The Coming of the Revolution, 1773-1776

By Albert E. Van Dusen

Deteriorating relations between England and the American colonies noticeably worsened in the 1763-1773 decade, with serious dissension arising over the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts, and the Tea Act. The Boston Tea Party in 1773, a dramatic defiance of British authority by the radicals in Boston, led directly to the passage by Parliament in 1774 of the Coercive or Intolerable Acts which gave England almost total control of the government and trade of Massachusetts. Connecticut's leaders felt deep sympathy for Massachusetts, a feeling strengthened by the British closing of the port of Boston, where many Connecticut merchants regularly traded.

Numerous Connecticut towns, such as Farmington and Norwich, established committees of correspondence and passed resolutions denouncing British actions. In October 1774 Mansfield passed the "Mansfield Declaration of Independence," a vigorous affirmation of the need to retain the natural and constitutional rights of the colonists but falling far short of a true declaration of independence. The assembly enacted stringent anti-Tory laws, and ardent Loyalists such as the Reverend Samuel Peters (1735-1826) of Hebron were harassed and persecuted, causing some, including Peters, to flee to areas under the control of British troops.

For several decades the eastern part of Connecticut had been poorer and more radical than western Connecticut. By late 1774, however, many western towns such as Norfolk, Stratford, and Greenwich had passed resolutions supporting the American cause. Known Loyalists in towns like Newtown and Ridgefield found themselves under intense surveillance by Whigs from nearby towns.

When fighting erupted at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, some 3,600 Connecticut militiamen rushed to the Boston area. A special session of the General Assembly, convening on April 26, enacted an embargo on food exports and ordered one-fourth of the militia to be ready for active militia service. Further preparedness measures were passed at the regular May session. That same month many Connecticut men, including Benedict Arnold (1740/41-1801), participated in the seizure of Fort Ticonderoga to secure some much-needed cannon. In June Connecticut soldiers fought well under Israel Putnam (1717/18-1790) at the bloody battle of Bunker Hill.

In mid-June the assembly adopted a resolution authorizing Connecticut's delegates to the Continental Congress "to propose to that respectable body, to declare the United American Colonies Free and Independent States, absolved from all allegiance to the King of Great Britain." The Declaration of Independence was signed by four Connecticut leaders--Samuel Huntington (1731-1796), Roger Sherman (1721-1793), William Williams (1730/31-1811), and Oliver Wolcott, Sr., (1726-1797).

For Further Reading

Zeichner, Oscar. Connecticut's Years of Controversy, 1750-1776. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1949.

Roth, David M. and Meyer, Freeman. From Revolution to Constitution, Connecticut 1763-1818. Chester, Connecticut, 1975. See especially pp. 1-41.

* Entry under revision.