Primary Resources

The Declaration of Independence in American History and Memory

Courtesy of the Boston Public Library

Boston Committee Appointed to Receive Donations. “Letter signed David Jefferies, for the Committee for Donations, dated Boston, Aug. 22, 1774, addressed to Coll. Orn and Elbridge Gerry, Marblehead, in regard to a cargo of provisions sent from North Carolina for the relief of Boston.”
Boston: 1774. MS.1269. This letter directs the Marblehead merchants to receive a shipment of provisions from North Carolina and send them along to Boston.

Massachusetts Committee of Correspondence. “Letter to Benjamin Franklin, agent in London, giving an account of the proceedings of the town of Boston at the meeting held in regard to the importation and destruction of tea, December 16th, 1773 (Signed by T. Cushing, S. Adams, J. Hancock, W. Phillips).”
Boston: Dec. 21st, 1773. F.31.35 This letter details the grievances that led colonists in Boston to raid the East India Company vessel that was carrying tea.

Richard Clarke & Sons (representing the [British?] East India Company). “Letter to John Grenough, Merchant at Wellfleet, about the destruction of his tea cargo and compensation for his losses.”
Castle William, [England?]: March 30th, 1774. MS.1314.

Glover, John et.al. “Letter to the General Assembly of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay concerning the cut of wages to the soldiers of the Beverly and other Essex County regiments.”
Beverly: June 12th, 1776.

Erlanger, Steven J.“The Colonial Worker in Boston, 1775.”
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, New England Regional Office (Regional Report 75-2), 1975. Boston Public Library, Government Documents (cat. #: SUDOC/L2.71/3:75-2). Prepared by the Department of Labor, this booklet brings together a variety of information such as income, and working/living conditions about the average colonial worker in Boston in 1775. The purpose of the study was to understand some of the city’s contemporary problems by looking back at the conditions of the past. The study exemplifies the interest in social history that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s. Social historians forego the “great men” interpretation of history and instead, examine the lives of average people.

Courtesy of Boston Public Library - EVANS—Online

Essex County Declaration of Independence; Early American Imprints, 1st series, no. 14749. Anticipating that the Massachusetts Bay Colony would form a new government, officials from Middletown, Marblehead, and Salem proposed a meeting of Essex County town representatives to discuss how to fairly determine representation in a new government.



Freedom from Civil and Ecclesiastical Slavery – March 5, 1774 – offered to a numerous assembly at the Presbyterian Meeting House in Newburyport
Early American Imprints, 1st series, no. 13513. This discourse offers the common interpretation that colonists were effectively enslaved by the burdensome taxes and unfair policies of Great Britain.

Result of the Convention of Delegates Holden at Ipswich in the County of Essex, who were Deputed to take into Consideration the Constitution and Form of Government Proposed by the Convention of the State of Massachusetts Bay, 1778
Early American Imprints, 1st series, no. 43323. Representatives from Lynn, Salem, Danvers, Wenham, Manchester, Gloucester, Ipswich, Newburyport, Salisbury, Methuen, Boxford, & Topsfield met to discuss the proposed Constitution. The delegates suggested postponing any decision about the Constitution until there was peace. They also made several suggestions – such as a Bill of Rights – that should be included in the new Constitution.

The Twelve United Colonies By the Delegates in congress, to the Inhabitants of Great Britain- 1775
Early American Imprints, 1st series, no. 14532. This letter to the inhabitants of Great Britain lays out the colonies’ grievances with Great Britain.

Courtesy of Newburyport Archival Center

Haskell, Caleb. Caleb Haskell’s Diary: May 5th 1775-May 30th 1776: A Revolutionary Soldier's Record Before Boston and With Arnold's Quebec Expedition / Ed., with notes, by Lothrop Withington.
Newburyport, MA: W.H. Huse & company, 1881. N974.4512 H969ha. Caleb Haskell was a soldier from Newburyport who enlisted early in the war. His diary is a wonderful account of the daily life of a soldier in the Revolution – it is appropriate for many age levels because it is plainly written and easy to read.