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Road to Revolution: 1763-1776
A letter from Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and others requesting a town hall meeting to consider the Tea Act, 1773.

A letter from Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and others requesting a town hall meeting to consider the Tea Act, 1773.

Transcription:

Gentlemen

We the Subscribers ^Freeholders^ in the Town of Boston being justly alarmed at the Reports that the East India Company in London are about Shipping a Cargoe [[object Object]] or Cargoes of Tea into this [[object Object]] & the other Colonies [[object Object]] Esteeming it a Political Plan of the British Administration whereby we have Reason to fear not only that if Trade upon which we Depend for our Subsistence is threatened to be totally Destroyd [[object Object]], but what is much more than anything in Life to be Dreaded, the Tribute which is Laid upon the Importation of that Article will be fixed & established and our Liberties which we have been long Struggling for, will be Lost to us & our Posterity—Wherefore we Desire you would Immediately call a Meeting of the Freeholders & Inhabitants of the Town, that their Sense of the Matter may be taken & such ^steps^ be [[object Object]] as to their Safety & well being shall ascertain

We are with great Regard your Respectfull [[object Object]] fellow Citizens
Sam Adams
Benja [[object Object]]
Edward Shorter
Jos Henderson

To—
The Selectmen of the Town of Boston

[[object Object]]

Paul Revere
Jno. Pulling
Henry [[object Object]]
James Horton Londy[[object Object]]
John Giill
Tho: Frost
Benja: Kent

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Citation Information
“Letter to Selectmen requesting town meeting to consider Tea Act,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/b747b0d7ab8bd370f301e3715e2b9dd6.
Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.
Courtesy of Boston Public Library via Internet Archive.

Tips for Students

For this source, consider:

  • the author's point of view
  • the author's purpose
  • historical context
  • audience

Item 9 of 14 in the Primary Source Set Road to Revolution: 1763-1776

Previous ItemNext Item
The Proclamation Act of 1763 (“The King’s Proclamation”), from a collection of British legislative acts.
The text of the 1765 Stamp Act, from a pamphlet printed in 1895.
A journal from the Congress of American Colonies in 1765, gathered in response to the Stamp Act.
An illustration of a Stamp Act protest in 1765.
A “No Stamp Act” teapot, circa 1766-1770.
A British text justifying taxation, 1766.
An illustration of the Boston Massacre, 1770.
A mid-nineteenth century illustration of the Boston Massacre by Washington Irving.
A letter from Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and others requesting a town hall meeting to consider the Tea Act, 1773.
A Committee of Correspondence letter to Benjamin Franklin in London, December 21, 1775.
The minutes from a meeting of the Committees of Correspondence in Massachusetts regarding British occupation, February 25, 1775.
Four illustrations depicting the battle of Lexington Green, 1775.
A deposition of a colonial militiaman from the battle of Lexington and Concord, April 25, 1775.
A sermon preached on the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1776.

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