# The Continental Association: What was the Cost of Unity?
## A Living History Program
### The City Tavern, Philadelphia — Evening of October 20, 1774
**Running time:** 30–35 minutes
**Cast:** John Adams (Host/Moderator), George Washington, Patrick Henry, Christopher Gadsden, Roger Sherman, John Dickinson
**Visitor delegates:** Richard Henry Lee, Joseph Galloway, John Jay, Stephen Hopkins, Caesar Rodney, Thomas Mifflin, Isaac Low *(cards provided separately)*
---
> **STAGE DIRECTIONS appear in** *italics.*
> Lines are written to feel natural in performance — interpreters should feel free to vary wording while preserving the substance.
> **[VISITOR CUE]** marks moments to invite visitor delegates to speak.
---
## OPENING FRAME
### *(Adams steps forward — briefly out of character)*
**ADAMS/MODERATOR:**
Good evening, and welcome to the City Tavern in Philadelphia. The date is October 20th, 1774. This afternoon, the First Continental Congress — meeting just a few blocks from here at Carpenters’ Hall — completed its most significant work. Fifty-six delegates from twelve colonies — and we pray that Georgia may soon join us — signed the Continental Association: a solemn agreement to resist Parliament through united sacrifice by boycotting British trade and goods, and — in a provision that surprised many observers — ending the importation of enslaved people. You are joining these delegates this evening as they gather here at the City Tavern, where they have dined and argued and occasionally shouted at one another for the past six weeks. Tonight the work is done, the ink is dry, and they are reflecting on what they have agreed to — and what it will cost them.
These men came to Philadelphia from twelve very different colonies with twelve very different sets of concerns. Virginia tobacco planters. Boston merchants. South Carolina rice growers. Connecticut farmers. They disagreed about nearly everything. And yet they produced, in six weeks, one of the most remarkable acts of collective sacrifice in the history of these colonies.
You are their fellow delegates. You have a voice here. When called upon, please speak — and at the end, we will ask you to reflect on what you have witnessed.
*Steps back into character.*
---
## ACT I — THE EVENING BEGINS
### *(In character — approx. 5 minutes)*
*The delegates are gathered around a table. The mood is cautiously celebratory — the work is done, but the weight of it is not lost on anyone.*
**ADAMS:**
*(Raising a glass — he is energized, as he always is when things go his way)*
Gentlemen — to the Continental Association. To twelve colonies that managed, for six weeks, to sit in the same room without killing each other.
*(Drinks — then, more seriously)*
I want to say something before the evening gets away from us. I have sat in many rooms with many men arguing about many things. I have never been part of anything quite like what happened today. What we signed this afternoon is not merely a trade agreement. It is a declaration — a declaration that these colonies are one people, with one set of interests, and one response to what has been done to Boston.
*(To the room)*
I am — and I do not say this lightly — proud of this company.
---
**SHERMAN:**
*(Dry, measured — he appreciates the sentiment but doesn't go in for speeches)*
Well said, Mr. Adams. Though I'd remind you that pride is one of the seven deadlies, and we have enough trouble with Parliament already.
*(A slight smile)*
Connecticut is satisfied with the work. We came here with one purpose — to find a united response to the Coercive Acts — and we have found it.
---
**DICKINSON:**
*(More reflective — he has been the voice of moderation throughout the Congress and he carries that weight)*
I want to mark this evening carefully. What we have agreed to is significant. But let us be clear about what it is and what it is not. It is not a declaration of independence. It is not a declaration of war. It is a firm, disciplined, lawful response to specific grievances — an appeal to the economic self-interest of the British merchant class, who we hope will pressure Parliament to reconsider.
*(Looking around)*
We have not burned our bridges. We have said: this is our answer, and we hope it is heard. I believe it will be.
---
**GADSDEN:**
*(Can't quite contain himself)*
John. With respect. I admire your optimism. I do not share it. But I signed the Association, and I stand by it. South Carolina stands by it.
*(To Adams)*
What I want to talk about tonight is what this actually cost us. Because I think the people of these colonies — the ones who didn't sit in this room for six weeks — need to understand that this was not easy. And it was not free.
---
**ADAMS:**
*(Nodding)*
Then let's talk about it. Mr. Washington — you've been quieter than usual this evening. What's on your mind?
---
**WASHINGTON:**
*(After a pause)*
I've been thinking about what I'm going home to tell my neighbors.
---
## ACT II — THE COST OF UNITY
### *(In character — approx. 15 minutes)*
**ADAMS:**
Tell us.
---
**WASHINGTON:**
Virginia planters — myself included — have built our lives around a particular arrangement. We grow tobacco. We sell it to British factors. We use the credit they extend to buy British goods. Cloth, hardware, furniture, tools. Everything a plantation requires.
The Association says we stop importing British goods on December the first. And we stop exporting — tobacco, rice, indigo — by September of next year if our grievances are not redressed.
*(Quietly)*
I have looked at my accounts. I know what that means. Many of my neighbors are already in debt to British merchants. Cutting off trade does not make those debts go away. It makes them harder to service.
