8 The worthy spouse of
John Adams declared that the cost of living had doubled
within the space of a year.
John Adams declared that the cost of living had doubled
within the space of a year.
Arthur Schlesinger - Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution
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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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,
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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. Packet, June 24, 1776. "Recol-
lect how often you have heard the first principles of government
subverted by the calls of Cato and other Catalines [loyalist writers],
to make way for men of fortune to declare their sentiments upon the
subject of Independence, as if a minority of rich men were to govern
the majority of freeholders in the province. "
1 Vide Tyler, M. C. , Literary History of the American Revolution
(New York, 1897), vol. i, pp. 469-474. "The temper and wishes of
the people supplied every thing at that time," says John Adams in his
Autobiography, "and the phrases, suitable for an emigrant from New-
gate, or one who had chiefly associated with such company, such as,
'The Royal Brute of England,' 'The blood upon his soul,' and a few
others of equal delicacy, had as much weight with the people as his
arguments. " Works, vol. ii, p. 509.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 594
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
But such appeals to passion produced a very different
effect on the wavering merchants, who regarded themselves
still as the only true conservators of colonial rights. Well
might a writer familiar with the long cherished aspirations
of the merchant class and of the moderates generally, in-
dignantly deny that "all men who oppose the scheme of
Independence are advocates for absolute tyranny. Were
this once proved, as it had been often asserted, the contest
would be at an end, and we should all unite in hand and
heart for their beloved Utopian plan; but it never has been,
it never can be proved. The opposers of Independence in
every publick body, from the Congress downwards, and in
the mass of the people, are the true Whigs, who are for
preserving the Constitution, as well against the secret
machinations of ambitious innovators as against the open
attacks of the British Parliament; they are the men who
first set on foot the present opposition, and who, I trust,
will, if they are permitted to go on, bring it to a happy con-
clusion. " And he added, by way of warning to his fellow-
citizens, that " a set of men whom nobody knows . . . are
attempting to hurry you into a scene of anarchy; their
scheme of Independence is visionary; they know not them-
selves what they mean by it. " *
On the other hand, the three resolutions of Congress,
passed in April, 1776, for annulling the acts of navigation
and trade, reviving the sale of teas, and removing all price
restrictions, made strong appeal to mercantile self-interest.
This advantage was followed up by radical writers who de-
1"Civis," Philadelphia, Apr. 30, 1776; 4 Am. Arch. , vol. v, pp. 1141-
1142. Some months earlier "Phileirene" at Boston had remarked of
independence that "in whatever light we consider this truly Utopian
project, the more attentively we view it, and the more thoroughly we
scan it, the more impracticable, absurd, and ridiculous it appears. "
Ibid. , vol. i, p. 1188.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION
595
picted the presumed materialistic benefits of independence.
They painted a Golden Age of commerce in the future more
glorious than that which had existed before 1763. 1 They
even restrained their impatience when cautious members of
the trading class called for a bill of particulars.
Thus, a writer at Philadelphia voiced the opinion of a
good many merchants in the commercial provinces when, in
an open letter to the writers on both sides of the question,
he urged that the whole question of separation be entered
into " fairly, fully and freely. " To explain what he meant,
he continued: "with respect to Independence, some people
will be satisfied with nothing short of such clear and demon-
strative evidence; you must tell them, also, of the partic-
ular new trades, which will be opened to us; the prices our
goods will bear at home to the farmer, and what they will
bring at such and such ports, and how much those prices
exceed what we have been used to get for them at the mar-
kets we were allow'd to trade to; in this you must name the
articles, the prices, and the places; you must then tell us,
the advantages of buying linens, woolens, cottons, silks and
hard ware in France, Spain and Portugal, and other coun-
tries in Europe, and how much cheaper they are than in
England and Ireland; . . . and whether those places will
take in exchange, our lumber, our naval stores, our tobacco,
our flax seed, &c &c and what prices they will give; what
credit it is customary for those several places to allow to
foreigners on what we commonly call dry goods . . . Next
you must shew, that the charge of supporting government
will be less, in a state of Independence, than it hath been
heretofore . . . Lastly you are to consider, after all things
are candidly stated, whether the sums annually raised on
the one hand to protect ourselves, and the absolute gain in
1 Articles were also written to belittle the advantages of the period
before 1763; e. g. , "An American," ibid. , vol. v, pp. 225-227.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 596 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
trade (over and above what we used to make) on the other
hand, do or do not render it most for our interest to sep-
arate from Britain. "
In like manner this writer demanded that the opponents
of independence should make a ledger account of their side
of the question: "they must shew . . . what were the cus-
tomary expences of government in America, before the
present rupture; what are the exclusive privileges, we derive
from exporting goods to Great-Britain; whether there are
acts of Parliament in favour of the Colonies, to the preju-
dice of other nations, . . . and whether these are equivalent
to any loss we may sustain, by having our trade confined to
them; . . . you are to particularize the ports we may trade
to under the old regulations; and the different articles of
America, which we may carry directly to foreign ports; you
must also shew that the principal part of the goods we im-
port from England and Ireland could not be supplied us
upon as good terms, from any other country, and that those
nations, with whom we might incline to trade, would not
grant us bounties upon naval stores, and sundry other arti-
cles, in the same manner as England does, the amount of
which, annually paid to the Colonists, you should sum up.
