The
committees of correspondence were bodies organized by the local governments of the
Thirteen ColoniesThe Thirteen Colonies were part of what became known as British America, a name that was used by Great Britain until the Treaty of Paris recognized the independence of the original thirteen United States of America in 1783...
before the
American RevolutionThe American Revolution is the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America at first rejected the governance of the Parliament of Great Britain, and later the British monarchy itself, to become the sovereign United States of...
for the purposes of coordinating written communication outside of the colony. These served an important role in the Revolution, by disseminating the colonial interpretation of
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
actions between the colonies and to foreign governments. The committees of correspondence rallied opposition on common causes and established plans for
collective actionCollective action is the pursuit of a goal or set of goals by more than one person. It is a term which has formulations and theories in many areas of the social sciences.-In sociology:...
, and so the group of committees was the beginning of what later became a formal political union among the colonies.
As news during this period was typically spread in hand-written letters to be carried by couriers on horseback or aboard ships, the committees were responsible for ensuring that this news accurately reflected the views of their parent governmental body on a particular issue and was dispatched to the proper groups. Many correspondents were also members of the colonial legislative assemblies, and were active in the secret
Sons of LibertyThe Sons of Liberty was a secret organization of American patriots which originated in the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolution. British authorities and their supporters, known as Loyalists, considered the Sons of Liberty as seditious rebels, referring to them as "Sons of Violence" and...
organizations.
History
The earliest committees of correspondence were formed temporarily to address a particular problem. Once a resolution was achieved, they were disbanded. The first formal committee was established in
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
in 1764 to rally opposition to the
Currency ActThe Currency Act of 1764 is an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which prohibited the American colonies from issuing paper currency of any form. Additionally, Britain had coined almost no silver or copper between 1760 and 1816 and discouraged any American attempts to do so...
and unpopular reforms imposed on the customs service.
During the
Stamp ActThe Stamp Act of 1765 was a tax imposed by the British Parliament on the colonies of British America. The act required that many printed materials in the colonies carry a tax stamp. These printed materials were legal documents, magazines, newspapers and practically all forms of paper used...
Crisis the following year,
New YorkThe Province of New York resulted from the capture of the Dutch Republic colony of Provincie Nieuw-Nederland in 1664 by the Kingdom of England, and included all of the present U.S. state of New York. The province was renamed for James, Duke of York, brother to Charles II of England immediately...
formed a committee to urge common resistance among its neighbors to the new taxes. The
Province of Massachusetts BayThe Province of Massachusetts Bay was a crown colony chartered October 7, 1691 in British America by William and Mary, the joint monarchs of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland...
correspondents responded by urging other colonies to send delegates to the
Stamp Act CongressThe Stamp Act Congress was a meeting in the building that would become Federal Hall in New York City on October 19, 1765 consisting of delegates from 9 of the 13 colonies that discussed and acted upon the recently passed Stamp Act....
that fall.
The
Gaspee AffairThe Gaspée Affair was a significant event in the lead-up to the American Revolution. HMS Gaspée, a British revenue schooner that had been enforcing unpopular trade regulations, ran aground in shallow water on June 9, 1772, near what is now known as Gaspee Point in the city of Warwick, Rhode...
in June 1772 prompted the colonies to form committees of correspondence.
Massachusetts
In Massachusetts, in November 1772,
Samuel AdamsSamuel Adams was a statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As a politician in colonial Massachusetts, Adams was a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and was one of the architects of the principles of American republicanism...
and Dr.
Joseph WarrenDr. Joseph Warren was an American doctor and soldier, remembered for playing a leading role in American Patriot organizations in Boston and for his death as a volunteer private soldier while also serving as chief executive of the revolutionary Massachusetts government.-Life and career:Warren was...
formed a committee in response to the
Gaspée AffairThe Gaspée Affair was a significant event in the lead-up to the American Revolution. HMS Gaspée, a British revenue schooner that had been enforcing unpopular trade regulations, ran aground in shallow water on June 9, 1772, near what is now known as Gaspee Point in the city of Warwick, Rhode...
and in relation to the recent British decision to have the salaries of the royal governor and judges be paid by the Crown rather than the colonial assembly, which removed the colony of its means of controlling public officials. In the following months, more than 100 other committees were formed in the towns and villages of Massachusetts. The Massachusetts committee had its headquarters in Boston and under the leadership of Adams became a model for other radical groups. The meeting when establishing the committee gave it the task of stating "the rights of the colonists, and of this province in particular, as men, as Christians, and as subjects; to communicate and publish the same to the several towns in this province and to the world as the sense of this town".
