Many Committees of Safety were established throughout Colonial America at the start of the American Revolution. These committees started to appear in the 1760s as means to discuss the concerns of the time, and often consisted of every male adult in the community. The local militias were usually under the control of the committees, which in turn sent representatives to county and colony-level assemblies to represent their local interests. Colonial America may refer to: Colonial North America north of Rio Grande the Thirteen Colonies that declared independence from Britain in 1776 The period after the European colonization of the Americas Category: ... John Trumbulls Declaration of Independence, showing the five-man committee in charge of drafting the Declaration in 1776 as it presents its work to the Second Continental Congress The American Revolution refers to the period during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies that... Events and Trends King George III ascends the British throne in 1760. ... Lebanese Kataeb militia A Militia is an organization of citizens to provide defense, emergency or paramilitary service, or those engaged in such activity. ... Representative democracy is a form of democracy founded on the exercise of popular sovereignty by the peoples representatives. ... A county is generally a sub-unit of regional self-government within a sovereign jurisdiction. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History (1905) contains the following entry:

Committees of Safety, formed before and during the Revolutionary War, to keep watch of and act upon events pertaining to the public welfare, were really committees of vigilance. They were of incalculable service during that period in detecting conspiracies against the interests of the people and restraining evil disposed persons. They were sometimes possessed of almost supreme executive power, delegated to them by the people. Massachusetts took the lead in the appointment of a committee of safety so early as the autumn of 1774, of which John Hancock was chairman. It was given power to call out the militia, provide means of defense — in a word, provide many of the duties of a provisional government. Other colonies appointed committees of safety. One was appointed in the city of New York, composed of the leading citizens. These committees were in constant communication with the committees of correspondence.