Soldiers of the Continental Army

Source List

Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. Edited from the original records in the Library of Congress ... / United States. Continental Congress.  Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1904-37.  Government Documents Collection, Call Number:  LC 4.5:

This Library of Congress edition of the Journals has for many years served as one of the more important and widely used documentary publications for research on the American Revolution. The Journals serve as a useful guide to the Papers of the Continental Congress, but the substance of documents giving rise to legislative action is often not reflected in the Journal. The Journals are a invaluable resource, even though they reproduce only a portion of the documents of the Continental Congress.

American archives: consisting of a collection of authentick records, state papers, debates, and letters and other notices of publick affairs, the whole forming a documentary history of the origin and progress of the North American colonies; of the causes and accomplishment of the American revolution; and of the Constitution of government for the United States, to the final ratification thereof. In six series ... By Peter Force. Prepared and published under authority of an act of Congress. [Washington, 1837-53] U.S. Government Documents Collection, Call Number:  Z 1.1:

The American Archives was commissioned by Congress and was to comprise six series covering 1688 through 1787, consisting of a collection of records, papers, debates and letters relating to public affairs; however, only the fourth series of six volumes and three volumes of the fifth series were published because Congress didn't provide funding.

A vast quantity of material was collected by Peter Force over a period of forty years, most of which was not used. The nine volumes which were published cover the period 1774-1776 and contain a vast array of letters, dispatches, treaties, proceedings, reports, papers and documents. Often letters which were not printed in the Journals of the Continental Congress can be found in the American Archives.

American state papers : documents, legislative and executive, of the Congress of the United States / selected and edited under the authority of Congress. Washington: Gales and Seaton, 1832-1861. U.S. Government Documents Collection, Call Number: Serial 001-038.

American State Papers was privately produced under congressional authority between 1832 and 1861. It includes records that were previously available only in manuscript, as well as printed executive and legislative documents. The series covers a period starting at 1789 and ending with dates between 1823 and 1838. Documents are arranged in classes--Foreign Relations, Indian Affairs, Naval Affairs, Post Office Department, Public Lands, Claims, and Miscellaneous--and are in chronological order within class.

Letters of delegates to Congress, 1774-1789 / Paul H. Smit, editor, Gerard W. Gawalt, Rosemary Fry Plakas, Eugene R. Sheridan, assistant editors. Washington : Library of Congress, 1976-  U.S. Government Documents Collection, Call Number: LC 1.34:

More than 23,000 documents assembled from hundreds of institutions and private individuals from all over America and Western Europe, particularly the Library's own unrivaled collections covering the American revolutionary era, were drawn upon in publishing this 26-volume set. It contains the complete correspondence of the 343 delegates who attended the Continental and Confederation Congresses during the American Revolution. All the extant documents written by the delegates during their attendance in Congress, including letters by delegates to other delegates, to wives, friends and enemies alike, diary entries, notes, and directives from Congressional committees have been used.