I signed anyway. Because what Parliament has done to Massachusetts cannot be allowed to stand — and because, frankly, the dependency I have just described is itself a kind of trap. Perhaps this forces us to find a way out of it.
---
**HENRY:**
*(With feeling)*
George puts it more calmly than I would. I'll say it plain: we are asking every merchant, every planter, every housewife in twelve colonies to give up things they use every day — things they depend on — as an act of political solidarity with a city most of them have never visited.
That is an extraordinary thing to ask. And I believe they will do it. I believe it because I have traveled this country, and I have spoken to its people, and I know something about them: when they understand that their liberty is at stake, they will sacrifice for it.
*(A beat)*
We are not different peoples with different fates. I said it in this Congress and I will say it again: the distinctions between Virginians and New Englanders and South Carolinians are no more. We are Americans. And Americans do not abandon each other.
---
**GADSDEN:**
*(Standing)*
I want to say something about sacrifice, since we're on the subject. And I want to say it plainly, because I think it needs to be said.
South Carolina grows rice. Our economy — the economy that paid for my education, that built my house, that sends ships out of Charleston Harbor — runs on enslaved labor. Every man in this room knows that. And every man in this room knows that the Association includes a provision banning the importation of enslaved people into these colonies.
*(Looking around)*
I supported that provision. I voted for it. And I want you to understand what that means coming from a South Carolina delegate. It means we in the South are being asked to look at an institution that our entire economic order depends upon — and to say, at least in this particular way, that it must be limited.
*(His voice shifts — more personal)*
I am not going to stand here and tell you I have resolved every question in my own mind about that institution. I have not. But I will tell you this: you cannot stand in this Congress and argue that the rights of Englishmen are sacred — that no man may be governed without his consent, taxed without his voice, punished without trial — and then pretend that argument stops at the color line. You cannot. And I think most of us know it.
---
**HENRY:**
*(Quietly — this is clearly something he has thought about deeply)*
Mr. Gadsden has said something I have tried to say myself, and said it better.
I own slaves. I say that without any comfort. I have written — in private correspondence, which I suppose will outlast me — that I cannot justify it. That it is repugnant to humanity and destructive to liberty. That I lament it.
*(A long pause)*
And yet I continue. Because the inconvenience of changing the entire structure of my life and my farm has proven, to my shame, greater than my principles. I tell you this not to invite your scorn — though perhaps I deserve it — but because I think this Congress has done something today that I have not yet been able to do myself. We have taken one small step toward acknowledging that this contradiction cannot survive forever.
The ban on importation will not free a single soul. But it is a crack in the wall. And I believe — I have to believe — that what we built today will eventually bring that wall down entirely, fulfilling the words that Thomas Jefferson wrote just two months ago: "The abolition of domestic slavery is the great object of desire of these colonies."
*(He sits)*
---
**SHERMAN:**
*(After a respectful silence)*
In Connecticut, we have been moving toward restricting slavery for some time. I will not pretend that makes New England morally superior — we profited from the trade for generations and we know it. But I will say this: what Mr. Henry has just said will matter. Not today, perhaps. But it will matter.
The Association is imperfect. Every agreement among twelve different colonies is going to be imperfect. But the fact that we could agree — on trade, on non-exportation, and on this — tells me something important. It tells me that when these colonies must act as one, they can.
---
**DICKINSON:**
*(To the room)*
What I find most remarkable — and I say this as someone who has been skeptical of the more radical voices in this Congress — is that we did this without a standing government. Without a king. Without a supreme court or a permanent legislature. Fifty-six men from twelve colonies, sitting in a borrowed hall, agreed to bind themselves and their neighbors to a common course of action — and made it stick.
*(Quietly)*
Whatever comes next, I think that deserves a moment of recognition.
---
**ADAMS:**
*(To the visitor delegates)*
Gentlemen — you have heard from us. But you were there today as well. You put your names to this document. I want to know: what does it mean to you? What did you give up? And what do you believe it will accomplish?
---
## VISITOR DELEGATE SEGMENT
### *[VISITOR CUES — approx. 8 minutes]*
*Adams calls on visitor delegates warmly, by name and colony. Give each 30–60 seconds. After each speaks, a main character may respond briefly.*
**ADAMS:** *(Example call)*
The chair recognizes Mr. *(name)* of *(colony)*. Sir — what does tonight mean to you?
*Suggested brief responses:*
**ADAMS** *(to an enthusiastic visitor):*
"That is exactly the spirit that brought us here. Write to your neighbors. They need to hear that."
**ADAMS** *(to a cautious visitor):*
"Your caution is fair. I only ask: if not this, then what? What is the alternative?"
**HENRY** *(to any visitor):*
"You give me hope, sir. Or you give me something to argue with — both of which I find useful."
**GADSDEN** *(to a visitor from a southern colony):*
"You and I both know what we gave up today. And here we are. That means something."
