No More Learning

Out of this " State of anarchy" issued three things: of
great import. An association was set on foot in New York
city on April 29 by which the subscribers, professing alarm
at the revenue plans of the ministry and at "the bloody
scene now acting in the Massachusetts-Bay," resolved never
to become slaves, and associated, under all the ties of re-
ligion, honor and love of country, to carry into execution
whatever measures were determined upon by the Conti-
nental Congress or the provincial congress for the purpose
of preserving the constitution and opposing the arbitrary'
and oppressive acts of Parliament. 1 A new committee of
one hundred, of more radical complexion even than the
Sixty, was chosen on May 1 with power to act in "the
present unhappy exigency of affairs as well as to observe
1 In the following account, Professor Becker's discussion, with his
references, has been relied upon where no other authority is cited.
tf. Y. Parties, 1760-1776, pp. 193-227.
* Letter Books, vol. ii, p. 402. Vide also ibid. , p. 404.
? N. Y. Journ. , May 4, I775; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, p. 471.
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION
545
the conduct of all persons touching the Association. " A
call was sent out for a provincial congress " at the present
alarming juncture " to meet on May 22. The defense asso-
ciation was taken up by the two latter bodies, when they
met, and applied to the inhabitants of the province as a
touchstone of their allegiance to the radical organization.
At the first meeting of the One Hundred on May 1, it
was resolved to offer the association of April 29 to every
inhabitant in the county, save Colden only, the names of
those refusing to subscribe to be recorded. In the high
excitement of the hour the association was quickly signed
by more than a thousand persons; and within a month
eighteen hundred had subscribed in the city alone. 1 On
May 26 a resolution was passed by the provincial congress
that all members be desired to sign the association of April
29; and arrangements were made for county committees to
tender the association to every inhabitant of the province
and return to the congress a list of signers and non-signers
not later than July 15. No penalty for dissentients was
imposed. By the time fixed, the defense association had
been subscribed by one hundred members of the provincial
congress, fourteen failing to do so. "The official returns
show in five districts of Orange County approximately
1,550 signers and 250 non-signers; in seven districts of
Ulster County, approximately 1,770 and 80 non-signers;
in seven or eight districts of Suffolk County, 2,060 signers
and 200 non-signers; in six precincts of Dutchess County,
1 ,680 signers and 882 non-signers; in one district of Char-
lotte County, 110 signers; in three districts of Cumberland
County, 123 signers and 10 non-signers; in Queens County,
17 signers and 209 non-signers. "
1 Colden, Letter Books, vol. ii, p. 424. Colden added, however:
"there must be at least three Times that number who have an equal
Right to Sign. "
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? 546 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
By September the policy of the provincial congress toward
non-signers began to be defined. "Although this Congress
have a tender regard for freedom of speech, the rights of
conscience, and personal liberty," declared the resolution of
September 1, yet, for the public safety, any person denying
the authority of the provincial or continental congress or
any county or district committee should be disarmed, and,
for a second offense, should be confined at his own expense.
This vote did not apply in terms to non-signers; and two
weeks later the provincial committee of safety voted to
disarm all of the latter by force if necessary. This was
disapproved by the provincial congress in October; and
there the matter rested until March, 1776, when the com-
mittee of safety again ordered the disarming of non-
associators. This time the provincial congress gave its
support.
The net outcome of the circulation of the defense asso-
ciation was that the Continental Association was elbowed
into the background; for the new association by its spirit
not only exacted obedience to the old regulations of commer-
cial opposition, but in explicit terms demanded allegiance
to unnamed radical measures yet to be formulated. Inci-
dentally the propaganda attendant upon the promotion of
the defense association had served the purpose of extend-
ing radical organization into rural parts of New York that
had been untouched on the several earlier occasions.
