The Eve of the Revolution; A Chronicle of the Breach with England

The Eve of the Revolution; A Chronicle of the Breach with England is a book by Carl L. Becker. The preface says that the writer has chiefly endeavored to convey to the reader, not a record of what men did, but a sense of how they thought and felt about what they did. The preface adds that many quotations have been introduced as a matter of course.

A chapter headed The Burden of Empire says that there were plenty of men in England, any time before 1763, who found that an excellent arrangement which permitted them to hold office in the colonies while continuing to reside in London. The text says that in April, 1768, the merchants of New York, seeing the necessity of concerted action, agreed not to import any goods, save a very few enumerated articles, shipped from Great Britain after the first of October next, provided Boston and Philadelphia adopt similar measures by the first of June. As early as October, 1767, the Boston merchants entered into a non-importation agreement that was not very drastic and proved to be of no effect.