The Boston Caucus was an informal political organization that had considerable influence in Boston in the years before and after the American Revolution. This was perhaps the first use of the word caucus to mean a meeting of members of a movement or political party to agree on a common position.

Nov 15, 2013 · On 12 May 1776, with the Continental Congress secretly debating independence, John Adams wrote to his friend James Warren about the choice of a Massachusetts governor: Dont divide. Let the Choice be unanimous, I beg. If you divide you will …

Drawing its support from the artisans, small shopkeepers, mechanics (tradesmen), and shipyard workers of Boston's North End, the Caucus was America's first political machine. (The name "caucus" may be a corruption of "caulkers," the shipyard workers who lent their meeting place to Cooke's faction.)

Jan 8, 2008 · Yesterday’s posting quoted John Adams using the word “caucus” (or “Caucas”) in his diary in 1763, the earliest recorded use of that term for a political meeting. However, there’s evidence that the word, and the custom, were much older.

the first caucus was a gathering of Federalist con-gressmen, also in the summer of 1796, which agreed to support John Adams and Thomas Pinckney.10 Wilfred E. Binkley, a capable ob-server of the presidency, indicates that both Fed-eralists and Republicans probably held informal congressional caucus meetings to select candi-

about the Caucus in 1763 and named six of its leaders. In 1788 the often unreliable historian, William Gordon, said that the Caucus had been operating fifty years before the Revolution, placing its origin in the 1720's. The arch-Tory Peter Oliver condemned the Caucus' nefarious influence and its enormous expenses for liquor in the 172o's.

1776 is celebrated in the United States as the official beginning of the nation, with the Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies from the British Empire issued on July 4.

caucus from their enemies was a "Continental" approach to political, economic and military issues. To the extent that they shared an insti-tutional base of operations, it was the Conti-nental Congress (thirty-nine of the delegates to the Federal Convention had served in Con-gress6), and this was hardly a locale which in-

The Boston Caucus was established in around 1719 by the popular physician and merchant Elisha Cooke, Jr. It quickly grew as a powerful political force in the area but its later activities are what associate it most with Samuel Adams and the run up to American Independence.

Apr 19, 2023 · Adams would again use caucass, this time as a verb, in a 12 May 1776 letter to James Warren, president of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress: Who will be your Governor, or President, Bowdoin or Winthrop, or Warren.