The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

156 THE FREEMAN Marcha change in British policy. Thecolonists, then, moved toward attemptingto hit Britain where itwould hurt - in trade. Boston tookthe lead in adopting a non-importationagreement in August of1768. What they proposed to do,among other things, was to ceasealmost all imports from Britain.The movement to do this spreadthrough the colonies, though itwas rough going. Understandably,importers and shippers were notoverly enthusiastic about this,especially those for whom this wasa major source of income. Moreover,it needed to be a concertedeffort throughout the colonies. Ifit were not, ports which· remainedopen could put the efforts of theothers to nought. Colonists didsucceed in closing down the majorport cities in America to mostBritish imports in the course of1769. The best weapon againstports which did not co-operate wasto cut off commercial relationswith them. ~ This usually broughtthem into line.Though non-importation wasfar from absolute, it did succeed.Imports from Great Britain intothe colonies fell from £2,157,218in 1768 to £ 1,336,122 in 1769. 13Some ports did much better thanthis average. For example, Phil-13 Richard B. Morris, ed., Encyclopediaof American History (New York: Harper,1953), p. 78.adelphia's imports from Britaindropped from £432,000 in 1768to £ 200,000 in 1769 to £ 135,000in 1770. 14 More importantly, sincethe object of non-importation wasnot simply to reduce imports fromBritain, the British began to backdown once again in the face ofdetermined colonial opposition. In1769, Parliament moderated itsposition on the Quartering Act toallow colonies to supply troops ontheir own initiative.Reduced Tensions under Lord NorthMore success for the colonieswas to follow with the coming ofa new ministry. Lord North became,in effect, Prime Minister inearly 1770, a position which hewas to hold until 1782. Duringthese years he served George IIIas best he could, doing his willduring a time when a man oflesser loyalty and fortitude wouldhave sought a less demanding job.Re served his king first by actingto reduce tensions in America. InApril, the Townshend duties wererepealed, except for the tax ontea. Some concessions were alsomade in the application of theCurrency Act.I t was not long before the nonimportationagreements began tobe abandoned. There was considerablesentiment for continuingthem - after all, the tax on tea14 Jensen, op. cit., p. 357.