The Committees of Correspondence, the brainchild of Sam Adams, originated at the town level and communicated patriotic ideas directly to the Committees of other towns.
As they grew in number, it became convenient to also create Committees at the colony level so that a single Committee in each of the Thirteen Colonies could communicate directly with a single Committee in each of the other colonies. Once information was received by a colony Committee, it could then forward the information to all the town Committees in the colony.
Naturally, the colony Committees decided to send representatives to a single, continental-level Committee to speak for all of the colonies with a single voice. This became the Continental Congress, a majority of the delegates to which were from their respective Committees of Correspondence.
The Committees of Correspondence had no formal or legislative authority, so its power was limited to simply proclaiming patriot ideas to the public and to the other Committees. By efficiently communicating patriotic ideals throughout the colonies, they became enormously influential in American history, leading directly to famous events like the Boston Tea Party, the Continental Congress, and Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride. Committee members also included a who’s who of Founding Fathers, like Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, and Patrick Henry.
Applying the original network to today
Following the original Committees of Correspondence system as our guide, Committees should still originate at the town or City level.
City Committees
It all starts with a gathering of patriots, who choose from themselves at least 3 people to represent them on a newly created Committee of Correspondence.
- This can be done anywhere from someone’s living room to a large town hall.
- The greater the number of people that elect a Committee, the greater influence that Committee will tend to have.
Each Committee has two primary missions:
- Meet regularly to issue public, written proclamations describing their rights and how they are being violated
- Communicate its activities to surrounding Committees (or if they don’t yet exist, invite the people to create them)
By following these twin mandates, Committees became important voices in their community and often worked closely with other groups and community leaders in their area.
County Committees
Originally colony-level Committees naturally grew out of town-level Committees. Now, the natural progression will grow from Cities to Counties.
- When enough municipalities in a County have Committees, a County-level Committee should be elected.
- It is natural and even desirable that the best City-level Committee members are elected to the County-level Committee.
- City Committees continue to meet and operate normally, and just add the County Committee to the list of Committees they communicate directly with.
County-level Committees have the same mission as City-level Committees.
- Meet regularly to issue public, written proclamations describing their rights and how they are being violated
- Communicate its activities to the City Committees inside the same County, as well as surrounding County Committees (or if they don’t yet exist, invite those respective City Committees in that County to create them).
State Committees
When enough County Committees are created, they should consider sending delegates to a State Committee.
- The State Committee has the same mission as the City and County Committees, except they communicate with the various County Committees in the State, as well as other State Committees (and if they don’t exist, invite those states to create them).
- The best members of the County Committees would naturally ascend to the State Committee.
Continental Committee
When enough State Committees are created, the State Committees can meet to send delegates to a Continental Committee, following in the footsteps of the Founding Fathers who had created the Continental Congress from members of the local Committees of Correspondence.
The complete Committees of Correspondence network at work
Imagine a fully functioning Committees of Correspondence network exists as described above. Here are two examples of how it would kick into gear to preserve and promote liberty.
Example 1: A school board votes to approve an egregious policy that is deleterious to parental rights.
- A parent notifies the local City Committee, which issues a proclamation alerting the public to the new policy and suggesting they protest at the next school board meeting.
- The City Committee sends the proclamation to the neighboring City Committees as well as the County Committee, so word of the protest spreads to neighboring communities.
- The County Committee sends it to other County Committees, and word begins to spread outside the county. The County Committees then vote to adopt it and send it to the State Committee, creating support up and down the state.
- The State Committee forward it to other state committees and then the Continental Committee, potentially making it a national issue.
Example 2: Acme Restaurant Chain broadcasts a highly offensive, Woke commercial.
- The Continental Committee issues a proclamation announcing a seven-day protest of Acme restaurants and forwards the proclamation to State Committees.
- Each State Committee adopts it and forwards it to County Committees.
- County Committees adopt it and forward it to City Committees.
- City Committees adopt it and communicate to the residents and patriots of each city that a seven-day protest is taking place and work with local groups to facilitate the protest at local restaurant chains. The City Committees monitor news from each protest outside of each chain and send it to the County Committees, which forwards it to the State Committee, which forwards it to the other states and to the Continental Committee.
- Acme Restaurant Chain issues an apology, and the Continental Committee spreads that news down again through the Committee of Correspondence network ultimately back to the City Committees and to the people.