Clubs break the boycott parade

The story, from several sources

This account blends Rothbard’s chapter with the other sources listed below and has not yet been separated into Rothbard’s own account and the fuller story. Read Rothbard’s chapter 49 for his account.

By the summer of 1770 the boycott of British goods was the colonists’ great weapon, and New York was its weak link. The merchants, led by Isaac Low, ran a canvass of the city, going door to door and asking each man whether he would end the boycott on everything but tea. They reported 1,180 for rescinding, 300 neutral, and few against, from a poll Rothbard says drew one-fourth of the eligible voters, none from the country, and a good deal of implicit intimidation. On 7 July they ran a second canvass. The radicals, led by Isaac Sears and Alexander McDougall, called a public meeting the same day, which voted unanimously to keep the boycott. That night two mobs clashed. The radicals, parading with their banner, were routed by a conservative mob armed with sticks and led by Elias Desbrosses, soon to be president of the Chamber of Commerce. Two days later the merchants reported victory, and that night they announced they would import every British good but tea. Rothbard says the movement had been shattered on the rock of New York reaction. Philadelphia, Boston and Charleston called it a betrayal, and in Princeton students burned the merchants’ letter.