There will be a necessity of stopping in a great measure the importation of English goods.”
– Samuel Adams to Massachusetts’ agent in London Dennys DeBerdt
”Samuel Adams advocated a Stamp Tax Congress to unite the colonies and a boycott of British goods to gain the attention of London merchants.
Thomas Hutchinson
At the time of the Stamp Act Thomas Hutchinson served simultaneously as lieutenant governor and chief justice. His brother-in -law Andrew Oliver was designated as Stamp Tax agent. Privately, Hutchinson counseled against the Stamp Act but publicly defended Parliament’s authority to tax the colonies. Out of step with a growing democratic spirit, Hutchinson became a lightening rod. “He was never able to empathize with people who were not, as he was, part of the establishment,” wrote his biographer Bernard Bailyn.
James Otis . . .
James Otis played a prominent role in debates but was showing signs of instability. Returning to Boston he challenged British Prime Minister George Grenville to resolve the issue by fighting it out, one on one, on the floor of the House of Commons. He died in dramatic fashion when struck by lightening.
- Wichita Art Museum
The Stamp Tax . . .
Congress met in New York’s City Hall on Wall Street. Later known as Federal Hall, it was the site of President Washington’s inauguration.
- Library of Congress
For a time British . . .
Alarmed by news of the Stamp Tax Congress, he warns: “I cannot express my concern for what has happened in America, God knows what the Consequences will be, sure I am that the Congress of the Americans will weaken the power of their friends here to service them.”
- Massachusetts Archives
Non-Importation
Samuel Adams realized that London merchants
were vulnerable to the boycott of English goods
and worked to persuade merchants in Boston,
New York and Philadelphia to stop imports.
Two hundred New York merchants, 400 Philadelphia merchants, and 250 Boston merchants
joined. British exports to the colonies quickly
declined by 14% and many English merchants
began to panic.
This 1770 article in the
Boston Gazette uses the
phrase “Daughters of
Liberty.”
Women played a significant
role in the boycott by discouraging neighbors from buying British goods and substituting home
made products. In 1765 many
Boston women agreed not to
serve lamb in order to increase
the production of wool.
- Boston Gazette, 1770