Of the old British provinces, Georgia had succeeded
thus far in holding off from any union in measures against
Great Britain. The widespread resolutions of censure and
boycott had not been without a chastening influence on her;
but it was the news of the beginning of hostilities that, by
a curious indirection, now brought Georgia over to the side
of the Continental Association. 1 In June, 1775, a defense
1 Wright to Gage, June 27, 1775; Gibbes, Doc"y History, vol. ii, pp. o8-99-
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION 547
association, copied verbatim from the New York associa-
tion of April 29, was circulated in various parts of the
province. 1 The Georgia moderates perceived that, in spite
of the success of their obstructive tactics hitherto, the flood-
tide of insurrection surging high in other provinces threat-
ened to sweep the malcontents of Georgia into extreme
measures unless discreet concessions were made. Whereas
the moderates had opposed the adoption of the Continental
Association when the alternative was peaceful opposition to
Great Britain or no opposition, many of them were now
willing to join in pacific measures of opposition when the
choice seemed to lie between that alternative and the immi-
nence of violent resistance. 2 This at once made possible a
coalition of the more progressive moderates with the more
conservative radicals of the Savannah stamp. * It was this
union of factions that sought to control the movement for
a provincial congress, called for July 4, 1775.
At a caucus held at Savannah on June 13 and attended by
thirty-four citizens, many of whom later joined the British
side, the program of the coalition was formulated as fol-
lows: (1) "we will use our utmost endeavours to preserve
the peace and good order of this Province; . . . no person
behaving himself peaceably and inoffensively shall be
molested in his person or property" notwithstanding his
14 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 1136-1137; vol. ii, pp. 1551-1552. Vide also
ibid. , vol. ii, p. 471.
1 Vide Wright's letter to Dartmouth; Ga. Hist. Soc. Colls. , vol. iii.
p. 183. Read Dr. Zubly's sermon at the opening of the provincial con-
gress in the light of this interpretation. 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, pp. 1557-
1567. Zubly became a loyalist eventually.
1" From Georgia we learn that a Coalition of Parries is likely to take
place," said the S. C. & Am. Gen. Gag. , July 7, 1775. "The Tories in
Georgia are now no more; the Province is almost universally on the
right side, and are about to choose Delegates to send to the Congress,"
wrote a Charlestonian on June 29; Pa. Gas. , July 19, also 4 Am. Arch. ,
vol. ii, p. 1119.
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? 548 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
private sentiments; (2) in the absence of the General As-
sembly, the provincial congress should adopt a petition to
the king for redress of grievances, expressive of the sense
of all who choose to sign it; (3) the interest of Georgia is
inseparable from that of the mother country and all the
sister provinces, and to act apart from the latter would be a
just cause for their resentment; (4) Georgia ought forth-
with to "join the other Provinces in every just and legal
measure to secure and restore the liberties of all America
and for healing the unhappy divisions now subsisting be-
tween Great Britain and her Colonies. " * On June 22 a
meeting of the inhabitants of the town and district of
Savannah at Liberty Pole chose a committee for the pur-
pose of carrying out the Continental Association. 2
The moderates were playing with fire, but they were left
with no alternative. The provincial congress of July con-
tained delegates from every part of the province except
the two small parishes of St. James and St. Patrick. Some
parishes which had hitherto been apathetic or else actively
opposed to extra-legal measures " manifested a very Laud-
able Zeal upon this Occasion. " 1 On the second day of the
meeting, the resolutions adopted by the Savannah caucus
were presented, and the congress voted that the paper
should " lie upon the table for the perusal of the members. "
A few days later the congress voted its opinion that the
paper "ought not to have been entitled or dressed in the
form of Resolves, but rather as recommendations, or in the
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, p. 1544.
1 For names of the members, vide McCall, Hist. Ga. , vol. ii, pp. 44-45-
For a slightly different list, vide Ga. Rev. Recs. , vol. i, p. 72.
