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48-433: The Congress adopted a "non-importation, non-consumption, non-exportation" agreement as a peaceful means of settling the colonies' disputes with Great Britain. The agreement, which had been suggested by Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee based on the 1769 Virginia Association initiated by George Washington and written by George Mason , opened with a pledge of loyalty to King George III of Britain, and went on to outline

96-559: A Declaration and Resolves that included the Continental Association, which was approved on October 20, 1774. Based on the earlier Virginia Association , the Association signified the growing cooperation between the colonies. Opening with a profession of allegiance to the king, the document then charged Parliament and lower British officials for creating "a ruinous system of colony administration" rather than blaming

144-648: A joint resolution to stop all importation from Great Britain , and exportations to Great Britain , and every part of the West Indies , till the Act for blocking up this harbour be repealed, the same will prove the salvation of North America and her liberties. On the other hand, if they continue their exports and imports, there is high reason to fear that fraud, power, and the most odious oppression, will rise triumphant over right, justice, social happiness, and freedom. Paul Revere often served as messenger, and he carried

192-705: A black crepe or ribbon on the arm or hat, for gentlemen, and a black ribbon and necklace for ladies, and we will discontinue the giving of gloves and scarves at funerals." The Continental Association was signed by 53 of the 56 members of the First Continental Congress . President of Congress New Hampshire Massachusetts Bay Rhode Island Connecticut New York New Jersey Pennsylvania The Lower Counties (Delaware) Maryland Virginia North Carolina South Carolina The Continental Association went into effect on December 1, 1774. Compliance with (and support for)

240-679: A boycott of imported goods from Britain unless the Intolerable Acts were repealed. The Resolves were recognized by statesman Edmund Burke as a major development in colonial animosity leading to adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1776, and he urged British conciliation with the American colonies, to little effect. The First Continental Congress endorsed

288-672: A series of actions opening with a ban on British imports that would begin December 1, 1774. Trade between the colonies and Britain subsequently fell sharply. The British soon responded with the New England Restraining Act which escalated their own economic sanctions. The outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in April 1775 superseded the need to boycott British goods. A significant effect of

336-650: A year but the other twelve colonies quickly established local enforcement committees; the restrictions were dutifully enforced in the others, and trade with Britain plummeted. Breen states that by early 1775 the local committees of safety, "increasingly functioned as a revolutionary government" and British officials no longer were in control. According to Christopher Gould, The Continental Association forced colonials to publicly take sides: Patriots signed and Loyalists did not. In South Carolina Patriots dominated in Charleston and coastal areas; Loyalists were most numerous in

384-731: The British Parliament and specifically resolved the following: Following the issuance of the Resolves, Paul Revere delivered a copy to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , where it was endorsed on September 17 as a show of colonial solidarity. In response, John Adams commented in his diary: "This was one of the happiest days of my life. In Congress we had generous, noble sentiments, and manly eloquence. This day convinced me that America will support Massachusetts or perish with her." Endorsement of

432-858: The Daniel Vose House in Milton, Massachusetts , which was then part of Suffolk County but is now in Norfolk County, Massachusetts . The convention that adopted them had first met at the Woodward Tavern in Dedham , which is now the site of the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds. As with the other counties' resolves, the Suffolk document denounced the Intolerable Acts , or Coercive Acts, which had recently been passed by

480-765: The Daniel Vose House , where the Suffolk Resolves were signed on September 4, 1774. In order to prevent its demolition, the house was moved in 1950 from Lower Mills to 1370 Canton Avenue in Milton. Now known as the Suffolk Resolves House, it was restored to its original colonial appearance and is the headquarters of the Milton Historical Society. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and

528-493: The French Arms Tavern , Trenton, New Jersey . Congress convened on January 11, 1785, in the old New York City Hall , with Lee presiding until November 23, 1785. Although he was not paid a salary, his household expenses were covered in the amount of $ 12,203.13. Lee abhorred the notion of imposing federal taxes and believed that continuing to borrow foreign money was imprudent. Throughout his term, he maintained that

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576-756: The Mecklenburg Resolves and the Tryon Resolves in 1775 and at least 90 other documents favoring independence in the spring of 1776, but the resolves from the Massachusetts County Conventions in August–October 1774 were the first to promote across-the-board noncompliance with British governmental authority. A historic plaque on Adams Street in the Lower Mills area of Milton commemorates the original site of

