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A total of about 7000 to 8000 Patriots served on "Committees of Correspondence" at the colonial and local levels comprising most of the leadership in their communities Loyalists were excluded the committees became the leaders of the American resistance to British actions and largely determined the war effort at the state and local level When the First Continental Congress decided to boycott British products the colonial and local Committees took charge examining merchant records and publishing the names of merchants who attempted to defy the boycott by importing British goods; . . . . .
Phila College Of Osteopathic Medicine