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National Archives and Records Administration
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The NARA also transmits votes of the Electoral College to Congress. The chief administrator of NARA is the Archivist of the United States, the Archivist of the United States is the chief official overseeing the operation of the National Archives and Records Administration. The Archivist not only maintains the official documentation of the passage of amendments to the U. S, Constitution by state legislatures, but has the authority to declare when the constitutional threshold for passage has been reached, and therefore when an act has become an amendment. The Office of the Federal Register publishes the Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations and it also administers the Electoral College. Since 1964, the NHPRC has awarded some 4,500 grants, the Office of Government Information Services is a Freedom of Information Act resource for the public and the government. Congress has charged NARA with reviewing FOIA policies, procedures and compliance of Federal agencies, NARAs mission also includes resolving FOIA disputes between Federal agencies and requesters. Originally, each branch and agency of the U. S. government was responsible for maintaining its own documents, Congress established the National Archives Establishment in 1934 to centralize federal record keeping, with the Archivist of the United States as chief administrator. The National Archives was incorporated with GSA in 1949, in 1985 it became an independent agency as NARA, connor, began serving in 1934, when the National Archives was established by Congress. As a result of a first Hoover Commission recommendation, in 1949 the National Archives was placed within the newly formed General Services Administration. The Archivist served as an official to the GSA Administrator until the National Archives. An audit indicated that more than one third withdrawn since 1999 did not contain sensitive information, the program was originally scheduled to end in 2007. In 2011, a retired employee pleaded guilty to stealing original sound recordings from the archives, Archival Recovery Teams investigate the theft of records. NARAs holdings are classed into record groups reflecting the governmental department or agency from which they originated, Records include paper documents, microfilm, still pictures, motion pictures, and electronic media. Archival descriptions of the permanent holdings of the government in the custody of NARA are stored in the National Archives Catalog. The archival descriptions include information on traditional paper holdings, electronic records, as of December 2012, the catalog consisted of about 10 billion logical data records describing 527,000 artifacts and encompassing 81% of NARAs records. There are also 922,000 digital copies of already digitized materials, most records at NARA are in the public domain, as works of the federal government are excluded from copyright protection. However, records from other sources may still be protected by copyright or donor agreements and its Information Security Oversight Office monitors and sets policy for the U. S. governments security classification system. Many of NARAs most requested records are used for genealogy research
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United States Constitution
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The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. The Constitution, originally comprising seven articles, delineates the national frame of government, Articles Four, Five and Six entrench concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state governments and of the states in relationship to the federal government. Article Seven establishes the procedure used by the thirteen States to ratify it. In general, the first ten amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, offer specific protections of individual liberty, the majority of the seventeen later amendments expand individual civil rights protections. Others address issues related to federal authority or modify government processes and procedures, Amendments to the United States Constitution, unlike ones made to many constitutions worldwide, are appended to the document. All four pages of the original U. S, according to the United States Senate, The Constitutions first three words—We the People—affirm that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens. From September 5,1774 to March 1,1781, the Continental Congress functioned as the government of the United States. The process of selecting the delegates for the First and Second Continental Congresses underscores the revolutionary role of the people of the colonies in establishing a governing body. The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the first constitution of the United States and it was drafted by the Second Continental Congress from mid-1776 through late-1777, and ratification by all 13 states was completed by early 1781. Under the Articles of Confederation, the governments power was quite limited. The Confederation Congress could make decisions, but lacked enforcement powers, implementation of most decisions, including modifications to the Articles, required unanimous approval of all thirteen state legislatures. The Continental Congress could print money but the currency was worthless, Congress could borrow money, but couldnt pay it back. No state paid all their U. S. taxes, some paid nothing, some few paid an amount equal to interest on the national debt owed to their citizens, but no more. No interest was paid on debt owed foreign governments, by 1786, the United States would default on outstanding debts as their dates came due. Internationally, the Articles of Confederation did little to enhance the United States ability to defend its sovereignty, most of the troops in the 625-man United States Army were deployed facing – but not threatening – British forts on American soil. They had not been paid, some were deserting and others threatening mutiny, spain closed New Orleans to American commerce, U. S. officials protested, but to no effect. Barbary pirates began seizing American ships of commerce, the Treasury had no funds to pay their ransom, if any military crisis required action, the Congress had no credit or taxing power to finance a response. Domestically, the Articles of Confederation was failing to bring unity to the sentiments and interests of the various states
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Thirteen Colonies
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The Thirteen Colonies were a group of British colonies on the east coast of North America founded in the 17th and 18th centuries that declared independence in 1776 and formed the United States. The Thirteen Colonies had very similar political, constitutional, and legal systems and they were part of Britains possessions in the New World, which also included colonies in present-day Canada and the Caribbean, as well as East and West Florida. However, the Thirteen Colonies had a degree of self-government and active local elections. In the 1750s, the colonies began collaborating with each other instead of dealing directly with Britain, Colonial decisions were subject to approval by the governor and the home government. There were also substantial populations of African slaves in some of the colonies, especially Virginia, the Carolinas, the names of the colonies were chosen by the founders and proprietors, subject to royal approval, and given in the founding charters. Nine of the thirteen chose to include in their names the term Province of, later residents tended to drop the ambiguous terminology, as in the map shown in the article Province of New Jersey, which is labeled simply East Jersey and West Jersey. In July 1776, they formed a new nation called the United States of America, the new nation achieved that goal by winning the American Revolutionary War with the aid of France, the Netherlands, and Spain. The American flag features thirteen horizontal stripes which represent these original thirteen colonies, besides these thirteen colonies, Britain had another dozen in the New World. Those in the British West Indies, Newfoundland, the Province of Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Bermuda, and East and West Florida remained loyal to the crown throughout the war. The British crown had recently acquired those lands, and many of the issues facing the Thirteen Colonies did not apply to them, especially in the case of Quebec. Contemporary documents usually list the thirteen colonies of British North America in geographical order, the consolidation collapsed after the Glorious Revolution of 1688–89, and the nine former colonies re-established their separate identities in 1689. Massachusetts Bay Colony Settled in 1630 by Puritans from England, the colonial charter was revoked in 1684, and a new charter was issued in 1691 establishing an enlarged Province of Massachusetts Bay. Province of Maine Settled in 1622, the Massachusetts Bay Colony claimed the Maine territory in the 1650s, then limited to present-day southernmost Maine. Parts of Maine east of the Kennebec River were also part of New York in the half of the 17th century. These areas were made part of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in the charter of 1691. Plymouth Colony Settled in 1620 by the Pilgrims, plymouth was merged into the Province of Massachusetts Bay in the charter of 1691. Saybrook Colony Founded in 1635 and merged with Connecticut Colony in 1644, New Haven Colony Settled in late 1637. New Netherland Extensive region centered about New Amsterdam at the tip of Manhattan Island
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United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
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Second Continental Congress
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The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting in the spring of 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met between September 5,1774 and October 26,1774, also in Philadelphia, the second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4,1776. When the Second Continental Congress came together on May 10,1775 it was, in effect, many of the same 56 delegates who attended the first meeting were in attendance at the second, and the delegates appointed the same president and secretary. Notable new arrivals included Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and John Hancock of Massachusetts, within two weeks, Randolph was summoned back to Virginia to preside over the House of Burgesses, he was replaced in the Virginia delegation by Thomas Jefferson, who arrived several weeks later. Henry Middleton was elected as president to replace Randolph, but he declined, Hancock was elected president on May 24. Delegates from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies were present when the Second Continental Congress convened, Georgia had not participated in the First Continental Congress and did not initially send delegates to the Second Continental Congress. On May 13,1775, Lyman Hall was admitted as a delegate from the Parish of St. Johns in the Colony of Georgia, not as a delegate from the colony itself. The Second Continental Congress would meet on May 10,1775, by the time the Second Continental Congress met, the American Revolutionary War had already started with the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The Congress was to charge of the war effort. For the first few months of the struggle, the Patriots had carried on their struggle in an ad-hoc and they had seized arsenals, driven out royal officials, and besieged the British army in the city of Boston. On July 6,1775 Congress approved a Declaration of Causes outlining the rationale, on July 8, Congress extended the Olive Branch Petition to the British Crown as a final attempt at reconciliation. However, it was received too late to do any good, silas Deane was sent to France as a minister of the Congress. American ports were reopened in defiance of the British Navigation Acts, the Congress had no authority to levy taxes, and was required to request money, supplies, and troops from the states to support the war effort. Individual states frequently ignored these requests, Congress was moving towards declaring independence from the British Empire in 1776, but many delegates lacked the authority from their home governments to take such a drastic action. Advocates of independence in Congress moved to have reluctant colonial governments revise instructions to their delegations, on May 10,1776, Congress passed a resolution recommending that any colony lacking a proper government should form such. The resolution of independence was delayed for weeks as revolutionaries consolidated support for independence in their home governments. The records of the Continental Congress confirm that the need for a declaration of independence was intimately linked with the demands of international relations, on June 7,1776, Richard Henry Lee offered a resolution before the Continental Congress declaring the colonies independent. He also urged Congress to resolve to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances, Lee argued that independence was the only way to ensure a foreign alliance, since no European monarchs would deal with America if they remained Britains colonies
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Independence
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Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over the territory. The opposite of independence is a dependent territory, Independence does not necessarily mean freedom. Whether the attainment of independence is different from revolution has long been contested, nation-states have been granted independence without any revolutionary acts. The Russian October Revolution, for example, was not intended to seek national independence, however, the American Revolutionary War was intended to achieve independence from the beginning. Causes for a country or province wishing to seek independence are many, the means can extend from peaceful demonstrations, like in the case of the Indian independence movement, to a violent civil war. Autonomy refers to a kind of independence which has been granted by an authority that itself still retains ultimate authority over that territory. A protectorate refers to a region that depends upon a larger government for its protection as an autonomous region. Declaring independence and attaining it however, are quite different, a well-known successful example is the U. S. Declaration of Independence issued in 1776, the dates of established independence, are typically celebrated as a national holiday known as an independence day
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Sovereignty