* Official communication of the Georgia congress to the Second Con-
tinental Congress; Journals Cont. Cong. , vol. ii, p. 193 n. The journal
of the provincial congress may be found in Ga. Rev. Recs. , vol. i, pp.
229-280; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, pp. 1543-1568.
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION 549
nature of a Petition or Address to this Congress. " This
was fair warning that the radicals of the St. John's stamp
were making themselves felt in the congress.
The Savannah coalition were permitted to carry things
pretty largely their own way during the first few days.
The congress resolved unanimously on July 6 to "carry
into execution all and singular the measures and recom-
mendations of the late Continental Congress," particularly
the Declaration of Rights and the Continental Association.
The provisions of the latter were re-stated and explicitly
adopted, with no alterations of importance. 1 A concession
was even made to the opinion prevalent in the plantation
provinces in favor of a suspension of prosecutions for debt:
no summons was to be issued or civil warrant granted un-
less, in the opinion of the magistrate concerned, there were
good grounds to believe that the defendant intended to
abscond. This was a moderate version of the popular reg-
ulation which gave the supervision of actions for debt to
radical committees rather than to provincial officials. A
petition for redress was sent to the king; and five delegates,
one of whom was loyalist in sympathies, were chosen to
represent the province in the Second Continental Congress,
then in session.
At this point the radical elements began to assert their
control. Strengthened by the sentiment aroused by the
Lexington affair, they were able to carry through resolu-
1 Such changes of date were introduced as were made necessary by
the fact that the non-importation regulation was going into effect at a
later date than that fixed in the original Association. The provision
in Article x as to the disposition of goods imported before February 1
was omitted as no longer applicable. The provision in Article xiv
authorizing provincial bodies to establish further regulations did not
appear. To the list of parliamentary acts which must be repealed were
added the two laws, lately passed, for restraining the trade of most of
the colonies.
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? 550 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
tions asserting the right of the provincial congress to levy
taxes and issue paper money, and pledging Georgia to her
share of the " expenses which have or may accrue in the
defence of the violated rights of America. " They endorsed
the defense association which had been circulated about
Georgia in June and appointed a committee to present a
copy for the signature of all the inhabitants of the town
and district of Savannah. Finally, they recommended that
in the election of delegates to the next provincial congress
the inhabitants should pledge their lives and fortunes to
support the measures which they might adopt. A general
committee, composed of the Savannah delegates and such
other delegates as might be in town, was appointed to
supervise the execution of the resolutions of the continental
and provincial congresses and to advise with all the paro-
chial and district committees.
The radicals were in the saddle, although their seat was
by no means secure. The work of establishing committees
to enforce the Association went forward.
