1.
National Register of Historic Places
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The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
2.
Ellicott City, Maryland
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Ellicott City is an unincorporated community and census-designated place, along with being the county seat of local government in Howard County, Maryland, United States. It is part of the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area, the population was 65,834 at the U. S. Decennial Census of 2010. It is the county seat of Howard County, founded in 1772, the town contains the B. & O. Railroad Museums branch at the Ellicott City Station, built in 1830, and the first terminus of the initial line. The downtown historic district is located in the valley of the Tiber River, as of the 2000 U. S. Census, Ellicott City surpassed Towson, Maryland for the first time, as the largest unincorporated county seat in the country. The town is prone to flooding from the Patapsco River and Tiber Creek and these floods have had a major impact on the history of the town, often destroying important businesses and killing many. Ellicott City has had devastating floods in 1817,1837,1868,1901,1917,1923,1938,1942,1952,1956,1972,1975,1989,2011 and 2016. The 1868 flood washed away 14 houses, killing 39 to 43 in and it wiped out the Granite Manufacturing Cotton Mill, Charles A. Gambrills Patapsco Mill, John Lee Carrolls mill buildings, and dozens of homes. One mill was rebuilt by Charles Gambill, which remained in operation until a fire in 1916, a 1923 flood topped bridges, in 1952 an eight-foot wall of water swept the shops of Ellicott City, and a 1956 flood inflicted heavy damage at the Bartigis Brothers plant. A severe flood occurred in 1972 as a result of rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Agnes, in which Ellicott City, on 27 Sept 1975, flooded 9.0 feet from Hurricane Eloise. And floods occurred Sept 22,1989 from Hurricane Hugo, and also on Sept 7,2011, on July 30,2016, a storm dropped six inches of rain in two hours on the city. The resulting flash flood caused damage in historic Ellicott City. Many homes, roads, businesses, sidewalks, and more were destroyed by the flooding, including the landmark clock. A state of emergency was declared, and two died as a result of the flooding. In 1766 James Hood used the Maryland Mill Act of 1669 to condemn 20 acres for a site adjacent to his river-side 157 acres property. His grist mill was built on the banks of the Patapsco River where the Frederick road crossed and his son Benjamin rebuilt the corn grinding mill after one of the frequent Patapsco floods in 1768. Benjamin Hood then sold the mill to Joseph Ellicott in 1774 for 1,700 pounds, in later years the B&O railroad ran through the property, with track laid over the graves of the Hood family. In 1775 they expanded their holdings with 30.5 acres from Bartholomew Balderson, John, Andrew, and Joseph Ellicott founded Ellicotts Mills, which became one of the largest milling and manufacturing towns in the East. Nathaniel sold his partnership in 1777, Joseph sold all but his Hoods Mill ownership the next year, the town retained the name Ellicotts Mills when the U. S. Postal stop opened on October 7,1797
3.
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
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He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and Confederation Congress and later as first United States Senator for Maryland. He was the only Catholic and the signatory of the Declaration of Independence. The Carroll family were descendants of the Ó Cearbhaill lords of Éile in Kings County, Charles Carroll the Settler was the son of Daniel OCarroll of Litterluna. The O in Irish surnames was often dropped due to the Anglicisation policy of the occupying English, Charles Carroll the Settler had a son, born in 1702 and also named Charles. To distinguish himself from his father he was known as Charles Carroll of Annapolis, Carroll was born on September 19,1737, in Annapolis, Maryland, the only child of Charles Carroll of Annapolis and Elizabeth Brooke. He was born illegitimate, as his parents were not married at the time of his birth, the young Carroll was educated at a Jesuit preparatory school known as Bohemia Manor in Cecil County on Marylands Eastern Shore. At the age of eleven, he was sent to France where he continued in Jesuit schools, first at the College of St. Omer and he continued his studies in Europe, and read for the law in London before returning to Annapolis in 1765. Charles Carroll of Annapolis granted Carrollton Manor to his son, Charles Carroll of Carrollton and it is from this tract of land that he took his title, Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Like his father, Carroll was a Roman Catholic, and as a consequence was barred by Maryland statute from entering politics, practicing law, but, as the dispute between Great Britain and her colonies intensified in the early 1770s, Carroll became a powerful voice for independence. In 1772 he engaged in a debate conducted through anonymous newspaper letters, writing in the Maryland Gazette under the pseudonym First Citizen, he became a prominent spokesman against the governors proclamation increasing legal fees to state officers and Protestant clergy. Opposing Carroll in these debates and writing as Antillon was Daniel Dulany the Younger. Eventually word spread of the identity of the two combatants, and Carrolls fame and notoriety began to grow. Following these written debates, Carroll became an opponent of British rule. The day of the burning is commemorated in Maryland by a holiday and historical event commemorating the American Revolution. In the early 1770s Carroll appears to have embraced the idea that violence could break the impasse with Great Britain. According to legend, Carroll and Samuel Chase had the exchange, Chase, We have the better of our opponents. Carroll, And do you think that writing will settle the question between us, Chase, To be sure, what else can we resort to. Our arguments will only raise the feelings of the people to that pitch, beginning with his election to Marylands committee of correspondence in 1774, Carroll represented the colony in most of the pre-revolutionary groups
4.
