William Miller’s Affidavit
William Miller violated a colonial boycott on British tea in 1775. He confessed his “hearty sorrow” in this affidavit.
When the British Parliament passed the Tea Act in 1773, the Sons of Liberty protested with the Boston Tea Party. Parliament responded in 1774 with punitive measures colonists called the “Intolerable Acts.” The First Continental Congress, in turn, adopted the Articles of Association – a pact that included a “non-consumption agreement”: colonists would not consume tea from the British East India Company after March 1, 1775.
William Miller violated the boycott. In this affidavit, signed in Glastonbury, CT on April 3, 1775, Miller confessed to “inadvertently…drinking Bohea Tea.” Miller attested that he understood the “evil tendency of such a conduct which if persisted in will serve to disunite the people this Town, who at present seem to be united in the Common Cause of American Liberty.” Before several members of Glastonbury’s “Committee of Inspection,” Miller promised, “hereafter Strictly to adhere to the Association Agreement.”
William Miller’s affidavit is in the State Archives at the Connecticut State Library in Hartford.
Credits
William Miller’s affidavit is in the Connecticut State Archives in Hartford.