Governor Wright
wrote to the home government that there "are very few
Men of real Abilities, Gentlemen, or Men of Property in
their Tribunals. The Parochial Committee are a Parcel of
the Lowest People, Chiefly Carpenters, Shoemakers, Black-
smiths &c. with a Few at their Head; in the General Com-
mittee and Council of Safety there are Some better Sort of
Men and Some Merchants and Planters, but Many of the
Inferior Class: and it is really Terrible, my Lord, that
Such People Should be Suffered to Overturn the Civil
Government and most arbitrarily determine upon, and
Sport with Other Mens Lives Libertys and Propertys. " *
The accession of Georgia to the Continental Association
relieved the province of the ban placed on it by the Conti-
1 Letter of Dec. 19, 1775; Ga. Hist. Soc. Colls. , vol. iii, p. 228.
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION
551
nental Congress, although it does not appear that Congress
took any formal step to that effect beyond admitting the
Georgia delegates to their seats. 1
The non-importation regulations of the Association were
well enforced in Georgia thereafter. 2 On August 1, Gov-
ernor Wright informed the home government that: "The
Committee here take upon themselves to Order Ships and
Vessells that arrive to Depart again without suffering them
to come up to Town and unload. Some they admit, some
they Order away just as they please, and exactly copy after
Carolina, and are making a very Rapid Progress in the
execution of their Assumed Powers. " * A few days later
he added with reference to the defense association that:
"Every Method has been used to Compdl the People to
Sign the Association; and those who Decline, they threaten
to Proscribe, and for fear of that, and losing their Prop-
erty, or having it Destroyed, Great Numbers have been
Intimidated to Sign, and I suppose by far the greater Part
of the Province have signed it; indeed it is said there are
few in the Country who have not. " * On September 23,
he described the situation in Georgia as: "Government
totally Annihilated, and Assumed by Congresses, Councils
and Committees, and the greatest Acts of Tyranny, Op-
pression, Gross Insults &c &c &c commited, and not the
least means of Protection, Support, or even Personal
Safety . . . " 8 On October 14 he closed his case by stat-
ing: "The Poison has Infected the whole Province, and
1 The General Committee at Charleston revived trading connections on
August 1, 1775. S. C. Gas. , Sept. 7, 1775-
1 E. g. , Ga. Rev. Recs. , vol. i, pp. 81, 90; Ga. Hist. Soc. Colls. , vol. iii,
pp. 210, 215; Journs. Cont. Cong. , vol. ii, pp. 251-252.
1 Ga. Hist. Soc. Colls. , vol. iii, p. 205.
4 Ibid.
* Ibid. , vol. iii, p. 213.
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? 552
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763. 1776
neither Law, Government, or Regular Authority have any
Weight or are at all attended to. " l
The April events had meanwhile been leaving their im-
press on the character and functions of the committees of
observation and inspection in the several provinces. By
swift, though natural, stages, these committees appointed
to enforce the Continental Association became the nuclei
of military organization and the engines for crushing loyal-
ist opinion. In the chief commercial provinces, where
political activity radiated from the centers of population,
the new functions devolving upon the committees were
frankly recognized by the selection of new city committees. 2
Where the population was diffused and urban communities
unimportant, the central radical organization usually de-
creed a new establishment of committees for the whole
province, with the dual purpose of standardizing their
method of selection and of entrusting them with the addi-
tional powers necessitated by the imminence of war. 8 In
all cases provincial conventions and congresses were assem-
bled to guide and supplement the committees in the dis-
charge of their new functions.
These committees were of great practical assistance to
the patriot military. The wide scope of their services may
1 Ga. Hist. Soc. Colls. , Tol. iii, p. 215.
1Thus, the Boston Committee of Correspondence, Safety and In-
spection, appointed May I ? the New York Committee of One Hundred,
on May I; the Philadelphia Committee of One Hundred, on Aug. 16.
Bos. Town Recs. (1770-1777), p. 233; 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, p. 459; vol.
iii, pp. 145-146.
1Thus, the South Carolina provincial congress on June 17; the New
Jersey provincial congress on Aug. 12; the Maryland convention on
Aug. 14; the Virginia convention on Aug. 25; the North Carolina pro-
vincial congress on Sept. 9. Ibid. , vol. ii. p. 1016; vol. iii, pp. 42, 114-116,
420-424, 207-208.
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION 553
be indicated by some illustrative instances in various prov-
inces. 1 The Kensington, N. H. , committee exacted obe-
dience from a man who had refused to equip himself with
arms and ammunition as directed by a resolution of the
provincial congress. The New York committee declared a
boycott against any person who should dispose of arms and
ammunition to any person inimical to American liberty.
The New York provincial congress instructed the local
committees to purchase and rent weapons, and to organize
their jurisdiction into " beats" for the formation of mili-
tary companies. The Morris County, N. J. , committee col-
lected arms and ammunition and promoted the enlistment
of men. All committees of the province were instructed by
the New Jersey congress in October to apprehend deserters
from the American army. The Maryland committees
played an important part in organizing and training the
militia of the province. The Virginia committees under-
took to supervise enlistments and to examine all strangers
and suspects for correspondence and the like. In North
Carolina four committees raised money for the purchase
of gunpowder; and the Newbern committee intercepted
some letters written by the governor.
