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“WE HAVE A GOOD CAUSE,THETHOUGHT IS ANIMATING”
15
●
(AMERICAN REVOLUTION—PRELUDE.)
Circular letter from the
Boston-area Committees of Correspondence.
Letterpress broadside, 12 x 7
1
/
4
inches,
with manuscript signature of William Cooper as clerk; partial separation along one fold,
thin rust stain in lower part of text; addressed on verso “For the Town Clerk of Boxford.”
(MRS)
Boston: [Edes & Gill], 25 February 1775
[2,500/3,500]
As the British rushed to fortify Boston and prepare for incursions into the countryside, they needed
supplies in vast quantities.The Committees of Correspondence from Boston, Charlestown, Cambridge,
Medford, Lexington, Watertown, Brookline, and Concord noted the British need for “timber, spars,
pickets, tentpoles, canvas, bricks, iron, waggons, carts, carriages, intrenching tools” and resolved that:“No
teams be suffered to load in, or after loading to pass through . . . if their load, in whole or part, consists
of any of the abovementioned articles.”The order exhorts the people of Massachusetts to stop these
shipments by any means: “We have a good cause, the thought is animating, take courage, and rely
upon a kind providence for protection and success in your resistance, in case it becomes necessary by
your being attacked.” Evans 14193; Ford 1794. None known at auction since 1973.