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Sovereignty is understood in jurisprudence as the full right and power of a governing body to govern itself without any interference from outside sources or bodies. In political theory, sovereignty is a term designating supreme authority over some polity. It is a basic principle underlying the dominant Westphalian model of state foundation, derived from Latin through French souveraineté, its attainment and retention, in both Chinese and Western culture, has traditionally been associated with certain moral imperatives upon any claimant. The concept of sovereignty has been discussed throughout history, and is still actively debated and it has changed in its definition, concept, and application throughout, especially during the Age of Enlightenment. The current notion of state sovereignty contains four aspects consisting of territory, population, authority, Sovereignty is a hypothetical trade, in which two potentially conflicting sides, respecting de facto realities of power, exchange such recognitions as their least costly strategy. The Roman jurist Ulpian observed that, The imperium of the people is transferred to the Emperor, the Emperor is not bound by the law. Emperor is the law making and abiding force, Ulpian was expressing the idea that the Emperor exercised a rather absolute form of sovereignty, although he did not use the term expressly. Classical Ulpians statements were known in medieval Europe, but sovereignty was an important concept in medieval times, Medieval monarchs were not sovereign, at least not strongly so, because they were constrained by, and shared power with, their feudal aristocracy. Furthermore, both were strongly constrained by custom, Sovereignty existed during the Medieval Period as the de jure rights of nobility and royalty, and in the de facto capability of individuals to make their own choices in life. 1380–1400, the issue of sovereignty was addressed in Geoffrey Chaucers Middle English collection of Canterbury Tales. The story revolves around the knight Sir Gawain granting to Dame Ragnell, his new bride, what is purported to be wanted most by women and we desire most from men, From men both lund and poor, To have sovereignty without lies. For where we have sovereignty, all is ours, Though a knight be ever so fierce and it is our desire to have master Over such a sir. Jean Bodin, partly in reaction to the chaos of the French wars of religion, in his 1576 treatise Les Six Livres de la République Bodin argued that it is inherent in the nature of the state that the sovereign must have both great and perpetual authority. Bodin rejected the notion of transference of sovereignty from people to the ruler, however, although he is often connected with absolutism, Bodin held some moderate opinions on how government should in practice be carried out. Thus, Bodin’s sovereign was restricted by the law of the state. Bodin believed that “the most divine, most excellent, and the form most proper to royalty is governed partly aristocratically and partly democratically”. With his doctrine that sovereignty is conferred by law, Bodin predefined the scope of the divine right of kings. During the Age of Enlightenment, the idea of sovereignty gained both legal and moral force as the main Western description of the meaning and power of a State
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U.S. state
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A U. S. state is a constituent political entity of the United States of America. There are 50 states, which are together in a union with each other. Each state holds administrative jurisdiction over a geographic territory. Due to the shared sovereignty between each state and the government, Americans are citizens of both the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons covered by certain types of court orders. States range in population from just under 600,000 to over 39 million, four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names. States are divided into counties or county-equivalents, which may be assigned some local authority but are not sovereign. County or county-equivalent structure varies widely by state, State governments are allocated power by the people through their individual constitutions. All are grounded in principles, and each provides for a government. States possess a number of powers and rights under the United States Constitution, Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization and incorporation, with the government playing a much larger role than it once did. There is a debate over states rights, which concerns the extent and nature of the states powers and sovereignty in relation to the federal government. States and their residents are represented in the federal Congress, a legislature consisting of the Senate. Each state is represented in the Senate by two senators, and is guaranteed at least one Representative in the House, members of the House are elected from single-member districts. Representatives are distributed among the states in proportion to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census, the Constitution grants to Congress the authority to admit new states into the Union. Since the establishment of the United States in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the original 13 to 50, alaska and Hawaii are the most recent states admitted, both in 1959. The Constitution is silent on the question of states have the power to secede from the Union. Shortly after the Civil War, the U. S. Supreme Court, in Texas v. White, as a result, while the governments of the various states share many similar features, they often vary greatly with regard to form and substance
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American Revolutionary War
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From about 1765 the American Revolution had led to increasing philosophical and political differences between Great Britain and its American colonies. The war represented a culmination of these differences in armed conflict between Patriots and the authority which they increasingly resisted. This resistance became particularly widespread in the New England Colonies, especially in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. On December 16,1773, Massachusetts members of the Patriot group Sons of Liberty destroyed a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor in an event that became known as the Boston Tea Party. Named the Coercive Acts by Parliament, these became known as the Intolerable Acts in America. The Massachusetts colonists responded with the Suffolk Resolves, establishing a government that removed control of the province from the Crown outside of Boston. Twelve colonies formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, and established committees, British attempts to seize the munitions of Massachusetts colonists in April 1775 led to the first open combat between Crown forces and Massachusetts militia, the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Militia forces proceeded to besiege the British forces in Boston, forcing them to evacuate the city in March 1776, the Continental Congress appointed George Washington to take command of the militia. Concurrent to the Boston campaign, an American attempt to invade Quebec, on July 2,1776, the Continental Congress formally voted for independence, issuing its Declaration on July 4. Sir William Howe began a British counterattack, focussing on recapturing New York City, Howe outmaneuvered and defeated Washington, leaving American confidence at a low ebb. Washington captured a Hessian force at Trenton and drove the British out of New Jersey, in 1777 the British sent a new army under John Burgoyne to move south from Canada and to isolate the New England colonies. However, instead of assisting Burgoyne, Howe took his army on a campaign against the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia. Burgoyne outran his supplies, was surrounded and surrendered at Saratoga in October 1777, the British defeat in the Saratoga Campaign had drastic consequences. Giving up on the North, the British decided to salvage their former colonies in the South, British forces under Lieutenant-General Charles Cornwallis seized Georgia and South Carolina, capturing an American army at Charleston, South Carolina. British strategy depended upon an uprising of large numbers of armed Loyalists, in 1779 Spain joined the war as an ally of France under the Pacte de Famille, intending to capture Gibraltar and British colonies in the Caribbean. Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic in December 1780, in 1781, after the British and their allies had suffered two decisive defeats at Kings Mountain and Cowpens, Cornwallis retreated to Virginia, intending on evacuation. A decisive French naval victory in September deprived the British of an escape route, a joint Franco-American army led by Count Rochambeau and Washington, laid siege to the British forces at Yorktown. With no sign of relief and the situation untenable, Cornwallis surrendered in October 1781, Whigs in Britain had long opposed the pro-war Tory majority in Parliament, but the defeat at Yorktown gave the Whigs the upper hand
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Shays' Rebellion
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Shays Rebellion was an armed uprising in Massachusetts during 1786 and 1787. Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays led four thousand rebels in an uprising against perceived economic, in 1787, the rebels marched on the United States Armory at Springfield in an unsuccessful attempt to seize its weaponry and overthrow the government. The rebellion took place in a climate where reform of the countrys governing document. The events of the rebellion affected debates at the U. S, Constitutional Convention, and ultimately the shape of the new government. Indeed, the shock of Shays Rebellion drew retired General George Washington back into public life, the exact nature and consequence of the rebellions influence on the content of the Constitution and the ratification debates continues to be a subject of historical discussion and debate. Some residents in these areas had little in the way of assets beyond their land, in lean times, farmers might obtain goods on credit from suppliers in local market towns who would be paid when times were better. Not surprisingly, the government was dominated by this merchant class. When the Revolutionary War ended in 1783, the European business partners of Massachusetts merchants refused to extend lines of credit to them, been pulled and hauled by sheriffs, constables and collectors, and had my cattle sold for less than they were worth. The great men are going to get all we have and I think it is time for us to rise and put a stop to it, some of the soldiers, Daniel Shays among them, began to organize protests against these oppressive economic conditions. In 1780, he resigned from the unpaid and went home to find himself in court for nonpayment of debts. He soon realized that he was not alone in his inability to pay his debts, one early protest against the government was led by Job Shattuck of Groton, who in 1782 organized residents there to physically prevent tax collectors from doing their work. Governor Hancock ordered the sheriff to suppress these actions, most rural communities, however, attempted to use the legislative process to gain relief. Petitions and proposals were submitted to the state legislature to issue paper currency. Such inflationary issues would depreciate the currency, making it possible to meet obligations made at high values with lower-valued paper, the merchants, among them James Bowdoin, were opposed to the idea, since they were generally lenders who stood to lose from such proposals. As a result, these proposals were repeatedly rejected, Governor Hancock, accused by some of anticipating trouble, resigned citing health reasons in early 1785. When Bowdoin was elected governor that year, matters became more severe, even comparatively conservative commentators such as John Adams observed that these levies were heavier than the People could bear. Protests in rural Massachusetts turned into action in August 1786. On August 29 a well-organized force of protestors formed in Northampton, the leaders of this and later forces proclaimed that they were seeking relief from the burdensome judicial processes that were depriving the people of their land and possessions
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Constitutional Convention (United States)
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The Constitutional Convention took place from May 25 to September 17,1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The delegates elected George Washington to preside over the Convention, the result of the Convention was the creation of the United States Constitution, placing the Convention among the most significant events in the history of the United States. Most of the time during the Convention was spent on deciding these issues, while the powers of legislature, executive, once the Convention began, the delegates first agreed on the principles of the Convention, then they agreed on Madisons Virginia Plan and began to modify it. A Committee of Detail assembled during the July 4 recess eventually produced a draft of the constitution. Most of the draft remained in place, and can be found in the final version of the constitution. After the final issues were resolved, the Committee on Style produced the final version, before the Constitution was drafted, the nearly 4 million inhabitants of the 13 newly independent states were governed under the Articles of Confederation, created by the Second Continental Congress. It soon became evident to all that the chronically underfunded Confederation government. As the Articles of Confederation could only be amended by unanimous vote of the states, in addition, the Articles gave the weak federal government no taxing power, it was wholly dependent on the states for its money, and had no power to force delinquent states to pay. Once the immediate task of winning the American Revolutionary War had passed, the states began to look to their own interests, another impetus for the convention was Shays Rebellion. A political conflict between Boston merchants and rural farmers over issues such as property seizures for tax debts had broken out into an open rebellion. This rebellion was led by a former Revolutionary War captain, Daniel Shays, himself a farmer with tax debts. The rebellion took months for Massachusetts to put down completely, in September 1786, at the Annapolis Convention, delegates from five states called for a Constitutional Convention in order to discuss possible improvements to the Articles of Confederation. The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia on May 14,1787, Rhode Island, fearing that the Convention would work to its disadvantage, boycotted the Convention and, when the Constitution was put to the states, initially refused to ratify it. James Madison arrived first, and soon most of the Virginia delegation arrived, while waiting for the other delegates, the Virginia delegation produced the Virginia Plan, which was designed and written by James Madison. On May 25, the delegations convened in the Pennsylvania State House, George Washington was unanimously elected president of the Convention, and it was agreed that the discussions and votes would be kept secret until the conclusion of the meeting. Although William Jackson was elected as secretary, his records were brief, Madisons Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, supplemented by the notes of Robert Yates, remain the most complete record of the Convention. Throughout the debate, delegates constantly referred to precedents from history in support of their position, most commonly, they referred to the history of England, in particular the Glorious Revolution, classical history, and recent precedents from Holland and Germany. Outside the Convention in Philadelphia, there was a convening of the Society of the Cincinnati
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Federal government of the United States
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The Federal Government of the United States is the national government of the United States, a republic in North America, composed of 50 states, one district, Washington, D. C. and several territories. The federal government is composed of three branches, legislative, executive, and judicial, whose powers are vested by the U. S. Constitution in the Congress, the President, and the courts, including the Supreme Court. The powers and duties of these branches are defined by acts of Congress. The full name of the republic is United States of America, no other name appears in the Constitution, and this is the name that appears on money, in treaties, and in legal cases to which it is a party. The terms Government of the United States of America or United States Government are often used in documents to represent the federal government as distinct from the states collectively. In casual conversation or writing, the term Federal Government is often used, the terms Federal and National in government agency or program names generally indicate affiliation with the federal government. Because the seat of government is in Washington, D. C, Washington is commonly used as a metonym for the federal government. The outline of the government of the United States is laid out in the Constitution, the government was formed in 1789, making the United States one of the worlds first, if not the first, modern national constitutional republics. The United States government is based on the principles of federalism and republicanism, some make the case for expansive federal powers while others argue for a more limited role for the central government in relation to individuals, the states or other recognized entities. For example, while the legislative has the power to create law, the President nominates judges to the nations highest judiciary authority, but those nominees must be approved by Congress. The Supreme Court, in its turn, has the power to invalidate as unconstitutional any law passed by the Congress and these and other examples are examined in more detail in the text below. The United States Congress is the branch of the federal government. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate, the House currently consists of 435 voting members, each of whom represents a congressional district. The number of each state has in the House is based on each states population as determined in the most recent United States Census. All 435 representatives serve a two-year term, each state receives a minimum of one representative in the House. There is no limit on the number of terms a representative may serve, in addition to the 435 voting members, there are six non-voting members, consisting of five delegates and one resident commissioner. In contrast, the Senate is made up of two senators from each state, regardless of population, there are currently 100 senators, who each serve six-year terms
