Finally, it was long a favorite belief of the
supporters of the Revolution that, as English exploitation of colonial
resources had caused the quarrel, the best weapon to bring England to
terms was the economic expedient of stopping all commercial intercourse
with her. Since, then, the slave-trade had ever formed an important part
of her colonial traffic, it was one of the first branches of commerce
which occurred to the colonists as especially suited to their ends.[3]
Such were the complicated moral, political, and economic motives which
underlay the first national action against the slave-trade. This action
was taken by the "Association," a union of the colonies entered into to
enforce the policy of stopping commercial intercourse with England. The
movement was not a great moral protest against an iniquitous traffic;
although it had undoubtedly a strong moral backing, it was primarily a
temporary war measure.
26. ~The Action of the Colonies.~ The earlier and largely abortive
attempts to form non-intercourse associations generally did not mention
slaves specifically, although the Virginia House of Burgesses, May 11,
1769, recommended to merchants and traders, among other things, to
agree, "That they will not import any slaves, or purchase any imported
after the first day of November next, until the said acts are
repealed.
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