“Whereas the Parliament of Great Britain, have, of late, under taken to give and grant away our Money without our Knowledge or Consent, and in order to compel us to Servile Submission, to the above Measures, have proceeded to block up the Harbour of Boston…” so begins a remarkable local document, the Non-Importation Agreement, signed by 111 Lenox men 250 years ago.
A mere seven years after its incorporation, the Town of Lenox sent five delegates to the Berkshire Congress held in Stockbridge. On July 14, 1774, the delegates brought back to Lenox a covenant in which they promised to neither sell, consume, nor import goods from Great Britain. By signing the agreement, each man declared himself to be one step closer to independence from the Crown.
Lenox was making good on its earlier promise to support Boston from its “remote wilderness Corner of the Earth,” written by the local Committee of Correspondence. The committee was formed in early 1773, after receiving a copy of the Boston Pamphlet, crafted by Samuel Adams as its primary author, which established the need for such local committees to communicate when colonists rights were infringed.
To commemorate the 250th anniversary of its creation, Local History Librarian Amy Lafave shared the history of this remarkable agreement and its signers, from the first stirrings of dissent to the aftermath of revolt on Saturday, July 13, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. The document, recently conserved with funding from the Town of Lenox’s Community Preservation Fund and handsomely framed with a grant from Adams Community Bank to the Lenox Library Association, was unveiled for public viewing.
Following the unveiling presentation, an outdoor Samuel Adams Brewery beer tasting event was held in the Library’s Reading Park, with live music, family entertainment, and food from the Olde Heritage Tavern, Shire Donuts, and and our very own Lenox Fire Department.
Couldn’t make the presentation? The slideshow has been adapted for viewing on our YouTube channel.