Committees Of Correspondence 1

As noted earlier, in the years leading up to the War for Independence the 13 colonies had been highly independent from each other. There was therefore no consistent system of communication between them. But when the tensions between Britain and America first began to escalate, the Rev. Jonathan Mathew of Massachusetts proposed the use of circular letters to help unite the colonies in thinking and action. He died before his proposal could be implemented, but Samuel Adams, the “Father of the American Revolution,” made his idea a reality in 1772.

Adams believed that the British government had violated the colonists’ rights as individuals, citizens, and Christians. The conflict between the colonies and England therefore was not just political and economic, but also spiritual. Adams understood that a knowledge of their rights in each of these three areas must be known and appreciated.

To help achieve this unity of ideas and principles, Adams proposed that Committees of Correspondence be established in every colony. Each would set up communication with the others, reporting to the rest what was occurring in their state. They would also provide materials that could be shared to help educate and alert citizens in every colony to the common principles for which they were all fighting and the actions each should take.

Content Sourced From The American Story: The Beginnings by David Barton and Tim Barton.