“To Mr. Daniel Brainerd and others of the Committee of East Haddam [Connecticut].
Boston, Sept. 1, 1774.
Gentlemen, -The town of East Haddam, in their letter of the 24th August, discover such a cordial sympathy for our distress, and give such a pleasing proof of their resolution to assist us, as makes us more than ever determined to support our sufferings with a philosophic fortitude. Boston is the stage on which our tyrants choose to act at present; but how soon they will choose to figure in some spot where they have a greater probability of success, time only will discover. We hope, however, to convince them, that not only Boston, but all America is designed by Heaven for an Asylum for oppressed & injured Virtue, rather than to be a theatre of sport for usurping Despots. The late Acts of Parliament are cruel and oppressive to the last degree. That for blockading our harbor is perhaps without a parallel; but we are, nevertheless, of opinion that they have operated for our advantage. Our enemies imagined, that, by exhibiting to our view some signal instances of their immediate power to distress us, we should be intimidated; that we should submit to kiss the rod, and beg them to accept of our obedience. They now see that we are neither to be persuaded nor frighted from that standard which we are most sacredly bound to protect. They have done their utmost, and it is ineffectual. In policy, we flatter ourselves they have not exceeded us: Arms are as yet untried. There was a time when some good men among us were insensible of their danger, and seemed to prefer obscurity to action; but the late manoeuvres of tyranny have roused them from their lethargy, and they now pant for the field in which the fate of our country is to be decided.
Nothing has so damped the spirits of those who aspire to be our masters, as the accounts we are daily receiving of the glorious spirit that inspires the different parts of the continent. Some have believed, or have pretended to believe, that, if the faction in Boston was quelled, the provinces would acquiesce in whatever changes Administration were pleased to make in the charter and constitution of the Massachusetts Bay. But now they see that a firm bond is formed in America, which the most powerful monarch on earth will not easily break.
You will be pleased to accept our most hearty wishes for a continuance of your friendship; and gratitude and justice oblige us to tell you, that the Colony of’ Connecticut have behaved to us like brothers, and signalized themselves in the cause of American liberty in such a manner as will redound to their honor so long as the sun and moon endure.
The generous benefaction from the town of East Haddam, so modestly mentioned in your letter, excites those emotions which the grateful hearts of their brethren here can better conceive than express. We are, gentlemen, with sincerity, your much obliged servants,
Joseph Warren, Per order of the Committee of Donations.”
Source: Boston Committee of Donations Letterbook 1774-1775, Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, Ms. N-2038 Tall p. 15. Full text appears in Richard Frothingham, Life and Times of Joseph Warren. Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1865, pp. 354-355; and in Mass. Historical Society Collections, 4th series, Vol. IV, p. 58.
Commentary: Amongst the tumultuous late summer activities – including the British fortification of Boston Neck, the Suffolk Convention, and Cambridge Powder Alarm – Joseph Warren, as a member of the Committee of Donations, found time to send an elegant and rousing thank you note to the Committee of Correspondence of East Haddam, Connecticut. Warren’s energy and personality come through in such otherwise formal correspondence, through which he cemented friendships and support for the Patriot cause. Joseph Warren was one of those individuals who are energized, and do some of their best work, during chaotic interludes that might exhaust and confound most people. At this time Warren emerged from his close friend and political mentor Samuel Adams’ shadow as a energetic, capable, inspirational, and improvisational leader.
Roused From Lethargy by the Manoeuvres of Tyranny
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