The Town having considered the foregoing Draft of a Petition to Governor Hutchinson--It was Voted, that the same be accepted, _Nem. Con._ Also Voted, that [seven names] be a Committee to present the Petition to his Excellency-- Voted, that this Meeting be Adjourned to Monday next 3. O'Clock P.M. _Monday November 2d_ 3. O'Clock P.M. Met According to Adjournment. The Committee appointed to present a Petition To his Excellency the Governor of this Province, Reported and laid before the Town the following Reply which his Excellency had been pleased to deliver them in writing--Viz. [A firm claim that the town-meeting was meddling with matters that were beyond its province, and a refusal to call the Assembly.] The foregoing Reply having been read several times and duly considered; it was moved and the Question accordingly put Whether the same be satisfactory to the Town; which passed in the Negative _Nem. Con._ And thereupon-- Resolved as the Opinion of the Inhabitants of this Town that they have ever had, and ought to have, a right to Petition the King or his Representatives for the Redress of such Grievances as they feel or for preventing of such as they have reason to apprehend, and to communicate their Sentiment to other Towns. =It was then moved by Mr. Samuel Adams, That a Committee of Correspondence be appointed to consist of twenty-one Persons--to state the Rights of the Colonists and of this Province in particular, as Men, as Christians, and as Subjects; to communicate and publish the same to the several Towns in this Province and to the World as the sense of this Town, with the Infringements and Violations thereof that have been, or from time to time may be made--Also requesting of each Town a free communication of their Sentiments on this Subject--And the Question being accordingly put--Passed in the Affermative. _Nem. Con._=--Also Voted, that [a list headed with the names of Samuel Adams, James Otis, and Joseph Warren] be and hereby are appointed a Committee for the purpose aforesaid, and that they be desired to Report to the Town as soon as may be--.... Then the Meeting was dissolved. 123. Creation of Standing Intercolonial Committees of Correspondence, 1773 This was the most important step in America between the Stamp Act Congress and the First Continental Congress. Cf. _American History and Government_, # 140. _a. Jefferson's Account of the Origin of the Movement (written at a Later Date)_ Ford's _Writings of Jefferson_, I is, 7, 8.