Boston, 17 December 1770. RC ( MeHi ). Printed: Franklin, Papers The Papers of Benjamin Franklin , ed. Leonard W. Labaree, William B. Willcox (from vol. 15), and others, New Haven, 1959– . , 17:301–304. Prepared by a “Committee of Correspondence” appointed 7 November composed of Thomas Cushing, John Hancock, Stephen Hall, Samuel Adams, and JA . Although “Boston” was used in the date line, the...
2The Massachusetts Delegates to George Washington, 22 June 1775 (Adams Papers)
In Complyance with your Request We have considered of what you proposed to us, and are obliged to give you our Sentiments, very briefly, and in great Haste. In general, Sir, there will be three Committees, either of a Congress, or of an House of Representatives, which are and will be composed of our best Men; Such, whose Judgment and Integrity, may be most rely’d on; the Committee on the State...
15 June 1770. MS not found. Printed: Mass., House Jour. Journals of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts [1715–], Boston, reprinted by the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1919–. (For the years for which reprints are not yet available, the original printings are cited, by year and session.) , 1770–1771, p. 38. Prepared by a committee appointed and reporting the same day, composed of...
28 September 1770. MS not found. Prepared by a committee appointed 27 September, composed of Thomas Cushing, Samuel Adams, Jedediah Foster, Thomas Denny, JA , John Hancock, George Godfrey, James Warren, and Humphrey Hobson Mass., House Jour. Journals of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts [1715–], Boston, reprinted by the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1919–. (For the years for...
5Message to Lieutenant Governor Hutchinson on the Command of Castle William, 20 November 1770 (Adams Papers)
MS not found. Printed: Mass., House Jour. Journals of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts [1715–], Boston, reprinted by the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1919–. (For the years for which reprints are not yet available, the original printings are cited, by year and session.) , 1770–1771, p. 171–172. Prepared by the committee on the state of the province, appointed 16 October (see...
6From John Adams to the Freeholders and Other Inhabitants of the Towns and Districts of Massachusetts Bay, 10 December … (Adams Papers)
Cambridge,10 December 1774. printed : Mass. Provincial Congress, Jours. William Lincoln, ed., The Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Massachusetts in 1774 and 1775, and of the Committee of Safety , Boston, 1838. , p. 69–72. Prepared by a committee appointed 12 October, originally composed of fifteen members: John Hancock, Joseph Hawley, Joseph Warren, Samuel Dexter, Artemas Ward, James...
In pursuance of the directions of the Town of Boston we have the honor to transmit you a Pamphlet containing some observations upon diverse letters and memorials wrote by Governor Bernard and others wherein the Town has been injuriously aspersed and its Inhabitants grosly misrepresented. Your unwearied endeavors to serve the interest of this Province and the American Colonies in general has...
8Report of the Committee on Proposals for Boston’s Conduct under the Port Act., 18 May 1774 (Adams Papers)
18 May 1774. Report of the Committee on Proposals for Boston’s conduct under the Port Act. No Dft found. printed : Boston Record Commissioners, 18th Report City of Boston, Record Commissioners, Reports , Boston, 1876–1909; 39 vols. , p. 175. Prepared by a committee appointed 13 May composed of Samuel Adams, John Rowe, Thomas Boylston, William Phillips, Joseph Warren, John Adams, Josiah Quincy,...
31 July 1770. MS , fair copy, in the hand of Samuel Adams ( MB ). Printed: Mass., House Jour. Journals of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts [1715–], Boston, reprinted by the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1919–. (For the years for which reprints are not yet available, the original printings are cited, by year and session.) , 1770–1771, p. 63–71. Prepared by a committee appointed...
10Report Relative to Assuming Civil Government, 10 December 1774 (Adams Papers)
Cambridge,10 December 1774. printed : Mass. Provincial Congress, Jours. William Lincoln, ed., The Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Massachusetts in 1774 and 1775, and of the Committee of Safety , Boston, 1838. , p. 73–74. This, the second report on this date of the Committee on the State of the Province, was framed in the form of three resolutions: that the adjournment on 29 October had...
