Rindge Signers of The Association Test

In September 1774 the First Continental Congress passed a resolution called the Continental Association, which was a boycott designed to place economic pressure on Britain, as well as a political tool to prompt Americans to declare their loyalties. The “test” was simply whether or not a citizen agreed to join the Association in support of the American cause, forcing colonists to take a political stand, even when uncertainties made many reluctant.

This pledge of loyalty, ahead of the Declaration of Independence, was distributed to the towns of New Hampshire along with a document from the Continental Congress recommending the disarming of persons disaffected to the cause of the colonies, or who refuse to associate in arms against the British fleets and armies. In Rindge it passed unanimously. The following 148 residents of Rindge signed the Association Test. 

In addition to the names enrolled on this pledge, there were forty-five men in the service who were not permitted to join their townsmen in signing the test.