Committee of Secret Correspondence

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The Committee of Secret Correspondence was a Revolutionary War–era body of the Continental Congress responsible for conducting covert diplomacy and intelligence-gathering on behalf of the American colonies.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Committee of Secret Correspondence canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (82)

Predicate Object
instanceOf committee
intelligence agency
organ of the Continental Congress
appliesToJurisdiction Thirteen Colonies
country United States (pre-independence American colonies)
dissolved 1777-04-17
hasMainTask covert diplomacy
foreign correspondence
intelligence gathering
maintaining secrecy of foreign negotiations
securing foreign aid
hasPolicy keeping proceedings secret from the full Congress
headquartersLocation Philadelphia
historicalPeriod American Revolutionary War
inception 1775-11-29
languageOfWorkOrName English
location Philadelphia
member Abraham Clark
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Harrison V
Button Gwinnett
Caesar Rodney
Carter Braxton
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Charles Thomson
Edward Rutledge
Edward Telfair
Elbridge Gerry
Francis Hopkinson
Francis Lewis
George Clymer
George Read
George Ross
George Taylor
George Walton
George Wythe
James Lovell
James Smith
James Wilson
John Adams
John Dickinson
John Hancock
John Hart
John Jay
John Morton
John Penn
John Witherspoon
Joseph Hewes
Lewis Morris
Lyman Hall
Matthew Thornton
Oliver Wolcott
linked to: Oliver Wolcott Sr.

Patrick Henry
Philip Livingston
Richard Henry Lee
Richard Stockton
Robert Morris
Robert R. Livingston
Roger Sherman
Samuel Chase
Samuel Huntington
Stephen Crane
Stephen Hopkins
Thomas Heyward Jr.
Thomas Johnson
linked to: Thomas Johnson Jr.

Thomas Lynch Jr.
Thomas McKean
Thomas Nelson Jr.
Thomas Stone
William Hooper
William Paca
William Whipple
William Williams
notableWork arranging secret negotiations with France
collecting military and political intelligence from Europe
coordinating covert communications with foreign sympathizers
recommending foreign agents and emissaries
parentOrganization Second Continental Congress
partOf Second Continental Congress
replacedBy Committee of Foreign Affairs
significantEvent authorization of secret correspondence with foreign powers in 1775
transition to Committee of Foreign Affairs in 1777

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Department of Foreign Affairs precededBy Committee of Secret Correspondence