Forums for the Fourth: 1776-2006

Anne Thomason. Special to NIFI.org

The precursors of the National Issues Forums appeared during the colonial and revolutionary eras of the United States. Committees of Correspondence, the Sons of Liberty and Democratic-Republican Societies provided a public space for democratic decision-making throughout the era. Today's deliberative forums can trace their history back to these citizen-initiated efforts to free the colonists from the tyranny of British rule and establish self-rule as an essential component of American democracy.

Boston citizens initiated the Committees of Correspondence a decade before the outbreak of the American Revolution. The citizens who joined the undertaking weren't merely discussing issues; they chose to challenge the status quo of British rule. They communicated with citizens in other colonies hoping to encourage united opposition to more stringent customs requirements and the prohibition of colonial paper money by the British. In 1765, New York formed a committee to notify other colonies of their opposition activities towards the Stamp Act. After the British decision that Massachusetts's governor and judges would be required to report to the crown and not the colonial legislature, a new Committee of Correspondence in Boston formed to communicate further with other provinces and help coordinate revolutionary activities. Forbidden to meet, citizens worked outside the structure of colonial governments. Two hundred sixty towns established committees after the Boston one, and these committees communicated with each other despite their disparate interests so they served as what we might call boundary spanners today. Eventually each colonial legislature established civic organizations to ease inter-colonial correspondence, deliberate upon strategy, and unite the diverse cultures and traditions of the colonies. The Continental Congress ultimately emerged out of these civic organizations. The Congress directed the war effort and created the first American government.

The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in the fall of 1774 in reaction to increasing British oppression. Acting as an advisory council, the Congress included delegates from all the colonies except Georgia. The Congress recommended each colony form a militia, imposed economic sanctions against Britain and urged that Massachusetts form an independent government. After the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

For the next five years, the Continental Congress moved from city to city, directing the war and administering the fledgling government. As the colonies all had different needs economically, socially and politically, the Congress members negotiated the many contrasting needs and wants of the people. Though hampered by these differences, their ability to work through the issues ultimately resulted in the new Constitution of 1787 to replace the weaker Articles of Confederation. The members of Congress thus learned the value of compromise and tradeoffs.

These legislatively sanctioned committees weren't the only places citizens could participate in the building of a nation and develop the skills needed for self-rule. Democratic-republican societies in the 1790s drew upon revolutionary grass roots organizations like the Committees of Correspondence and the Sons of Liberty. These societies brought together many Americans-farmers, mechanics, professionals, politicians, and "landed elites." They organized public or at least "semi-public discussions of political matters." These organizations also wrote resolutions, kept communications going between the various cities involved, and "challenged Federalist notions of an electorate at a safe remove from their representatives." (Schoenbachler p. 239) Officials often disapproved of these groups. They were, in fact, blamed for the Whiskey Rebellion-to its detractors an example of the unruly behavior that that can happen when citizens get involved in politics.

Nonetheless, "by serving as the first media of organized popular political dissent in the new republic, the Democratic-Republican societies expanded the boundaries of political participation, helping to play out the logic of popular sovereignty." (p. 239) These citizen organizations advanced the idea that a republic requires "an independent citizenry attentive to public affairs." Historian Forrest McDonald also argues that these societies played a key role "in the politization of American life." (Presidency of George Washington p. 133).

Bibliography:
Matthew Schoenbachler, Republicanism in the Age of Democratic Revolution: The Democratic-Republican Societies of the 1790s. Journal of the Early Republic. Vol. 18, No. 2, (Summer 1998), 237-261.
Forrest McDonald. The Presidency of George Washington (Lawrence: University of Kansas, 1974).