " 8
The original idea of the New England radicals seems to
have been for "a congress j>f the Merchants, by deputies
from among them in every seaport town, . . . with power
plan for the whoje^ . . " * Paul Revere,
after a fortnight's trip through the commercial provinces,
reported a sentiment in favor of a congress, so consti-
tuted, in order to place a restriction on the trade to the
West Indies. 5 When the widespread demand seemed to
call for aj1 assemblage nf ^ more g-eneral character, the
Boston Committee of Correspondence suggested that:
Ul'There must be both a political and commercial congress. " *
1 1 N. J. Arch. , vol. x, pp. 464-465.
*4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 725.
1 Ibid. , vol. i, p. 451.
4 Letter of Boston Committee of Correspondence to Providence Com-
mittee of Correspondence, May 21, 1774; Bos. Com. Cor. Mss. , vol. x,
pp. 796-798.
'Mass. Spy, June 2, 1774.
'Bos. Com. Cor. Mss. , vol. x, pp. 796-798.
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? 396 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763. 1776
This quickly proved to be unfeasible; and the Massachu-
setts Spy declared on June 16, 1774: "A
CANTILE CjjjifiRgss seems now to be the voice of all the
Colonies from Nova-Scotia to Georgia; and New York the
place of meeting proposed by private letters: However,
our generous brethren of that metropolis are pleased to
complement Boston with the appointment both of time
and place; which invitation will undoubtedly be accepted
with grateful alacrity. " On the very next day, the Massa-
chusetts House of Representatives acted with the promised
"alacrity. " While the secretary of the province read the
governor's proclamation of dissolution to a curious audi-
ence on the wrong side of the locked door, the house chose
delegates to the Congress and announced the place of meet-
ing to be Philadelphia on September 1. 1 Already on June
15 the Rhode Island Assembly had appointed delegates;
and in the subsequent weeks every province of the thirteen
designated representatives, in one fashion or other, except
Georgia. 2
What was to be the program of the Congress when it
met? The answer to the question depended upon a proper
evaluation of a number of factors, principally the follow-
ing : the instructions given to the members-elect of the Con-
gress; the crystallization of public opinion in the period
prior to the assembling of that body; the character and
temper of the members and of the interests functioning
through them; the steeplechase of ultimatum and conces-
sion which was certain to occur after the Congress had
assembled.
Although the instructions of the delegates obviously had
a bearing on the action of Congress, it would be mislead-
ing to ascribe to these papers any commanding importance;
1 Mow. Spy, June 23, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 421-423.
1 Vide supra, chapters viii and ix, passim.
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? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
397
for the instructions represented not so much what the
dominant elements in a community really wanted, as what
they dared to say that they wanted. These instructions
had originated in divers ways, although in almost every in-
stance they had been issued by the body which had chosen
the delegates. 1 The keynote of all instructions was the
injunction that the delegates should adopt proper measures
to extricate the colonies from their difficulties with the
mother nation, and that they should establish American
rights and liberties upon a just and permanent basis and
so restore harmony and union. Some difference of opinion
was apparent concerning the nature and extent of the colo-
nial grievances which should be redressed. About half the
provinces deemed these too patent, or the occasion prema-
ture, for a particular definition of them in the instructions.
The other provinces were unanimous in naming parlia-
mentary taxation of the colonies as a grievance, and almost
without exception they included the punitive acts of 1774,
particularly the Boston Port Act. 2 The Pennsylvania con-
vention had gone so far as to suggest the maximum con-
1 In Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, the lower house of
the legislatures gave the instructions. In New Hampshire, New Jersey,
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, provincial conven-
tions were responsible for the instructions. Both kinds of bodies
participated in South Carolina and Pennsylvania. In the province of
New York, the delegates were uninstructed in the technical sense of the
term, but a majority of them had been forced to announce their plat-
form in response to popular pressure. All the instructions may be
found in 'Am. Arch. , vol . i. Consult index under name of the prov-
ince desired.
'Virginia, Delaware and the Pennsylvania convention added the re-
vived statute of Henry VIII and the extension of the powers of the
admiralty courts. South Carolina included the "unnecessary restraints
and burthens on trade" and the statutes and royal instructions which
made invidious distinctions between subjects in Great Britain and in
America; Delaware, the curtailing of manufacturing; and the Pennsyl-
vania convention, the quartering of troops.
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? 398 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
cessions which Congress should make in return for the
favors desired, >>". e. , the settlement of an annual revenue
on the king and the reimbursement of the East India
Company.
