Event
Conceiving the Committee of Safety in Revolutionary America
Author: Donald F. Johnson, North Dakota State University
Comment: Brendan McConville, Boston University
This is a hybrid event. The in-person reception will begin at 4:30 PM.
This essay explores how ordinary Americans conceived of the local committees of safety that served as the backbone of the revolutionary movement in 1774 and 1775. Authorized by the First Continental Congress in late 1774 to enforce the Articles of Association, local leaders largely determined the structure and operation of these committees. As tensions mounted and especially after war broke out in April 1775, committeemen drew on a mixture of historical inspiration, long-standing traditions of corporate governance, and contemporary legal culture to outstrip their Congressional mandate and assert de-facto revolutionary governance in communities across British North America.
Join the conversation at the Pauline Maier Early American History Seminar. Seminars bring together a diverse group of scholars and interested members of the public to workshop a pre-circulated paper. Learn more.
Purchasing the $25 seminar subscription gives you advance access to the seminar papers of all seven seminar series for the current academic year. Subscribe at www.masshist.org/research/seminars. Subscribers for the current year may login to view currently available essays.
Hybrid Event
The in-person reception starts at 4:30 PM and the seminar will begin at 5:00 PM.
Masks are optional for this event.
The virtual seminar begins at 5:00 PM and will be hosted on the video conference platform, Zoom. Registrants will receive a confirmation message with attendance information.
By registering you are agreeing to abide by the MHS Visitor Code of Conduct.
