On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail Adams in Massachusetts about the Continental Congress:
The Proceedings of the Congress, are all a profound Secret, as yet, except two Votes which were passed Yesterday, and ordered to be printed. You will see them from every Quarter. These Votes were passed in full Congress with perfect Unanimity.
The Esteem, the Affection, the Admiration, for the People of Boston and the Massachusetts, which were expressed Yesterday, And the fixed Determination that they should be supported, were enough to melt an Heart of Stone. I saw the Tears gush into the Eyes of the old, grave, pacific Quakers of Pensylvania.
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress adopted the Suffolk Resolves from Massachusetts. See my blog entry for September 9 for the text of the Suffolk Resolves. In adopting them the Congress added an unanimous resolution:
That this assembly deeply feels the suffering of their countrymen in the Massachusetts – Bay, under the operation of the late unjust, cruel, and oppressive acts of the British Parliament—that they most thoroughly approve the wisdom and fortitude, with which opposition to these wicked ministerial measures has hitherto been conducted, and they earnestly recommend to their brethren, a perseverance in the same firm and temperate conduct as expressed in the resolutions determined upon, at a meeting of the delegates for the county of Suffolk, on Tuesday, the 6th instant, trusting that the effect of the united efforts of North America in their behalf, will carry such conviction to the British nation, of the unwise, unjust, and ruinous policy of the present administration, as quickly to introduce better men and wiser measures.
The Congress also resolved unanimously that:
That contributions from all the colonies for supplying the necessities, and alleviating the distresses of our brethren at Boston, ought to be continued, in such manner, and so long as their occasions may require.
and ordered “That a copy of the above resolutions be transmitted to Boston by the president [and] That these resolutions, together with the resolutions of the County of Suffolk, be published in the newspapers.”
John Adams recorded in his diary “This was one of the happiest Days of my Life. In Congress We had generous, noble Sentiments, and manly Eloquence. This Day convinced me that America will support the Massachusetts or perish with her.”
the honorable delegates, now met in General Congress, were elegantly entertained by the gentlemen of this city. Having met at the City Tavern about 3 o’clock, they were conducted from thence to the State House by the managers of the entertainment, where they were received by a very large company composed of the clergy, such genteel strangers as happened to be in town, and a number of respectable citizens, making in the whole near 500. After dinner the following toasts were drank, accompanied by music and a discharge of cannon.
. . .
5. Perpetual union to the colonies.
6. May the colonies faithfully execute what the Congress shall wisely resolve.
7. The much injured town of Boston, and province of Massachusetts Bay.
8. May Great Britain be just, and America free.
. . .
12. May every American hand down to posterity pure and untainted liberty he has derived from his ancestors.
13. May no man enjoy freedom, who has not spirit to defend it.
14. May the persecuted genius of liberty find a lasting asylum in America.
This night 250 years, Patriots thinly disguised as “Pickwacket Indians” boarded a sloop named the Cynthia moored in the harbor of York, Massachusetts (now York, Maine). They removed around 150 pounds of tea, but instead of dumping it in the harbor, they carried it ashore and it reportedly was never seen again.
On this day 250 years ago “a number of inhabitants of that Town [of Easton, Massachusetts] assembled together and erected a Tree of Liberty ninety-six Feet high, as a Monument to be had in everlasting remembrance of a united Agreement to maintain LIBERTY AND PROPERTY.”
Source: Boston Evening Post, Sep. 26, 1774
Also on this day 250 years ago, Willard Buttrick of Concord, Massachusetts made his powder horn from the horn of a cow. A few weeks later Buttrick joined the the company of Concord Minutemen commanded by his brother Captain John Buttrick. In April 1775 Willard Buttrick carried his powder horn at the Battle of Concord Bridge, the first American victory of the Revolutionary War. You can see Willard Buttrick’s powder horn on display at the North Bridge Visitor Center of Minute Man National Historic Park today.
On this day 250 years ago in Boston, Joseph Palmer wrote to his neighbor and friend John Adams attending the Continental Congress in Philadelphia regarding the status of the rebellion in Massachusetts:
The spirit of liberty is amazingly increased, so that there is scarce a tory and hardly a neutral to be found in the country. This province seems ripe for a more popular government, if not restrained by congress, who will doubtless give all the encouragement to all that the good of the whole will admit of. Some talk of resuming our first charter, others of absolute independency. Our eye is to the congress—may wisdom direct your every step.—You will see that our government has told us, that the refusing submission to the late acts of parliament is general throughout the province; and that he should lay the same before his majesty: and since that I have received satisfaction that our friends to government are convinced they can’t carry these acts into effect; and are willing, if possible, to keep matters in a state of suspense until they hear from home. At the same time they continue to entrench and fortify the neck, professedly, and I believe really and only, for self-defence.
Palmer was born in England but was a member of the Committee of Safety and a commander in the Massachusetts militia in 1774. He would go on to fight in the Battles of Lexington, Concord, Bunker Hill and become a general in the Continental Army.
