On this day 250 years ago Royal Governor Dunmore of Virginia wrote that he would “proceed immediately to [Pittsburgh] or the mouth of Wheeling with 250 or 350 good men as many more as can be spared in order to compel the Indians to a lasting peace.”
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On this day 250 years ago, at New Brunswick, New Jersey, “a general meeting of the Committees of the several Counties of the Province of New Jersey” was held to adopt resolutions in opposition to the Intolerable Acts, to organize aid for the people of Boston and to elect “James Kinsey, William Livingston, John DeHart, Stephen Crane, and Richard Smith . . . Delegates to represent this Province in the General Continental Congress, to be held at the City of Philadelphia, on or about the first day of September next.”
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On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Assembly selected eight men to serve as Delegates to the First Continental Congress — John Dickinson, Joseph Galloway, Thomas Mifflin, George Ross, John Morton, Edward Biddle, Samuel Rhoads, and Charles Humphreys. Unlike the delegations of most of the other colonies, which were filled with ardent Patriots, the Pennsylvania delegation was balanced between radicals and conservatives. Nevertheless all but two of these men would later hold important posts in the national and Pennsylvania governments and thus can be considered Founding Fathers.
Galloway would soon defect to the British. Although he did not join the British, as a Quaker and a pacifist, Humphreys could not support Independence and knew it would prolong the War. So Humphreys would resign from the Second Continental Congress and sit out the Revolution. -
On this day 250 years ago the First Provincial Congress met in Exeter, New Hampshire. The Provincial Congress elected John Wentworth of Somersworth as its Chairman, John Giddinge as Treasurer and John Sullivan and Nathaniel Folsom as Delegates to the First Continental Congress. The Provincial Congress also named a Committee composed of Wentworth, Meshach Weare, Josiah Bartlett, Christopher Toppan and John Pickering, Jr. to lead Patriot efforts after the Provincial Congress adjourned. Ironically, John Wentworth’s cousin who was also named John Wentworth was the Royal Governor of New Hampshire. The First Provincial Congress and Committee led by John Wentworth operated in open defiance of the orders issued by Governor John Wentworth.
Also on that same day, the Patriots of Wilmington, North Carolina led by William Hooper called for a Provincial Congress to meet on August 25, 1774.
Sources:https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/07/first-provincial-congress-c-50
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On this day 250 years ago, the Patriots of Hanover County, Virginia adopted the Hanover Resolves.
Source: https://historicalmarkerproject.com/markers/HMLTT_hanover-courthouse_Hanover-VA.html
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On this day 250 years ago, Patriots met at the Coffeehouse in New York City to prepare resolutions in response to the Boston Port Act and the Intolerable Acts. The conservative leaders in New York most of whom would end up as Loyalists, opposed a radical response and the resolutions adopted in New York did not go as far as many of the resolutions adopted in the other colonies. However New York did join the other colonies in calling for a continental congress.
Source: https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe.10602000/?st=gallery
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On this day 250 years ago “a general Meeting of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the County of Fairfax” at the courthouse in Alexandria adopted the Fairfax Resolves. These resolutions were drafted primarily by George Mason with the assistance of George Washington. The meeting was presided over by George Washington and recorded by Robert Harrison as Clerk. The meeting named Washington and Charles Broadwater as Fairfax’s delegates to the Virginia Convention scheduled for August 1 in Williamsburg. The meeting also named a Committee of 25 members including Washington, Mason, and Broadwater that became the governing body of Fairfax County during the Revolution.
The Fairfax Resolves were considered by many as the most comprehensive and cogent of the scores of resolutions that were adopted by counties and towns in all of the colonies in response to the closure of the Port of Boston and the other Intolerable Acts. They became the basis for the Virginia Convention’s instructions to its delegates to the First Continental Congress and set the agenda for the acts of the Congress.
Sources:https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%2218%20July%201774%22&s=1111311111&sa=&r=4&sr=
Also on this day in Yorktown, Virginia, the York County Resolves were adopted.
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On this day 250 years ago, the Patriots of Hanover County, Virginia adopted the Hanover Resolves.
Source: https://historicalmarkerproject.com/markers/HMLTT_hanover-courthouse_Hanover-VA.html
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On this day 250 years ago, George Mason and George Washington make final edits to the draft Fairfax Resolves at Mount Vernon. They spend the night at Mount Vernon and ride into Alexandria the next day to present the proposed Resolves to the Fairfax County meeting.
Source: https://www.loc.gov/collections/george-washington-papers/articles-and-essays/fairfax-resolves/
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On this day 250 years ago a Newton, New Jersey, the freeholders of Sussex County adopted resolutions urging the repeal of the Boston Port Bill and the other Intolerable Acts.
Source: http://www.getnj.com/historicroadsides/sussex.shtml
Also on this day, the Patriots of Surry County, Virginia adopted their Resolves against the Intolerable Acts.
On This Day In The Revolution 