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President of the United States
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The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The president is considered to be one of the worlds most powerful political figures, the role includes being the commander-in-chief of the worlds most expensive military with the second largest nuclear arsenal and leading the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP. The office of President holds significant hard and soft power both in the United States and abroad, Constitution vests the executive power of the United States in the president. The president is empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves. The president is responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of the party to which the president is a member. The president also directs the foreign and domestic policy of the United States, since the office of President was established in 1789, its power has grown substantially, as has the power of the federal government as a whole. However, nine vice presidents have assumed the presidency without having elected to the office. The Twenty-second Amendment prohibits anyone from being elected president for a third term, in all,44 individuals have served 45 presidencies spanning 57 full four-year terms. On January 20,2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th, in 1776, the Thirteen Colonies, acting through the Second Continental Congress, declared political independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution. The new states, though independent of each other as nation states, desiring to avoid anything that remotely resembled a monarchy, Congress negotiated the Articles of Confederation to establish a weak alliance between the states. Out from under any monarchy, the states assigned some formerly royal prerogatives to Congress, only after all the states agreed to a resolution settling competing western land claims did the Articles take effect on March 1,1781, when Maryland became the final state to ratify them. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies, with peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs. Prospects for the convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washingtons attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia. It was through the negotiations at Philadelphia that the presidency framed in the U. S. The first power the Constitution confers upon the president is the veto, the Presentment Clause requires any bill passed by Congress to be presented to the president before it can become law. Once the legislation has been presented, the president has three options, Sign the legislation, the bill becomes law. Veto the legislation and return it to Congress, expressing any objections, in this instance, the president neither signs nor vetoes the legislation
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Albany Congress
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The Albany Congress, also known as, The Conference of Albany was a meeting of representatives sent by the legislatures of seven of the thirteen British North American colonies. Delegates did not have the goal of creating an American nation, rather, they were colonists with the more limited mission of pursuing a treaty with the Mohawk and other major Iroquois tribes. The Albany Congress was the first time in the 18th century that colonial representatives met to discuss some manner of formal union. In the 1680s, the British Government created the Dominion of New England as a government on the colonies between the Delaware River and Penobscot Bay, it was dissolved in 1689. Jacob Leisler summoned an intercolonial congress, which met in New York on 1 May 1690, to plan concerted action against the French, because of differences in threat, he attracted only the colonies as far south as Maryland. The Albany delegates spent most of their time debating Benjamin Franklins Albany Plan of union to create a level of colonial government. The delegates voted approval of a plan called for a union of 11 colonies. Each colonial assembly would send 2 to 7 delegates to a grand council, the Union would have jurisdiction over Native affairs. The plan was rejected by the legislatures, which were jealous of their powers, and by the Colonial Office. Much of the elements of the plan were later the basis for the American governments established by the Articles of Confederation of 1777, franklin speculated that had the 1754 plan been adopted, the colonial separation from England might not have happened so soon. The Congress and its Albany Plan have achieved status as presaging the formation of the United States of America in 1776. It is often illustrated with Franklins famous snake cartoon, Join, Benjamin Franklins plan to unite the colonies exceeded the scope of the congress, which had been called to plan a defense to the French and Indian threat. The original plan was debated by all who attended the conference including the young Philadelphia lawyer Benjamin Chew. Numerous modifications were proposed by Thomas Hutchinson, who later became Governor of Massachusetts. The delegates passed the plan unanimously and they submitted it with their recommendations, but the legislatures of the seven colonies rejected it, as it would have removed some of their existing powers. The plan was never sent to the Crown for approval, although it was submitted to the British Board of Trade, the Plan of Union proposed to include all the British North American colonies although none of the colonies south of Maryland sent representatives to the Albany Congress. It called for a Grand Council to be selected by the colonial legislatures, twenty-one representatives of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire attended the Congress. James DeLancey, Governor of New York, as host governor was the Chairman, peter Wraxall served as Secretary to the Congress
15.
Benjamin Franklin
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Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Franklin was a polymath and a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman. As a scientist, he was a figure in the American Enlightenment. As an inventor, he is known for the rod, bifocals. He facilitated many civic organizations, including Philadelphias fire department and the University of Pennsylvania, Franklin earned the title of The First American for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity, initially as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first United States Ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation, in the words of historian Henry Steele Commager, In a Franklin could be merged the virtues of Puritanism without its defects, the illumination of the Enlightenment without its heat. To Walter Isaacson, this makes Franklin the most accomplished American of his age, Franklin became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette at the age of 23. He became wealthy publishing this and Poor Richards Almanack, which he authored under the pseudonym Richard Saunders, after 1767, he was associated with the Pennsylvania Chronicle, a newspaper that was known for its revolutionary sentiments and criticisms of the British policies. He pioneered and was first president of The Academy and College of Philadelphia which opened in 1751 and he organized and was the first secretary of the American Philosophical Society and was elected president in 1769. Franklin became a hero in America as an agent for several colonies when he spearheaded an effort in London to have the Parliament of Great Britain repeal the unpopular Stamp Act. An accomplished diplomat, he was widely admired among the French as American minister to Paris and was a figure in the development of positive Franco-American relations. His efforts proved vital for the American Revolution in securing shipments of crucial munitions from France, during the Revolution, he became the first US Postmaster General. He was active in community affairs and colonial and state politics, from 1785 to 1788, he served as governor of Pennsylvania. He initially owned and dealt in slaves but, by the 1750s, he argued against slavery from an economic perspective, Franklins father, Josiah Franklin, was a tallow chandler, a soap-maker and a candle-maker. Josiah was born at Ecton, Northamptonshire, England on December 23,1657, the son of Thomas Franklin, a blacksmith-farmer, and Jane White. His mother, Abiah Folger, was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on August 15,1667, to Peter Folger, a miller and schoolteacher, and his wife, Mary Morrill, Josiah Franklin had seventeen children with his two wives. He married his first wife, Anne Child, in about 1677 in Ecton and emigrated with her to Boston in 1683, after her death, Josiah was married to Abiah Folger on July 9,1689 in the Old South Meeting House by Samuel Willard. Benjamin, their child, was Josiah Franklins fifteenth child and tenth
16.
Albany Plan
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The Plan represented one of multiple early attempts to form a union of the colonies under one government as far as might be necessary defense and other general important purposes. The Congress discussed the Albany Plan, after a committee reviewed different plans offered by delegates, its members chose Franklins plan and it went beyond the original scope of the Congress, which was to develop a plan of defense related to near-term threats by France. The New England and northern tier colonies had long been subject to raiding from Canada during times of conflict, the Albany Plan was the first proposed unification of the colonies. After the larger group of delegates discussed their issues and objections, they resolved most of them and they sent copies of letters to each of the Colonial Assemblies and to the British Board of Trade in London. The colonial assemblies and the British representatives rejected the Albany Plan, benjamin Franklin wrote of the rejections, The colonial assemblies and most of the people were narrowly provincial in outlook, mutually jealous, and suspicious of any central taxing authority. Many in the British government, already wary of some of the colonial assemblies. They preferred that the colonies concentrate on their part in the military campaign. The Board of Trade never sought official approval for the Plan from the Crown and they proposed that colonial governors, along with some members of their respective councils, order the raising of troops and building of forts, to be funded by the Treasury of Great Britain. This amount would later have to be repaid, and Parliament imposed a tax on the colonies to pay for the defenses in North America, the proposed Galloway Plan, presented at the First Continental Congress, bore striking resemblance to the Albany Plan. It was submitted by conservative Loyalists and quickly rejected in favor of radical proposals. In the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, the Albany Plan of Union inspired some aspects of the draft Articles of Confederation, personal Accounts of the Albany Congress of 1754, Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol.39, No. 4, pp. 727–746 in JSTOR, primary documents Timothy J. Shannon, Indians and Colonists at the Crossroads of Empire, The Albany Congress of 1754 Albany Plan of Union 1754, Yale University
17.
Boston Tea Party
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The Boston Tea Party was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, on December 16,1773. The demonstrators, some disguised as Native Americans, in defiance of the Tea Act of May 10,1773 and they boarded the ships and threw the chests of tea into Boston Harbor. The British government responded harshly and the episode escalated into the American Revolution, the Tea Party was the culmination of a resistance movement throughout British America against the Tea Act, which had been passed by the British Parliament in 1773. Protesters had successfully prevented the unloading of taxed tea in three colonies, but in Boston, embattled Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to allow the tea to be returned to Britain. The Boston Tea Party was a significant event in the growth of the American Revolution, Parliament responded in 1774 with the Coercive Acts, or Intolerable Acts, which, among other provisions, ended local self-government in Massachusetts and closed Bostons commerce. The crisis escalated, and the American Revolutionary War began near Boston in 1775, the North Ministrys attempt to resolve these issues produced a showdown that would eventually result in revolution. As Europeans developed a taste for tea in the 17th century, in England, Parliament gave the East India Company a monopoly on the importation of tea in 1698. When tea became popular in the British colonies, Parliament sought to eliminate competition by passing an act in 1721 that required colonists to import their tea only from Great Britain. The East India Company did not export tea to the colonies, by law, British firms bought this tea and exported it to the colonies, where they resold it to merchants in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. Until 1767, the East India Company paid an ad valorem tax of about 25% on tea that it imported into Great Britain, Parliament laid additional taxes on tea sold for consumption in Britain. To help offset this loss of government revenue, Parliament also passed the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767, instead of solving the smuggling problem, however, the Townshend duties renewed a controversy about Parliaments right to tax the colonies. Controversy between Great Britain and the colonies arose in the 1760s when Parliament sought, for the first time, some colonists, known in the colonies as Whigs, objected to the new tax program, arguing that it was a violation of the British Constitution. Britons and British Americans agreed that, according to the constitution, in Great Britain, this meant that taxes could only be levied by Parliament. Colonists, however, did not elect members of Parliament, according to Whigs, colonists could only be taxed by their own colonial assemblies. When new taxes were levied in the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767, merchants organized a non-importation agreement, and many colonists pledged to abstain from drinking British tea, with activists in New England promoting alternatives, such as domestic Labrador tea. Smuggling continued apace, especially in New York and Philadelphia, where tea smuggling had always been more extensive than in Boston. Parliament finally responded to the protests by repealing the Townshend taxes in 1770, except for the tea duty and this partial repeal of the taxes was enough to bring an end to the non-importation movement by October 1770. From 1771 to 1773, British tea was once imported into the colonies in significant amounts
18.
