...Congress passed a resolution on November 29, 1775, creating a committee of five "for the sole purpose of corresponding with our friends in Great Britain, Ireland, and other parts of the world." The American diplomatic service traces its beginning to this rather simple act. Original members of the...

...the twenty-ninth of November, 1775, " That a committee of five be appointed for the sole purpose of corresponding with our friends in Great Britain, Ireland, and other parts of the ivorld, and that they lay their correspondence before Congress, when directed."* The hints concerning...

...France. In late November 1775, Congress named Franklin, Jay and three others to a committee to correspond "with our friends in Great Britain, Ireland and other parts of the world." Franklin was in every way the senior member of this committee, and the committee's first action was...

...Franklin and four other congressmen were appointed to a secret committee with "the sole purpose of corresponding with our friends in Great Britain, Ireland and other parts of the world." A few days later, the French-born librarian of the Philadelphia Library introduced Franklin to an "Antwerp...

...length, on the 29th of October, 1775, a Committee of five was appointed, ' for the sole purpose of corresponding with our friends in Great Britain, Ireland, and other parts of the world ; and that they lay their correspondence before Congress, when directed.' An additional resolution...

...of Secret Correspondence, with Benjamin Franklin as chairman, was appointed for the "sole purpose of corresponding with our friends in Great Britain, Ireland, and other parts of the world." In 1777, this committee was succeeded by a Committee for Foreign Affairs, which had limited functions...