On This Day In The Revolution

On this day 250 years ago, the North Carolina Assembly organized its Committee of Correspondence, naming Cornelius Harnett as Chairman and John Harvey, Robert Howe, Richard Caswell, Edward Vail, John Ashe, Joseph Hewes, Samuel Johnston, and William Hooper as members. These men all ended up leading the Patriots and were the Founding Fathers of North Carolina. Sources: https://www.ncpedia.org/committees-correspondence https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/learn/deep-dives/committees-of-correspondence/

On this day 250 years ago mass meetings were held in both Charleston and New York City to make plans for blocking the sale of British East India Company tea.  A general meeting of the inhabitants of Charleston chaired by George Gabriel Powell met in the Exchange to address the tea aboard the ship London…

On this day 250 years ago the Patriots of Boston had a tea party and threw 342 chests of tea (weighing 92,000 pounds and worth approximately $1.5 million in US dollars today) into Boston Harbor. There are many misconceptions (italicized below) about the Boston Tea Party: Sources: https://www.bostonteapartyship.com/participants-in-the-boston-tea-party https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-many-myths-of-the-boston-tea-party-180983399/ https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/boston-tea-party#who-organized-the-boston-tea-party https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/samuel-adams https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/boston-teapot-tonight https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/thomas-young My apologies…

On this day 250 years ago the Association of the Sons of Liberty of New York published Resolves that declared “That whoever shall be aiding, or assisting, in the landing, or carting of [East India Company] tea, from any ship, or vessel, or shall hire any house, store-house, or cellar or any place whatsoever, to…

On this day 250 years ago thousands of Patriots from Boston and towns across Massachusetts gathered at the Old South Meeting House to discuss how to prevent British East India Company tea from being unloaded from the ships in Boston Harbor. Samuel Phillips Savage of Weston, Massachusetts, was chosen as the moderator of the meeting. Source: https://www.bostonteapartyship.com/the-final-straw

On this day 250 years ago, The Boston Gazette printed a letter from Patriots in Philadelphia dated December 4 that challenged Bostonians to prevent the importation of East India Company tea: “Our Tea Consignees have all resign’d, and you need not fear; the Tea will not be landed here or at New-York. All that we…

On this day 250 years ago, according to some sources, “the citizens of Lexington ‘had unanimously resolved against the use of Bohea tea of all sorts, Dutch or English importation,’ gathered all the tea they could in town and burned it in public.” Other sources say the bonfire occurred on December 13. Perhaps they started…

On this day 250 years ago, Samuel Adams and the Boston Committee of Correspondence issued an order to Francis Rotch, the owner of the Dartmouth and Beaver, to set sail for London without unloading the East India Company tea onboard the ships. Francis Rotch apparently wanted to comply, but Royal Governor Hutchinson refused to allow…

On this day 250 years ago the Citizens of the Town of Lexington, Massachusetts adopt a resolution pledging not to drink “tea of all sorts” and further that “We shall be ready to Sacrifice our Estates and everything dear in Life, Yea and Life itself, in support of the common Cause.” Three days later the…

On this day 250 years ago, the New York Journal published “A Constitutional Catechism” by an anonymous writer. The article explained that the tax on tea “imposed without our own consent . . . is . . . unconstitutional, cruel, and unjust.” It further argued that to block the tea, the people can invoke “the…