How do you coordinate a rebellion across 13 colonies without phones, internet or reliable roads? This episode explores the committees of correspondence, the handwritten letters, couriers and tavern meetings that linked roughly 7,000 to 8,000 Patriot leaders and served as the organizational backbone of the American Revolution. We look at how the committees curated a Patriot narrative and pushed homespun cloth and economic boycotts.

We trace the early ad hoc committees of the Currency Act and Stamp Act crises, Samuel Adams’ permanent Boston committee of 1772, and the key role of Virginia’s committee with Jefferson and Patrick Henry. We also cover Josiah Quincy Jr.’s journey to North Carolina, enforcement in Delaware, divisions in New York, and Pennsylvania’s late start.

• How taverns, couriers and public readings formed an analog information network
• Why a change in who paid the royal governor’s salary sparked a permanent committee
• Why Virginia joining the network bridged the divide between North and South
• The split between New York’s Committee of 51 and the Committee of Mechanics
• How the committees laid the groundwork for the First Continental Congress