624-708: The Province of Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party . A First Continental Congress was convened at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774, to coordinate a response to the Intolerable Acts (also known as the Coercive Acts). Twelve colonies were represented at the First Continental Congress , which included George Washington , John Adams , Samuel Adams , Patrick Henry and future Chief Justice John Jay . Peyton Randolph

672-646: The Articles of Confederation and the Declaration of Independence), by naming one of his sons after him. Children with Anne Aylett: Children with Anne Pinckard: Lee died on June 19, 1794, at the age of 62. Schools in Rossmoor, California , and Glen Burnie, Maryland are named after him, and Richard Henry Lee School in Chicago is named in his honor. The World War II Liberty Ship SS  Richard Henry Lee

720-494: The Articles of Confederation in 1778. And finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was "to form a more perfect Union." [REDACTED] The full text of Continental Association at Wikisource Richard Henry Lee Richard Henry Lee (January 20, 1732 – June 19, 1794) was an American statesman and Founding Father from Virginia , best known for

768-595: The Boston resolutions to New York and Philadelphia. Adams also promoted the boycott through existing colonial committees of correspondence , which enabled leaders of each colony to keep in touch. One of the first actions of the Congress was the endorsement of the Suffolk Resolves , which called for an embargo on British trade and urged each of the colonies to organize militias. The delegates subsequently drew up

816-521: The British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved. Lee had returned to Virginia by the time Congress voted on and adopted the Declaration of Independence, but he signed the document when he returned to Congress. Lee was elected the sixth president of Congress under the Articles of Confederation on November 30, 1784, in

864-623: The Continental Association imposed an immediate ban on British tea, and a ban beginning on December 1, 1774, on importing or consuming any goods from Britain, Ireland, and the British West Indies . It also threatened an export ban on any products from the Thirteen Colonies to Britain, Ireland, or the West Indies, to be enacted only if the Intolerable Acts were not repealed by September 10, 1775. The Articles stated that

912-768: The Governor's council and briefly as an interim governor of Virginia before his death in 1750. Lee spent most of his early life in Stratford, Virginia, at Stratford Hall . Here he was tutored and taught a variety of skills. To develop his political career, his father sent him around to neighboring planters with the intention for Lee to become associated with neighboring men of like prominence. In 1748, at 16, Lee left Virginia for Yorkshire, England, to complete his formal education at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield . Both of his parents died in 1750. In 1753, after touring Europe, he returned to Virginia to help his brothers settle

960-681: The June 1776 Lee Resolution , the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain leading to the United States Declaration of Independence , which he signed. Lee also served a one-year term as the president of the Continental Congress , proposed and was a signatory to the Continental Association , signed the Articles of Confederation , and

1008-898: The Land Ordinance of 1785 has endured. Lee served in the United States Senate in the First and Second Congresses from 1789 to 1792. In 1792 he became the second president pro tempore , but later that year he was obliged to resign due to his failing health, and he retired from public life. Lee's mother Hannah Harrison Ludwell died in 1750. On December 5, 1757, he married Anne Aylett, daughter of William Aylett . Anne died on December 12, 1768. The couple had six children, four of whom survived infancy. Lee remarried in June or July 1769 to Anne (Gaskins) Pinckard. The couple had seven children, five of whom survived infancy. Lee honored his brother, Francis Lightfoot Lee (another signer of

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1056-586: The Resolves on September 17, 1774, and passed the similarly themed Continental Association on October 20, 1774. On August 26–27, 1774 the Committees of Correspondence from Suffolk, Middlesex, Essex, and Worcester counties met at Faneuil Hall in Boston to oppose the recent Massachusetts Government Act , which had disenfranchised citizens of Massachusetts by revoking key provisions of the provincial Charter of 1691. The convention urged all Massachusetts counties to close their courts, rather than to submit to

1104-511: The Suffolk Resolves and, with it the rebellion that had enveloped Massachusetts, altered the political balance in Congress and paved the way for other radical measures, such as the Continental Association, a general nonimportation agreement adopted by the First Continental Association a month later, on October 20. Previously, nonimportation agreements had been limited to specific localities, but this one applied throughout

