Friday, September 29, 1775. Today, in the Continental Congress, the Journals report:
Resolved, That a Committee of three members be appointed to repair immediately to the camp at Cambridge, to confer with George Washington …728
Saturday, September 30, 1775. Today, in the Continental Congress, the Journals report:
Resolved, That … Doctr. Franklin [and two others] … be the Committee for the purpose expressed in the resolution of yesterday [to meet with George Washington] …729
Monday, October 2, 1775. Today, in the Continental Congress, the Journals report:
Instructions to the Committee …
2. That in the conference with the General, the Committee declare to him the Sense of the Congress respecting an Attack on the Ministerial Troops at Boston and on Bunkers Hill, viz. That … it will be adviseable to make the Attack upon the first favourable occasion and before the Arrival of [British] Reinforcement which the Congress apprehend may be soon expected … But that the attack should nonetheless be made … as soon as a favourable Opportunity shall offer …730
Tuesday, October 3, 1775. Today, in the Continental Congress, the Journals report:
Resolved, That General Washington may, if he thinks proper, for the encouragement of an attack on Boston, promise, in case of success, a month’s pay to the army …731
Friday, October 6, 1775. Today, in the Continental Congress, the Journals report:
Sherman. I think we must have powder …
[James] Duane. We must have powder; I would send for powder to London or anywhere. We are undone if we have not powder … 732
Sunday, October 29, 1775. Today, in a letter to his wife, John Adams articulates his love for New England:
New England has, in many respects, the advantage [over] every other colony in America, and, indeed, of every other part of the world that I know anything of … The people are purer English blood; less mixed with Scotch, Irish, Dutch, French, Danish, Swedish etc., than any-other; and descended from Englishmen, too, who left Europe in purer times than the present, and less tainted with corruption than those they left behind.733
Saturday, November 11, 1775. Today, George Washington writes the Continental Congress:
Our Powder is wasteing fast, notwithstanding the strictest care, economy, and attention is paid to it; the Long Series of wet weather we have had renders the greater part of what has been Served out to the men of no use …734
Monday, November 27, 1775. Today, Abigail Adams writes her husband, John, of her anxiety over the idea of independence:
[I]f we separate from Britain, what Code of Laws will be established? How shall we be governed so as to retain our Liberties? Can any goverment be free which is not administered by general stated Laws? Who shall frame these Laws? Who will give them force and energy? … I feel anxious for the fate of our Monarchy or Democracy or what ever is to take place … 735
John Adams has decided not to consider any plan for state or national government this year. John Adams:
[I]t would have been most natural to have made a motion that Congress appoint a Committee to prepare a Plan of Government … but I dared not make such a Motion … I knew that every one of my friends, and all those who were most zealous for assuming Government, had at that time no Idea of any other Government but a Contemptible Legislature in one assembly, with Committees for Executive Magistrates and Judges …736
Tuesday, November 28, 1775. Today, from his camp at Cambridge, George Washington writes the Continental Congress:
I am very Sorry to be necessitated to mention to you the egregious want of publick Spirit, which reigns here. Instead of pressing to be engaged in the Cause of their Country, which I vainly flattered myself would be the case, I find we are likely to be deserted …
[T]here has been Nothing wanting on my part to infuse a proper Spirit amongst the Officers that they may exert their influence with the soldiery … 737
Today, George Washington writes his aide-de-camp, Joseph Reed:
The Connecticut Troops will not be prevail’d upon to stay longer … and such a dirty, mercenary Spirit pervades the whole, that I should not be at all surprized at any disaster that may happen … Could I have foreseen what I have & am likely to experience, no consideration upon Earth should have induced me to accept this Command …
Powder is also so much wanted that nothing without it can be done …738
Wednesday, November 29, 1775. Today, in the Continental Congress, the Journals report:
Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed for the sole purpose of corresponding with our friends in Great Britain, Ireland, and other parts of the world …
The members chosen, … [Five including] Dr. [Benjamin] Franklin, Mr. [John] Jay …739
This committee will be known as the Committee of Secret Correspondence!
