Opening the Vault: The Beginning of Our Union

On October 20, 1774, the First Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Association—a phased nonimportation, nonexportation, and nonconsumption agreement. This was in response to the Intolerable Acts the British government had imposed on its subjects in the American Colonies. The Intolerable Acts were a series of punitive laws instituted as punishment for colonial uprisings, particularly the Boston Tea Party in 1773. 

The First Continental Congress passed the Articles of Association urging all colonists to boycott British goods beginning December 1, 1774, unless the British government rescinded the Intolerable Acts. 

Signed by 53 delegates, the Articles asserted that, in order to free themselves economically from Great Britain, the colonies will “encourage frugality, economy, and industry, and promote agriculture, arts and the manufactures of this country.”

Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention