Found 2 collections related to United%20States%20--%20History%20--%20Revolution,%201775-1783%20--%20Causes

The Boston Committee of Correspondence was formed at the Boston Town Meeting of November 2, 1772 in response to the British government’s decision to pay the governor and Superior Court judges of Massachusetts with Crown stipends, thereby making them dependent on the Crown rather than the people in assembly. With the participation of Samuel Adams and others, the Committee prepared statements of the colonists’ rights and the violation of those rights by Great Britain, and sent them to other Massachusetts towns in pamphlet form, asking for their support and advice. In response to what became known as the Boston Pamphlet, similar committees formed in towns across Massachusetts and in other American colonies, helping to create a network of colonial communication ultimately leading to independence from Great Britain. The Boston Committee of Correspondence records, dated 1772-1784, document the Committee’s initiatives in colonial political action in Massachusetts, from the writing of the Boston Pamphlet in November 1772 through the early months of war with Great Britain in 1775, as well as the Committee's contact with other colonies. The records also document its continued work as the Committee of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety, 1777-1784, largely concerned with investigating suspected enemies of the American cause. less