The Wolf Law Library at William & Mary Law School

06/03/2026

May 29, 1776: Congress resolves "That an animated address be published to impress the minds of the people with the necessity of their now stepping forward to save their country, their freedom and property." In the handwriting of George Wythe: https://wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php?title=Address_to_the_Inhabitants_of_the_Colonies

05/27/2026

On May 21st, 1776, Congress appointed a committee to "prepare an address to the foreign mercenaries who are coming to invade America." In the Declaration of Independence, such mercenaries are accused of completing "Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages."

A draft of this appeal survives, in Wythe's handwriting: "Were you compelled by your sovereigns to undertake the bloody work of butchering your unoffending fellow-creatures? Disdain the inhuman office, disgraceful to the soldier." https://wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php?title=Address_to_the_Foreign_Mercenaries

Wythe was not a member of the original committee, but it is believed he may have been handed the task of preparing the address by Thomas Jefferson: https://archive.org/details/lettersofdelegat04smit/page/n141/mode/2up

On Tuesday, May 21, 1776, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, received news of the government of Great Britain negotiating with Germanic princes of the Holy Roman Empire to provide troops to assist in quelling an American uprising:

05/20/2026

This week in 1776: George Wythe writes to the Fifth Virginia Convention in Williamsburg, enclosing a copy of Congress' resolution that the Colonies "adopt such government as shall... best conduce to the happiness and safety of... America in general": https://wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php?title=Virginia_Delegates_to_the_Virginia_Convention,_18_May_1776

05/13/2026

On May 14, 1776, Mr. Ellery came to Congress! William Ellery of Rhode Island (1727–1820) https://business.facebook.com/latest/settings/profiles?asset_id=916866391698791was the same age as George Wythe, and the two men exchanged droll and topical poems back and forth on scraps of paper, during the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia: https://wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php?title=Poems_on_Witty_Subjects_in_Congress

The poems were first published in an article by a Wythe scholar, Ed Hemphill, in 1952: "George Wythe Courts the Muses: In Which, to the Astonishment of Everyone, That Silent, Selfless Pedant Is Found to Have Had a Sense of Humor": https://wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php?title=George_Wythe_Courts_the_Muses

The poems are now part of the American Revolutionary War Manuscripts Collection of .boston.gov, and are available at .org: https://archive.org/details/poemsonwittysubj00elle

05/06/2026

May 3, 1776: In Congress, George Wythe (VA), Thomas McKean (DE), and John Adams (MA) are referred a petition from an American sea captain, seeking compensation after personal belongings were looted from his captured sloop by a British prize master: https://wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php?title=Petition_of_Peter_Simon_and_Israel_Ambrose_to_the_Continental_Congress

04/29/2026

April 30, 1776: George Wythe is elected by the Continental Congress to a standing committee for Indian Affairs. Wythe would pen this address to a delegation from the Iroquois Confederacy, who met with Congress in Philadelphia in June, 1776: https://wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php?title=Address_to_the_Indians

04/22/2026

This week in 1776, the Second Continental Congress appoints George Wythe to a committee of seven, to ascertain the value of various coins circulating in the Colonies. The committee's final report is largely in Wythe's distinctive handwriting: https://wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php/Report_of_the_Gold_Committee

04/15/2026

in 1776, George Wythe is appointed to two committees in the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia: 1) referred a letter from General Washington (with Benjamin Harrison and Samuel Adams): https://wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php/George_Washington_to_John_Hancock,_referred_to_Wythe_%26_Committee,_4_April_1776

and 2), along with Carter Braxton and John Jay, Wythe is ordered to investigate how residents "who assist any of the enemies of these United Colonies in the captures of vessels or goods, may be made liable to make good the damages to the sufferers":

04/08/2026

This week in Congress, 250 years ago: George Wythe, Benjamin Harrison, and Samuel Adams report on letters from General Schuyler, and recommend Robert Yates (NY) for secretary of the Committee for Indian Affairs (Northern Department): https://wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php/Wythe_and_Committee_to_Congress,_6_April_1776

04/01/2026

March 29, 1776: Letters from General Schuyler in Albany, and the New York Committee of Safety, are referred to a committee of George Wythe, Benjamin Harrison, and Samuel Adams: https://wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php/Philip_Schuyler_to_John_Hancock,_referred_to_Wythe_%26_Committee,_21_March_1776 https://wythepedia.wm.edu/index.php/William_Paulding_%26_New_York_Committee_of_Safety_to_John_Hancock,_referred_to_Wythe_%26_Committee,_26_March_1776