Sam Forman's Blog, page 13

There is a Charm in the Word ‘Constitutional’

[Samuel Adams to Joseph Warren] “Philadelphia, September [24], 1774. My Dear, -Your letter of the 12th instant, directed to Mr. Cushing and others, came duly to hand. The subject of it is of the greatest importance. It is difficult, at this distance, to form a judgment, with any degree of accuracy, of what is best [...]

Future Governor William Eustis Refuses to See a Three Year Old

Date: August 26, 1778 “Bedford [Pennsylvania or Massachusetts?] 15 miles from Camp Dear Doctor [Nathaniel Ames III], When I was with you in Dedham, I expected my brother would have gone to Boston immediately on my arrival in Camp: but business so happened that he did not go, and therefore I had not the opportunity [...]

Reception of the Suffolk Resolves: Lauded to the Skies by the Inhabitants of Philadelphia

Date: [September 12-18, 1774] “Monday. This Day as usual was spent on Committees. Tuesday We dined with Mr. Smith a Merchant of this City–and on Wednesday & Thursday attended Our Business. Friday We had a grand Entertainment at the State House. Sammy Webb must describe it. About Five Hundred Gentlemen sat down at once, and [...]

Fudell All Our Noses

“Wine will make us Red as Roses & our sorrows Quite forgett come let us Fudell all our Noses and Drink our Selves Til out of Debt” Source: Flyleaf inscription and juvenile signature in Massachusetts Historical Society’s copy of: Bailey, N. (Nathan). English and Latine Exercises for School-Boys, Fifth edition, Boston: T. Fleet, for Samuel [...]

Your Particular Friend who Nobly Lost His Life in the Cause of Liberty

Hannah Storer Green to Abigail Adams             “Westfield [Massachusetts] August 18th. 1775 My Dear Friend ‘To certain Trouble we are born Hope to rejoice but sure to mourn.’ A serious truth this, which daily observation teaches, and experience convinces us of; for at the very moment that our hopes are at their height, trouble comes [...]

Not Proper to Proceed to Compleat the Business at Hand

“Roxbury August 18, 1774 Gent, A Meeting of Gentlemen from Every Town & District in the County of Suffolk, Except Weymouth, Cohasset, Needham & Chelsea was Held at Col. Doty’s in Stoughton on Tuesday 16th: Currant to Consult what Measures were Proper to be taken by the People of the County at this Most Important [...]

The Present American Representation is a Shadow and Not a Substance

“BOSTON, Aug. 15, 1774. Dear Sir, – Our public affairs have not changed their appearance since your departure. The people are in high spirits, and have the greatest confidence in the wisdom and spirit of the congress, whose decisions they seem determined to abide by. Mr. Gage sent, the day before yesterday, for the selectmen, [...]

Joseph Warren Takes On Cancer, the Emperor of All Maladies

“Boston August 29th 1774. I the Subscriber in Consideration of Popes Recipe for the Cure of Cancer promise to pay Lemuel Hayward or his Order the Sum of seven Pounds, ten Shillings lawful money in two Years from the Date and I further promise to pay to the said Lemuel Hayward the aforesaid Sum of [...]

America will be Speedily Reduced to the Most Abject Slavery Unless it is Immediately Defended by Arms

Date: April 23, 1775 “In Provincial Congress, Watertown, “Resolved, unanimously, That James Sullivan, Esquire, a Member of this Congress, be immediately despatched to the Colony of New-Hampshire, as a Delegate from this body, to deliver to the Provincial Congress there the following Letter; and further inform them of the present situation of this Colony, and [...]

Our Duty Immediately to Establish an Army with the Help of Connecticut

Date: April 23, 1775 “In Provincial Congress, Watertown, Gentlemen, – Before this letter can reach you, we doubt not you have been sufficiently certified of the late alarming resolutions of the British Parliament, wherein we see ourselves declared rebels, and all our sister Colonies in New England, in common with us, marked out for the [...]