But the most powerful weapon used by the inhabitants of New

York against the Stamp Act was the celebrated "Non-Importation Agreement." This was adopted on the evening of October 31, 17C>.>, by some two hundred New York merchants, at a meeting held in Burns's coffee house. They pledged themselves to import no goods from England until the Stamp Act should be repealed. The merchants of Philadelphia adopted a like agreement on November 7, and those of Boston on December 1. The consequences were immediately felt by the shipping public in England, and were so disastrous that pressure was brought to bear upon parliament, which resulted in the repeal of the act on February 22, 17(i('», less than a year after its promulgation. The (went caused great rejoicing in the City of New York. The king's birthday, the 4th of June, was made the occasion of a grand celebration, one of whose incidents was the erection of a This organliberty pole under the auspices of the Sons of Liberty. ization was a secret confraternity of the more radical element of It appears the people, with ramifications throughout the colonies. at the time of the taking effect of the to have been full Hedged Stamp Act, since the thoroughly organized resistance to the act which was offered by the people at large was uniformly traceable to its The Sons of Liberty were the mainstay of the whole popmembers. ular agitation against British oppression and in favor of American independence from the time of the passage of the Stamp Act until the championship of their cause became the business of armies in the field. The Stamp Act repeal was followed by a year of quiet. But in May, 1767, another parliamentary scheme for taxing the colonies was instituted, which imposed port duties on many articles of com-