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{{Short description|1774 American trade boycott with England}}
{{Infobox document
|document_name = Continental Association
|image = Articles.JPG
|image_size = 
|image_alt = 
|caption = The Association adopted by the Continental Congress was published and signed by local leaders. [[Thomas Jefferson]] was not yet a delegate to Congress, but he signed this copy (''lower left'') with other Virginians.
|date_created = {{date|{{#property:P571}}|mdy}}
|date_ratified = 
|date_effective = December 1, 1774
|date_repeal=
|location_of_document = 
|writer = 
|signers = {{#invoke:Wikidata|getValue|P1891|FETCH_WIKIDATA}}
|purpose = 
|orig_lang_code = en
|wikisource = Continental Association
}}
[[File:Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, USA, May 2015.jpg|thumb|[[Carpenter's Hall]] in Philadelphia, where the [[First Continental Congress]] passed the Continental Association on October 20, 1774]]
The '''Continental Association''', also known as the '''Articles of Association''' or simply the '''Association''', was an agreement among the [[Thirteen Colonies|American colonies]] adopted by the [[First Continental Congress]] on October 20, 1774. It called for a trade boycott against British merchants by the colonies. Congress hoped that placing [[economic sanctions]] on British imports and exports would pressure [[British Parliament|Parliament]] into addressing the colonies' grievances, in particular, by repealing what were referred to as the [[Intolerable Acts]].<ref>Mary Beth Norton, ''1774: The Long Year of Revolution'' (2021) pp 199–202.</ref>

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]]<ref>https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/educational-magazines/continental-association| Encyclopedia.com page]</ref> based on the 1769 [[Virginia Association]] initiated by [[George Washington]] and written by [[George Mason]], opened with a pledge of loyalty to [[George III|King George III]] of Britain, and went on to outline 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 the agreement was that it exhibited the colonies' collective will to act together in their common interests. [[Abraham Lincoln]], in his [[Lincoln's first inaugural address|first inaugural address]] in 1861, credited the origin of the [[Perpetual Union|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, the colonies acted in accord on a series of agreements leading up to the Congress's closing session seven weeks later.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Nettels|first1=Curtis Putnam|date=1957|title=The Origins of the Union and of the States|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/25080515|journal=Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society|volume=72|pages=68–83|jstor=25080515 |access-date=February 6, 2022}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Karsch>{{cite web|publisher=Carpenter's Hall|author=Carl G. Karsch|title=The First Continental Congress: A Dangerous Journey Begins|access-date=January 9, 2022|url=https://www.carpentershall.org/the-first-continental-congress}}</ref>

==Background==
Parliament passed the [[Intolerable Acts|Coercive Acts]] in 1774 to restructure the colonial administration of the [[Thirteen Colonies]] and to punish 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]] Congress, which included [[George Washington]], [[John Adams]], [[Samuel Adams]], [[Patrick Henry]] and future Chief Justice  [[John Jay]].  [[Peyton Randolph]] 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.<ref name=ellis59-60/><ref>[[#ammerman1974|Ammerman, 1974]], p. 81</ref>

Many Americans saw the Coercive Acts as a violation of the [[British Constitution]] and a threat to [[Rights of Englishmen|the liberties]] of all Thirteen Colonies, not just Massachusetts, and they turned to economic boycotts to protest the oppressive legislation, which involved the "non-importation", "nonexportation", or "non-consumption" of British goods.<ref name=ellis59-60>[[#ellis2007|Ellis, 2007]], pp. 18, 59-60</ref><ref>[[#ammerman1974|Ammerman, 1974]], p. 151</ref>

On May 13, 1774, the [[Town meeting|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:

<blockquote>That it is the opinion of this town, that if the other, Colonies come, into 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.<ref>[[#ammerman1974|Ammerman, 1974]], pp. 23-24 &nbsp;For full text of Boston resolutions, see Peter Force, ''American Archives'', Vol 1, p.331</ref></blockquote>

[[Paul Revere]] often served as messenger, and he carried the Boston resolutions to New York and Philadelphia.<ref>[[#ammerman1974|Ammerman, 1974]], p. 24.</ref> 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.<ref>[[#ammerman1974|Ammerman, 1974]], pp. 74-75</ref> The delegates subsequently drew up a [[Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress|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 the king.  The Association alleged that this system was "evidently calculated for enslaving these colonies,<ref>Preamble of the Continental Association</ref> and, with them, the British Empire." Twelve colonies joined at once; Georgia joined a year later.<ref>[[#ammerman1974|Ammerman, 1974]], p. 151</ref>

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.<ref>[[#journals2|Journals of the Continental Congress, Vol. II]], pp. 22, 63</ref>

==Provisions==
[[File:Articles of Association.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Original Articles of Association, p. 1<br>See also: Pages  [[:File:Articles of Association, page 2.jpg|'''2''']] <small>and</small> [[:File:Articles of Association, page 3.jpg|'''3''']]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;For printed text of the entire document see: [[s:Continental Association|WikiSource]]]]
The articles of 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 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.<ref name=Articles />

The Association set forth policies by which 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 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 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."

