Samuel Adams and the Committees of Correspondence

Samuel Adams: Role and traits

• Master propagandist and organizer; zealous, tenacious, and courageous; deeply sensitive to infractions of colonial rights; appealed to his \"trained mob\".
• Chief contribution: organized local committees of correspondence in Massachusetts; first one in Boston during $1772$; about $80$ towns quickly established similar bodies.

Local committees of correspondence (Massachusetts)

• Function: spread the spirit of resistance by interchanging letters; keep alive opposition to British policy.

Intercolonial committees of correspondence

• Next logical step; Virginia led in $1773$ by creating a standing committee of the House of Burgesses.
• Soon, every colony had a central committee to exchange ideas and information with other colonies.
• These intercolonial groups were supremely significant in stimulating and disseminating sentiment in favor of united action.
• They evolved directly into the first American congresses.

Significance and perception

• The committees provided a mechanism for intercolonial communication and coordination that underpinned unified colonial action.
• Some critics described them as \"the foulest, subtlest, and most venomous serpent ever issued from the egg of sedition.\"