11Boston Town Committee Report on a Society to Promote the Arts, Agriculture, Manufactures, and Commerce, 29 September … (Adams Papers)
Boston, 29 September 1770. MS not found. At the Boston Town Meeting of 20 Sept., JA was named to a committee including John Hancock, Thomas Cushing, Samuel Adams, Thomas Boylston, Joseph Warren, and William Dennie to consider the “Proposal of a number of Inhabitants for forming a Society in order to promote Arts, Agriculture, Manufactures and Commerce in this Province.” The town meeting...
12Committee Report on the State of the Province, 16 November 1770 (Adams Papers)
16 November 1770. MS not found. Printed: Mass., House Jour. Journals of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts [1715–], Boston, reprinted by the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1919–. (For the years for which reprints are not yet available, the original printings are cited, by year and session.) , 1770–1771, p. 164. Prepared by a committee appointed 16 October composed of Thomas...
13Thomas Cushing, Francis Dana, and Samuel Breck to Alexander Hamilton and Egbert Benson, 10 September 1786 (Hamilton Papers)
Understanding on our arrival in this City last Fryday evening, that you had gone on for the Convention at Annapolis the week past, we take the Liberty to acquaint you and beg you to communicate to the Convention if it should be opened before we arrive there, that we shall set off from this Place to morrow to join them, as Commissioners from the State of Massachusetts, which we hope to do in...
14Resolution of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Appointing Benjamin Franklin as Agent, 24 October 1770 (Franklin Papers)
DS : Massachusetts Historical Society This resolution marks the beginning of Franklin’s most troubled agency. The root of trouble was the inability of the two chambers of the General Court, the Council and the House of Representatives, to agree on a single agent. For years, in consequence, each had its own, William Bollan for the Council and Dennys DeBerdt for the House, and the latter’s...
15To Thomas Jefferson from Thomas Cushing, 25 October 1785 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr. Nathll. Barrett, A Gentleman of a very respectable Family and of good Character will deliver Your Excellency this Letter. He goes to France upon Bussiness, which the Merchants here, confiding in his wisdom and Integrity, have committed to his Care: His Excellency Governor Bowdoin having wrote you particularly upon this Subject renders it needless for me to Enlarge. Permit me, Sir, to...
16To George Washington from Thomas Cushing, 22 February 1786 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: from Thomas Cushing, 22 Feb. 1786. GW wrote Cushing on 5 April 1786 : “I have now the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your several favors of. . . 22d of Feby.”
17To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Cushing, 26 August 1773 (Franklin Papers)
LS and ALS (copy): Library of Congress Since my last, which was of the 30th June past, I have been favoured with yours of 2d and 4 of June last, Inclosing Lord Dartmouths Letter directed to yourself as agent of the late House of Representatives in answer to the Several Petitions of the House, which Letter I shall lay before them as soon as the Court meets; I hope soon to be favoured with your...
18To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Cushing, 20 April 1773 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Library of Congress I wrote you in my last that the Gentlemen, to whom I had communicated the papers you Sent me under Cover of your’s of the 2d December last, were of opinion that they ought to be retained on this side the water to be hereafter improved as the Exigency of our affairs may require or at least that authenticated Copies ought to be taken before they are returned: I shall...
19To John Adams from Thomas Cushing, 21 October 1778 (Adams Papers)
I embrace this Oppertunity by the Brigantine Saturn Rene Maillett Master (which I have dispatched for Nantes) to Acquaint you that your Family are well. I have lately, in Company with Mrs. Adams and a few Other Freinds, been to Visit Count D Estaing and his Fleet at Nantaskett, where we were Agreably and politely entertained. The Count has met with a series of Disappointments since his...
20To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Cushing, 14 June 1773 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Library of Congress I am now to Acknowledge the receipt of your Favors of the 9th March and the 3d. of April togather with the News Papers and the Bishop of St. Asaph’s Sermons for which I am much obliged to you. The reply to the observations made upon a Speculation signed Junias Americanus is highly approved of; The Bishop’s Sermon is also much liked as it discovers a Catholic Spirit...
