On This Day In The Revolution

On this day 250 years ago, the Massachusetts House of Representatives in General Court Assembled (more often referred to as the “Assembly” or “General Court”) adopted Articles of Impeachment against Chief Justice Peter Oliver. The Articles of Impeachment had been drafted by Assemblyman (and subsequent Signer of the Declaration of Independence and President of the…

On this day 250 years ago in Pittsburgh, Justice of the Peace Joseph Spear wrote to Chief Magistrate Arthur St. Clair of Pennsylvania that there had been “two or three musters” of about 20 Virginia militia at Redstone fort in Maryland under the command of Dr. Joseph Connolly and Capt. Michael Cresap. Although these militia…

On this day 250 years ago from South Carolina Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Southern colonies John Stuart wrote colonial Governor Josiah Martin of North Carolina of unrest on the frontier with the Creek and Cherokee Nations: I have received Letters from my deputies in the Creek and Cherokee nations, from which I am…

On this day 250 years ago in Boston, the Massachusetts General Assembly petitioned the Royal Governor to remove Peter Oliver, Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court from his post. Oliver had accepted payment from the British government to supplement the salary approved by the Massachusetts Assembly, even though his fellow justices had refused the…

On this day 250 years ago in London, John Temple wrote to his father-in-law James Bowdoin in Boston that Dr. Franklin is dismissed from his office of Post-Master in America; but it is impossible the Province will let him be a loser by it, they must fall upon some Means of raising Money for paying…

On this day 250 years ago in London, the British Cabinet began drafting what would become the Boston Port Act. This bill would order the closing of the port of Boston until the East India Company was repaid for the Destruction of the Tea. The bill would become the first of the “Intolerable Acts” Parliament…

On this day 250 years ago from London Benjamin Franklin wrote his friend and ally Joseph Galloway, Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly an optimistic assessment of the future of America after the coming war with Britain concluded: I must soon quit the scene, but you may live to see our country flourish; as it will…

On this day 250 years ago, George Washington wrote to Andrew Lewis that Lord Hillsborough, the former Secretary of State for the Colonies, had held a “malignant disposition towards Americans,” so Washington disregarded Hillsborough’s interpretation “that Provincial officers were not comprehended in that Proclamation” authorizing land grants to veterans of the French and Indian War.…

On this day 250 years ago the Pennsylvania Gazette reported that “we hear from Princeton, in New Jersey, that the officers and students of the college, have unanimously agreed to drink no more TEA.” Source: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Revolutionary_Princeton_1774_1783/2SMAEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22January+31,+1774%22&pg=PT291&printsec=frontcover

On this day 250 years ago in London, Benjamin Franklin wrote to Speaker of the Massachusetts Assembly (and future member of the Continental Congress and Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts) Thomas Cushing about Franklin’s humiliation by the Privy Council in January. Franklin explained that he was insulted for merely looking out for the interests of Massachusetts colony…