The Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson
By Subject
REBELLION / REFLECTIONS ON
While Mr. Girardin was in this neighborhood writing his continuation
of Burke's history, I had suggested to him a proper notice of the
establishment of the committee of correspondence here in 1773.
The
transaction took place in the session of Assembly of March, 1773.
Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Frank Lee, your father and myself,
met by agreement, one evening, about the close of the session, at the
Raleigh Tavern, to consult on the measures which the circumstances of
the times seemed to call for. We agreed, in result, that concert in
the operations of the several colonies was indispensable; and that to
produce this, some channel of correspondence between them must be
opened; that therefore, we would propose to our House the appointment
of a committee of correspondence, which should be authorized and
instructed to write to the Speakers of the House of Representatives of
the several colonies, recommending the appointment of similar
committees on their part, who, by a communication of sentiment on the
transactions threatening us all, might promote a harmony of action
salutary to all. I remember that Mr. Carr and myself, returning home
together, and conversing on the subject by the way, concurred in the
conclusion that that measure must inevitably beget the meeting of a
Congress of Deputies from all the colonies, for the purpose of uniting
all in the same principles and measures for the maintenance of our
rights. I am certain I remember also, that a similar proposition, and
nearly cotemporary, was made by Massachusetts, and that our northern
messenger passed theirs on the road.
to Dabney Carr, 19 January 1816
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