I. Resolutions on Saltpeter and Powder Mills, 23 February 1776

I. Resolutions on Saltpeter and Powder Mills

In Congress, February 23, 1776

Resolved,1 That it be recommended to the several Assemblies, Conventions, Councils or Committees of Safety, and Committees of Correspondence and Inspection in the United Colonies, to exert themselves in devising farther ways and means of promoting and encouraging the manufacture of Salt-petre, and of introducing that manufacture into private families.

Resolved, That it be recommended to the several Assemblies and Conventions in the United Colonies, that they immediately establish public works in each and every county in their respective Colonies, at the expence of such Colonies, for the manufacture of salt-petre, and appoint Committees of their own members immediately to set up such manufactures.

Resolved, That it be recommended to the Assemblies, Conventions, or Councils of Safety of every Colony, forthwith to erect Powder Mills in their respective Colonies, and appoint Committees to build such mills, and procure persons well skilled in the manufacture of powder, at the expence of such Colonies.

Resolved, That a Committee of this Congress,2 to consist of one member from each Colony, be appointed to consider of farther ways and means of promoting and encouraging the manufactures of Salt-petre, Sulphur and Powder in these Colonies, and to correspond with the Several Assemblies and Conventions, and Councils or Committees of Safety in the Several Colonies, that this Congress may be, from time to time, truly informed of the progress made in these manufactures in all the Colonies.3

Reprinted from (Pennsylvania Gazette, 28 Feb. 1776); Dft not found.

1. According to Richard Smith’s Diary, these resolutions were offered by JA (Burnett, ed., Letters of Members description begins Edmund C. Burnett, ed., Letters of Members of the Continental Congress, Washington, 1921–1936; 8 vols. description ends , 1:361). The objectives were briefly stated in one item of JA’s memorandum of [Feb.? 1776], which may have been a kind of strategic plan for those in the congress pressing toward independence (Diary and Autobiography description begins Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. description ends , 2:231 and notes thereto). JA apparently presented the resolves as an individual, for he was not a member of the Secret Committee, which had been entrusted with the task of acquiring saltpeter and powder (same description begins Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. description ends , 3:340–341). He had long worked through his correspondents, however, to urge greater production of these war necessities.

2. The committee chosen included Josiah Bartlett, Robert Treat Paine, Stephen Hopkins, Samuel Huntington, Lewis Morris, Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant, Charles Humphreys, George Read, William Paca, Carter Braxton, Joseph Hewes, Edward Rutledge, and Archibald Bulloch (JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford and others, eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, Washington, 1904–1937; 34 vols. description ends , 4:171). The names were also printed in the newspaper.

3. The congress not only passed these resolutions but ordered their publication (same description begins Worthington C. Ford and others, eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, Washington, 1904–1937; 34 vols. description ends ).

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Source Project: Adams Papers
Title: I. Resolutions on Saltpeter and Powder Mills, 23 February 1776
Authors: Adams, John
Continental Congress
Date: 23 February 1776

Reference

Cite as: “I. Resolutions on Saltpeter and Powder Mills, 23 February 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-04-02-0001-0002. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 4, February–August 1776, ed. Robert J. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979, pp. 4–5.]