A Different 9/11 Event—The Staten Island Peace Conference

September 11, 2001 was likely the most horrifying single day in American history. When we hear that date, our thoughts center on the massive loss of innocent life and the shock of our nation being attacked without warning. 

In our distant past, September 11th was an important date for a far different reason. In the early days of the American Revolution, there was an effort to bring the colonial revolt to a peaceful end through negotiation. And, on September 11, 1776, a meeting between British officials and three American leaders tried to stop the bloodshed that had begun in April of 1775 on a bridge in Lexington, Massachusetts. 

Three distinguished members of the Second Continental Congress: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Edward Rutledge met with British Admiral Lord Richard Howe at the home of a loyalist on Staten Island in New York. While Howe had pleaded with King George III to be given full authority to end the conflict peaceably, he was only given limited jurisdiction to grant pardons. That did not sit well with the Americans. As far as they were concerned, they’d done nothing wrong that would warrant a pardon from the Crown. They insisted that their newly-minted independence be recognized by Britain. Howe politely explained that he had no such powers—in fact he refused to address them as anything but British subjects. Adams retorted, "Your lordship may consider me in what light you please, except that of a British subject.” Not surprisingly, the meeting ended after just three hours.

Had things gone differently, there were a number of possible ‘off-ramps’ to end the war—e.g., fixed payments to the Crown instead of usurious taxes and ‘dominion’ status to the colonies (similar to the relationship between Britain and Canada). How different our mutual histories might have been if agreement had been reached on that September 11th on Staten Island.