-
On this day 250 years ago in Boston schoolteacher James Lovell wrote to his good friend Josiah Quincy, Jr, who was on a not-too-ssecret mission to London that: I imagine I may by this Time congratulate you upon a general Change in the Prejudices of the People of England with Regard to us Americans and…
-
On this day 250 years ago, the New-York Journal republished the “Political Observations” initially published in a Philadelphia newspaper on November 14, 1774. The anonymous article praised the recently completed Continental Congress as the most “august, and . . . equitable Legislative body [that ]ever existed” but provoked a strong reaction with its bold and…
-
On this day 250 years ago in North Carolina At a meeting of the Freeholders in the Court-house at Wilmington for the purpose of Choosing a Committee for said town to carry more effectually into Execution the resolves of the late congress held at Philadelphia, the following names were proposed & universally assented to —…
-
On this day 250 years ago at the City Hall in New York City, a meeting of the freeholders and freemen of the city elected 60 men to be a Committee of Inspection (also referred to as the “Committee of Sixty” or the “Committee of Observation”). The Committee was charged with enforcing the boycott of…
-
On this day 250 years ago in Boston, Dr. Joseph Warren wrote to his good friend Josiah Quincy II in London: America hath in store her Bruti and Caesii… patriots and heroes, who will form a band of brothers, men who will have… courage and swords, courage that shall inflame their ardent bosoms till their…
-
On this day 250 years ago, itinerant Methodist preacher William Duke organized the first Methodist society in Alexandria, Virginia, which would become today’s Trinity United Methodist Church. Teenage British immigrant John Littlejohn was a founding member of the congregation and would himself become a Methodist minister. The Methodists at this time were strongly antislavery, and…
-
On this day 250 years ago at Mount Vernon, Virginia, George Washington wrote to Rev. Townshend Dade, Jr., minister of the Fairfax Parish, and a fellow member with Washington of the Fairfax Committee enforcing Virginia’s boycott of British imports: As it is necessary that the Free holders of this County should be convened, in order…
-
On this day 250 years ago in New York City “THE COMMITTEE OF MECHANICKS OF NEW-YORK” met with the five “DELEGATES WHO REPRESENTED THIS CITY AT THE GENERAL CONGRESS” and presented the following address: We, being actuated by a real regard for the interest and prosperity of our injured and oppressed country, and influenced by…
-
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, 28 men led by Abraham Markoe form the Light Horse of the City of Philadelphia. Markoe was a Danish citizen born in St. Croix in the West Indies. They formed their troop to resist “the British and to carry out the non-importation resolutions of [the First Continental]…
-
On this day 250 years ago in Boston, the Committee of Ways and Means wrote to the Litchfield, Connecticut Committee of Correspondence regarding the need for additional relief for the people of Boston suffering under the British Navy’s blockade: We flatter ourselves our friends will continue to support our industrious tradesmen, many of whom are…