Committees of Correspondence
• In November 1772,
Samuel Adams began
organizing a group of
letter writers
“Committees of
Correspondence” to
spread news
throughout the colonies
about British threats
• King George III declared the
“colonies must either
submit or triumph.”
• Parliament passed laws to
punish Massachusetts
• British navy would
blockade Boston harbor
until the ruined tea is paid
for
• A military governor would
rule Massachusetts
• British soldiers would be
housed and fed by colonists
Colonial Reaction to Intolerable Acts
• When the Boston harbor
was closed colonists
throughout the colonies
closed their shops in
sympathy
• Flags flew at half mast
• Donations of food and
money were sent to
Boston
• Virginia’s legislature
proposed a day of fasting
and prayer for the people
of Boston
• Passed by the British
Parliament to create a British
government in Canada.
• Quebec would be ruled by a
governor with no elected
legislature.
• Quebec territory was
expanded to include most of
the land between the thirteen
colonies and the Mississippi
River
• The Colonists saw this as a
threat to their self
government
• In September 1774
delegates from all the
colonies except Georgia
met in Philadelphia
• Patrick Henry urged the
delegates to consider
their selves as
Americans and not
from individual
colonies
First Continental Congress II
• Delegates disagreed on
what the British could do to
the colonies but all
disagreed with the
Intolerable Acts
• Congress recommended
every county, city and town
form committees to enforce
boycotts on British goods
• If all else failed the colonies
would resist in force
• Congress would meet again
the following May if Britain
did not change its ways