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
5.
Georgian architecture
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Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, George III, and George IV—who reigned in continuous succession from August 1714 to June 1830. The style of Georgian buildings is very variable, but marked by a taste for symmetry and proportion based on the architecture of Greece and Rome. Ornament is also normally in the tradition, but typically rather restrained. In towns, which expanded greatly during the period, landowners turned into property developers, even the wealthy were persuaded to live in these in town, especially if provided with a square of garden in front of the house. There was an amount of building in the period, all over the English-speaking world. The period saw the growth of a distinct and trained architectural profession, before the mid-century the high-sounding title and this contrasted with earlier styles, which were primarily disseminated among craftsmen through the direct experience of the apprenticeship system. Authors such as the prolific William Halfpenny published editions in America as well as Britain, mail-order kit homes were also popular before World War II. The architect James Gibbs was a figure, his earlier buildings are Baroque, reflecting the time he spent in Rome in the early 18th century. Other prominent architects of the early Georgian period include James Paine, Robert Taylor, and John Wood, the styles that resulted fall within several categories. In the mainstream of Georgian style were both Palladian architecture—and its whimsical alternatives, Gothic and Chinoiserie, which were the English-speaking worlds equivalent of European Rococo. John Nash was one of the most prolific architects of the late Georgian era known as The Regency style, greek Revival architecture was added to the repertory, beginning around 1750, but increasing in popularity after 1800. Leading exponents were William Wilkins and Robert Smirke, regularity of housefronts along a street was a desirable feature of Georgian town planning. In Britain brick or stone are almost invariably used, brick is often disguised with stucco, in America and other colonies wood remained very common, as its availability and cost-ratio with the other materials was more favourable. Versions of revived Palladian architecture dominated English country house architecture, Houses were increasingly placed in grand landscaped settings, and large houses were generally made wide and relatively shallow, largely to look more impressive from a distance. The height was usually highest in the centre, and the Baroque emphasis on corner pavilions often found on the continent generally avoided, in grand houses, an entrance hall led to steps up to a piano nobile or mezzanine floor where the main reception rooms were. A single block was typical, with a perhaps a small court for carriages at the front marked off by railings and a gate, but rarely a stone gatehouse, or side wings around the court. Windows in all types of buildings were large and regularly placed on a grid, this was partly to minimize window tax and their height increasingly varied between the floors, and they increasingly began below waist-height in the main rooms, making a small balcony desirable
6.
Charles Carroll of Annapolis
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Charles Carroll II known as Charles Carroll of Annapolis to distinguish him from his similarly named relatives, was a wealthy Maryland planter and lawyer. Charles Carroll of Annapolis inherited and extended his fathers fortune but and his older brother Henry died shortly before their father, in 1719. Like many sons of wealthy Marylanders, Carroll was sent to England to study law, in around 1726 Carroll began courting Elizabeth Brooke, the daughter of Clement Brooke and Jane Sewall. They were not married, however, until 1757, when their son Charles was twenty years old and its unclear why they waited so long, it may have had something to do with Maryland inheritance laws. Charles Carroll of Annapoliss horse was beaten in 1743 by George Hume Steuarts Dungannon in the Annapolis Subscription Plate, the plate itself now forms part of the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art. Like his father, Charles Carroll of Annapolis never gave up hope of overcoming Marylands religious intolerance, the Charles Carroll House, with its beautiful manicured gardens on historic Duke of Gloucester Street, was one of the Carroll familys substantial Eighteenth Century homes. Today it is one of Annapoliss landmark museum houses, colonial families of Maryland Carroll family Andrews, Matthew Page. Doubleday Doran & Co. hometownannapolis. net Retrieved February 22,2010
7.
