On this date, the First Continental Congress enacted the Continental Association, a trade boycott against Great Britain in response to the Coercive Acts. One of the provisions stated that the colonies would cease the importation of slaves, effective December 1, 1774.
While the enforcement varied by colony and the slave trade continued illegally in some places, this marked an early, collective colonial stance against the transatlantic slave trade, showing that the issue of slavery was present even at the birth of American independence efforts.
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