Last July, I gave a talk at History Camp America entitled, "Boston’s Green Dragon Tavern: The Headquarters of the Revolution." Because it was a private event, the recorded talks were accessible only to the event's ticket holders for one year. Well, it's been one year, and the talks are available!
In a letter to Thomas Jefferson in 1815, John Adams wrote, “The Revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected, from 1760 to 1775, in the course of fifteen years before a drop of blood was drawn at Lexington.”
Long before the famed “shot heard round the world,” a revolution was taking place in the hearts and minds of the colonists as they wrestled with their place in the British empire.
At the center of it all? Boston, the “Cradle of Liberty.”
And tucked away in the North End of that peninsular city, right on the edge of Mill Pond, stood a two-story Georgian with a metal dragon hung above the door: the Green Dragon Tavern. Former Secretary of State Daniel Webster claimed the Green Dragon Tavern was the “Headquarters of the Revolution.”
How did a local bar with very little to do with the colonies’ efforts during wartime earn such an esteemed title?
Let’s find out…
Fraternity, fellowship, conspiracy, clubs, and caucuses—we’ll explore the Green Dragon Tavern’s role in what Adams considered the real revolution.