You should also shew cause (if you can) why America
ought not to take credit to herself, for all the taxes paid by
the English manufacturers, before they send their goods to
the Colonies, it being generally granted that the consumer
ultimately pays all charges; you must also shew, whether
taxes on goods imported into America from Holland,
France or Spain (where imposts are very heavy) are or are
not added to the cost of the said goods, in the same manner
as we reckon them on English goods. Also whether the
long established credit, our American merchants have ob-
tained in England in the interior part of the kingdom, with
the original manufacturers, cannot be as well accomplished
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION 597
in the new countries we may go to; or whether we must
take their goods from merchants at the out-ports, with all
the middle men's or intervening dealer's profits added to
them . . .
"Whether it is not a general established custom with all
trading nations, to trust foreigners with whom they have no
legal or political constitutional connexion as freely as their
own subjects in distant parts of the world; if this is not
generally the case, you should shew why America can't
make treaties with such powers, in order to obtain credit
. . . You should also shew . . . whether if France, Spain
and Holland should refuse to give credit to every young
merchant going out for a cargo, with a tolerable recommen-
dation, as the traders in England have been accustomed to
do, I say, if this should be the case, and the importations
should fall wholly into the hands of a few rich merchants,
why might not some mode of restriction be entered into, for
preventing the exorbitant exactions they might be guilty of,
to the great injury of the consumers? . . .
"You must also prove that England, on a reunion, would
grant us such protection as would secure our property in
any part of the world . . .
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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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,
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 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. Packet, June 24, 1776. "Recol-
lect how often you have heard the first principles of government
subverted by the calls of Cato and other Catalines [loyalist writers],
to make way for men of fortune to declare their sentiments upon the
subject of Independence, as if a minority of rich men were to govern
the majority of freeholders in the province. "
1 Vide Tyler, M. C. , Literary History of the American Revolution
(New York, 1897), vol. i, pp. 469-474. "The temper and wishes of
the people supplied every thing at that time," says John Adams in his
Autobiography, "and the phrases, suitable for an emigrant from New-
gate, or one who had chiefly associated with such company, such as,
'The Royal Brute of England,' 'The blood upon his soul,' and a few
others of equal delicacy, had as much weight with the people as his
arguments. " Works, vol. ii, p. 509.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 594
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
But such appeals to passion produced a very different
effect on the wavering merchants, who regarded themselves
still as the only true conservators of colonial rights. Well
might a writer familiar with the long cherished aspirations
of the merchant class and of the moderates generally, in-
dignantly deny that "all men who oppose the scheme of
Independence are advocates for absolute tyranny. Were
this once proved, as it had been often asserted, the contest
would be at an end, and we should all unite in hand and
heart for their beloved Utopian plan; but it never has been,
it never can be proved. The opposers of Independence in
every publick body, from the Congress downwards, and in
the mass of the people, are the true Whigs, who are for
preserving the Constitution, as well against the secret
machinations of ambitious innovators as against the open
attacks of the British Parliament; they are the men who
first set on foot the present opposition, and who, I trust,
will, if they are permitted to go on, bring it to a happy con-
clusion. " And he added, by way of warning to his fellow-
citizens, that " a set of men whom nobody knows . . . are
attempting to hurry you into a scene of anarchy; their
scheme of Independence is visionary; they know not them-
selves what they mean by it. " *
On the other hand, the three resolutions of Congress,
passed in April, 1776, for annulling the acts of navigation
and trade, reviving the sale of teas, and removing all price
restrictions, made strong appeal to mercantile self-interest.