Abigail Adams also wrote her husband on this day about the unrest in Boston but included interesting anecdotes about the response to the Powder Alarm from the town of Braintree where they lived:
about 8 o clock a Sunday Evening there pass by here about 200 Men, preceeded by a horse cart, and marched down to the powder house from whence they took the powder and carried [it] into the other parish and there secreeted it. I opened the window upon there return. They pass’d without any Noise, not a word among them till they came against this house, when some of them perceiveing me, askd me if I wanted any powder. I replied not since it was in so good hands. The reason they gave for taking it, was that we had so many Tories here they dare not trust us with it. They had taken Vinton [a local Loyalist] in their Train, and upon their return they . . . calld upon him to deliver two Warrents. Upon his producing them, they put it to vote whether they should burn them and it pass’d in the affirmitive. They then made a circle and burnt them, they then call’d a vote whether they should huzza, but it being Sunday evening it passd in the negative. They call’d upon Vinton to swear that he would never be instrumental in carrying into execution any of these new atcts. They were not satisfied with his answers however they let him rest. A few Days after upon his making some foolish speaches, they assembled to the amount of 2 and [3?] hundred, swore vengance upon him unless he took a solemn oath. Accordingly, they chose a committee and sent [them] with him to Major Miller to see that he complied, and they waited his return, which proving satisfactory they disperced. This Town appear as high as you can well immagine, and if necessary would soon be in arms. Not a Tory but hides his head.
The same day in Philadelphia, John Adams was writing to his wife:
A Tory here is the most despicable Animal in the Creation. Spiders, Toads, Snakes, are their only proper Emblems. The Massachusetts Councillors, and Addressers are held in curious Esteem here, as you will see. The Spirit, the Firmness, the Prudence of our Province are vastly applauded, and We are universally acknowledged the Saviors and Defenders of American Liberty.
And also on this day five additional delegates joined the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. William Hooper and Joseph Hewes, were the first delegates to arrive from North Carolina. Henry Wisner and John Alsop from New York and George Ross from Pennsylvania also took their seats.
On this day 250 years ago, in Boston Lt. Robert MacKenzie of the British 43rd Regiment of Foot, wrote to his friend and former commander George Washington in Philadelphia. MacKenzie was from Virginia and had commanded a company in Washington’s regiment of Virginia militia during the French and Indian War, but had been commissioned in the British Army in 1761 and his regiment was in Boston under General Gage in 1774.
MacKenzie wrote to inform Washington “of the State of this unhappy Province,” and “of their fixed Aim at total Independance” and that
the rebellious and numerous Meetings of Men in Arms, their scandalous and ungenerous Attacks upon the best Characters in the Province, obliging them to save their Lives by Flight, and their repeated but feeble Threats to dispossess the Troops have furnished sufficient Reasons to Genl Gage to put the Town in a formidable State of Defence, about which we are now fully employed, and which will be shortly accomplished to their great Mortification.
On this day 250 years ago, the Town Meeting of Sudbury, Massachusetts voted “to purchase Six hundred Weight [of gunpowder] & 300 French Flynts or 500 English Flynts, [and] to purchase a Chest of Arms to the Number of 30 with Bayonets . . . .”
On this day 250 years ago Paul Revere departed Boston to ride to Philadelphia carrying copies of the Suffolk Resolves to the Continental Congress. Revere’s ride this day may have been more important for American history than his ride the following year that would be immortalized by poetry.
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, Massachusetts delegates John Adams and Sam Adams dined with Joseph Reed, who was one of the leading Patriots of Pennsylvania, albeit not a delegate in Congress. Adams recorded in his diary that Reed “says the Sentiments of People here, are growing more and more favourable every day.” Also on that day in Philadelphia, Silas Deane, one of the Delegates from Connecticut to the Continental Congress, wrote to his wife Elizabeth about his impressions of George Washington. Deane said that Washington had “an easy Soldierlike Air,” and spoke “very modestly, & in cool but determined Style & Accent.”
And on this day 250 years ago in London, William Lee wrote to his brother Richard Henry Lee, one of the delegates from Virginia in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. William Lee advised his brother to persuade Congress “to engage the Body of the people” and form “a Federal Union with all the Colonies.”
Source: Norton, Mary Beth, 1774 the Long Year of Revolution at p. 190.
[Also on that day, Charity Clarke of New York City wrote to her cousin in England in defense of American rights saying:
You cannot deprive us, the Arms that support my family shall defend it. Though this body is not clad with silken Garments, these limbs are armed with strength, the soul is fortified by Virtue, and the love of Liberty is cherished within the bosom.
Source: Norton, Mary Beth, 1774 the Long Year of Revolution at p. 223.]
On this day 250 years ago, the Suffolk County Convention meeting in Milton, Massachusetts adopted the Suffolk Resolves. These 19 resolutions were drafted by Dr. Joseph Warren and were later adopted in large part by the Continental Congress. They were the most influential of the many resolutions adopted by counties and other local governments in response to the Intolerable Acts, and served as a catalyst to the Revolution in all 13 American colonies. Here are of the key resolutions:
That it is an indispensable Duty which we owe to GOD, our Country, Ourselves and Poste- rity, by all lawful Ways and Means in our Power, to maintain, defend and preserve those civil and religious Rights and Liberties for which many of our Fathers fought — bled — and died; and to hand them down entire to future Generations.