Greek Revival architecture
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The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture, the term was first used by Charles Robert Cockerell in a lecture he gave as Professor of Architecture to the Royal Academy of Arts, London in 1842. With a newfound access to Greece, or initially the books produced by the few who had actually been able to visit the sites, archaeologist-architects of the period studied the Doric and Ionic orders. This was especially the case in Britain, Germany and the United States, Greek Revival architecture took a different course in a number of countries, lasting until the Civil War in America and even later in Scotland. Despite the unbounded prestige of ancient Greece amongst the elite of Europe. The monuments of Greek antiquity were known chiefly from Pausanias and other literary sources, visiting Ottoman Greece was difficult and dangerous business prior to the period of stagnation beginning with the Great Turkish War. Few Grand Tourists called on Athens during the first half of the 18th century and it would take until the expedition funded by the Society of Dilettanti of 1751 by James Stuart and Nicholas Revett before serious archaeological inquiry began in earnest. Access to the originals in Greece itself only became easier after the Greek War of Independence ended in 1832, Lord Byrons participation, following James Stuarts travels to Greece in the early 1750s, intellectual curiosity quickly led to a desire to emulate. Stuart was commissioned after his return from Greece by George Lyttelton to produce the first Greek building in England, arguably the greatest British exponent of the style was Decimus Burton. In London twenty three Greek Revival Commissioners churches were built between 1817 and 1829, the most notable being St. Pancras church by William and Henry William Inwood. Such was the popularity of the Doric in Edinburgh that the city now enjoys a striking visual uniformity, nevertheless, Greek continued to be in favour in Scotland well into the 1870s in the singular figure of Alexander Thomson, known as Greek Thomson. In Germany, the Greek revival is predominantly found in two centres, Berlin and Munich, the earliest Greek building was the Brandenburg Gate by Carl Gotthard Langhans, who modelled it on the Propylaea. Ten years after the death of Frederick the Great, the Berlin Akademie initiated a competition for a monument to the king that would promote morality, similarly, in Munich von Klenzes Glyptothek and Walhalla were the fulfilment of Gillys vision of an orderly and moral German world. The purity and seriousness of the style was intended as an assertion of German national values and partly intended as a riposte to France. By comparison, the Greek revival in France was never popular with either the state or the public, what little there is started with Charles de Waillys crypt in the church of St Leu-St Gilles, and Claude Nicolas Ledouxs Barriere des Bonshommes. It would take until Laboustres Neo-Grec of the Second Empire for the Greek revival to flower briefly in France, the style was especially attractive in Russia, if only because they shared the Eastern Orthodox faith with the Greeks. The historic centre of Saint Petersburg was rebuilt by Alexander I of Russia, the Saint Petersburg Bourse on Vasilievsky Island has a temple front with 44 Doric columns. Leo von Klenzes expansion of the palace that is now the Hermitage Museum is another example of the style, following the Greek War of Independence, Romantic Nationalist ideology encouraged the use of historically Greek architectural styles in place of Ottoman or pan-European ones
8.