This advantage was followed up by radical writers who de-
1"Civis," Philadelphia, Apr. 30, 1776; 4 Am. Arch. , vol. v, pp. 1141-
1142. Some months earlier "Phileirene" at Boston had remarked of
independence that "in whatever light we consider this truly Utopian
project, the more attentively we view it, and the more thoroughly we
scan it, the more impracticable, absurd, and ridiculous it appears. "
Ibid. , vol. i, p. 1188.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION
595
picted the presumed materialistic benefits of independence.
They painted a Golden Age of commerce in the future more
glorious than that which had existed before 1763. 1 They
even restrained their impatience when cautious members of
the trading class called for a bill of particulars.
Thus, a writer at Philadelphia voiced the opinion of a
good many merchants in the commercial provinces when, in
an open letter to the writers on both sides of the question,
he urged that the whole question of separation be entered
into " fairly, fully and freely. " To explain what he meant,
he continued: "with respect to Independence, some people
will be satisfied with nothing short of such clear and demon-
strative evidence; you must tell them, also, of the partic-
ular new trades, which will be opened to us; the prices our
goods will bear at home to the farmer, and what they will
bring at such and such ports, and how much those prices
exceed what we have been used to get for them at the mar-
kets we were allow'd to trade to; in this you must name the
articles, the prices, and the places; you must then tell us,
the advantages of buying linens, woolens, cottons, silks and
hard ware in France, Spain and Portugal, and other coun-
tries in Europe, and how much cheaper they are than in
England and Ireland; . . . and whether those places will
take in exchange, our lumber, our naval stores, our tobacco,
our flax seed, &c &c and what prices they will give; what
credit it is customary for those several places to allow to
foreigners on what we commonly call dry goods . . . Next
you must shew, that the charge of supporting government
will be less, in a state of Independence, than it hath been
heretofore . . . Lastly you are to consider, after all things
are candidly stated, whether the sums annually raised on
the one hand to protect ourselves, and the absolute gain in
1 Articles were also written to belittle the advantages of the period
before 1763; e. g. , "An American," ibid. , vol. v, pp. 225-227.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 596 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
trade (over and above what we used to make) on the other
hand, do or do not render it most for our interest to sep-
arate from Britain. "
In like manner this writer demanded that the opponents
of independence should make a ledger account of their side
of the question: "they must shew . . . what were the cus-
tomary expences of government in America, before the
present rupture; what are the exclusive privileges, we derive
from exporting goods to Great-Britain; whether there are
acts of Parliament in favour of the Colonies, to the preju-
dice of other nations, . . . and whether these are equivalent
to any loss we may sustain, by having our trade confined to
them; . . . you are to particularize the ports we may trade
to under the old regulations; and the different articles of
America, which we may carry directly to foreign ports; you
must also shew that the principal part of the goods we im-
port from England and Ireland could not be supplied us
upon as good terms, from any other country, and that those
nations, with whom we might incline to trade, would not
grant us bounties upon naval stores, and sundry other arti-
cles, in the same manner as England does, the amount of
which, annually paid to the Colonists, you should sum up.
You should also shew cause (if you can) why America
ought not to take credit to herself, for all the taxes paid by
the English manufacturers, before they send their goods to
the Colonies, it being generally granted that the consumer
ultimately pays all charges; you must also shew, whether
taxes on goods imported into America from Holland,
France or Spain (where imposts are very heavy) are or are
not added to the cost of the said goods, in the same manner
as we reckon them on English goods. Also whether the
long established credit, our American merchants have ob-
tained in England in the interior part of the kingdom, with
the original manufacturers, cannot be as well accomplished
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-08-19 01:38 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/mdp. 39015011480665 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? TRANSFORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION 597
in the new countries we may go to; or whether we must
take their goods from merchants at the out-ports, with all
the middle men's or intervening dealer's profits added to
them . . .
"Whether it is not a general established custom with all
trading nations, to trust foreigners with whom they have no
legal or political constitutional connexion as freely as their
own subjects in distant parts of the world; if this is not
generally the case, you should shew why America can't
make treaties with such powers, in order to obtain credit
. . . You should also shew . . . whether if France, Spain
and Holland should refuse to give credit to every young
merchant going out for a cargo, with a tolerable recommen-
dation, as the traders in England have been accustomed to
do, I say, if this should be the case, and the importations
should fall wholly into the hands of a few rich merchants,
why might not some mode of restriction be entered into, for
preventing the exorbitant exactions they might be guilty of,
to the great injury of the consumers? . . .
"You must also prove that England, on a reunion, would
grant us such protection as would secure our property in
any part of the world . . .