Intolerable Acts
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The Intolerable Acts were the American Patriots term for a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. They were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance of throwing a large tea shipment into Boston Harbor in reaction to being taxed by the British, in Great Britain, these laws were referred to as the Coercive Acts. The acts took away Massachusetts self-government and historic rights, triggering outrage and they were key developments in the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775. The Patriots viewed the acts as a violation of the rights of Massachusetts. As tensions escalated, the American Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775, relations between the Thirteen Colonies and the British Parliament slowly but steadily worsened after the end of the Seven Years War in 1763. The war had plunged the British government deep into debt, many colonists, however, had developed a different conception of the British Empire. Under the British Constitution, they argued, a British subjects property could not be taken from him without his consent. After the Townshend Acts, some colonial essayists took this line of thinking even further and this question of the extent of Parliaments sovereignty in the colonies was the issue underlying what became the American Revolution. On December 16,1773, a group of Patriot colonists associated with the Sons of Liberty destroyed several tons of tea in Boston, Massachusetts and this made British tea less expensive, which Parliament thought would be a welcome change in the colonies. In addition, there was added a small tax on which the colonists were not allowed to give their consent, again, Parliament taxed the colonists without their representation. News of the Boston Tea Party reached England in January 1774, Parliament responded by passing four laws. Three of the laws were intended to directly punish Massachusetts and this was for destruction of private property, to restore British authority in Massachusetts, and to otherwise reform colonial government in America. Whatever may be the consequences, we must risk something, if we do not, the Massachusetts Government Act provoked even more outrage than the Port Act because it unilaterally took away Massachusetts charter and brought it under control of the British government. Under the terms of the Government Act, almost all positions in the government were to be appointed by the governor, Parliament. The act also limited the activities of town meetings in Massachusetts to one meeting a year. Colonists outside Massachusetts feared that their governments could now also be changed by the legislative fiat of Parliament, george Washington called this the Murder Act because he believed that it allowed British officials to harass Americans and then escape justice. Many colonists believed the act was unnecessary because British soldiers had given a fair trial following the Boston Massacre in 1770. The Quartering Act applied to all of the colonies, and sought to create an effective method of housing British troops in America
19.
Battle of Bunker Hill
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The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17,1775, during the Siege of Boston in the early stages of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts and it was the original objective of both the colonial and British troops, though the majority of combat took place on the adjacent Breeds Hill. In response,1,200 colonial troops under the command of William Prescott stealthily occupied Bunker Hill, during the night, the colonists constructed a strong redoubt on Breeds Hill, as well as smaller fortified lines across the Charlestown Peninsula. By daybreak of June 17, the British became aware of the presence of forces on the Peninsula. Two assaults on the positions were repulsed with significant British casualties. The colonists retreated to Cambridge over Bunker Hill, leaving the British in control of the Peninsula, the battle had demonstrated that inexperienced militia were able to stand up to regular army troops in battle. Subsequently, the battle discouraged the British from any further attacks against well defended front lines. American casualties were much fewer, although their losses included General Joseph Warren and Major Andrew McClary. Their new approach to battle was actually giving the Americans greater opportunity to retreat if defeat was imminent, the costly engagement also convinced the British of the need to hire substantial numbers of foreign mercenaries to bolster their strength in the face of the new and formidable Continental Army. Boston, situated on a peninsula, was protected from close approach by the expanses of water surrounding it. In the aftermath of the battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19,1775, the militia, a force of about 15,000 men had surrounded the town. Under the command of Artemas Ward, they controlled the land access to Boston itself. The British troops, a force of about 6,000 under the command of General Thomas Gage, occupied the city, in theory, they were thus able to remain in Boston indefinitely. However, the land across the water from Boston contained a number of hills, if the militia could obtain enough artillery pieces, these could be placed on the hills and used to bombard the city until the occupying army evacuated it or surrendered. It was with this in mind that the Knox Expedition, led by Henry Knox, the Charlestown Peninsula, lying to the north of Boston, started from a short, narrow isthmus at its northwest, extending about 1 mile southeastward into Boston Harbor. Bunker Hill, with an elevation of 110 feet, lay at the end of the peninsula. Breeds Hill, at a height of 62 feet, was more southerly, the town of Charlestown occupied flats at the southern end of the peninsula. At its closest approach, less than 1,000 feet separated the Charlestown Peninsula from the Boston Peninsula, throughout May, in response to orders from Gage requesting support, the British received reinforcements, until they reached a strength of about 6,000 men
20.
Proclamation of Rebellion
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Issued August 23,1775, it declared elements of the American colonies in a state of open and avowed rebellion. It ordered officials of the British Empire to use their utmost endeavours to withstand, the Proclamation was written before Colonial Secretary Lord Dartmouth had been given a copy of the Olive Branch Petition from the Continental Congress. Because the king refused to receive the petition, the Proclamation effectively served as an answer to the petition, on October 27,1775, King George expanded on the Proclamation in his Speech from the Throne at the opening of Parliament. The king indicated that he intended to deal with the crisis with armed force, a pro-American minority in Parliament warned that the government was driving the colonists towards independence, something that many colonial leaders had insisted they did not desire. Congress maintained that they hoped to avoid the calamities of a civil war. Text of the Proclamation Response from the Continental Congress King Georges speech of October 1775
21.
Fiat money
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Fiat money is a currency established as money by government regulation or law. The term derives from the Latin fiat used in the sense of an order or decree and it differs from commodity money and representative money. The first use of money was recorded in China around 1000 AD. Since then, it has been used by countries, concurrently with commodity currencies. Fiat money has been defined variously as, Any money declared by a government to be legal tender, state-issued money which is neither convertible by law to any other thing, nor fixed in value in terms of any objective standard. Intrinsically valueless money used as money because of government decree, a coin is fiat currency to the extent that its face value, value defined in law, is greater than its market value as metal. In monetary economics, fiat money is an intrinsically valueless object or record that is accepted as a means of payment. Circulating silver coins in the 1960s ceased to be produced containing the metal when the face value of the coin was below the cost of the elemental metal. The Coinage Act of 1965 eliminated silver from the circulating dimes and quarter dollars of the United States, the Canadian penny was mostly copper until 1996 and was removed from circulation in the fall of 2012 due to the cost of production relative to face value. In 2007 the Royal Canadian Mint produced a million dollar gold bullion coin, in 2015, the gold in the coins was worth more than 3.5 times the face value. Fiat money originated in 11th century China, and its use became widespread during the Yuan, the Song Dynasty in China was the first to issue paper money, jiaozi, around the 10th century AD. Although the notes were valued at an exchange rate for gold, silver, or silk. The government made attempts to support the paper by demanding taxes partly in currency and making other laws, but the damage had been done. The successive Yuan Dynasty was the first dynasty in China to use currency as the predominant circulating medium. The founder of the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan, issued paper money known as Chao in his reign, the original notes during the Yuan Dynasty were restricted in area and duration as in the Song Dynasty. During the 13th century, Marco Polo described the money of the Yuan Dynasty in his book The Travels of Marco Polo. All these pieces of paper are issued with as much solemnity and authority as if they were of gold or silver. Tally sticks were employed as fiat currency in medieval England when, due to shortage, Henry I initiated their use by the Exchequer in or around 1100
22.
Thomas Paine
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Thomas Paine was an English-American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary. His ideas reflected Enlightenment-era rhetoric of human rights. He has been called a corsetmaker by trade, a journalist by profession, virtually every rebel read his powerful pamphlet Common Sense, proportionally the all-time best-selling American title, which crystallized the rebellious demand for independence from Great Britain. His The American Crisis was a pamphlet series. Common Sense was so influential that John Adams said, Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, Paine lived in France for most of the 1790s, becoming deeply involved in the French Revolution. He wrote Rights of Man, in part a defense of the French Revolution against its critics and his attacks on Anglo-Irish conservative writer Edmund Burke led to a trial and conviction in absentia in 1792 for the crime of seditious libel. In 1792, despite not being able to speak French, he was elected to the French National Convention, the Girondists regarded him as an ally. Consequently, the Montagnards, especially Robespierre, regarded him as an enemy, in December 1793, he was arrested and was taken to Luxembourg Prison in Paris. While in prison, he continued to work on The Age of Reason, future President James Monroe used his diplomatic connections to get Paine released in November 1794. He also published the pamphlet Agrarian Justice, discussing the origins of property, in 1802, he returned to the U. S. where he died on June 8,1809. Only six people attended his funeral as he had been ostracized for his ridicule of Christianity, Paine was born on January 29,1736, the son of Joseph Pain and Frances, in Thetford, Norfolk, England. Joseph was a Quaker and Frances an Anglican, born Thomas Pain, despite claims that he changed his family name upon his emigration to America in 1774, he was using Paine in 1769, while still in Lewes, Sussex. He attended Thetford Grammar School, at a time there was no compulsory education. At the age of 13, he was apprenticed to his stay-maker father, Paine researchers contend his fathers occupation has been widely misinterpreted to mean that he made the stays in ladies corsets, which likely was an insult later invented by his political foes. Actually, the father and apprentice son made the thick rope stays used on sailing ships, Thetford historically had maintained a brisk trade with the downriver, then major, port town of Kings Lynn. A connection to shipping and the sea explains why, in adolescence, Thomas enlisted and briefly served as a privateer. There, he became a master stay-maker, establishing a shop in Sandwich, on September 27,1759, Thomas Paine married Mary Lambert. Mary became pregnant, and, after they moved to Margate, she went into labor, in which she
23.
Common Sense (pamphlet)
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Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–76 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Written in clear and persuasive prose, Paine marshaled moral and political arguments to encourage people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government. It was published anonymously on January 10,1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution and it was sold and distributed widely and read aloud at taverns and meeting places. In proportion to the population of the colonies at that time, it had the largest sale, as of 2006, it remains the all-time best selling American title, and is still in print today. Common Sense made public a persuasive and impassioned case for independence and he connected independence with common dissenting Protestant beliefs as a means to present a distinctly American political identity, structuring Common Sense as if it were a sermon. Historian Gordon S. Wood described Common Sense as the most incendiary, the text was translated into French by Antoine Gilbert Griffet de Labaume in 1790. Thomas Paine arrived in the American colonies in November 1774, shortly before the Battles of Lexington, though the colonies and Great Britain had commenced hostilities against one another, the thought of independence was not initially entertained. Writing of his experiences in the colonies in 1778, Paine found the disposition of the people such. Their attachment to Britain was obstinate, and it was, at that time and their ideas of grievance operated without resentment, and their single object was reconciliation. Paine quickly engrained himself in the Philadelphia newspaper business, and began writing Common Sense in late 1775 under the title of Plain Truth. Though it began as a series of letters to be published in various Philadelphia papers, it too long and unwieldy to publish as letters. Benjamin Rush recommended the publisher Robert Bell, promising Paine that, Bell zealously promoted the pamphlet in Philadelphias papers, and demand grew so high as to require a second printing. Paine, overjoyed with its success, endeavored to collect his share of the profits and donate them to purchase mittens for General Montgomerys troops, however, when Paines chosen intermediaries audited Bells accounts, they found that the pamphlet actually had made zero profits. Incensed, Paine ordered Bell not to proceed on a second edition, Bell ignored this and began advertising a new edition. While Bell believed this advertisement would convince Paine to retain his services, Paine secured the assistance of the Bradford brothers, publishers of the Pennsylvania Evening Post, and released his new edition, featuring several appendices and additional writings. Bell began working on a second edition, both Paine and Bell published several more editions through the end of their public squabble. The publicity generated by the success and compounded by the publishing disagreements no doubt propelled the pamphlet to incredible sales. Common Sense sold almost 100,000 copies in 1776, one biographer estimates that 500,000 copies sold in the first year, and another writes that Paines pamphlet went through twenty-five published editions in the first year alone
24.