George Washington
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George Washington was an American politician and soldier who served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797 and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and he is popularly considered the driving force behind the nations establishment and came to be known as the father of the country, both during his lifetime and to this day. Washington was widely admired for his leadership qualities and was unanimously elected president by the Electoral College in the first two national elections. Washingtons incumbency established many precedents still in use today, such as the system, the inaugural address. His retirement from office two terms established a tradition that lasted until 1940 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term. The 22nd Amendment now limits the president to two elected terms and he was born into the provincial gentry of Colonial Virginia to a family of wealthy planters who owned tobacco plantations and slaves, which he inherited. In his youth, he became an officer in the colonial militia during the first stages of the French. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress commissioned him as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolution, in that command, Washington forced the British out of Boston in 1776 but was defeated and nearly captured later that year when he lost New York City. After crossing the Delaware River in the middle of winter, he defeated the British in two battles, retook New Jersey, and restored momentum to the Patriot cause and his strategy enabled Continental forces to capture two major British armies at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781. In battle, however, Washington was repeatedly outmaneuvered by British generals with larger armies, after victory had been finalized in 1783, Washington resigned as commander-in-chief rather than seize power, proving his opposition to dictatorship and his commitment to American republicanism. Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which devised a new form of government for the United States. Following his election as president in 1789, he worked to unify rival factions in the fledgling nation and he supported Alexander Hamiltons programs to satisfy all debts, federal and state, established a permanent seat of government, implemented an effective tax system, and created a national bank. In avoiding war with Great Britain, he guaranteed a decade of peace and profitable trade by securing the Jay Treaty in 1795 and he remained non-partisan, never joining the Federalist Party, although he largely supported its policies. Washingtons Farewell Address was a primer on civic virtue, warning against partisanship, sectionalism. He retired from the presidency in 1797, returning to his home, upon his death, Washington was eulogized as first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen by Representative Henry Lee III of Virginia. He was revered in life and in death, scholarly and public polling consistently ranks him among the top three presidents in American history and he has been depicted and remembered in monuments, public works, currency, and other dedications to the present day. He was born on February 11,1731, according to the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar was adopted within the British Empire in 1752, and it renders a birth date of February 22,1732. Washington was of primarily English gentry descent, especially from Sulgrave and his great-grandfather John Washington emigrated to Virginia in 1656 and began accumulating land and slaves, as did his son Lawrence and his grandson, Georges father Augustine
9.
Thomas Jefferson
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Thomas Jefferson was an American Founding Father who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and later served as the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809. Previously, he was elected the second Vice President of the United States, Jefferson was primarily of English ancestry, born and educated in colonial Virginia. He graduated from the College of William & Mary and briefly practiced law and he became the United States Minister to France in May 1785, and subsequently the nations first Secretary of State in 1790–1793 under President George Washington. Jefferson and James Madison organized the Democratic-Republican Party to oppose the Federalist Party during the formation of the First Party System, as President, Jefferson pursued the nations shipping and trade interests against Barbary pirates and aggressive British trade policies. He also organized the Louisiana Purchase, almost doubling the countrys territory, as a result of peace negotiations with France, his administration reduced military forces. Jeffersons second term was beset with difficulties at home, including the trial of former Vice President Aaron Burr, American foreign trade was diminished when Jefferson implemented the Embargo Act of 1807, responding to British threats to U. S. shipping. In 1803, Jefferson began a process of Indian tribe removal to the newly organized Louisiana Territory. Jefferson mastered many disciplines, which ranged from surveying and mathematics to horticulture and he was a proven architect in the classical tradition. Jeffersons keen interest in religion and philosophy earned him the presidency of the American Philosophical Society and he shunned organized religion, but was influenced by both Christianity and deism. He was well versed in linguistics and spoke several languages and he founded the University of Virginia after retiring from public office. He was a letter writer and corresponded with many prominent and important people throughout his adult life. His only full-length book is Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson owned several plantations which were worked by hundreds of slaves. Most historians now believe that, after the death of his wife in 1782, he had a relationship with his slave Sally Hemings and fathered at least one of her children. Various modern scholars are more critical of Jeffersons private life, pointing out the discrepancy between his ownership of slaves and his political principles, for example. Presidential scholars, however, consistently rank Jefferson among the greatest presidents, Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13,1743, at the family home in Shadwell in the Colony of Virginia, the third of ten children. He was of English and possibly Welsh descent and was born a British subject and his father Peter Jefferson was a planter and surveyor who died when Jefferson was fourteen, his mother was Jane Randolph. Peter Jefferson moved his family to Tuckahoe Plantation in 1745 upon the death of a friend who had named him guardian of his children, the Jeffersons returned to Shadwell in 1752, where Peter died in 1757, his estate was divided between his sons Thomas and Randolph. Thomas inherited approximately 5,000 acres of land, including Monticello and he assumed full authority over his property at age 21
10.
