250 and Counting

Category: Suffolk Resolves

  • August 16: John Adams Gets Extralegal

    Cover art for August 16, 1775: The house where the Suffolk Resolves were adopted. Photo taken in 1930. The house has since been reclaimed as an historic site.

    Just a couple of days ago we told you about the efforts on the part of the Continental Congress to get around its own rules in order to provide Washington’s army with the materials they needed to maintain the Siege of Boston.

    This time around, John Adams takes steps to do what he needs to do without running afoul of the Intolerable Acts.

    It’s like the legal equivalent of the obnoxious game your siblings played with you: “I’m not touching you…I’m not touching you…”

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  • 250 and Counting: January 31, 1775

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    Cover art for January 31, 1775: portrait of John Rowe

    John Rowe was one of those guys who always seemed to be nearby when something happened, but he also manged to let it be known that he was nowhere nearby when that thing happened. For instance, he was the guy who owned the tea that got dumped into Boston Harbor, but he was “sick” that day and couldn’t have possibly participated in the event.

    The Suffolk Resolves was a document written to formally reject the Massachusetts Government Act, but it was so well-crafted that other colonies were able to use it as a model for their Resolves. And Rowe was around to hear what King George III had to say about that document, but his opinion isn’t as clear as you might think.