Colonial resistance to British control took many forms, perhaps
the most effective was the general success of the non-
importation agreements. Such agreements appeared as early as
1766. They had a chilling effect on the British Merchants who
traded with the colonies. The Stamp Act was repealed,
eventually, based on appeals from Merchants who lost money
shipping goods to a land that would not receive them. Not
incidentally, the customs offices in the colonies could not
collect taxes on goods that were either not allowed ashore at
all, or were never sold. Non-importation agreements reached
ultimate effect in response to the Townshend Revenue Act, when
in 1768 Boston passed an act. Every port city and nearly every
region would soon adopt acts like this one. Finally, in 1774,
the first Continental Congress of the colonies would pass The
Association, a colony-wide prohibition against any trade with
Great Britain.