Gentlemen of the House of Burgesses, and the Body of Merchants, “The ASSOCIATION entered into last Friday, the 22d instant, by the Gentlemen of the House of Burgesses, and the Body of Merchants, assembled in this city.”

• MS 2013.14
• 1 item

The Townshend Acts had been repealed, but the Tea Act was still enforced. The House of Burgesses and merchant representatives met to agree not only not to import British goods, but also to impose these restrictions on all the population of Virginia. Association signers, Peyton Randolph presided over the House of Burgesses and was the first person to sign the boycott. The second signer, Andrew Sprowle, was the “Chairman of Trade,” the elected leader of the merchants. Randolph continued until his death to be an American patriot. Sprowle, owner of a naval shipyard near Portsmouth, went no further in his objections to Parliament and was a noted loyalist and the British naval agent in Virginia. For more information see Revolutionary Virginia: The Road to Independence, vol. 1, pp. 78–79.

“After signing the association, the whole company, preceded by the Moderator, and the Chariman of the Trade, walked in procession from the Capitol to the Raleigh tavern, where the following loyal and patriotick toasts were drank: The King. The Queen and Royal Family. The Governor of Virginia …” (quoted in the Virginia Historical Register, vol. 3, pp. 17–24.)