Nonimportation

The American colonies were major consumers of British manufactured goods and recognised that current trade arrangements offered scope to mitigate British attempts to impose new taxes by causing economic dislocation in England via boycotts or nonimportation of English goods. By applying economic pressure, Americans counted on British manufacturers and merchants to pressure Parliament to forego further attempts to increase the burden of colonial taxation. The speed with which subsequent revenue measures were repealed indicates the strategy, broadly speaking, was successful. Nor did nonimportation permanently impair trade relations between the colonies and the mother country as imports once the measures were rescinded rapidly recovered to pre-boycott levels. In effect, nonimportation agreements and direct boycotts constituted principal means by which the American colonists sought to influence British policy. The policy however, proved unsuccessful. In an attempt to bring the colonies to heel, Parliament in 1774 passed a series of punitive measures that incensed Americans, resulting in the adoption of stronger measures to resist further British impositions. In due course, colonial recalcitrance led the Crown to declare in 1775 war on the American colonies, while the latter proclaimed their independence from Britain the following year.