Credentials of the Massachusetts Delegates to the Continental Congress, 6 February 1775

Credentials of the Massachusetts Delegates to the Continental Congress

In provincial Congress Cambridge Feby. 6th 1775

Resolved, that the Hon. John Hancock Hon. Thomas Cushing Esquires Mr. Samuel Adams, John Adams, and Robert Treat Pain Esquires appointed by the last provincial Congress “to represent this Colony on the 10th of May next or sooner if necessary, at the American Congress, to be held at Philadelphia” be and they hereby are, authorized and impowered “with the Delegates from the other American Colonies” to Adjourn from time to time and place to place as shall be judged necessary; and to continue in being as Delegates for this Colony, untill the Thirty first day of December next ensuing and no longer.1

A true Copy of Record

Benjamin Lincoln Secretary

P. S. enclosed is a Letter received last night from Mr. Higginson of Sept. 15. which I recommend to the Consideration of the heads of Departments2

John Adams

PCC, (M-332, Misc. Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 8.)

1. These men were chosen on 5 Dec. 1774 (Mass. Provincial Congress, Jours. description begins William Lincoln, ed., The Journals of Each Provincial Congress of Massachusetts in 1774 and 1775, and of the Committee of Safety, Boston, 1838. description ends , p. 57). On 10 Feb. 1775, the Congress resolved to pay each delegate £56 for past service and £100 for his next stint in the Continental Congress (same, p. 95–96).

2. In the hand of JA, written on the verso. The reference is probably to Stephen Higginson, but the letter has not been found, nor has the year of JA’s note been determined.

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Source Project: Adams Papers
Title: Credentials of the Massachusetts Delegates to the Continental Congress, 6 February 1775
Authors: Adams, John
Lincoln, Benjamin
Massachusetts Provincial Congress
Date: 6 February 1775

Reference

Cite as: “Credentials of the Massachusetts Delegates to the Continental Congress, 6 February 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-02-02-0075. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 2, December 1773 – April 1775, ed. Robert J. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977, p. 391.]