Virginia
In March 1773,
Dabney CarrDabney Carr was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and brother-in-law of Thomas Jefferson.Carr was born on October 26, 1743 to John and Barbara Carr at Bear Castle, a large farm in Louisa County, Virginia. He studied law at The College of William & Mary at the same time as his friend,...
proposed the formation of a permanent Committee of Correspondence before the
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents. The geography and climate of the state are shaped by the Blue...
House of BurgessesThe Virginia House of Burgesses was the elected lower house in the legislative assembly in the New World established in the Colony of Virginia in 1619...
. Virginia's own committee was formed on March 12, 1773 and members consisted of
Peyton RandolphPeyton Randolph was a planter and public official from the Colony of Virginia. He served as speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses, chairman of the Virginia Conventions, and President of the Continental Congress.Randolph was born in Virginia to a prominent family...
, Robert Carter Nicholas,
Richard BlandRichard Bland was an American planter and statesman from Virginia. He served for many terms in the House of Burgesses, and was a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1774 and 1775.-Family and early life:...
,
Richard Henry LeeRichard Henry Lee was an American statesman from Virginia best known for the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain. His famous resolution of June 1776 led to the United States Declaration of Independence, which Lee signed...
,
Benjamin HarrisonBenjamin Harrison V was an American planter and revolutionary leader from Charles City County, Virginia. He earned his higher education at the College of William and Mary, and he was perhaps the first figure in the Harrison family to gain national attention...
,
Edmund PendletonEdmund Pendleton was a Virginia politician, lawyer and judge, active in the American Revolutionary War. -Early years:...
,
Patrick HenryPatrick Henry served as the first post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779. A prominent figure in the American Revolution, Henry is known and remembered for his "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" speech, and as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
,
Dudley DiggesSir Dudley Digges , of Chilham Castle, Kent , was a Member of Parliament, elected to the Parliament of 1614 and that of 1621, and also a "Virginia adventurer," an investor who ventured his capital in the Virginia Company of London...
,
Dabney CarrDabney Carr was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and brother-in-law of Thomas Jefferson.Carr was born on October 26, 1743 to John and Barbara Carr at Bear Castle, a large farm in Louisa County, Virginia. He studied law at The College of William & Mary at the same time as his friend,...
,
Archibald CaryArchibald Cary was a public figure from the colony of Virginia.-Life:Cary was a member of the House of Burgesses from 1756 to 1776...
, and
Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States , the principal author of the Declaration of Independence , and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States...
.
Pennsylvania
Among the last to form a committee of correspondence, Pennsylvania did so at a meeting in Philadelphia on May 20, 1774. In a compromise between the more radical and more conservative factions of political activists the committee was formed by combining the lists each proposed. That committee of nineteen diversified and grew to forty-three, then to sixty-six and finally to two different groups of one hundred between May 1774 and its dissolution in September 1776. One hundred sixty men participated in one or more of the committees, but only four were regularly elected to all of them: Thomas Barclay, John Cox, Jr.,
John DickinsonJohn Dickinson was an American lawyer and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Wilmington, Delaware. He was a militia officer during the American Revolution, a Continental Congressman from Pennsylvania and Delaware, a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, President of...
, and
Joseph ReedJoseph Reed was a Pennsylvania lawyer, military aide, and statesman of the Revolutionary Era. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and while in Congress signed the Articles of Confederation...
..
North Carolina
By 1773 the political situation is deteriorated. There is concern about the courts. Massachusetts' young and ardent Boston patriot, Josiah Quincy, Jr. visits North Carolina staying 5 days. He spends the night of March 26, 1773 at Cornelius Harnett's home near Wilmington, North Carolina. The two discuss and draw up plans for a Committee of Correspondence. The Committee's purpose: communicate circumstances and revolutionary sentiment among the colonies. It is after this meeting that Josiah Quincy, Jr, dubs Harnett the “Samuel Adams of North Carolina.” ,
Perhaps characteristic of Committees of Correspondence members, Harnett is celebrated, distinguished, scholarly and possessed of unflinching integrity Harnett’s father [also named Cornelius Harnett] is Sheriff of Albemarle, an area covering about 11 (2009) north eastern North Carolina counties. ,
The Correspondence Committee forms the next year at Wilmington, NC, although Harnett is absent, he is made chairman of the Correspondence Committee. Harnett spends the next year in northern states carrying out correspondence committee responsibilities.
Harnett is first first known in public affairs by Opposition to the Stamp Act and related measures. He represents the borough of Wilmington in the 1770 – 1771 provincial assembly and is chairman of the body's more important committees.,
“In April of 1770, Parliament repealed all taxes except the one on tea ....As head of the Sons of Liberty, Cornelius Harnett called a meeting on June 2 of that year. The group agreed to keep strictly to a non importation agreement. They would have no dealings with merchants who imported goods from England.”
