Database: Committees of Correspondence

Since the American Revolution happened in the dark days before there was an internet - and even before telephones - organizing colonial opposition to the British was a little tricky. I don't want to make you cry, but these clowns didn't even have dial-up. The solution was to send out riders bearing letters to inform Colonists in other areas what was going on - these became known as committees of correspondence. (Correspondence being a fancy name for letters - if you did not know this I am amazed you have even read this far. Actually, I'm amazed you even can read this far.)
Samuel Adams created one of the first Committees of Correspondence in Boston in 1772 - in particular, he wanted to keep people outside of Boston informed about town meetings, so the governor couldn't invite only his friends to meetings. That would have been less a meeting, more a dinner party.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Adams' committee worked so well that everyone started doing it. Eventually all of the colonies had their own committees, focused on presenting a united front against British-imposed taxes, and supporting boycotts of British goods.
Really, Adams should have patented the idea. He could have made a fortune.
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