Efforts that had hitherto been turned to the promotion
of manufacturing in general were now frankly devoted to
the production and increased output of weapons and gun-
powder, saltpetre and sulphur. Some of the money induce-
ments offered for the carrying on of such manufactures
have already been noted. Every province joined in the
movement with zest and determination, through action of
its central organization or its local committees or both.
The Philadelphia committee erected its own saltpetre works.
1 These examples and many others like them may be found in 4 Am.
Arch. , vols. ii and iii, passim.
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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
The Virginia convention established a factory at Fred-
ericksburg for the manufacture of arms.
The most characteristic, if not most important, aspect of
the new work of the committees and conventions was their
activity in drawing a sharp line between friends and ene-
mies of the American cause and in converting and silencing
all opponents. The phrase, "enemies of American liberty,"
had been used in the Continental Association to stigmatize
persons who had actually violated the commercial regula-
tions of that document; now its meaning was rapidly ex-
tended to comprehend any persons who expressed verbal
disapproval of any phase of radical activities, or who acted
in an unfriendly manner with respect to them. Under the
Continental Association the only punishment visited on
offenders was the suspension of all dealings with them:
with the new developments the boycott gave place, in an
increasing number of cases, to such penalties as fine, im-
prisonment and banishment.
The radicals in Massachusetts had already employed the
boycott in pointing out persons who supported the Massa-
chusetts Charter Act of 1774. especially in designating for
discipline the detested "mandamus councillors. " * In Jan-
uary, 1775, the town of Marblehead had even deemed it
necessary to appoint a committee "to attend to the Con-
duct of ministerial Tools and Jacobites in this Town, and
to report their Names to the Town from Time to Time,
that it may take effectual Measures for either silencing or
expelling them from this Community. " * With the out-
break of rebellion, committees in the other provinces as-
sumed inquisitorial powers and began a systematic cam-
paign to suppress freedom of speech on the part of the
loyalists.
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 984, 1000, 1335. 1346.
1 Mass. Gas. & Post-Boy, Jan. 16, 1775.
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? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION 555
Regarding the radicals, "A Converted Whig" bemoaned:
"' In contending for liberty, they seem inclinable to engross
it all themselves; . . . they are arbitrary and even tyran-
nical in the whole tenour of their conduct; they allow not
to others who differ from them the same liberty of thinking
and acting that they claim themselves, but shamefully abuse
them, and treat them with spite, malice, and revenge. " *
The justification of the radicals was neatly put in a resolu-
tion of the Philadelphia committee in September, 1775:
"That, in the opinion of the Committee, no person has a
right to the protection of a community or society he wishes
to destroy; and that if any inhabitant, by speeches or writ-
ing, evidences a disposition to aid and assist our enemies,
or endeavours to persuade others to break the Association,
or by force or fraud to oppose the friends of liberty and
the Constitution, . . . such person, being duly convicted
thereof before the Committee, ought to be deemed a foe to
the rights of British America, and unworthy of those bless-
ings which it is hoped will yet be secured to this and suc-
ceeding generations by the strenuous and noble efforts of
the United Colonies. " 2
The nature and scope of this new function of the com-
mittees may be suggested by a few typical examples. Abiel
Wood was deprived of the benefits of society by the com-
mittee of inspection of the East Precinct of Pownalborough,
Mass. , because, among other offenses, he had declared that
"Hancock, Adams and others acted out of selfish views in
destroying the tea" and offered his oath that Hancock was
the first man on board, and because he had stated that the
members of the Continental Congress had drunk thirty
bumpers of wine apiece before passing their resolutions
and that the provincial congress consisted of "dam'd vil-
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. ii, p. 106.
1 Ibid. , vol. iii, p. 731; also Pa. Eve. Post, Sept. 23, 1775.
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