Saturday, December 2, 1775. Today, in the Continental Congress, the Journals report:
Resolved, That what artillery of different kinds can be spared from New York and Crown Point, be procured and forwarded to the army before Boston …740
Monday, December 4, 1775. Today, George Washington writes the Continental Congress:
The great want of powder is what the Attention of Congress Should be particularly applied to. I dare not attempt any thing Offensive, let the temptation or advantage be ever So great, as I have not more of that most essential article than will be absolutely necessary to defend our Lines Should the enemy Attempt to attack them …741
Ben Franklin:
When I was at the Camp before Boston, the Army had not 5 rounds of Powder a Man. This was kept a Secret even from our People. The World wonder’d that we so seldom fir’d a Cannon. We could not afford it.742
Saturday, December 9, 1775. Today, Ben Franklin is writing friends in Europe to inquire about foreign assistance.743 Excerpts from his letter to Charles Dumas in The Hague, Netherlands:
[W]e wish to know whether, if as it seems likely to happen, we should be obliged to break off all connection with Britain, and declare ourselves an independent people, there is any state or power in Europe, who would be willing to enter into an alliance with us …
[T]he committee of congress, appointed for the purpose of establishing and conducting a correspondence with our friends in Europe, of which committee I have the honour to be a member, have directed me to request of you, that as you are situated at the Hague, where ambassadors from all the courts reside, you would make use of the opportunity that situation affords you, of discovering, if possible, the disposition of the several courts with respect to such assistance or alliance …
We have hitherto applied to no foreign power…
[B]oth arms and ammunition are much wanted …744
Thursday, December 14, 1775. Pierre Penet and Emanuel Pliarne, two private arms merchants from France, are visiting George Washington’s camp on the Harvard campus with a proposal to sell arms and ammunition. Regrettably, they cannot, as private merchants, provide the quantity of arms and ammunition that America needs to fight a war with a major European power.745 Today, George Washington writes the Continental Congress of their arrival:
The Two french Gentlemen who will appear before you with this, brought recommendations to me from Governor Cooke of Providence, their names are, Messieurs Pennet and De Pliarne.
They propose a plan for supplying this Continent with Arms and Ammunition … I have declined entering into any engagements with them, but have prevailed with them … to lay their proposals before Congress or a Committee of Congress …746
Today, Richard Smith, a Massachusetts delegate, writes in his diary:
[American General Benedict] Arnold is near Quebec but has not Men enough to surround it & his Powder so damaged that he has only 5 Rounds apiece … Gen. Washn in great Want of Powder & most of the Connectt. Troops have left his Army.747
Friday, December 22, 1775. Today, the Continental Congress tries to prod George Washington into action. The Journals report:
Resolved, Tha
t if General Washington and his council of war should be of opinion, that a successful attack may be made on the troops in Boston, he do it in any manner he may think expedient, notwithstanding the town and the property in it may be destroyed.748
Saturday, December 23, 1775. Today, in the Continental Congress, the Journals report:
Report of the Committee [of the Continental Congress] directed to repair to Ticonderoga …
Your Committee have directed the immediate Transportation of the Cannon from St. Johns and Ticonderoga, which are not wanted for the defence of those places, and the boats on lake George are now employed in bringing over those that lay at the landing. it being impracticable to move the rest til there is enough snow to admitt of their being Carried on Slays. Mr. Knox is gone to Ticonderoga to Chuse such Cannon as will be wanted at Cambridge.749
Monday, December 25, 1775. Today, George Washington writes,
Nothing new has happened in this Quarter … except the setting in of a severe spell of cold Weather & considerable fall of Snow …
Our want of Powder is inconceivable. A daily waste & no Supply administers a gloomy prospect … 750
Thursday, December 28, 1775. While French arms dealers Penet and Pliarne were visiting George Washington, yet another Frenchman—this one a secret agent of the French government—has been meeting clandestinely with Benjamin Franklin. Today, Achard de Bonvouloir, that secret French government agent, prepares his report to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
I am going to tell you word for word … conversations I had with Mr. Franklin and 3 other good men who compose the Privy Council. I entered into their intimacy as a private individual through the channel of an honest Frenchman … He is city Librarian [for Mr. Franklin’s Library Company of Philadelphia] …
I made no offer to them … They asked whether France would aid them and at what cost … Each comes by dusk by different routes to a marked place …
1st. Their affairs are in good state and of this I am sure, having emissaries in more than one place and whom I pay for information …
They are persuaded that they cannot maintain themselves without a nation to protect them from the sea, that only two powers are in a position to help them: France and Spain …
Everyone here is a soldier. The troops are well clothed, well paid, and well commanded. They have about 50,000 men hired and a greater number of volunteers who do not wish to be paid. Judge how men of this character fight …
I know everything of the greatest secrecy that takes place … I can reveal to you all their deliberations, as I know them all, but actually they consist of the means of procuring munitions …
They have all said they are fighting to become free, that they are linked by oath and that they will cut each other up rather than yield, that they know well that they cannot maintain themselves at sea and that only France is in condition to protect their commerce without which their country cannot flourish, that they are ignorant whether … France would be willing to have for awhile exclusive trade with them to pay back the costs that their cause will occasion …
The news is that two French officers arrived at camp with proposals to make. They asked me what I thought about it. I replied I knew nothing about it…
[They asked could they] have directly from France arms and other provisions of war in exchange for produce from their country and … be given free entrance and exit through the French ports? …
I replied I do not know whether you would be given free entrance and egress in the French ports. That would mean declaring openly for you and war would follow. Perhaps they could close their eyes, that’s what you need. I repeat Gentlemen I can say nothing. I amount to nothing; I have good friends, that’s all …751
Fifty thousand men hired? Well clothed?
Saturday, December 30, 1775. Penet and Pliarne, the two private French arms merchants who visited Washington’s camp, have come to Philadelphia with an introduction from Washington. Today, in the Continental Congress, the Journals report:
A letter from general Washington, dated 14th December, being delivered by two strangers was read.
