Committees of safety sprang up in the colonies to carry on necessary functions of government during the American Revolution (1775-1783). The committees provided the transitional government after colonial governors had been overthrown and before the colonies could set up their first state governments. In Connecticut and New Hampshire, the committees of safety continued their work even after the state governments had begun operating.
On July 18, 1775, the Second Continental Congress urged the colonies to set up committees of safety. The new committees took over much of the work of the earlier committees of correspondence, which had carried on vigorous programs of propaganda against the British since 1772.
