"[22]
May 17, 1775, Congress resolved unanimously "That all exportations to
_Quebec_, _Nova-Scotia_, the Island of _St. John's_, _Newfoundland_,
_Georgia_, except the Parish of _St. John's_, and to _East_ and _West
Florida_, immediately cease."[23] These measures brought the refractory
colony to terms, and the Provincial Congress, July 4, 1775, finally
adopted the "Association," and resolved, among other things, "That we
will neither import or purchase any Slave imported from Africa, or
elsewhere, after this day."[24]
The non-importation agreement was in the beginning, at least, well
enforced by the voluntary action of the loosely federated nation. The
slave-trade clause seems in most States to have been observed with the
others. In South Carolina "a cargo of near three hundred slaves was sent
out of the Colony by the consignee, as being interdicted by the second
article of the Association."[25] In Virginia the vigilance committee of
Norfolk "hold up for your just indignation Mr. _John Brown_, Merchant,
of this place," who has several times imported slaves from Jamaica; and
he is thus publicly censured "to the end that all such foes to the
rights of _British America_ may be publickly known ... as the enemies of
_American_ Liberty, and that every person may henceforth break off all
dealings with him."[26]
29. ~Results of the Resolution.
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