21To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Cushing, 20 July 1771 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society At the desire of the Committee of the House of Representatives I now transmitt you a Copy of the Commissioners Taxes in the Towns of Dorchester, Roxbury, and Brooklyn for the years they respectively resided in those towns certified by the Assessors of the Several Towns aforementioned. I am with respect Your most humble Servant See the House Committee to BF...
22To George Washington from Thomas Cushing, 6 November 1785 (Washington Papers)
I had the Honor this day of receiving your Favor of the 26th of Octr last, by Mr Fairfax, in Answer to a Letter I wrote you the 7th of the same month relative to the Jack I received from Spain on Your Account, he has gained flesh since he came on shore and is in much better order than when I receivd him, I shall send him on, as soon as I can purchase a good mare, with Mr Fairfax & the...
23To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Cushing, 25 June 1773 (Franklin Papers)
Reprinted from Jared Sparks, ed., The Works of Benjamin Franklin … (10 vols., Boston, 1836–40), VIII , 52–3. The House of Representatives have lately had divers letters, signed Thomas Hutchinson, Andrew Oliver, &c., laid before them, attested copies of which, you have enclosed; and, after maturely considering their contents, they have voted as their sense, that the tendency and design of said...
24To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Cushing, 26 October 1781 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I cannot omit this Opportunity to Congratulate Your Excellency on the great & Glorious News we have this day received of the Surrender of General Cornwallis & his Army to the Allied Army under General Washington & the French Fleet under Count De Grass, I inclose a hand Bill giving an Account of this Important Event & hope soon to have an official Account...
25To George Washington from Thomas Cushing, 9 November 1785 (Washington Papers)
This will be handed you by Mr Fairfax, to whom I have delivered the Jack, & sincerely wish you may receive him in safety, & in good order—I have directed Mr Fairfax in general to observe the directions received from Spain, with respect to managing & feeding this animal. I have delivered him also a good Mare which I have purchased on your account, for one hundred Spanish dollars. I did not...
26To John Adams from Thomas Cushing, 3 July 1785 (Adams Papers)
This will be delivered you by The Sieur De le Tombe Consull General of France for the four New England Governments, who during his Residence here have behaved to universal Acceptance, I recommend him to your kind Attention. I embrace this opportunity to trasmit you an Authenticated Copy of an Act passed the General Court of this Commonwealth at their present Session entituled an Act for the...
27To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Cushing, 15–23 July 1772 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Yale University Library The petition from the Massachusetts House enclosed in the following letter marked another advance in the logic leading toward independence. Whitehall’s intention to pay colonial officials out of revenue drawn from America by the Townshend duties was engendering greater and greater opposition in the Bay Colony. In 1771 Hutchinson had exacerbated it by refusing to...
28To John Adams from Thomas Cushing, 9 May 1785 (Adams Papers)
The Agents appointed by the Gen l. Assembly of this State to conduct & prosecute their Claims to certain Lands lying to the Westward, controverted & disputed by the State of New York, have represented to me that in order to support this Claim they should wish to be furnished with an Authenticated Copy of the Patent of King James 1 st. to the Council of Plimouth given in 1620 & the original...
29To Benjamin Franklin from Thomas Cushing, 30 June–7 July 1773 (Franklin Papers)
LS (duplicate) and ALS :Library of Congress With the letter below Speaker Cushing enclosed another, from the two houses of the General Court to Lord Dartmouth. On June 28 the houses, as their last act of the session, appointed a drafting committee; the letter was composed the following day and dispatched the day after. Its purpose seems to have been to shake Dartmouth’s conclusion, which...
30To John Adams from Thomas Cushing, 15 July 1776 (Adams Papers)
The last Will and Testament of Mr Josiah Quincey junr has lately been left at the Probate Office. I find he appointed Francis Dana Esqr his Executor and in Case of his Death and refusal he appoints Mr. Jonathan Jackson of Newbury Port and in Case of his Death or refusal he nominates and appoints John Adams Esqr. his Executor. As Mr. Dana and Mr. Jackson have both refused to Accept the Trust,...