Harnett is the Revolution's master spirit throughout the Cape Fear region. He is president of the provincial council and actual Governor of North Carolina. He is “...a member of the Provincial congress at Halifax, North Carolina, in the spring of 1776... as chairman of a committee to consider the usurpations of the home government...” he informs North Carolina Continental Congress delegates to support a declaration of independence.
When the Congress creates a provisional government, Cornelius Harnett of New Hanover is made head. "This cultivated and wealthy citizen... was ... Governor Burrington's Council as early as 1730... He was a stern and devoted patriot, and was to seal his faith with his blood."
Soon afterward Sir Henry Clinton, with a British fleet, appears in Cape Fear River. Clinton honors Harnett and Robert Howe by excepting them from his offer of a general pardon to those who should return to their allegiance the Crown. When, on 22 July, the Declaration of Independence arrives at Halifax, Harnett reads it to a great concourse of citizens and soldiers, who take him on their shoulders and bear him in triumph through the town. In the autumn of the same year he assists in drafting a state constitution and bill of rights, and to his liberal spirit the citizens are indebted for the clause securing" religious liberty. Under the new constitution Harnett becomes one of the council, and in 1778, is elected to fill Governor Caswell's seat in congress. His name is to be found signed to the "articles of confederation and perpetual union."
The Price of Harnett's Leadership
Before the British surrendered to Washington, Cornelius Harnett paid the ultimate price for his leadership. He was viewed as a primary leader of the independence movement in North Carolina. In May of 1776 General Henry Clinton issued a proclamation to pardon North Carolinians who would lay down arms and submit to British law. Harnett and Robert Howe were the two exceptions from that proclamation. This made Cornelius Harnett a British outlaw. Earlier, in 1774, Samuel Adams and John Hancock had been excepted in similar fashion from the Amnesty Proclamation of General Thomas Gage in Boston. Harnett was captured by soldiers under Major James Craig, bound hand and foot, and thrown over the back of a horse like a sack of meal and paraded down the streets of Wilmington. He was imprisoned in a roofless blockhouse in Wilmington by order of Major Craig. Exposure over a period of three months to the weather weakened the 58-year-old revolutionary. Both loyalists and supporters of the revolution signed a petition which induced the British occupants of Wilmington to free Harnett. He died April 28, 1781 [his grave marker incorrectly states April 20], shortly after being freed.
Other States
By July 1773
Rhode IslandRhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
,
ConnecticutConnecticut is a state in the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and New York to the west and south ....
,
New HampshireNew Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian province of...
, and
South CarolinaSouth Carolina is a U.S. state that borders Georgia to the south and North Carolina to the north. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence from the British Crown during the American Revolution. The colony was...
had also formed committees.
With Pennsylvania’s action in May 1774 all of the colonies had such committees.
They organized common resistance to the
Tea ActThe Tea Act was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain The Tea Act was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain The Tea Act was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain (13 Geo III c. 44, long title An act to allow a drawback of the duties of customs on the exportation of tea to any of his...
and even recruited physicians who wrote drinking tea would make Americans "weak, effeminate, and valetudinarian for life."
These permanent committees performed the important planning necessary for the
First Continental CongressThe First Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from twelve of the thirteen British North American colonies that met on September 5, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution...
, which convened in September 1774. The Second Congress created its own committee of correspondence to communicate the American interpretation of events to foreign nations.
On December 17, 1774
John LambJohn Lamb may refer to:*John Lamb United States Congressman from Virginia*John Lamb , American football coach for Emporia State University...
and others in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
formed the last
New YorkThe Province of New York resulted from the capture of the Dutch Republic colony of Provincie Nieuw-Nederland in 1664 by the Kingdom of England, and included all of the present U.S. state of New York. The province was renamed for James, Duke of York, brother to Charles II of England immediately...
committee. This committee included
Isaac SearsIsaac Sears was an American merchant, sailor, and political figure who played an important role in the American Revolution....
,
Alexander McDougallAlexander McDougall was an American seaman, merchant, a Sons of Liberty leader from New York City before and during the American Revolution, and a military leader during the Revolutionary War. He served as a major general in the Continental Army, and as a delegate to the Continental Congress...
, and others.
They were brought forth in 1773 and their proposal was eagerly wanted by the other colonies. Three Hundred towns had been drawn into the network by 1774.
These committees were replaced during the revolution with
Provincial Congress"Provincial Congress" can refer to one of several extra-legal legislative bodies established in some of the Thirteen Colonies early in the American Revolution...
es.
By 1780, committees of correspondence had been formed in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
.