Thus the United States resorted, as the colonies had resorted in 1774, to a policy of non-importation.

But the condition of the States was not that of the colonies.

Then all the colonies were commercial, and the entire population was on the seaboard; the prohibition fell with equal weight upon all.

Now there were large interior communities whom restrictions upon commerce would rather benefit than injure.

Yet neither the Sons of Liberty nor the non-importation associations had been able to enforce their voluntary agreements either before or after the Congress of 1774.
If this were to be the mode of resistance, stringent measures must be adopted to make it effective.