Continental Association
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The Continental Association, often known simply as the Association, was a system created by the First Continental Congress in 1774 for implementing a trade boycott with Great Britain. The Association aimed to alter Britains policies towards the colonies without severing allegiance, the boycott became operative on December 1,1774. The Association was fairly successful while it lasted, trade with Great Britain fell sharply, and the British responded with the New England Restraining Act of 1775. The outbreak of the American Revolutionary War effectively superseded the attempt to boycott British goods, the British Parliament passed the Coercive Acts in 1774 to reform colonial administration in British America and, in part, to punish the Province of Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party. Many American colonists saw the Coercive Acts as a violation of the British Constitution, as they had done during the 1760s—most effectively during the Stamp Act crisis of 1765—colonists turned to economic boycotts to protest what they saw as unconstitutional legislation. The word boycott had not yet coined, colonists referred to their economic protests as, depending upon the specific activity, non-importation, non-exportation. On May 13,1774, the Boston Town Meeting, with Samuel Adams acting as moderator, passed a resolution called for an economic boycott in response to the Boston Port Act. Paul Revere, who served as messenger, carried the Boston resolutions to New York. Adams also promoted the boycott through the committees of correspondence. The First Continental Congress was convened at Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia on September 5,1774, twelve colonies were represented at the Congress. On October 20,1774, Congress created the Association, based on the earlier Virginia Association, the Association signified the increasing cooperation between the colonies. The Association alleged that this system was calculated for enslaving these colonies, and, with them. This was a recognition of the need and demand for American goods abroad, all American colonists were to direct their agents abroad to also comply with these restrictions, as would all ship owners. The Association set forth policies by which the colonists would endure the scarcity of goods, merchants were restricted from price gouging. Local committees of inspection were to be established in the colonies by which compliance would be monitored, any individual observed to violate the pledges in the Articles would be condemned in print and ostracised in society as the enemies of American liberty. Colonies would also cease all trade and dealings with any other colony that failed to comply with the bans and these delegates signed the Association in Congress. Many local signings also took place, the Continental Association went into effect on December 1,1774. The ban did succeed for the time it was in effect, however, the British retaliated by blocking colony access to the North Atlantics fisheries
25.
Richard Henry Lee
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Richard Henry Lee was an American statesman from Virginia best known for the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies independence from Great Britain. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation, and his resolution for independency of June 1776 led to the United States Declaration of Independence and he was a member of the Lee family, a historically influential family in Virginia politics. He was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia to Col. Thomas Lee and he was raised and came from a line of military officers, diplomats, and legislators. His father, Thomas Lee, was the governor of Virginia before his death in 1750, Lee spent most of his early life in Stratford, Virginia with his family at Stratford Hall. In 1748, at 16, Lee left Virginia for Yorkshire, England, to complete his education at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School. Both of his parents died in 1750 and, in 1753, after touring Europe, in 1757, Lee was appointed justice of the peace in Westmoreland County. In 1758 he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, an early advocate of independence, Lee became one of the first to create Committees of Correspondence among the many independence-minded Americans in the various colonies. This resolution was signed by four brothers of George Washington as well as Gilbert Campbell, in August 1774, Lee was chosen as a delegate to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Lee had returned to Virginia by the time Congress voted on and adopted the Declaration of Independence, Lee was elected the sixth President of Congress under the Articles of Confederation on November 30,1784, in the French Arms Tavern, Trenton, New Jersey. On January 11,1785, Congress convened in the old New York City Hall, although, he was not paid a salary for his office as president, his household expenses were paid by Congress in the amount of $12,203.13. Lees Congress was most active in 1785, passing numerous legislation and his most pressing issue, however, was to settle the states territorial disputes over the Northwest Territory. Throughout his term, Lee remained steadfast that the release of states’ territorial claims on the Northwest Territory would enable the government to fund itself with land sales. He believed that the urgency of this measure was paramount because borrowing more foreign money was no longer prudent, the sale of these vast federal lands, he concluded, was the nations only hope to pay off the war debt and adequately fund federal government. On May 3,1785, William Grayson of Virginia made a motion seconded by James Monroe to change “seven miles square” to “six miles square”, and the current US Survey system was born. The states relinquished their right to this test tract of land, and this either required troops to eject the Native Americans or capital to purchase their land fairly, insuring the peaceful sale and settlement. With the states no longer in control of the lands and no federal magistrates or troops to enforce the laws, Lees plan to fill the federal treasury with the proceeds of land sales failed, but the survey system developed under the Land Ordinance of 1785 is still used today. Anne died December 12,1768 at Chantille, Westmoreland Co, the couple had six children, four of whom survived infancy, Elizabeth Virginia Lee, who died in infancy. Thomas Lee, resided at Park Gate from 1790 to 1805, Col. Ludwell Lee, Esq. who married Flora Lee, daughter of Hon. Philip Ludwell Lee, Sr. Esq. and Elizabeth Steptoe, who married secondly, Philip Richard Fendall I
26.
Lee Resolution
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The resolution is named for Richard Henry Lee of Virginia who proposed it to Congress, after receiving instructions from the Virginia Convention and its President, Edmund Pendleton. Some sources indicate Lee used, almost verbatim, the language from the instructions in his resolution, on June 11 Congress decided to establish three committees to develop the resolutions parts, and appointed a Committee of Five to prepare a document to explain the reasons for independence. The independence portion of the resolution was the first approved by Congress, news of its adoption was published that evening in the Pennsylvania Evening Post and the next day in the Pennsylvania Gazette. The text of the document formally announcing this action, the United States Declaration of Independence, was approved on July 4th,1776 which is celebrated as Independence Day, however, the document wasnt signed by all delegates of the United States until August 2nd. The committee drafting a plan of confederation, chaired by John Dickinson, long debates would follow on such issues as sovereignty, the exact powers to be given the confederate government, whether to have a judiciary, and voting procedures. Although in use from time, it would be almost four years before final ratification by all states. Over the next five weeks it would be reviewed and amended by Congress, the formal version of the plan of treaties was adopted on September 17. Alliance with France was considered if the war with England was to be won. When the American Revolutionary War began in 1775, few colonists in British North America openly advocated independence from Great Britain, support for independence grew steadily in 1776, especially after the publication of Thomas Paines pamphlet Common Sense in January of that year. In accordance with instructions, on June 7, Richard Henry Lee proposed the resolution to Congress. That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances and that a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation. Voting on the first clause of Lees resolution was postponed for three weeks while advocates of independence worked to build support in the colonial governments for the resolution. Meanwhile, a Committee of Five was appointed to prepare a formal declaration so that it would be ready when independence, the committee prepared a declaration of independence, written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, and presented it to Congress on June 28,1776. The declaration was set aside while the resolution of independence was debated for several days, the vote on the independence section of the Lee resolution had been postponed until Monday, July 1st, when it was taken up by the Committee of the Whole. At the request of South Carolina, the resolution was not acted upon until the day in the hope of securing unanimity. A trial vote had been tested on the 1st where it was found that South Carolina and Pennsylvania were in the negative, the vote was held on July 2nd, with critical changes happening between Monday and Tuesday. So Lees resolution of independence was approved by twelve of the thirteen colonies, the evening of July 2, the Pennsylvania Evening Post reported, This day the CONTINENTAL CONGRESS declared the UNITED COLONIES FREE and INDEPENDENT STATES. The Pennsylvania Gazette followed suit the day with its own brief report, Yesterday
27.
