Found 54 collections related to United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783

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

Abraham Yates, Jr. (1724-1796) was an American lawyer, politician, and pamphleteer. He held numerous elected offices and political appointments throughout his life including sheriff of Albany city and county from 1754 to 1759, chairman of the Albany Committee of Correspondence from 1774 to 1776, member of the New York Provincial Congress from 1775 to 1777 and its chairman in 1776 and 1777, New York state senator from 1777 to 1790, delegate for New York to the Congress of the Confederation in 1787 and 1788, and mayor of Albany from 1790 to 1796. Like his nephew, jurist Robert Yates, he was an active revolutionary patriot and Anti-Federalist. As pamphleteers they shared the pen-name, The Rough Hewer. Collection, dated 1754-1825, consists of correspondence, writings, speeches, notes, estate papers, and printed matter pertaining to the activities of Abraham Yates as a political figure in New York State, his legal practice and private financial matters, and his family. Correspondence, dated 1754-1825, contains incoming and outgoing letters and drafts of letters. Writings, notes, and speeches contain essays he wrote on the United States Constitution, notes on proceedings in Congress, speeches to the delegates to Congress in 1786, The Rough Hewer manuscript, and notes for histories of New York and Albany. Also included are papers relating to the Manor of Rensselaerwyck and the Albany Committee of Correspondence, land and family records, photograph of a painting of Yates, and other items such as broadsides and a legal treatise by Thomas Wentworth printed in London in 1663. less

Silas Deane (1737-1789) was an American lawyer and merchant, member of the Continental Congress from Connecticut, 1774-1776, and Congressional agent and diplomat in France, 1776-1778. Recalled in 1778 under controversial circumstances, Deane returned to Europe in 1780 as a private citizen and died in 1789 en route to America. Silas Deane letters, dated 1767-1785, are addressed to his stepchildren Sarah (Sally) Webb and Samuel Blachley Webb, and friends Thomas Mumford and Thomas Cushing, New England merchants and politicians. Letters to Sally in Boston, 1767-1769, mention her mother's illness and offer advice for Sally's education and self-improvement. His 1778 letter to Thomas Cushing in Boston asks him to assist Sally, now the widow of John Simpson, a Loyalist. Letters written at Philadelphia to Thomas Mumford in Connecticut, 1774-1775, tell of Congressional business and colonial disputes, his participation in the Secret Committee to obtain support from Europe, and the need to develop an American naval force. Deane's letter of July 16, 1785 at London to Samuel Blachley Webb gives a careful study of American commercial prospects and Great Britain's rising manufacturing economy. A letter dated March 7, 1779 addressing "my Dear Col[onel]," and referring to an exchange, may be addressed to Samuel Blachley Webb, at that time an American army colonel and prisoner of war. less

Manuscript meeting minutes, 1775 August 3-September 2, for the Committee of Brookhaven, Manor of St. George and Patentship of Moriches. The Committee was established as a local committee of observation during the Revolutionary era by the Town of Brookhaven, Long Island, New York at the town meeting of June 8, 1775. Pursuant to that meeting the Committee organized at Coram on June 27. Months later it was superseded by a new committee of safety holding its first meeting on April 16, 1776. Minutes of the Committee of Brookhaven, Manor of St. George and Patentship of Moriches (8 pages bound in 1 volume), are for meetings held 1775 August 3 and 23, and September 2 and 21, all at Coram. Matters discussed include quorums for emergency action, the procurement of gunpowder and lead by Selah Strong and Samuel Thompson, reimbursements for losses incurred by patriots, the raising and funding of militia, and dealing with disorderly and disloyal conduct. Reference is also made to difficulties encountered by an earlier committee. Modern transcripts of the minutes of the 1775 and 1776 committees are included in the collection. less