Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Mike Maharrey
“In May 1769, Virginia took a decisive step beyond carefully worded protests by launching an organized and strategic boycott against British goods. Led by George Washington and George Mason, the Virginia Association adapted northern resistance models to fit local circumstances and laid critical groundwork for revolutionary unity and economic self-reliance. The Association became part of a growing and coordinated colonial response to the Townshend Acts – a series of laws that imposed new taxes on imported paper, paint, lead, glass, and tea, and expanded the British government’s power to fight smuggling. While historians often focus on resistance in Boston, Philadelphia, and New York during the early years of the American Revolution, Virginia’s actions were crucial threads in the broader fabric of unified colonial resistance to British government overreach.” (05/12/25)