United States Declaration of Independence
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Instead they formed a new nation—the United States of America. John Adams was a leader in pushing for independence, which was passed on July 2 with no opposing vote cast, a committee of five had already drafted the formal declaration, to be ready when Congress voted on independence. The term Declaration of Independence is not used in the document itself, John Adams persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the original draft of the document, which Congress would edit to produce the final version. The next day, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail, The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, but Independence Day is actually celebrated on July 4, the date that the Declaration of Independence was approved. After ratifying the text on July 4, Congress issued the Declaration of Independence in several forms and it was initially published as the printed Dunlap broadside that was widely distributed and read to the public. The source copy used for printing has been lost. Jeffersons original draft, complete with changes made by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, the best known version of the Declaration, a signed copy that is popularly regarded as the official document, is displayed at the National Archives in Washington, D. C. This engrossed copy was ordered by Congress on July 19, the sources and interpretation of the Declaration have been the subject of much scholarly inquiry. Having served its purpose in announcing independence, references to the text of the Declaration were few in the following years. Abraham Lincoln made it the centerpiece of his rhetoric, and his policies and this has been called one of the best-known sentences in the English language, containing the most potent and consequential words in American history. The passage came to represent a standard to which the United States should strive. Believe me, dear Sir, there is not in the British empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britain than I do. But, by the God that made me, I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament propose, and in this, I think I speak the sentiments of America. By the time that the Declaration of Independence was adopted in July 1776, relations had been deteriorating between the colonies and the mother country since 1763. Parliament enacted a series of measures to increase revenue from the colonies, such as the Stamp Act of 1765, Parliament believed that these acts were a legitimate means of having the colonies pay their fair share of the costs to keep them in the British Empire. Many colonists, however, had developed a different conception of the empire, the colonies were not directly represented in Parliament, and colonists argued that Parliament had no right to levy taxes upon them. This tax dispute was part of a divergence between British and American interpretations of the British Constitution and the extent of Parliaments authority in the colonies. In the colonies, however, the idea had developed that the British Constitution recognized certain fundamental rights that no government could violate, after the Townshend Acts, some essayists even began to question whether Parliament had any legitimate jurisdiction in the colonies at all
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John Dickinson
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When these failed, he reworked Thomas Jeffersons language and wrote the final draft of the 1775 Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms. Dickinson later served as President of the 1786 Annapolis Convention, which called for the Constitutional Convention of 1787, John Dickinson High School was opened/dedicated in 1963 as part of the public schools in northern Delaware. Dickinson was born at Croisadore, his familys plantation near the village of Trappe in Talbot County. There, with 400 acres on the banks of the Choptank River, Walter began a plantation, Croisadore, Walter also bought 800 acres on St. Jones Neck in what became Kent County, Delaware. Croisadore passed through Walters son, William, to his grandson, Samuel, each generation increased the landholdings, so that Samuel inherited 2,500 acres on five farms in three Maryland counties and over his lifetime increased that to 9,000 acres. He also bought the Kent County property from his cousin and expanded it to about 3,000 acres, there he began another plantation and called it Poplar Hall. These plantations were large, profitable agricultural enterprises worked by slave labor, Samuel Dickinson first married Judith Troth on April 11,1710. They had nine children, William, Walter, Samuel, Elizabeth, Henry, Elizabeth Betsy, Rebecca, the three eldest sons died of smallpox while in London seeking their education. Widowed, with two children, Henry and Betsy, Samuel married Mary Cadwalader in 1731. She was the daughter of Martha Jones and the prominent Quaker John Cadwalader who was grandfather of General John Cadwalader of Philadelphia. Their sons, John, Thomas, and Philemon were born in the few years. For three generations the Dickinson family had been members of the Third Haven Friends Meeting in Talbot County, but in 1739, John Dickinsons half-sister, Betsy, was married in an Anglican church to Charles Goldsborough in what was called a disorderly marriage by the Meeting. The couple would be the grandparents of Maryland governor Charles Goldsborough, leaving Croisadore to elder son Henry Dickinson, Samuel moved to Poplar Hall, where he had already taken a leading role in the community as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Kent County. The move also placed Mary nearer her Philadelphia relations, Poplar Hall was situated on a now-straightened bend of the St. Jones River. There was plenty of activity delivering the necessities, and shipping the products produced. Much of this product was wheat that along with wheat from the region, was milled into a superfine flour. Most people at this plantation were servants and slaves of the Dickinsons, Dickinson was educated at home, by his parents and by recent immigrants employed for that purpose. Among them was the Presbyterian minister Francis Alison, who later established New London Academy in Chester County, most important was his tutor, William Killen, who became a lifelong friend and who later became Delaware’s first Chief Justice and Chancellor
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Unicameralism
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In government, unicameralism is the practice of having one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Thus, a parliament or unicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of one chamber or house. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multicameralism, many multicameral legislatures were created to give separate voices to different sectors of society. Multiple chambers allowed for guaranteed representation of different social classes, ethnic or regional interests, where these factors are unimportant, in unitary states with limited regional autonomy, unicameralism often prevails. Unicameral legislatures are also common in official Communist states such as the Peoples Republic of China, similarly, many formerly Communist states, such as Ukraine, Moldova and Serbia, have retained their unicameral legislatures, though others, such as Romania and Poland, adopted bicameral legislatures. Both the former Russian SFSR and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were bicameral, the two chambers were the Soviet of Nationalities and the Soviet of the Union. The Russian Federation retained bicameralism after the dissolution of the USSR, the principal advantage of a unicameral system is more efficient lawmaking, as the legislative process is much simpler and there is no possibility of deadlock. Proponents of unicameralism have also argued that it costs, even if the number of legislators stay the same, since there are fewer institutions to maintain. There is also the risk that important sectors of society may not be adequately represented, approximately half of the worlds sovereign states are currently unicameral, including both the most populous and the least populous. Many subnational entities have unicameral legislatures, and all of the Brazilian states. In the United Kingdom, the devolved Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales, Congress of Deputies of Second Spanish Republic was unicameral between 1931 and 1936. Dissolved at the end of Spanish Civil War, the actual Spanish Parliament is bicameral, Supreme Assembly of Uzbekistan was unicameral before being replaced in 2005 by the current, bicameral Supreme Assembly. National Assembly of Cameroon was unicameral before being replaced in 2013 by the current, chamber of Peoples Representative of Equatorial Guinea was unicameral before being replaced in 2013 by the current, bicameral Parliament of Equatorial Guinea. National Assembly of Kenya was the unicameral legislature before becoming the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Kenya in 2013. National Assembly of Ivory Coast was the unicameral legislature before becoming the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Ivory Coast in 2016. Nebraskas state legislature is also unique in the sense that it is the state legislature that is entirely nonpartisan. In 1999, Governor Jesse Ventura proposed converting the Minnesota Legislature into a unicameral chamber. Although debated, the idea was never adopted, if those constitutional changes had been approved, Puerto Rico could have switched to a unicameral legislature as early as 2015
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Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
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State cessions
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The state cessions are those areas of the United States that the separate states ceded to the federal government in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The cession of lands, which for the most part lay between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River, was key to establishing a harmonious union among the former British colonies. The areas ceded comprise 236,825,600 acres, or 10.4 percent of current United States territory and this does not include the areas later ceded by Texas to the federal government, which make up parts of five more states. Most of the British colonies on the east coast of North America were established in the 17th and early 18th century, when geographical knowledge of North America was incomplete. Many of these colonies were established by proclamation or charter that defined their boundaries as stretching from sea to sea. These colonies thus ended up with theoretical extents that overlapped each other, the proclamation was largely ignored on the ground, however, and various frontier settlement enterprises, owing allegiance to conflicting colonial governments, continued. The claims of the colonies corresponded in varying degrees to the reality on the ground in the west at the eve of the Revolution. Kentucky, for instance, was organized into a county of Virginia in 1776, Massachusetts claims to land in modern-day Michigan and Wisconsin, by contrast, amounted to little more than lines drawn on a map. The potential for trouble arising from these claims was twofold, one problem was obvious, in many cases more than one state laid claim to the same piece of territory, but clearly only one would be ultimately recognized as the sovereign. The other conflict also threatened the peace of the new union, only seven of the thirteen states had western land claims, and the other, landless states were fearful of being overwhelmed by states that controlled vast stretches of the new frontier. The cessions also set the stage for the settlement of the Upper Midwest, Georgia held on to its claims over trans-Appalachian land for another decade, and this claim was complicated by the fact that much of the land was also disputed between the United States and Spain. When Georgia finally sold the land west of its current boundaries to the United States for cash in 1802, Date ceded, 1780-02-19 Date accepted, 1782-10-29 Claims, cessions and dispute resolutions, Ceded claims west of Lake Ontario, sold Erie Triangle to Pennsylvania. Date ceded, 1781-01-02 Date completed, 1784-03-01 Claims and cessions, Ceded its territory north and west of the Ohio River, the land south and east of the Ohio, known as Kentucky, was retained by Virginia and organized into counties, Fayette, Jefferson and Lincoln counties. Kentucky was finally admitted in 1792, after the adoption of the U. S, constitution and multiple attempts to agree upon a state constitution that was acceptable to both Virginia and the U. S. Congress. South Carolina ceded this land to the Federal Government and adjusted the boundary with Georgia in a separate agreement, note that the claim by South Carolina had been for land between the headwaters of the Savannah River and the southern boundary of North Carolina, and thence westward. In fact, however, later and more accurate surveying showed that the headwaters of the Savannah River actually extended into North Carolina and this meant that this strip of land for South Carolina had actually been illusory. Date ceded, 1789-12-22 Date effective, 1790-02-25 Claims and cessions and this became the Southwest Territory, which just six years later was admitted to the Union as the State of Tennessee in 1796. Georgia ceded this land on 1802-04-24,12 years after all other western land cessions had been completed, ratified by the Georgia Legislature on 1802-06-16 This land consisted of the Yazoo lands, lying between the 35th parallel and the 31st parallel of latitude westward through the Mississippi River
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Ohio River
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The Ohio River, which streams westward from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Cairo, Illinois, is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River in the United States. The 981-mile river flows through or along the border of six states, through its largest tributary, the Tennessee River, the basin includes many of the states of the southeastern U. S. It is the source of drinking water for three million people and it is named in Iroquoian or Seneca, Ohi, yó, lit. Good River or Shawnee, Pelewathiipi and Spelewathiipi, the river had great significance in the history of the Native Americans, as numerous civilizations formed along its valley. For thousands of years, Native Americans used the river as a major transportation, in 1669, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle led a French expedition to the Ohio River, becoming the first Europeans to see it. After European-American settlement, the served as a border between present-day Kentucky and Indian Territories. It was a transportation route for pioneers during the westward expansion of the early U. S. In his Notes on the State of Virginia published in 1781–82, Thomas Jefferson stated and its current gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken by rocks and rapids, a single instance only excepted. During the 19th century, the river was the boundary of the Northwest Territory. Where the river was narrow, it was the way to freedom for thousands of slaves escaping to the North, many helped by free blacks and whites of the Underground Railroad resistance movement. The Ohio River is a transition area, as its water runs along the periphery of the humid subtropical. It is inhabited by fauna and flora of both climates, in winter, it regularly freezes over at Pittsburgh but rarely further south toward Cincinnati and Louisville. At Paducah, Kentucky, in the south, near the Ohios confluence with the Mississippi, Paducah was founded there because it is the northernmost ice-free reach of the Ohio. The Ohio River is formed by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers at Point State Park in Pittsburgh, from there, it flows northwest through Allegheny and Beaver counties, before making an abrupt turn to the south-southwest at the West Virginia–Ohio–Pennsylvania triple-state line. From there, it forms the border between West Virginia and Ohio, upstream of Wheeling, West Virginia, the river then follows a roughly southwest and then west-northwest course until Cincinnati, before bending to a west-southwest course for most of its length. The course forms the borders of West Virginia and Kentucky. The Ohio drains parts of 15 states in four regions, northeast New York, a small area of the southern border along the headwaters of the Allegheny. Pennsylvania, a corridor from the corner to north central border
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Maryland General Assembly
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The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U. S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a body, the upper chamber, the Maryland State Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamber. Members of both houses serve four-year terms, the 2016 Legislative Session, the General Assemblys 436th session, convened January 13 - April 11,2016. The General Assembly will reconvene Wednesday, January 11,2017 at 12,00 p. m. for its 437th session, the forerunner of the Maryland General Assembly was the colonial institution, an assembly of free Marylanders, which bore the same name. Marylands foundational charter created a state ruled by the Palatine lord, Lord Baltimore, in addition, the Lord Proprietor could summon any delegates whom he desired. In some ways the General Assembly was an improvement upon the institutions of the mother country, during the American Revolution the colonial Assembly ceased to exist, and was replaced by its modern successor. Each senator or delegate must be a citizen of Maryland and a resident of the state for at least one year preceding his or her election, a prospective legislator must have resided for the six months prior to election in the legislative district the candidate seeks to represent. A senator must be at least twenty-five years of age at the time of election, persons elected to or holding a civil or military office other than as a member of a reserve component under the federal or State government are not eligible for election to the General Assembly. However, members of the General Assembly are not term limited, a Constitutional amendment, the plan created 47 legislative districts, many of which cross county boundaries to delineate districts relatively equal in population. Each legislative district elects one senator and three delegates, in most districts, the three delegates are elected at large from the whole district via block voting. The Senate is led by a President and the House by a Speaker whose respective duties and prerogatives enable them to influence the process significantly. The President and Speaker preside over the sessions of their respective chambers, maintaining decorum. As legislation is introduced, they assign it to a committee for consideration. The president pro tempore appoints majority and minority whips and leaders, a bill is a proposal to change, repeal, or add to existing state law. A House Bill is one introduced in the House of Delegates, bills are designated by number, in the order of introduction in each house. For example, HB16 refers to the bill introduced in the House of Delegates. The numbering starts afresh each session, the names of the sponsor, the legislator who introduced the bill, becomes part of the title. They are listed with the title of a legislator rather than the Governor due to requirements in the Maryland Constitution
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South Carolina
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South Carolina /ˌsaʊθ kærəˈlaɪnə/ is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. The state is bordered to the north by North Carolina, to the south and west by Georgia across the Savannah River, South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the U. S. Constitution, doing so on May 23,1788. South Carolina became the first state to vote to secede from the Union on December 20,1860, after the American Civil War, it was readmitted into the United States on June 25,1868. South Carolina is the 40th most extensive and the 23rd most populous U. S. state and its GDP as of 2013 was $183.6 billion, with an annual growth rate of 3. 13%. The capital and largest city is Columbia with a 2013 population of 133,358, South Carolina is named in honor of King Charles I of England, under whose reign the English colony was first formed, with Carolus being Latin for Charles. There is evidence of activity in the area about 12000 years ago. Along the Savannah River were the Apalachee, Yuchi, and the Yamasee, further west were the Cherokee, and along the Catawba River, the Catawba. These tribes were village-dwellers, relying on agriculture as their food source. The Cherokee lived in wattle and daub houses made with wood and clay, about a dozen separate small tribes summered on the coast harvesting oysters and fish, and cultivating corn, peas and beans. Travelling inland as much as 50 miles mostly by canoe, they wintered on the plain, hunting deer and gathering nuts. The names of these survive in place names like Edisto Island, Kiawah Island. The Spanish were the first Europeans in the area, in 1521, founding San Miguel de Gualdape, established with 500 settlers, it was abandoned within a year by 150 survivors. In 1562 French settlers established a settlement at what is now the Charlesfort-Santa Elena archaeological site on Parris Island, three years later the Spanish built a fort on the same site, but withdrew following hostilities with the English navy. In 1629, King Charles I of England established the Province of Carolina an area covering what is now South and North Carolina, Georgia, in the 1670s, English planters from the Barbados established themselves near what is now Charleston. Settlers built rice plantations in the South Carolina Lowcountry, east of the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, settlers came from all over Europe. Plantation labor was done by African slaves who formed the majority of the population by 1720, another cash crop was the Indigo plant, a plant source of blue dye, developed by Eliza Lucas. Meanwhile, in Upstate South Carolina, west of the Fall Line, was settled by farmers and traders. Colonists overthrew the rule, seeing more direct representation
35.