^he widest divergence of opinion appeared on the im-
portant point of the nature of the opposition which should
be directed against Great Britain. Most of the commercial
provinces instructed their delegates to adoo^ "**
'^prudent" or "lawfojj' measures without specifying
further details. 1 J^w TPTS^ and Delaware, provinces
largely agricultural in their economy, were the only ones
of the groupJa recomrngp^ a plan nf non-importation and
non-exportation to Congress. In contrast to the commer-
cial provinces, three_ of th& f n^r_ j1lanHng pr. 9. vi. n? ? S jfoat
tookjiction instructed ti\? \r j**i>>Bor~<^or aj1on-imgortation
andjion^xportation with Great Britain. 8
If the absence of such instructions in the northern
prov1nces suggested_ thejdo1T1inance of the business^motive
in that section, the form of the boycott plan proposed in
various parts of the South revealed the presence of power-
ful agricultural iptergsts_. there! ^he instructions to the
Maryland delegates carefully specified that that province
would not withhold the exportation of tobacco unless Vir-
ginia and North Carolina did so at the same time. By the
Virginia instructions, the delegates were told uncondition-
ally that non-exportation must not become operative be-
1 There were unimportant exceptions. The New York delegates had
been maneuvered into avowing a present inclination toward a non-
importation regulation. The Pennsylvania Assembly had refused to
give detailed instructions; but the provincial convention had recom-
mended the sending of petitions as a first resort, and had intimated
that Pennsylvania would, under no circumstances, go further than a
non-importation and non-exportation with Great Britain, unless Parlia-
ment should adopt further measures of aggression.
* Md. , Va. , N. C. South Carolina was silent on this point
.
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? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION 399
fore August 10, 1775, because that date would " avoid the
heavy injury that would arise to this country from an
earlier adoption of the non-exportation plan after th<<
people have already applied so much of their labour to the
perfecting of the present [tobacco] crop . . . " * Probably
from a similar motive, the North Carolina delegates were
instructed to delay the operation of non-exportation until
October 1, 1775, if possible. Virginia wished the non-
importation to become effective on November 1, 1774;
North Carolina preferred January 1, 1775. The instruc-
tions of the South Carolina delegates observed a discreet
silence as to the adoption of a boycott plan; but the rice
planters had safeguarded their interests by inserting a pro-
vision pledging the province only to such measures of the
Congress as commanded the support of the South Carolina
delegates as well as the majority of Congress.
A closer scrutiny of the several sets of instructions
would only serve to enforce the conclusion that, although
the plantation provinces stood rather clearly for a two-
edged plan of commercial opposition, the instructions of no
province contemplated a comprehensive and skilfully artic-
ulated plan such as the Continental Association turned out
to be. Every province, touching on the matter, specifically
limited the proposed suspension of trade to Great Britain,
except Maryland and New Jersey.
Only Maryland author-
ized her delegates to agree to "any restrictions upon ex-
ports to the West Indies which may be deemed necessary
by a majority of the Colonies at the general Congress. "
1 This instruction provoked a writer in the commercial provinces to
query whether this restraint did not tend to render Congress totally
ineffective, inasmuch as every province had an equal right to safeguard
its material interests; thus Pennsylvania, the importation of cloth.
New York, the importation of hats and tea, New England, the im-
portation of flannels, calicoes, etc. Pa. Journ. , Sept. 28, 1774; also
4 Am. . Arch. , vol. i, pp. 755-756.
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? 400
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
The scope, the symmetry, the enforcement provisions of
the Continental Association clearly did not proceed from
the instructions of the delegates.
The development of public opinion in the interval be-
tween the giving of instructions and the assembling of
Congress marked a long stride in advance of the views em-
bodied in the instructions. The direction of the gathering
opinion was influenced, to some degree, by correspondents
in London, both of native and colonial birth, many of
whose letters appeared in the colonial press and all of whom
argued that the hard times then prevailing in England
made some form of trade suspension the logical mode of
opposition. 1 To a larger degree, the public mind was in-
fluenced by the trenchant articles with which the propa-
gandists filled the newspapers. As one newspaper writer
phrased it: "The Delegates must certainly desire to know
the mind of the country in general. No rational man will
think himself so well acquainted with our affairs as that he
cannot have a more full and better view of them. " The
questions which would confront Congress, the same writer
declared, were chiefly the following: In what manner and
in what spirit shall we make our application to Great Brit-
ain? ""Shall we stop importation only, or shall we cease
exportation also? Shall this extend only to Great Britain
and Ireland, or shall it comprehend the West India Islands?
At what time shall this cessation begin? Shall we stop
trade till we obtain what we think reasonable and which
shall secure us for time to come; or shall it be only till we
obtain relief in those particulars which now oppress us?
Shall we first apply for relief and wait for an answer be-
1E. g. , vide letters in Pa. Gas. , May 18, June 1, Aug. 10, 1774;
N. H. Gas. , May 26, 1775; Mass. Spy, May 12, 1774. Vide also Dr.
Franklin's letters to Cushing, Thomson, Timothy and others in his
Writings (Smyth), vol. vi, pp. 238-244, 249-251, 303-311; vol. x, pp.
274-275-
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? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
401
fore we stop trade, or shall we stop trade while we are
making application? " In what manner ought we to offer
to bear our proper share of the public expenses? Shall we
offer to pay for the tea that was destroyed ? J
Press discussion occupied itself very largely with the
problems of commercial warfare here presented. "A Dis-
tressed Bostonian" noted a general disposition to oppose
the oppressive measures of the home government; but, he
added acutely: "We are variously affected, and as each
feels himself more or less distres'd he is proportionately
warm or cool in the opposition. " z A few typical extracts
will indicate the trend of newspaper discussion. "A Letter
from a Virginian to the Members of the Congress" en-
treated the delegates to avoid all forms of the boycott, re-
minding them that the resources of the mother country
were infinite, and asking: "Shall we punish ourselves, like
froward Children, who refuse to eat when they are hungry,
that they may vex their indulgent Mothers? . . . We may
teize the Mother Country, we cannot ruin her. " * "A Citi-
zen of Philadelphia" took a slightly more advanced view.