Resolved, That the same be referred to the Secret Committee who are directed to confer with the bearers, and pursue such measures as they may think proper for the interest of the United Colonies.752
Today, in Paris, French Naval Minister Antoine Sartine writes French Foreign Minister, the Comte de (i.e., the Count of) Vergennes:
I hasten to inform you that I have just renewed in Marseille the most precise orders as to forbid the loading of arms and war ammunition destined for Northern America either on English vessels or on vessels of any other nation in accordance with his Majesty’s decision which you have conveyed to me, Sir [Etc.]753
Sunday, December 31, 1775. Today, in the first battle since George Washington became commander in chief, an American army that Washington ordered into Canada754 suffers an agonizing defeat at Quebec. Colonel Benedict Arnold reports to Washington:
I have no Doubt you will soon hear of Our Misfortune on the 31. Ulto … Our loss and repulse [at Quebec] struck an Amaseing Panick into both Officers & Men, and had the Enemy improved their Advantage, our affairs here must have been Intirely ruined. It was not in my power to Prevail on the Officers to Attempt saveing Our Mortars … [T]hey fell into the hands of the Enemy.—Upwards of One Hundred Officers and Soldiers Instantly set off for Montreal, and it was with the greatest difficulty I persuade the rest to make a stand … Inclosed is a List of the killed and Wounded … and had the Genl [Montgomery] not been basely deserted by his Troops, we should doubtless have carried the Town …755
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1776
The Pennsylvania Gazette
Published by order of the
[PENNSYLVANIA] COMMITTEE OF SAFETY. The Committee [of Safety] need not remark to any intelligent and sensible man in the province the indispensable necessity there is of instantly providing ourselves with large quantities of Gun-powder—when the quarrel between the Mother Country and the Colonies is drawing to a hasty decision by arms, when the ministry threatens to overwhelm us the ensuing year with numerous mercenary soldiers brought even from the most distant and barbarous nation in Europe—at a time too when, from the wicked vigilance and industry of this ministry, every court in Europe has been solicited and prevailed on so far to aid their designs against our liberties as to refuse selling us either arms or ammunition …
Thursday, January 4, 1776. Today, George Washington responds to congressional exhortations that he attack Boston:
The resolution relative to the Troops in Boston, I beg the favour of you, Sir, to assure Congress, shall be attempted to be put in execution the first moment I see a probability of success … but if this should not happen as soon as you may expect or my wishes prompt to, I request that Congress … do me the justice to believe that circumstances & not want of inclination are the cause of delay.756
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1776
The Pennsylvania Gazette
THIS DAY IS PUBLISHED, and now selling, by ROBERT BELL, in Third-street, PRICE TWO SHILLINGS, COMMON SENSE, addressed to the Inhabitants of AMERICA, on the following interesting Subjects. I. Of the Origin and Design of Government in general. 2. Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession. 3. Thoughts on the present State of American Affairs. On the present Ability of America, with some miscellaneous Reflections.
Man knows no Master save creating HEAVEN,
Or those whom choice and common good ordain.
THOMSON.
Today, under the pseudonym “Common Sense,” Tom Paine publishes what will be the best-selling pamphlet ever written in the English language.757 Tom Paine:
In October, 1775, Dr. Franklin proposed giving me such materials as were in his hands towards completing a history of the present transactions [with the British] and seemed desirous of having the first volume out the next Spring. I had then formed the outlines of “Common Sense” and finished nearly the first part; and as I supposed the doctor’s design in g
etting out a history was to open the new year with a new system, I expected to surprise him with a production on that subject, much earlier than he thought of; and without informing him what I was doing, [I] got it ready for the press as fast as I conveniently could and sent him the first pamphlet that was printed off.758
This pamphlet will persuade the American colonies to choose independence. Three years from now, Tom Paine will recall:
I think the importance of that pamphlet was such that if it had not appeared, and at the exact time it did, the Congress would not now be sitting where they are [representing independent states]. The light with which that performance threw upon the subject gave a turn to the politics of America which enabled her to stand her ground. Independence followed in six months after it, although, before it was published, it was a dangerous doctrine to speak of …
In order to accommodate that pamphlet to every man’s purchase and to do honor to the cause, I gave up the profits I was justly entitled to … I gave permission to the printers in other parts of this State [Pennsylvania] to print it on their own account. I believe the number of copies printed and sold in America was not short of 150,000—and is the greatest sale that any performance ever had since the use of letters …759
Tom Paine’s Common Sense refocuses the American complaint with Great Britain and sets America’s sights on a new ideal. It does not protest Britain’s import/export restrictions, “external” or “internal” taxes, customs inspections, admiralty courts, land grants, settlement restrictions, or other impositions on propertied men like Adams, Hancock, and Washington. It does not argue for the well-ordered liberty of the British subject (within a hierarchy of king, lords, and commoners) or for the greater exercise of monarchical authority to curb the abuses of the British Parliament.
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