Revolutionary War

"Give me liberty or give me death!" Spoken by Patrick Henry to the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775, these words became the rallying cry of the American Revolution. In April of 1775, Paul Revere rode from Charlestown to Lexington to alert Revolutionary leaders that the British were marching toward Concord, where the first shots of the revolution were subsequently fired. The Second Continental Congress convened during the following month to establish a Continental Army, electing George Washington as Commander-in-Chief. In June 1775, the first major conflict of the Revolution occurred with the Battle of Bunker Hill, resulting in British victory— albeit with a high number of casualties. Weeks later, in a final attempt to avoid war, the Olive Branch Petition was drafted and sent to King George III, who refused to hear it. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee proposed a resolution for independence, and after drawn-out debates and revisions, the Second Continental Congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, with Thomas Jefferson noting that the document was “intended to be an expression of the American mind.” Momentous battles occurred over the next few years. The Siege of Yorktown took place in 1781, during which British forces led by General Charles Cornwallis were crucially defeated. Support from France, both military and financial, played a vital role in American victory. The war officially ended in 1783 with the signature of the Treaty of Paris, which recognized American independence and established boundaries for the new nation.

Intaglio print showing the surrender of British commander Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown

French map showing
"the troubles of America"

Address of the Provincial Congress to the inhabitants of Great Britain describing hostilities and the outbreak of war on April 19th

Recommendation from the Massachusetts Committee of Safety that fortifications be erected on Bunker Hill in Charlestown

List of clothing needed by
the Continental Army

Letter from Benjamin Franklin and John Adams warning that eleven British ships of war were bound for North America

Payments from the
Massachusetts House of Representatives to soldiers for the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill

Letter from John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, sending
a copy of the newly agreed upon Declaration of Independence from Philadelphia

Letter to the treasurer of Massachusetts from the town of Sandwich regarding the "Quaker tax"

Address to General Washington from the Massachusetts Congress, describing their approval of his new position as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army and apologizing for the lack of experience of the soldiers from Massachusetts

Letter from Williamstown, Massachusetts pledging their support for the Revolution

Paul Revere's agreement to engrave currency plates

Proclamation by the Continental Congress authorizing commanders of private ships or vessels of war to capture British vessels and cargo

Petition from the town of Sturbridge to build an inoculation hospital there, along with rules and regulations for physicians serving these institutions

Letter from Jonathan Trumbull to Major General Artemas Ward, requesting his assistance in procuring the release of Colonel Ethan Allen and 18 other prisoners at Halifax

List of prisoners in the Boston Gaol February 1777

Provincial Congress broadside about General Thomas Gage's unsuitability to serve as Massachusetts governor, with letter from Lancaster on reverse

Captain Abraham Peirce’s muster roll, April 19, 1775, Waltham

Post-Revolution

Curated by: Colette Pollauf
With Assistance From: Yolande Bennett & Elizabeth O'Connell

Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Revolutionary War

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