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Primary sourceDocument20 October 1774

Continental Association

First Continental Congress · 20 October 1774

The 1774 colonial boycott agreement against British trade, signed by Adams as a Massachusetts delegate to the First Continental Congress.

Adams signed this boycott agreement as a Massachusetts delegate to the First Continental Congress.

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Printed broadside of the Continental Association, dated Philadelphia, October 20, 1774, with large headline text and columns of dense type. Lists of signatures of delegates from colonies are printed at the bottom. Handwritten marks and notes appear at the lower left.
Continental Association, 20 October 1774. First Continental Congress, Philadelphia.

About this source

What it is

Adopted by the First Continental Congress on October 20, 1774, in Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, the Continental Association was an agreement among the colonies to boycott British trade. It was signed at the table by the delegates, including John Adams, Samuel Adams, George Washington, Patrick Henry, and John Jay.

Why it matters

The Association called for a halt to importing, consuming, and exporting goods with Great Britain, in protest of the Coercive Acts. It showed, for the first time, that the colonies could act together against Britain, an early and visible sign of colonial unity that historians later linked to the formation of the United States.

Look closer

  • Why does the document open with a pledge of loyalty to King George III even while organizing a boycott against Britain?
  • What does the list of signatures at the bottom tell us about who had power to act on behalf of the colonies?
  • Why might a trade boycott be chosen instead of an immediate call for independence?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of John Adams, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, George Washington and Penelope Barker on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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