New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year
36.
Rhode Island
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Rhode Island, officially the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Rhode Island is the smallest in area, the eighth least populous, and its official name is also the longest of any state in the Union. Rhode Island is bordered by Connecticut to the west, Massachusetts to the north and east, the state also shares a short maritime border with New York. It boycotted the 1787 convention that drew up the United States Constitution, on May 29,1790, Rhode Island became the 13th and last state to ratify the Constitution. Rhode Islands official nickname is The Ocean State, a reference to the fact that the state has several large bays, Rhode Island covers 1,214 square miles, of which 1,045 square miles are land. Despite its name, most of Rhode Island is located on the mainland of the United States, the official name of the state is State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which is derived from the merger of four settlements. Rhode Island is now commonly called Aquidneck Island, the largest of several islands in Narragansett Bay, Providence Plantation was the name of the colony founded by Roger Williams in the area now known as the city of Providence. This was adjoined by the settlement of Warwick, hence the plural Providence Plantations and it is unclear how Aquidneck Island came to be known as Rhode Island, although there are two popular theories. Explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano noted the presence of an island near the mouth of Narragansett Bay in 1524, subsequent European explorers were unable to precisely identify the island that Verrazzano had named, but the Pilgrims who later colonized the area assumed that it was Aquidneck. A second theory concerns the fact that Adriaen Block passed by Aquidneck during his expeditions in the 1610s, historians have theorized that this reddish appearance resulted from either red autumn foliage or red clay on portions of the shore. The earliest documented use of the name Rhode Island for Aquidneck was in 1637 by Roger Williams, the name was officially applied to the island in 1644 with these words, Aquethneck shall be henceforth called the Isle of Rodes or Rhode-Island. The name Isle of Rodes is used in a document as late as 1646. Dutch maps as early as 1659 call the island Red Island, Williams was a theologian forced out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Seeking religious and political tolerance, he and others founded Providence Plantation as a proprietary colony. Providence referred to the concept of providence, and plantation was an English term for a colony. State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is the longest official name of any state in the Union, advocates for excising plantation asserted that the word specifically referred to the British colonial practice of establishing settlements which disenfranchised native people. Advocates for retaining the name argued that plantation was simply an archaic English synonym for colony, the referendum election was held on November 2,2010, and the people voted overwhelmingly to retain the entire original name. It shares a maritime border with New York State between Block Island and Long Island
37.
Connecticut
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Connecticut is the southernmost state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Connecticut is also often grouped along with New York and New Jersey as the Tri-State Area and it is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capital city is Hartford, and its most populous city is Bridgeport, the state is named for the Connecticut River, a major U. S. river that approximately bisects the state. The word Connecticut is derived from various anglicized spellings of an Algonquian word for long tidal river, Connecticut is the third smallest state by area, the 29th most populous, and the fourth most densely populated of the 50 United States. It is known as the Constitution State, the Nutmeg State, the Provisions State, and it was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States. Connecticuts center of population is in Cheshire, New Haven County, Connecticuts first European settlers were Dutch. They established a small, short-lived settlement in present-day Hartford at the confluence of the Park, initially, half of Connecticut was a part of the Dutch colony New Netherland, which included much of the land between the Connecticut and Delaware rivers. The first major settlements were established in the 1630s by England, the Connecticut and New Haven Colonies established documents of Fundamental Orders, considered the first constitutions in North America. In 1662, the three colonies were merged under a charter, making Connecticut a crown colony. This colony was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, the Connecticut River, Thames River, and ports along the Long Island Sound have given Connecticut a strong maritime tradition which continues today. The state also has a history of hosting the financial services industry, including insurance companies in Hartford. As of the 2010 Census, Connecticut features the highest per-capita income, Human Development Index, and median household income in the United States. Landmarks and Cities of Connecticut Connecticut is bordered on the south by Long Island Sound, on the west by New York, on the north by Massachusetts, and on the east by Rhode Island. The state capital and third largest city is Hartford, and other cities and towns include Bridgeport, New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury, Norwalk, Danbury, New Britain, Greenwich. Connecticut is slightly larger than the country of Montenegro, there are 169 incorporated towns in Connecticut. The highest peak in Connecticut is Bear Mountain in Salisbury in the northwest corner of the state, the highest point is just east of where Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York meet, on the southern slope of Mount Frissell, whose peak lies nearby in Massachusetts. At the opposite extreme, many of the towns have areas that are less than 20 feet above sea level. Connecticut has a maritime history and a reputation based on that history—yet the state has no direct oceanfront
38.
Georgia (U.S. state)
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Georgia is a state in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1733, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies, named after King George II of Great Britain, Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2,1788. It declared its secession from the Union on January 19,1861 and it was the last state to be restored to the Union, on July 15,1870. Georgia is the 24th largest and the 8th most populous of the 50 United States, from 2007 to 2008,14 of Georgias counties ranked among the nations 100 fastest-growing, second only to Texas. Georgia is known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South, Atlanta is the states capital, its most populous city and has been named a global city. Georgia is bordered to the south by Florida, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina, to the west by Alabama, the states northern part is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the Appalachian Mountains system. Georgias highest point is Brasstown Bald at 4,784 feet above sea level, Georgia is the largest state entirely east of the Mississippi River in land area. Before settlement by Europeans, Georgia was inhabited by the mound building cultures, the British colony of Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe on February 12,1733. The colony was administered by the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America under a charter issued by King George II. The Trustees implemented a plan for the colonys settlement, known as the Oglethorpe Plan. In 1742 the colony was invaded by the Spanish during the War of Jenkins Ear, in 1752, after the government failed to renew subsidies that had helped support the colony, the Trustees turned over control to the crown. Georgia became a colony, with a governor appointed by the king. The Province of Georgia was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution by signing the 1776 Declaration of Independence, the State of Georgias first constitution was ratified in February 1777. Georgia was the 10th state to ratify the Articles of Confederation on July 24,1778, in 1829, gold was discovered in the North Georgia mountains, which led to the Georgia Gold Rush and an established federal mint in Dahlonega, which continued its operation until 1861. The subsequent influx of white settlers put pressure on the government to land from the Cherokee Nation. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law, sending many eastern Native American nations to reservations in present-day Oklahoma, including all of Georgias tribes. Despite the Supreme Courts ruling in Worcester v. Georgia that ruled U. S. states were not permitted to redraw the Indian boundaries, President Jackson and the state of Georgia ignored the ruling. In 1838, his successor, Martin Van Buren, dispatched troops to gather the Cherokee
39.
