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Maryland 1776 - Continental Congress and Importation
Maryland 1776 - Continental Congress and Importation
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Maryland

Maryland 1776 - Continental Congress and Importation


ROBERT PETER, Manuscript Document Signed, Affidavit regarding sundry packages to be sent to William Trent, April 30, 1776, Frederick County, Maryland; with Certification by Committee of Inspection for the Lower District of Frederick County, May 1, 1776. 1 p., 8" x 13.25." Expected folds; some browning; small tears on some folds. From the Library of Charles I. Forbes, not on the market since 1955!

 

Complete Transcript

List of Sundry Packages of Merchandize to be sent by Waggons to Majr William Trent in Trentown New Jersey

T/W No 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, is eight Cases

do No 16 to 33 is 18 Mated Parcles

TW No 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, are five Cask

WW No A, a Case to be delivered in Philadelphia

                                                                        Maryland Frederick County April 30th 1776

Then Came before me one of the Lord Proprietaries Justices for said County Thomas Richardson & on his Solemn Affirmation (according to Law) Declared that the above mentioned thirty two packages of Merchandize were Imported into this Province from London in the Brigantine Rogers Capt James Phillips in September 1774 & that they do not in any manner Contravene the Resolves of the Honbles Continental Congress

affirmed to before me                         Robert Peter

We the subscribers being of the Comtee of Inspection for the Lower district of Frederick County do Certifie all whom it may Concern that the foregoing Affirmation of Mr Thomas Richardson is satisfactory to us & that intire Faith & Credit is & ought to given to it by the different Committees before whom it may come, we therefore desire that the above mention’d Goods may be supposed to Pass to Trentown aforesd without molestation let or hindrance

1st May 1776.                                                  John Murdock

                                                                        Thos Cramphi J. E

                                                                        Allen Bowie JE

                                                                        Saml W. Magruder

                                                                        George Beall J.E

 [Docketing: No 2 / Maryland Committee to pass my goods from G Town to N Jersey / May 1st 1776 / W WNA / To be dd Mrs S Wharton in Philada

 

Historical Background

The news of the blockade of the Port of Boston that took effect on June 1, 1774, resonated strongly in Frederick County, Maryland. On June 11, 1774, a meeting resolved that Boston was suffering for the common cause of America and agreed to sign a non-importation agreement. When a shipment of tea arrived in August consigned to Robert Peter, the county Committee of Correspondence met to discuss the matter with Peter. The committee unanimously resolved that “the importation of any commodity from Great Britain liable for the payment of a duty imposed by an Act of Parliament, however sanctioned by the practice of a part or even the whole of the trading part of the community, is in a high degree dangerous to our liberties, as it implies a full assent to the claim asserted by the British Parliament of a right to impose taxes for the purpose of raising a revenue in America.” They determined that the tea should be sent back in the same ship if it had not been delivered, and Peter agreed not to accept it or to send it to any person whom the committee appointed if it had.

 

Thomas Richardson, another Georgetown merchant, had also received a quantity of tea from Philadelphia, met with the committee and agreed to deliver it to the same persons who were storing Peter’s tea.  In October 1774, a ship arrived in Annapolis from London, carrying 2,320 pounds of “that detestable weed tea.” Hearing that the royal duty was paid, the Anne Arundel County Committee of Correspondence appointed twelve persons to ensure that the tea was not unloaded. On October 19, in a public meeting, the Committee interrogated the merchants and ship owner. James and Joseph Williams and Anthony Stewart offered to destroy the tea. Not all on the committee thought this sufficient. In order to avoid tarring and feathering, Stewart then offered to burn the vessel with the tea in it and to publish an “acknowledgment” in the Maryland Gazette. The repentant owners then went on board the vessel, set fire to the tea, and “in a few hours, the whole, together with the vessel, was consumed in the presence of a great number of spectators.”

 

On October 14, 1774, the First Continental Congress passed a non-importation declaration and resolves, that “from and after the first day of December next, we will not import into British America, from Great-Britain or Ireland, any goods, wares or merchandize whatsoever, or from any other place any such goods, wares or merchandize as shall have been exported from Great-Britain or Ireland; nor will we, after that day, import any East India tea from any part of the world....” Another resolution agreed “That a Committee be chosen in every county, city, and town, by those who are qualified to vote for Representatives in the legislature, whose business it shall be attentively to observe the conduct of all persons touching this association....” These Committees of Inspection would publish the names of anyone violating the non-importation agreement as “foes to the rights of British America” and urge a boycott of any business with them. Committees of Correspondence in each colony would monitor the agreement and suggest any additional regulations that they deemed necessary. The particular containers (cases, parcels, and casks) in this document apparently did not contain tea or originate in Great Britain or Ireland, so the Committee of Inspection allowed them to be shipped on to New Jersey.

 

 

Thomas Richardson (1723-1820) was a Quaker merchant in Georgetown, Frederick County, Maryland. He was associated with George Washington before the Revolutionary War in an effort to extend the navigation of the Potomac River above Georgetown and Alexandria.  Richardson served as a commissary throughout the war.

 

Robert Peter (1726-1806) was born in Scotland and immigrated in 1745 to Maryland, where he became a tobacco merchant in Bladensburg. He represented the Glasgow firm of John Glassford and Company. He moved to Georgetown, Frederick County, Maryland, which later became part of the District of Columbia. He also had a large plantation in upper Montgomery County and served as a justice of the Frederick County court. In 1789, he was elected as the first mayor of Georgetown.

 

William Trent (1715-1787) was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the son of a Philadelphia shipping merchant who founded Trenton, New Jersey. The younger Trent became a trader with the Native Americans and a land speculator in colonial Pennsylvania. In 1744, Trenton purchased large tracts of land from Native Americans in the Ohio Country along the Ohio River. He served as captain in a Virginia regiment early in the French and Indian War and led advance groups who built forts and improved roads. There he met Lt. Colonel George Washington. In 1760, he formed a partnership with Joseph Simons, Levy Andrew Levy, and David Franks, prominent Philadelphia merchants, to trade with Native Americans. The partnership developed the largest trade in the Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh) area and traded as far as Sandusky and Detroit. He spent much of the 1770s and 1780s attempting to get confirmation of his land grants from London, then Virginia, then the Continental Congress.

 

 

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