==Continental Association signers==
The Continental Association was signed by 53 of the 56 members of the First Continental Congress.<ref name=Articles>{{cite web|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-01-02-0094|last=Continental Congress|title=Continental Association (Articles of Association)|date=October 20, 1774|website=Founders Online (founders.archives.gov)|publisher=National Archives|access-date=January 10, 2022}}</ref>

{{Col-start}}
{{Col-1-of-3}}
[[President of the Continental Congress|President of Congress]]
:1.  [[Peyton Randolph]]
[[Province of New Hampshire|New Hampshire]]<!-- hyphenated as in original -->
:2.  [[John Sullivan (general)|John Sullivan]]
:3.  [[Nathaniel Folsom]]
[[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts Bay]]
:4.  [[Thomas Cushing]]
:5.  [[Samuel Adams]]
:6.  [[John Adams]]
:7.  [[Robert Treat Paine]]
[[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations |Rhode Island]]<!-- hyphenated as in original -->
:8.  [[Stephen Hopkins (politician)|Stephen Hopkins]]
:9.  [[Samuel Ward (Rhode Island politician)|Samuel Ward]]
[[Connecticut Colony|Connecticut]]
:10.  [[Eliphalet Dyer]]
:11.  [[Roger Sherman]]
:12.  [[Silas Deane]]
{{Col-2-of-3}}
[[Province of New York|New York]]<!-- hyphenated as in original -->
:13.  [[Isaac Low]]
:14.  [[John Alsop]]
:15.  [[John Jay]]
:16.  [[James Duane]]
:17.  [[Philip Livingston]]
:18.  [[William Floyd]]
:19.  [[Henry Wisner]]
:20.  [[Simon Boerum]]
[[Province of New Jersey|New Jersey]]<!-- hyphenated as in original -->
:21.  [[James Kinsey]]
:22.  [[William Livingston]]
:23.  [[Stephen Crane (delegate)|Stephen Crane]]
:24.  [[Richard Smith (delegate)|Richard Smith]]
:25.  [[John De Hart]]
[[Province of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania]]
:26.  [[Joseph Galloway]]
:27.  [[John Dickinson (Pennsylvania and Delaware)|John Dickinson]]
:28.  [[Charles Humphreys]]
:29.  [[Thomas Mifflin]]
:30.  [[Edward Biddle]]
:31.  [[John Morton (American politician)|John Morton]]
:32.  [[George Ross (delegate)|George Ross]]
[[Delaware Colony|The Lower Counties]] (Delaware)
:33.  [[Caesar Rodney]]
:34.  [[Thomas McKean]]
:35.  [[George Read (U.S. statesman)|George Read]]
{{Col-3-of-3}}
[[Province of Maryland|Maryland]]
:36.  [[Matthew Tilghman]]
:37.  [[Thomas Johnson (jurist)|Thomas Johnson, Jr.]]
:38.  [[William Paca]]
:39.  [[Samuel Chase]]
[[Colony of Virginia|Virginia]]
:40.  [[Richard Henry Lee]]
:41.  [[George Washington]]
:42.  [[Patrick Henry]]
:43.  [[Richard Bland]]
:44.  [[Benjamin Harrison V|Benjamin Harrison]]
:45.  [[Edmund Pendleton]]
[[Province of North Carolina|North Carolina]]<!-- hyphenated as in original -->
:46.  [[William Hooper]]
:47.  [[Joseph Hewes]]
:48.  [[Richard Caswell]]
[[Province of South Carolina|South Carolina]]<!-- hyphenated as in original -->
:49.  [[Henry Middleton]]
:50.  [[Thomas Lynch (statesman)|Thomas Lynch]]
:51.  [[Christopher Gadsden]]
:52.  [[John Rutledge]]
:53.  [[Edward Rutledge]]
{{Col-end}}
<!--- '''Notes:'''
{{notelist}} --->

