Nonconsumption agreements

Nonconsumption agreements were protests organized by American colonists in 1774 in opposition to new import duties that were placed on the colonists by Charles Townshend. These duties taxed items that were frequently imported by the colonies from Britain, including tea, paint, paper, and glass. Thousands of colonists joined the overall resistance against taxes imposed by Britain by signing the Nonconsumption Acts, in which they stated that they would not consume or use any objects that were imported from other countries, and instead would use colonial-made products in an attempt to starve the foreign companies. This led the Continental Congress to impose a suspension of all trade with Britain. These import duties were birthed from the Intolerable Acts in which Britain passed in the wake of the Boston Tea Party the previous year, which protested high taxes against tea and other products.