<P> The committees of correspondence were shadow governments organized by the Patriot leaders of the Thirteen Colonies on the eve of the American Revolution . They coordinated responses to England and shared their plans ; by 1773 they had emerged as shadow governments , superseding the colonial legislature and royal officials . The Maryland Committee of Correspondence was instrumental in setting up the First Continental Congress , which met in Philadelphia . These served an important role in the Revolution , by disseminating the colonial interpretation of British actions between the colonies and to foreign governments . The committees of correspondence rallied opposition on common causes and established plans for collective action , and so the group of committees was the beginning of what later became a formal political union among the colonies . </P>
what role was played by the committees of correspondence in the american protests
was instrumental in setting up the First Continental Congress