Washington Boycotts Britain: The Road to Revolution Opens
George Washington presented Virginia's nonimportation resolves to the House of Burgesses on May 17, 1769, proposing a comprehensive boycott of British goods until Parliament repealed the Townshend Acts, which imposed duties on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. Washington and George Mason had drafted the resolves at Mount Vernon. The boycott was modeled on earlier successful resistance to the Stamp Act. Virginia's resolves spread rapidly through the colonies, with merchants in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia adopting similar agreements. The economic pressure worked: Parliament repealed most Townshend duties in 1770, retaining only the tax on tea as a symbol of parliamentary authority. That remaining tea tax would eventually provoke the Boston Tea Party in 1773.
May 17, 1769
257 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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