1152-582: The agreement was that it exhibited the colonies' collective will to act together in their common interests. Abraham Lincoln , in his first inaugural address in 1861, credited the origin of the union which would become the United States to the adoption of the Continental Association. The Union actually may have begun slightly earlier with the First Continental Congress's opening session on September 5, 1774, and from that date on,

1200-479: The backcountry. The Continental Association took charge of the boycotts and led to new governmental organizations that supervised Revolutionary activities. The South Carolina boycott made an exception for rice—it could still be exported but a fraction of sales went to purchase indigo from planters. Gould argues that the plan amounted to price stabilization and a commodity exchange program. The King acted by securing an election and buying enough seats at £2500 to control

1248-479: The bans. The colonies also pledged that they would "encourage frugality, economy, and industry, and promote agriculture, arts and the manufactures of this country, especially that of wool; and will discountenance and discourage every species of extravagance and dissipation", such as gambling, stage plays, and other frivolous entertainment. It set forth specific instructions on frugal funeral observations, pledging that no one "will go into any further mourning-dress, than

1296-544: The colonies acted in accord on a series of agreements leading up to the Congress's closing session seven weeks later. One of the last of these agreements, the most visible symbol of political unity among the colonies up to that time, was the adoption of the Continental Association. Parliament passed the Coercive Acts in 1774 to restructure the colonial administration of the Thirteen Colonies and to punish

1344-459: The colonists would endure the scarcity of goods. Merchants were restricted from price gouging. Local committees of inspection were to be established in the Thirteen Colonies which would monitor compliance. Any individual observed to violate the pledges in the Articles would be condemned in print and ostracised in society "as the enemies of American liberty." Colonies would also cease all trade and dealings with any other colony that failed to comply with

1392-402: The conflict escalated to war. However, the long-term success of the Association was in its effective direction of collective action among the colonies and expression of their common interests. In his first inaugural address in 1861, President Abraham Lincoln traced the origin of the union of the states to the Continental Association of 1774: Descending from these general principles, we find

1440-429: The established boycott was largely enforced through local enforcement committees. By mid-1775, a large majority of Virginia's 61 counties had set up their own enforcement committees. Nearly all other colonies saw similar levels of success in upholding the boycott, with the notable exception of Georgia, where Governor James Wright emphasized the need for British protection from Native Americans. The use of public pressure

1488-489: The estate his parents had left behind. In 1757, Lee was appointed justice of the peace of Westmoreland County. In 1758, he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses , where he met Patrick Henry . Lee remained a "valuable ally of...Henry and Samuel Adams " throughout the American Revolutionary War . An early advocate of independence, Lee became one of the first to create Committees of Correspondence among

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1536-549: The expansion of the Land Ordinance of 1784 and Thomas Jefferson 's survey method; namely, "hundreds of ten geographical miles square, each mile containing 6086 and 4-10ths of a foot" and "sub-divided into lots of one mile square each, or 850 and 4-10ths of an acre" on April 14. On May 3, 1785, William Grayson of Virginia made a motion, seconded by James Monroe , to change "seven miles square" to "six miles square." The Land Ordinance of 1785 passed on May 20, 1785, yet

1584-543: The export ban was being suspended until this date because of the "earnest desire we have not to injure our fellow-subjects in Great-Britain, Ireland, or the West-Indies." All American merchants were to direct their agents abroad to also comply with these restrictions, as would all ship owners. Additionally, article 2 placed a ban on all ships engaged in the slave trade. The Association set forth policies by which

1632-401: The federal government lacked the resources to manage the newly surveyed lands. Not only did Native Americans refuse to relinquish their hold on the platted territory, but much of the remaining land was occupied by squatters . With Congress unable to muster magistrates or troops to enforce the dollar-per-acre title fee, Lee's plan ultimately failed, although the survey system developed under

1680-528: The king. The Association alleged that this system was "evidently calculated for enslaving these colonies, and, with them, the British Empire." Twelve colonies joined at once; Georgia joined a year later. Signed copies of the Articles were sent to the King to present to both houses of Parliament, where they remained for some time mixed in with other letters and documents sent from America. The articles of