== Enforcement ==
{{Continental Congress}}
The Continental Association went into effect on December 1, 1774. Compliance with (and support for) 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 [[James Wright (governor)|Governor James Wright]] emphasized the need for British protection from Native Americans.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Middlekauff|first=Robert|title=[[Oxford History of the United States|The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2005|isbn=0-19-516247-1|location=New York, NY|oclc=55960833|author-link=Robert Middlekauff}}</ref>

The use of public pressure 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 [[Peggy Stewart (ship)|burn his own ship]] full of imported tea rather than attempt to sell it. When enforcement could not be guaranteed, some counties enacted [[Price ceiling|price ceilings]] to discourage [[smuggling]].<ref name=":0" />

==Effects==
Georgia waited a year but the other Thirteen Colonies quickly established local enforcement committees; the restrictions were dutifully enforced in the others, and trade with Britain plummeted.<ref>Breen, 2010, pp 185–206.</ref> 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.<ref>Breen, 2010, p 261.</ref> 

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 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.<ref>Christopher Gould,  "The South Carolina and Continental Associations: Prelude to Revolution." South Carolina Historical Magazine 87.1 (1986): 30-48 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27567931 online]</ref> 

The King acted by securing an election and buying enough seats at £2500 to control 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 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.<ref> Ford, 1891.</ref>

==Legacy==
In his [[Lincoln's first inaugural address|first inaugural address]] in 1861, President [[Abraham Lincoln]] traced the origin of the union of the states to the Continental Association of 1774:

{{quote|Descending from these general principles, we find 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 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."''<ref>{{cite web
   |url=http://www.vlib.us/amdocs/texts/19linc1.htm
   |title=Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address on March 4, 1861
   |last=Lincoln
   |first=Abraham 
   |date=March 4, 1861
   |publisher=AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History
   |access-date=October 27, 2009
}}</ref>}}

==See also==
* [[Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress]]
* [[Petition to the King]]
* [[Founding Fathers of the United States]]
* [[Journals of the Continental Congress]]
* [[United Colonies]]

==References==

{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last=Ammerman |first=David |title=In the common cause: American response to the Coercive acts of 1774. |volume= |authorlink= |publisher=Charlottesville : University Press of Virginia |year=1974 |isbn=978-0-8139-05259 |url=https://archive.org/details/incommoncauseame0000amme/page/n3/mode/2up  |ref=ammerman1974}} 
* Breen, T.H. ''The marketplace of revolution: How consumer politics shaped American independence'' (Oxford University Press, 2004) on the background
* [[T. H. Breen|Breen, T.H.]]  ''American Insurgents, American Patriots: The Revolution of the People'' (Hill and Wang, 2010) pp 160–205; the most detailed modern history. [https://archive.org/details/americaninsurgen0000bree online]
* Ford, Paul Leicester. “The Association of the First Congress.” ''Political Science Quarterly'' 6#4 (1891), pp. 613–24, [https://doi.org/10.2307/2139200 online]
* {{cite book |last=Middlekauff |first=Robert |title=The Glorius Cause |volume= |authorlink= |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2007 |orig-year=1982 |isbn=978-0-1997-40925 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nya0ODz-B-cC |ref=middlekauff1982 }}
* Norton, Mary Beth. ''1774: The Long Year of Revolution'' (Vintage, 2021).
* [[Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr.|Schlesinger, Arthur Meier]]. ''The Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution, 1763–1776'' (1917) [https://archive.org/details/colonialmerchan02schlgoog online] pp 393–606, a standard scholarly history, with extensive details on each colony.
* {{cite book |last1=Ford  |first1=Worthington Chauncey  |last2=Hunt |first2=Gaillard |last3=Fitzpatrick  |first3=John Clement  |authorlink1=Worthington C. Ford |authorlink2=Gaillard Hunt |authorlink3=John Clement Fitzpatrick |title=Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789 |volume=II |publisher=Washington : U.S. Government Printing Office |year=1904 |url=https://archive.org/details/journalsofcontin02unit/page/n5/mode/2up?q=1774 |ref=journals2 }}

==External links==
{{wikisource-inline|Continental Association|single=true}}
* [https://www.encyclopedia.com/defense/energy-government-and-defense-magazines/association-test Association Test] at encyclopedia.com

{{Historical American Documents}}
{{American Revolution origins}}
{{United States topics}}
{{Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War}}
{{John Adams}}
{{Samuel Adams}}
{{John Dickinson}}
{{Patrick Henry}}
{{John Jay}}
{{Charles Thomson}}
{{George Washington}}
{{Authority control}}


[[Category:1774 in law]]
[[Category:1774 in the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:Boycotts of countries]]
[[Category:Continental Congress]]
[[Category:Documents of the American Revolution]]
[[Category:Pennsylvania in the American Revolution]]