A brief history of boycotts.
From government bans to customers pouring it in gutters by the gallon, Americans are saying “nyet” to Russian vodka, expressing their anger over the Kremlin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Politicians have known since the republic’s founding that folks love taking out their frustrations at the ballot box. And in a capitalist economy like ours, Americans aren’t shy about doing it with their pocketbooks, either.
In fact, American independence actually grew out of one such economic protest.
Britain shelled out big bucks (or pounds, as it were) on the French-Indian War from 1754-1763. To recoup that money, Parliament imposed the Stamp Act in 1765. Everything from playing cards to magazines to newspapers required the hated tax stamp. And get this: it had to be paid in actual British pounds, not with the colonials’ own cheaper paper money.
Taxes being every bit as popular then as they are now, the colonials weren’t too merry about sending their income back to Merry Olde England.
It led to the famous rallying cry, “Taxation without representation!” It also produced an economic boycott. Colonists suddenly found they could do without new playing cards, magazines, and newspapers. That hurt businesses’ bottom line back in Britain and King George III put the kibosh on the hated tax a year later.
When the US entered World War I in 1917, many patriotic people boycotted eating Germany’s signature dish, sauerkraut. Those who couldn’t go without the tart treat justified it by rebranding it ‘Liberty Cabbage’ for the duration.