1728-683: The many independence-minded Americans in the various colonies. In 1766, almost ten years before the American Revolutionary War, Lee is credited with having authored the Westmoreland Resolution against enforcement of the British Stamp Act 1765 , which was publicly signed by prominent landowners who met at Leedstown, Virginia , on February 27, 1766. Among the signers were three brothers and one close cousin of George Washington . In August 1774, Lee

1776-565: The new Parliament. It then responded by passing the New England Restraining Act which prohibited the northeastern colonies from trading with anyone but Britain and the British West Indies, and they barred colonial ships from the North Atlantic fishing areas. These punitive measures were later extended to most of the other colonies, as well. Britain did not yield to American demands but instead tried to tighten its grip, and

1824-626: The oppressive legislation, which involved the "non-importation", "nonexportation", or "non-consumption" of British goods. On May 13, 1774, the Boston Town Meeting passed a resolution, with Samuel Adams acting as moderator, which called for an economic boycott in response to the Boston Port Act , one of the Coercive Acts. The resolution said: That it is the opinion of this town, that if the other, Colonies come, into

1872-475: The oppressive measure. Berkshire had already done so, and by the first week of October, seven of the nine contiguous mainland counties in Massachusetts had followed suit. As each county in turn closed its court, it issued a set of resolves to explain its actions. Although the resolves were all similar in tone and scope, the one written by patriots in Suffolk has received more attention for two reasons: it

1920-481: The proposition that in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual confirmed by the history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by

1968-511: The rebellious colonies. The Committees of Safety (or Correspondence) , which were formed to enforce the Continental Association , established a revolutionary infrastructure, similar to that of the Sons of Liberty during the early days of the resistance. A number of counties in other colonies adopted declarations of grievances against Britain before the Declaration of Independence , including

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2016-616: The states should relinquish their claims in the Northwest Territory , enabling the federal government to fund its obligations through land sales. He wrote to friend and colleague Samuel Adams: I hope we shall shortly finish our plan for disposing of the western Lands to discharge the oppressive public debt created by the war & I think that if this source of revenue be rightly managed, that these republics may soon be discharged from that state of oppression and distress that an indebted people must invariably feel. Debate began on

2064-638: Was a United States Senator from Virginia from 1789 to 1792, serving part of that time as the second president pro tempore of the upper house. He was a member of the Lee family , a historically influential family in Virginia politics. Lee was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia , to Colonel Thomas Lee and Hannah Harrison Ludwell Lee on January 20, 1732. He came from a line of military officers, diplomats, and legislators. His father served on

2112-689: Was an overwhelmingly effective tactic in enforcing support for the boycott. Those who went against the boycott or even simply criticized the Association would often find their names slandered in newspapers and town gossip, often forcing those targeted to cave to pressure and publicly apologize. The threat of more direct action also played a role in forcing merchants to comply, with one merchant in Annapolis, Maryland, choosing to burn his own ship full of imported tea rather than attempt to sell it. When enforcement could not be guaranteed, some counties enacted price ceilings to discourage smuggling . Georgia waited

2160-566: Was better crafted, and it was formally endorsed by the Continental Congress. Suffolk, which contained Boston, was the only county in which courts remained nominally open, under the protection of all British troops. At the Suffolk County Convention of the Committees of Correspondence on September 6, 1774, Joseph Warren introduced the first draft of the Suffolk Resolves, which were edited and approved three days later at

2208-501: Was chosen as a delegate to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia . In Lee's Resolution on June 7, 1776, during the Second Continental Congress, Lee put forth the motion to the Continental Congress to declare Independence from Great Britain, which read (in part): Resolved: That these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to

2256-559: Was named in his honor. The Chantilly Archaeological Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. He is portrayed in Sherman Edwards ' 1969 musical 1776 . Suffolk Resolves The Suffolk Resolves was a declaration made on September 9, 1774, by the leaders of Suffolk County, Massachusetts . The declaration rejected the Massachusetts Government Act and resulted in

2304-578: Was unanimously elected as its president, and Charles Thomson elected secretary. A plan of reconciliation was proposed, but was roundly rejected for concern that Parliament would see the proposal as a colonial acknowledgment that it had the right to regulate colonial trade and impose taxes. Many Americans saw the Coercive Acts as a violation of the British Constitution and a threat to the liberties of all Thirteen Colonies, not just Massachusetts, and they turned to economic boycotts to protest

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