**WASHINGTON** *(to any visitor):*
"The question I keep coming back to is simple: will it hold? Will our neighbors keep the agreement when the cost becomes real? What do you think?"
**DICKINSON** *(to a cautious or moderate visitor):*
"I find your hesitation reasonable. I share some of it. But look at what we built today in spite of our hesitations. That is the argument for staying the course."
**SHERMAN** *(to any visitor):*
"Connecticut thanks you for your service to this Congress. Now go home and explain it to someone who wasn't here."
---
## ACT III — WHAT COMES NEXT
### *(In character — approx. 3 minutes)*
**ADAMS:**
*(Setting down his glass — more serious now)*
I want to end the evening on an honest note. We have agreed to the Association. We believe in it. But we should say plainly what we are hoping for and what we fear.
What we are hoping for: that the British merchant class — which will feel this boycott in their ledgers — pressures Parliament to repeal the Coercive Acts. That the King and his ministers look at twelve united colonies and decide that the cost of this fight is higher than the benefit. That we get a peaceful resolution.
What we fear: that they don't.
*(Looking around)*
If they don't — if this Congress reconvenes next May and the port of Boston is still closed and the army is still in Massachusetts — then we will be in a different situation entirely. And I think every man who signed that document today knows it.
---
**WASHINGTON:**
*(Standing — he is about to leave)*
I am going home to Virginia. I am going to tell my neighbors what we agreed to and ask them to honor it. And I am going to spend the winter thinking about what comes next.
*(To the room)*
Whatever it is — I hope to find you all on the same side of it.
*(He raises his glass one last time, then sets it down and exits — or steps back)*
---
**HENRY:**
*(Watching Washington go)*
That man is going to matter more than any of us know yet.
*(A quiet beat — then, to the room)*
Get some sleep, gentlemen. We may need it.
---
## CLOSING FRAME
### *(Adams steps briefly out of character — approx. 2 minutes)*
**ADAMS/MODERATOR:**
Thank you.
The Continental Association proved remarkably effective. Colonists across all twelve colonies organized committees to enforce it — monitoring merchants, publishing the names of violators, and building the local networks of self-governance that would become essential in the years ahead.
Parliament did not repeal the Coercive Acts. When this Congress reconvened in May of 1775, the shots at Lexington and Concord had already been fired. The question of boycotts gave way to the question of war.
The provision banning the importation of enslaved people was observed — but it did not survive independence. When the Constitution was drafted in 1787, the slave trade was protected for another twenty years, and the deeper contradiction that Patrick Henry named that evening went unresolved for nearly another century, and at a cost of six hundred thousand lives.
But on this October evening in 1774, something genuinely remarkable happened. Men from twelve colonies, with twelve different economies, twelve different cultures, and twelve different sets of interests, agreed on something. They looked at what had been done to Boston and they said: not to us. Not to any of us. Not without a fight.
The men you met tonight were not saints. They were complicated, flawed, sometimes hypocritical human beings — and they built something extraordinary anyway.
Thank you for being part of the First Continental Congress.
---
## DIRECTOR'S NOTES
**Adams as host:** He is energized and proud tonight — this is his kind of victory. But he is also honest about what comes next, and that honesty keeps him from being triumphalist. Let him be warm, a little sharp, and genuinely curious about what his colleagues are thinking.
**The Gadsden-Henry sequence on slavery:** This is the emotional heart of the program. Gadsden goes first — he is making a political argument about sacrifice and contradiction. Henry follows with something more personal — an act of public self-examination that is historically documented and genuinely moving. Give both speeches room to breathe. The silence after Henry sits should be honored, not rushed.
**Washington's exit:** His departure near the end — raising his glass and leaving — should feel significant. He is the most famous person in the room, and he says the least. That is the point.
**Dickinson:** He is the voice of measured optimism throughout. He is not a radical, and he never pretends to be. But his observation — that fifty-six men built something binding without any formal authority to do so — is the program's intellectual thesis. Make sure it lands.
**Sherman:** Dry, steady, a little wry. He is the ballast of the program. Use him to pace the scenes and to punctuate emotional moments with something practical.
**The slavery discussion:** Do not soften it. The whole point is that these men named a contradiction they could not resolve. The closing frame does this job historically — noting that Congress could not ban the importation of slaves for 20 years as a compromise in the Constitution, though by 1807, South Carolina was the only state still legally open to the transatlantic slave trade — but the performance should let the contradiction sit uncomfortably. That discomfort is honest and important.
**If a visitor raises the slavery contradiction directly:** Any character may engage it. Washington should be quiet and thoughtful. Henry should acknowledge it without flinching. Gadsden can note that South Carolina's economy made it especially painful. Sherman can note that New England's hands are not clean either.
## Visitor Cards:
[Richard Henry Lee](card1.html)
[Joseph Galloway](card2.html)
[John Jay](card3.html)
[Stephen Hopkins](card4.html)
[Caesar Rodney](card5.html)
[Thomas Mifflin](card6.html)
[Isaac Low](card7.html)