New Hampshire
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New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, New Hampshire is the 5th smallest by land area and the 9th least populous of the 50 United States. Concord is the capital, while Manchester is the largest city in the state and in northern New England, including Vermont. It has no sales tax, nor is personal income taxed at either the state or local level. The New Hampshire primary is the first primary in the U. S. presidential election cycle and its license plates carry the state motto, Live Free or Die. The states nickname, The Granite State, refers to its extensive granite formations, the state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire by Captain John Mason. New Hampshire is part of the New England region and it is bounded by Quebec, Canada, to the north and northwest, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Massachusetts to the south, and Vermont to the west. New Hampshires major regions are the Great North Woods, the White Mountains, the Lakes Region, the Seacoast, the Merrimack Valley, the Monadnock Region, and the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee area. New Hampshire has the shortest ocean coastline of any U. S. coastal state, New Hampshire was home to the rock formation called the Old Man of the Mountain, a face-like profile in Franconia Notch, until the formation disintegrated in May 2003. Major rivers include the 110-mile Merrimack River, which bisects the lower half of the state north–south and ends up in Newburyport and its tributaries include the Contoocook River, Pemigewasset River, and Winnipesaukee River. The 410-mile Connecticut River, which starts at New Hampshires Connecticut Lakes and flows south to Connecticut, only one town – Pittsburg – shares a land border with the state of Vermont. The northwesternmost headwaters of the Connecticut also define the Canada–U. S, the Piscataqua River and its several tributaries form the states only significant ocean port where they flow into the Atlantic at Portsmouth. The Salmon Falls River and the Piscataqua define the southern portion of the border with Maine, the U. S. Supreme Court dismissed the case in 2002, leaving ownership of the island with Maine. New Hampshire still claims sovereignty of the base, however, the largest of New Hampshires lakes is Lake Winnipesaukee, which covers 71 square miles in the east-central part of New Hampshire. Umbagog Lake along the Maine border, approximately 12.3 square miles, is a distant second, Squam Lake is the second largest lake entirely in New Hampshire. New Hampshire has the shortest ocean coastline of any state in the United States, Hampton Beach is a popular local summer destination. It is the state with the highest percentage of area in the country. New Hampshire is in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome, much of the state, in particular the White Mountains, is covered by the conifers and northern hardwoods of the New England-Acadian forests
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Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania /ˌpɛnsᵻlˈveɪnjə/, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle, Pennsylvania is the 33rd largest, the 5th most populous, and the 9th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The states five most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, the state capital, and its ninth-largest city, is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has 140 miles of shoreline along Lake Erie and the Delaware Estuary. The state is one of the 13 original founding states of the United States, it came into being in 1681 as a result of a land grant to William Penn. Part of Pennsylvania, together with the present State of Delaware, had earlier been organized as the Colony of New Sweden and it was the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, on December 12,1787. Independence Hall, where the United States Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were drafted, is located in the states largest city of Philadelphia, during the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, was fought in the south central region of the state. Valley Forge near Philadelphia was General Washingtons headquarters during the winter of 1777–78. Pennsylvania is 170 miles north to south and 283 miles east to west, of a total 46,055 square miles,44,817 square miles are land,490 square miles are inland waters, and 749 square miles are waters in Lake Erie. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States, Pennsylvania has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. Cities include Philadelphia, Reading, Lebanon and Lancaster in the southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, the tri-cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, the northeast includes the former anthracite coal mining communities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston City, and Hazleton. Erie is located in the northwest, the state has 5 regions, namely the Allegheny Plateau, Ridge and Valley, Atlantic Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and the Erie Plain. Straddling two major zones, the majority of the state, with the exception of the corner, has a humid continental climate. The largest city, Philadelphia, has characteristics of the humid subtropical climate that covers much of Delaware. Moving toward the interior of the state, the winter climate becomes colder, the number of cloudy days increase. Western areas of the state, particularly locations near Lake Erie, can receive over 100 inches of snowfall annually, the state may be subject to severe weather from spring through summer into fall. Tornadoes occur annually in the state, sometimes in large numbers, the Tuscarora Nation took up temporary residence in the central portion of Pennsylvania ca. Both the Dutch and the English claimed both sides of the Delaware River as part of their lands in America
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Massachusetts
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It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, New Hampshire and Vermont to the north, and New York to the west. The state is named for the Massachusett tribe, which inhabited the area. The capital of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England is Boston, over 80% of Massachusetts population lives in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, a region influential upon American history, academia, and industry. Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution, during the 20th century, Massachusetts economy shifted from manufacturing to services. Modern Massachusetts is a leader in biotechnology, engineering, higher education, finance. Plymouth was the site of the first colony in New England, founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims, in 1692, the town of Salem and surrounding areas experienced one of Americas most infamous cases of mass hysteria, the Salem witch trials. In 1777, General Henry Knox founded the Springfield Armory, which during the Industrial Revolution catalyzed numerous important technological advances, in 1786, Shays Rebellion, a populist revolt led by disaffected American Revolutionary War veterans, influenced the United States Constitutional Convention. In the 18th century, the Protestant First Great Awakening, which swept the Atlantic World, in the late 18th century, Boston became known as the Cradle of Liberty for the agitation there that led to the American Revolution. The entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts has played a commercial and cultural role in the history of the United States. Before the American Civil War, Massachusetts was a center for the abolitionist, temperance, in the late 19th century, the sports of basketball and volleyball were invented in the western Massachusetts cities of Springfield and Holyoke, respectively. Many prominent American political dynasties have hailed from the state, including the Adams, both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also in Cambridge, have been ranked among the most highly regarded academic institutions in the world. Massachusetts public school students place among the top nations in the world in academic performance, the official name of the state is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. While this designation is part of the official name, it has no practical implications. Massachusetts has the position and powers within the United States as other states. Massachusetts was originally inhabited by tribes of the Algonquian language family such as the Wampanoag, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Pocomtuc, Mahican, and Massachusett. While cultivation of crops like squash and corn supplemented their diets, villages consisted of lodges called wigwams as well as longhouses, and tribes were led by male or female elders known as sachems. Between 1617 and 1619, smallpox killed approximately 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Native Americans, the first English settlers in Massachusetts, the Pilgrims, arrived via the Mayflower at Plymouth in 1620, and developed friendly relations with the native Wampanoag people. This was the second successful permanent English colony in the part of North America that later became the United States, the event known as the First Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World which lasted for three days
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North Carolina
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North Carolina is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west, Virginia to the north, North Carolina is the 28th most extensive and the 9th most populous of the U. S. states. The state is divided into 100 counties, the most populous municipality is Charlotte, which is the second largest banking center in the United States after New York City. The state has a range of elevations, from sea level on the coast to 6,684 feet at Mount Mitchell. The climate of the plains is strongly influenced by the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the falls in the humid subtropical climate zone. More than 300 miles from the coast, the western, mountainous part of the state has a highland climate. North Carolina is bordered by South Carolina on the south, Georgia on the southwest, Tennessee on the west, Virginia on the north, the United States Census Bureau places North Carolina in the South Atlantic division of the southern region. So many ships have been lost off Cape Hatteras that the area is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic, the most famous of these is the Queen Annes Revenge, which went aground in Beaufort Inlet in 1718. The coastal plain transitions to the Piedmont region along the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, the Piedmont region of central North Carolina is the states most populous region, containing the six largest cities in the state by population. It consists of rolling countryside frequently broken by hills or low mountain ridges. The Piedmont ranges from about 300 feet in elevation in the east to about 1,500 feet in the west, the western section of the state is part of the Appalachian Mountain range. Among the subranges of the Appalachians located in the state are the Great Smoky Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains, the Black Mountains are the highest in the eastern United States, and culminate in Mount Mitchell at 6,684 feet, the highest point east of the Mississippi River. North Carolina has 17 major river basins, the five basins west of the Blue Ridge Mountains flow to the Gulf of Mexico, while the remainder flow to the Atlantic Ocean. Of the 17 basins,11 originate within the state of North Carolina, but only four are contained entirely within the states border – the Cape Fear, the Neuse, the White Oak, and the Tar-Pamlico basin. Elevation above sea level is most responsible for temperature change across the state, the climate is also influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream, especially in the coastal plain. These influences tend to cause warmer winter temperatures along the coast, the coastal plain averages around 1 inch of snow or ice annually, and in many years, there may be no snow or ice at all. North Carolina experiences severe weather in summer and winter, with summer bringing threat of hurricanes, tropical storms, heavy rain
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New Jersey
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New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania, New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state but the 11th-most populous and the most densely populated of the 50 United States. New Jersey lies entirely within the statistical areas of New York City. New Jersey was inhabited by Native Americans for more than 2,800 years, in the early 17th century, the Dutch and the Swedes made the first European settlements. New Jersey was the site of decisive battles during the American Revolutionary War in the 18th century. In the 19th century, factories in cities such as Camden, Paterson, Newark, Trenton, around 180 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period, New Jersey bordered North Africa. The pressure of the collision between North America and Africa gave rise to the Appalachian Mountains, around 18,000 years ago, the Ice Age resulted in glaciers that reached New Jersey. As the glaciers retreated, they left behind Lake Passaic, as well as rivers, swamps. New Jersey was originally settled by Native Americans, with the Lenni-Lenape being dominant at the time of contact, scheyichbi is the Lenape name for the land that is now New Jersey. The Lenape society was divided into clans that were based upon common female ancestors. These clans were organized into three distinct phratries identified by their animal sign, Turtle, Turkey, and Wolf and they first encountered the Dutch in the early 17th century, and their primary relationship with the Europeans was through fur trade. The Dutch became the first Europeans to lay claim to lands in New Jersey, the Dutch colony of New Netherland consisted of parts of modern Middle Atlantic states. Although the European principle of ownership was not recognized by the Lenape. The first to do so was Michiel Pauw who established a patronship called Pavonia in 1630 along the North River which eventually became the Bergen, peter Minuits purchase of lands along the Delaware River established the colony of New Sweden. During the English Civil War, the Channel Island of Jersey remained loyal to the British Crown and it was from the Royal Square in St. Helier that Charles II of England was proclaimed King in 1649, following the execution of his father, Charles I. The North American lands were divided by Charles II, who gave his brother, the Duke of York, the region between New England and Maryland as a proprietary colony. James then granted the land between the Hudson River and the Delaware River to two friends who had remained loyal through the English Civil War, Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley of Stratton, the area was named the Province of New Jersey. Since the states inception, New Jersey has been characterized by ethnic, New England Congregationalists settled alongside Scots Presbyterians and Dutch Reformed migrants
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Delaware
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Delaware is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic and/or Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, to the northeast by New Jersey, the state takes its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman and Virginias first colonial governor. Delaware occupies the portion of the Delmarva Peninsula and is the second smallest, the sixth least populous. Delaware is divided into three counties, the lowest number of counties of any state, from north to south, the three counties are New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. While the southern two counties have historically been agricultural, New Castle County has been more industrialized. Before its coastline was explored by Europeans in the 16th century, Delaware was inhabited by groups of Native Americans, including the Lenape in the north. It was initially colonized by Dutch traders at Zwaanendael, near the present town of Lewes, Delaware was one of the 13 colonies participating in the American Revolution. On December 7,1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution of the United States, the Delaware Indians, a name used by Europeans for Lenape people indigenous to the Delaware Valley, also derive their name from the same source. The surname de La Warr comes from Sussex and is of Anglo-Norman origin and it came probably from a Norman lieu-dit La Guerre. This toponymic could derive from the Latin word ager, from the Breton gwern or from the Late Latin varectum, the toponyms Gara, Gare, Gaire also appear in old texts cited by Lucien Musset, where the word gara means gore. It could also be linked with a patronymic from the Old Norse verr, Delaware is 96 miles long and ranges from 9 miles to 35 miles across, totaling 1,954 square miles, making it the second-smallest state in the United States after Rhode Island. Delaware is bounded to the north by Pennsylvania, to the east by the Delaware River, Delaware Bay, New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean, small portions of Delaware are also situated on the eastern side of the Delaware River sharing land boundaries with New Jersey. The state of Delaware, together with the Eastern Shore counties of Maryland, the definition of the northern boundary of the state is unusual. Most of the boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania was originally defined by an arc extending 12 miles from the cupola of the courthouse in the city of New Castle and this boundary is often referred to as the Twelve-Mile Circle. This is the only nominally circular state boundary in the United States, to the west, a portion of the arc extends past the easternmost edge of Maryland. The remaining western border runs slightly east of due south from its intersection with the arc, the Wedge of land between the northwest part of the arc and the Maryland border was claimed by both Delaware and Pennsylvania until 1921, when Delawares claim was confirmed. Delaware is on a plain, with the lowest mean elevation of any state in the nation. Its highest elevation, located at Ebright Azimuth, near Concord High School, the northernmost part of the state is part of the Piedmont Plateau with hills and rolling surfaces
Virginia
South Carolina
New York
Rhode Island
Connecticut
Georgia
New Hampshire
Pennsylvania
Massachusetts
North Carolina
New Jersey
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Maryland
