The definition of a boycott is a decision to not use or buy products or services in order to show support for a cause. An example of a boycott is not buying paper products made with rainforest wood to protest deforestation.

Committees of Correspondence, organized by patriot leader Samuel Adams, was a system of communication between patriot leaders in New England and throughout the colonies. They provided the organization necessary to unite the colonies in opposition to Parliament.

The purpose of the Committees of Correspondence was to inform, unite, and coordinate colonial efforts to counter onerous laws enacted by British Parliament and gain public support for independence.

boycott. to refuse to buy something, use something, or take part in something as a way of protesting.

A boycott might be a good way for people to protest a law or other action that they do not like because a boycott is a nonviolent method of protest that relies on economic pressure rather than force to accomplish its participants’ goals.

Boycotts are legal under common law. The right to engage in commerce, social intercourse, and friendship includes the implied right not to engage in commerce, social intercourse, and friendship. Since a boycott is voluntary and nonviolent, the law cannot stop it. Other legal impediments to certain boycotts remain.

The colonists decided to boycott British goods, which were taxed by the Stamp Act. Male patriots protested British taxes and policies. Britain wanted the colonists to pay for the French and Indian War.

Britain also needed money to pay for its war debts. The King and Parliament believed they had the right to tax the colonies. They protested, saying that these taxes violated their rights as British citizens. The colonists started to resist by boycotting, or not buying, British goods.

Why did the colonists refuse to buy tea? They refused because it was being taxed and it was too expensive. If they wanted tea, they were forced to buy it from England and not many could afford it.

As the Sons of Liberty took to smuggling in cheaper goods to avoid British taxes. So, under the direction of the Sons of Liberty, the colonists organized a boycott of all British goods being sold in the colonies.

On 20 November 1767, The Townshend Acts take effect in America. Colonists must now pay duties on glass, paper, lead, paint, and tea imported from Britain. The existing non-consumption movement soon takes on a political hue as boycotts are encouraged both to save money and to force Britain to repeal the duties.

Lumber, wool, iron, cotton, tobacco, rice, and indigo were among the products needed in England. British manufacturers in the meantime needed markets for the goods they produced. The American colonies bought their cloth, furniture, knives, guns, and kitchen utensils from England.