Historians on the significance of the Committees
Don’t take our word for it – read what historians said about the Committees of Correspondence:
“Not even a forward-thinking radical like Adams could have envisioned the spread of this committee concept which became the bedrock of a continental-wide movement against Parliament.”
American Battlefield Trust
“It was very easy to establish and form a local Committee of Correspondence. Any localized group of Patriots could form a committee and join the vast network of Committees of Correspondence and serve as the Patriot voice for their respective region.”
Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum
“More than a century and a half ago John Adams urged that historians study the interaction between the Boston Committee of Correspondence and the committees of other towns. ‘What an engine!’ he exclaimed. Adams maintained that until this bulky correspondence had been explored, ‘the history of the United States can never be written.’”
Revolutionary Politics in Massachusetts
“The formation of similar bodies in other towns and colonies was urged, and a flood of political writings poured out of Boston. This output proved immensely successful, and the continent-long chain of committees that sprang into being through it endured as an invaluable asset to the American cause.“
American Heritage
HIstory of the American Revolution
“Joseph Galloway, writing as ‘Freeman’, challenged the committees as…‘the beginning of Republicanism.’“
The Invention of a Public Machine for Revolutionary Sentiment
William B. Warner
“When the First Continental Congress was held in September 1774, it represented the logical evolution of the intercolonial communication that had begun with the Committees of Correspondence.”
History Channel
“In late 1773, the Boston Committee of Correspondence was charged with managing the ‘tea crisis’ and was the driving force of the December 16, 1773 Boston Tea Party.”
Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum
“The committees played a major role in promoting colonial unity and in summoning in September 1774 the First Continental Congress, a majority of whose delegates were committee members.”
Encyclopedia Brittanica
“The Boston Committee of Correspondence and the Sons of Liberty worked in conjunction with one another; the majority, if not all, of the members of the Boston Committee of Correspondence were also members of the furtive Sons of Liberty.”
Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum
“[It] is a kind of kit, or ‘plug-in’, that allowed any town or county or assembly to institute its own committee of correspondence and link its activity…”
The Invention of a Public Machine for Revolutionary Sentiment
William B. Warner
“The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere probably would not have occurred if not for the Boston Committee of Correspondence of which Revere was the member. The Midnight Ride was certainly a courageous act of patriotism but it was more than just a spare of the moment. It was carefully planned. In fact the most famous Boston silversmith rode to Lexington just a week prior with a different assignment given to him by the Boston Correspondence Committee.”
Paul Revere Heritage Project
“As a result every one would recognize the necessity of untiring watchfulness. Every town would be able to perceive and resist constitutional affronts as Boston already did.”
Revolutionary Politics in Massachusetts
Richard D. Brown
“Throughout the mid 18th century, committees of correspondence were formed throughout the colonies in order to establish a system of communication with other colony governments, educate citizens on their rights, and rally support for the American cause in the face of oppressive British policies. They helped create unity both within colonies and across the continent and were essential in the formation of the First Continental Congress.“
American Battlefield Trust
“The Maryland Committee of Correspondence was influential in establishing the First Continental Congress.”
Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum
“Towns, counties, and colonies from Nova Scotia to Georgia had their own committees….Men on these committees wrote to each other to express ideas, to confirm mutual assistance, and to debate and coordinate resistance to British imperial policy.”
George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate
“The three main goals of the committees were to establish a system of communication…,educate the townspeople on their political rights, and obviously, rally support…against British rule.”