That the late Acts of the British Parliament for blocking up the Harbour of Boston, and for altering the established Form of Government in this Colony; and for screening the most flagitious Violators of the Laws of the Province from a legal Trial, are gross Infractions o f those Rights to which we are justly entitled by the Laws of Na- ture, the British Constitution, and the Charter of the Province.
That no Obedience is due from this Pro- vince to either or any Part of the Acts abovemen- tioned; but that they be rejected as the Attempts of a wicked Administration to enslave America.
That so long as the Justices of our Superior Courts of Judicature, Court of Assize, and General Goal Delivery, and Inferior Courts of Common Pleas in this County, are appointed, or hold their Places by any other Tenure than that which the Charter and the Laws of the Province direct; they must be considered as under undue Influence, and are therefore unconstitutional Officers, and as such no Regard ought to be paid to them by the People of this County.
That if the Justices of the Superior Court of Judicature Court of Assize, &c Justices of the Court of Common Pleas, or of the General Sessions of the Peace, shall sit and act during their present dis- qualified State this County will support and bear harmless all Sheriffs and their Deputies, Consta- bles, Jurors and other Officers, who shall refuse to carry into Execution the Orders of said Courts: And as far as is possible to prevent the Inconve- niencies that must attend the Suspension of the Courts of Justice, we do earnestly recommend it to all Creditors to exercise all reasonable and ge- nerous Forbearance to their Debtors, and to all Debtors to discharge their just Debts with all possible Speed, and if any Disputes concerning Debts or Trespasses shou’d arise, which cannot be setled by the Parties, we recommend it to them to submit all such Causes to Arbitration; and if the Parties or either of them shall refuse so to do, they ought to be considered as co-operating with the Enemies of this Country.
That it be recommended to the Collectors of Taxes, Constables and all other Officers who have publick Monies in their Hands, to retain the same, and not to make any Payment thereof to the Pro- vince or County Treasurers, untill the Civil Go- vernment of the Province is placed upon a consti- tutional Foundation, or untill it shall otherwise be ordered by the proposed Provincial Congress.
That the Persons who have accepted Seats at the Council Board by Virtue of a Mandamus from the King, in Conformity to the late Act of the British Parliament, entitled, “An Act for regu- lating the Government of the Massachusetts-Bay,” have acted in direct Violation of the Duty they owe to their Country, and have thereb y given great and just Offence to this People. Therefore, Resolved. That this County do recommend it to all Persons who have so highly offended by accepting said Department, and have not already publickly resigned their Seats at the Council Board, to make publick Resignations of their Places at said Board, on or before the TWENTIETH Day of this Instant September; and that all Persons neglecting so to do shall from and after said Day be considered by this County as obstinate and in- corrigible Enemies to this Colony.
That the Fortifications begun and now car- rying on upon Boston Neck are justly alarming to this County, and give us Reason to apprehend some hostile Intention against that Town, more especially as the Commander in Chief has in a very extraordinary Manner removed the Powder from the Magazine at Charlestown, and has also forbidden the Keeper of the Magazine at Boston to deliver out to the Owners the Powder which they had lodged in said Magazine.
That the late Act of Parliament for esta- blishing the Roman Catholic Religion, and the French Laws in that extensive Country now call- ed Canada, is dangerous in an extreme Degree to the Protestant Religion, and to the civil Rights and Liberties of all America; and therefore as Men and Protestant Christians we are indispensi- bly obliged to take all proper Measures for our Security.
That whereas our Enemies have flattered themselves that they shall make an easy Prey of this numerous, brave and hardy People, from an Apprehension that they are unacquainted with military Discipline, We therefore for the Honor, Defence and Security of this County and Province advise it has been recommended to take away all Commissions from the Officers of the Militia, that those who now hold Commissions or such other Persons be elected in each Town as Officers in the Militia as shall be judged of sufficient Ca- pacity for that Purpose, and who have evidenced themselves the inflexible Friends to the Rights of the People, and that the Inhabitants of those Towns and Districts who are qualified do use their utmost Diligence to acquaint themselves with the Art of War as soon as possible, and do for that Pur-pose appear under Arms at least once every Week.
That during the present hostile Appear- ances on the Part of Great-Britain, notwithstand- ing the many Insults and Oppressions which we most sensibly resent; yet nevertheless from our Affection to his Majesty which we have at all Times evidenced; we are determined to act merely upon the Defensive, so long as such Conduct may be vindicated by Reason and the Principles of Self- preservation, but no longer .
That as we understand it has been in Con- templation to apprehend sundry Persons of this County who have rendered themselves conspicu- ous in contending for the violated Rights and Li- berties of their Countrymen, we do recommend, that, shou’d such an audacious Measure be put in practice, to seize and keep in safe Custody every Servant of the present tyrannical and unconstitu- tional Government throughout the County and Province, untill the Persons so apprehended be liberated from the Hands of our Adversaries, and restored safe and uninjured to their respective Friends and Families.
On This Day In The Revolution 