On This Day In The Revolution

On this day 250 years ago, the Connecticut House of Representatives elected Roger Sherman, Silas Deane and Eliphalet Dyer as Delegates to the First Continental Congress, making Connecticut the first colony to select its delegates. Sherman, Deane and Dyer would subsequently serve in the Second Continental Congress. Deane would go on to spend much of…

On this day 250 years ago in London, Parliament passed the fourth of the Intolerable Acts as punishment for the Boston Tea Party. The Quartering Act, unlike the previous three acts, was not limited to Massachusetts but instead applied to all thirteen American colonies. The Quartering Act allowed the British Army to quarter soldiers in…

On this day 250 years ago, the Royal Navy and Governor Gage closed the Port of Boston to essentially all shipping. In Philadelphia most citizens attended church services, closed shops, and lowered their flags to half-mast in sympathy with Boston. Norton, Mary Beth, Source: 1774 the Long Year of Revolution at 95. The Patriots in…

On this day 250 years ago in Baltimore, a town meeting was held at the courthouse to discuss the closure of the Port of Boston. The meeting adopted Resolutions that supported an embargo of Great Britain and also the West Indies. They also called for the formation of a Maryland congress and an intercolonial congress.…

On this day 250 years ago at Peyton Randolph’s home in Williamsburg, 25 ex-Members of the House of Burgesses write and sign a letter to the other Burgesses informing them of “the Receipt of the Letters and Resolves from Boston”, Maryland and Philadelphia and declaring That it is the Opinion of all the late House…

On this day 250 years ago, the Royal Navy positioned nine ships including the 64-gun HMS Captain, Admiral John Montagu’s flagship, in Boston Harbor to prepare for the blockade of the Port of Boston set to begin on June 1. A blockade is an act of war and I think it is fair to assert…

On this day 250 years ago in Williamsburg, the Virginia Committee of Correspondence including Thomas Jefferson, met. The Committee ordered letters to be sent to all the other colonies transmitting the declaration adopted by the “Association of Members of the Late House of Burgesses” at the meeting on the previous day. Source: https://founders.archives.gov/?q=%2227%20May%201774%22&s=1111311111&sa=&r=6&sr= Also on…

On this day 250 years ago, Royal Governor Dunmore of Virginia summoned the Burgesses, numbering nearly one hundred, to the Council chamber in the Capitol in Williamsburg. Dunmore informed the Burgesses:  I have in my hand a Paper published by Order of your House, conceived in such Terms as reflect highly upon his Majesty and…

On this day 250 years ago in Williamsburg, Virginia, Clementina Rind printed a broadside of The Call to Fasting and Prayer in Williamsburg at the request of the House of Burgesses. The date and the printer of the broadside are somewhat uncertain. Either Clementina Rind or her competitors Purdie & Dixon could have printed it,…