John Adams
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John Adams was an American patriot who served as the second President of the United States and the first Vice President. He was a lawyer, diplomat, statesman, political theorist, and, as a Founding Father and he was also a dedicated diarist and correspondent, particularly with his wife and closest advisor Abigail. He collaborated with his cousin, revolutionary leader Samuel Adams, Adams was a delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress, where he played a leading role in persuading Congress to declare independence. He assisted Thomas Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776, as a diplomat in Europe, he helped negotiate the eventual peace treaty with Great Britain, and acquired vital governmental loans from Amsterdam bankers. Adams was the author of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780 which influenced American political theory. Adamss credentials as a revolutionary secured for him two terms as President George Washingtons vice president and also his own election in 1796 as the second president. In his single term as president, he encountered fierce criticism from the Jeffersonian Republicans, as well as the dominant faction in his own Federalist Party, led by his rival Alexander Hamilton. Adams signed the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts, and built up the army, the major accomplishment of his presidency was a peaceful resolution of the conflict in the face of Hamiltons opposition. Due to his strong posture on defense, Adams is often called the father of the American Navy and he was the first U. S. president to reside in the executive mansion, now known as the White House. In 1800, Adams lost re-election to Thomas Jefferson and retired to Massachusetts and he eventually resumed his friendship with Jefferson upon the latters own retirement by initiating a correspondence which lasted fourteen years. He and his wife established a family of politicians, diplomats, Adams was the father of John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States. He died on the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Modern historians in the aggregate have favorably ranked his administration, John Adams was born on October 30,1735 to John Adams Sr. and Susanna Boylston. He had two brothers, Peter and Elihu. Adams birthplace was then in Braintree, Massachusetts, and is preserved at Adams National Historical Park, Adams mother was from a leading medical family of present-day Brookline, Massachusetts. His father was a Congregationalist deacon, a farmer, a cordwainer, the Deacon also served as a selectman and supervised the building of schools and roads. Adams often praised his father and recalled their close relationship, though raised in modest surroundings, Adams felt an acute responsibility to live up to his familys heritage of reverence. Journalist Richard Brookhiser wrote that Adams Puritan ancestors believed they lived in the Bible, England under the Stuarts was Egypt, they were Israel fleeing
11.
John Hancock
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John Hancock was an American merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first, before the American Revolution, Hancock was one of the wealthiest men in the Thirteen Colonies, having inherited a profitable mercantile business from his uncle. Hancock began his career in Boston as a protégé of Samuel Adams. As tensions between colonists and Great Britain increased in the 1760s, Hancock used his wealth to support the colonial cause and he became very popular in Massachusetts, especially after British officials seized his sloop Liberty in 1768 and charged him with smuggling. Although the charges against Hancock were eventually dropped, he has often described as a smuggler in historical accounts. Hancock was one of Bostons leaders during the crisis led to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1775. He served more than two years in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, and as president of Congress, was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence, Hancock returned to Massachusetts and was elected governor of the Commonwealth, serving in that role for most of his remaining years. He used his influence to ensure that Massachusetts ratified the United States Constitution in 1788, according to the Gregorian calendar, John Hancock was born on January 23,1737, according to the Julian calendar then in use, the date was January 12,1736. He was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, in a part of town eventually became the separate city of Quincy. He was the son of the Reverend John Hancock of Braintree and Mary Hawke Thaxter, as a child, Hancock became a casual acquaintance of young John Adams, whom the Reverend Hancock had baptized in 1735. The Hancocks lived a life, and owned one slave to help with household work. After Hancocks father died in 1744, John was sent to live with his uncle and aunt, Thomas Hancock, Thomas Hancock was the proprietor of a firm known as the House of Hancock, which imported manufactured goods from Britain and exported rum, whale oil, and fish. Thomas Hancocks highly successful business made him one of Bostons richest and he and Lydia, along with several servants and slaves, lived in Hancock Manor on Beacon Hill. The couple, who did not have any children of their own, after graduating from the Boston Latin School in 1750, Hancock enrolled in Harvard College and received a bachelors degree in 1754. Upon graduation, he began to work for his uncle, just as the French, Thomas Hancock had close relations with the royal governors of Massachusetts and secured profitable government contracts during the war. John Hancock learned much about his uncles business during these years and was trained for eventual partnership in the firm, Hancock worked hard, but he also enjoyed playing the role of a wealthy aristocrat and developed a fondness for expensive clothes. From 1760 to 1761, Hancock lived in England while building relationships with customers and suppliers, upon returning to Boston, Hancock gradually took over the House of Hancock as his uncles health failed, becoming a full partner in January 1763. He became a member of the Masonic Lodge of St. Andrew in October 1762, which connected him with many of Bostons most influential citizens