1N. Y. Journ. , Aug. 4, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 634-637.
1 Bos. Eve. Post, Sept. 5, 1774. A writer in the Pa. Journ. , Sept. 28,
1774, expanded the same thought in these words: "The farmer, who
insists that the dry goods merchant shall cease to import, though the
measure should even deprive him of bread; and yet, through fear
of some frivolous loss to himself, very wisely protests against non-
exportation, certainly merits the utmost contempt. Nor does the
farmer, in this case, stand alone. The miller lays claim to public
spirit; talks loudly for liberty; and also insists upon a non-importation;
and in order to enforce the scheme upon the merchant, will readily
agree to a general non-consumption; but no sooner is non-exportation
sounded in his ear, than his mighty public spirit, like Milton's devils
at their Pandemonium consultation is instantly dwarfed. 'My interest,
sir! I cannot part with>that! Alas! if a general non-exportation takes
place, what shall I do with my mill? '"
'. V. Y. Gas. , Aug. 22, 1774.
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? 4O2
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
He proclaimed himself in favor of a general non-importa-
tion with England; but he roundly condemned a non-
exportation as a weapon which would inflict "a more
deadly wound" on America than on England, and he op-
posed a suspension of trade with the West Indies as a pun-
ishment to a people who were innocent of wrong-doing. 1
"Juba" addressed himself to "The honourable Dele-
gates," who were soon to convene in Congress, and advo-
cated a non-importation and non-exportation agreement
which included Great Britain, Ireland and the West Indies
in its operation. "I know many objections to a plan of
this kind will be started by self-interested men," he de-
clared, " but is this a time for us to think of accumulating
fortunes, or even adding to our estates? " 2
A comprehensive plan of trade suspension, such as was
advocated by "Juba," was urged on the colonists by many
American sympathizers in Great Britain,8 and received the
widest newspaper support in the colonies, although it had
received no sanction in any of the instructions to members-
elect of Congress. The realization dawned upon the rad-
ical writers that the coercive operation of the measures
adopted should be speedy and far-reaching, notwithstanding
the severe blow to colonial trading interests and the per-
sonal guiltlessness of the populations affected. By with-
drawing American exports from Great Britain, it was esti-
mated that the public revenue would be reduced nearly one
million pounds sterling per annum, about half of which
sum arose from the single article of tobacco. 4 Indeed, "the
lPa. Packet, June 20, 27, 1774; also N. Y. Gas. , June 27, July 4.
*AT. Y. Gasetteer, Sept. 2, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 754-75*.
* E. g. , vide anonymous letters printed in Pa. Journ. , Sept. 14, a1,
1774; Pa. Gas. , Sept. 21; Mass. Spy, June 2; Md. Gas. , May 26.
? "To the People of America" (Boston, Sept. , 1774), in 4 Am. Arch. ,
vol. i, pp. 756-759. Vide also Mass. Spy, Mch. 23, 1775.
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? THE CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
403
shipping, manufactures and revenue [of England] depend
so much on the Tobacco and Carolina Colonies that they
alone, by stopping their exports, would force redress. " 1
The want of American naval stores, particularly pitch, tar
and turpentine, would also be felt in England immediately. "1
By stopping the exportation of colonial flaxseed to Ireland,
the linen manufacturers of England would be deprived of
their raw material and more than three hundred thousand
employees thrown out of work. 8
The design of stopping all trade with the West Indies
was even a bolder conception, because of the basic impor-
tance of that branch of commerce to American business
prosperity. The plan derived its inspiration from the fact
that more than seventy members of Parliament owned
plantations in the West Indies and they thus exposed an
Achilles-heel to the darts of the Americans. "Suspending
our trade with the West Indies," declared one writer, "will
ruin every plantation there. They can neither feed their
negroes without our corn nor save their crops without our
lumber. A stoppage of North American supplies will bring
on a famine and scarcity too ruinous to be risked without
the most stupid madness. " * "If the West India Planters,
who have great influence in Parliament," said another,
"are content to see their estates ruined, and their slaves
perish, if they will quietly resign these their possessions,
let it be, and let the crime be added to the enormous account
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 237-238.
1Unsigned letter (probably of Dr. Franklin) in Mass. Gas. & Post-
Boy, Oct. 24, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 701-702.
3 Ibid. , vol. i, pp. 756-759.
4" To the People of America," ibid. , vol. i, pp. 756-759. Vide also
letter to Bos. Com. Cor. , ibid. , p. 347; "Queries," ibid. , p. 755; "Camillus"
in N. H. Gas. , Aug. 5, 1774; "Plain Dealer" in N. Y. Journ. , July 21;
"A Country Man" in ibid. , Dec. 15.
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