1.
Charles Townshend
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Charles Townshend was a British politician. He was a child, suffered from epilepsy, and had a strained relationship with his parents. The latter would chronicle their exploits in his Autobiography, while in opposition his mind was swayed to and fro with conflicting emotions of dislike to the head of the ministry and of desire to share in the spoils of office. His wife was created baroness of Greenwich, and his elder brother George, a witty speaker in the House of Commons, his champagne speech was particularly remembered. He had the support of his cousin Thomas Townshend who was also a minister in the government, soon after that he died somewhat suddenly on 4 September 1767. The American towns of Townsend, Massachusetts and Townshend, Vermont were founded and named after Charles Townshend in 1732 and 1753 and he had one of those happy tempers which nothing can ruffle, without a grain of pride, sternness or resentment in his nature. Ready to laugh with every body and at every thing, he poured out wit in torrents, references Sources This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Townshend, Charles. Lady Louisa Stuart, Memoire of Frances, Lady Douglas William Edward Hartpole Lecky, History of England, Horace Walpole, edited by G. F. R. Barker Reuben Percy and Sholto Percy The Percy Anecdotes,1823, online text. Thomas, Peter D. G. Townshend, Charles
2.
American Revolution
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The British responded by imposing punitive laws on Massachusetts in 1774 known as the Coercive Acts, following which Patriots in the other colonies rallied behind Massachusetts. Tensions escalated to the outbreak of fighting between Patriot militia and British regulars at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the conflict then developed into a global war, during which the Patriots fought the British and Loyalists in what became known as the American Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress determined King George IIIs rule to be tyrannical and infringing the rights as Englishmen. The Patriot leadership professed the political philosophies of liberalism and republicanism to reject monarchy and aristocracy, Congress rejected British proposals requiring allegiance to the monarchy and abandonment of independence. The British were forced out of Boston in 1776, but then captured and they blockaded the ports and captured other cities for brief periods, but failed to defeat Washingtons forces. After a failed Patriot invasion of Canada, a British army was captured at the Battle of Saratoga in late 1777, a combined American–French force captured a second British army at Yorktown in 1781, effectively ending the war in the United States. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 formally ended the conflict, confirming the new nations complete separation from the British Empire. The United States took possession of all the territory east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes, with the British retaining control of Canada. Among the significant results of the revolution was the creation of a new Constitution of the United States. Historians typically begin their histories of the American Revolution with the British victory in the French and Indian War in 1763, the lands west of Quebec and west of a line running along the crest of the Allegheny mountains became Indian territory, temporarily barred to settlement. For the prior history, see Thirteen Colonies, in 1764, Parliament passed the Currency Act to restrain the use of paper money which British merchants saw as a means to evade debt payments. Parliament also passed the Sugar Act, imposing customs duties on a number of articles, none did and Parliament passed the Stamp Act in March 1765 which imposed direct taxes on the colonies for the first time. All official documents, newspapers, almanacs, and pamphlets—even decks of playing cards—were required to have the stamps, the colonists did not object that the taxes were high, but because they had no representation in the Parliament. Benjamin Franklin testified in Parliament in 1766 that Americans already contributed heavily to the defense of the Empire, stationing a standing army in Great Britain during peacetime was politically unacceptable. London had to deal with 1,500 politically well-connected British officers who became redundant, in 1765, the Sons of Liberty formed. They used public demonstrations, boycott, violence, and threats of violence to ensure that the British tax laws were unenforceable, in Boston, the Sons of Liberty burned the records of the vice admiralty court and looted the home of chief justice Thomas Hutchinson. Several legislatures called for united action, and nine colonies sent delegates to the Stamp Act Congress in New York City in October 1765, moderates led by John Dickinson drew up a Declaration of Rights and Grievances stating that taxes passed without representation violated their rights as Englishmen. Colonists emphasized their determination by boycotting imports of British merchandise, the Parliament at Westminster saw itself as the supreme lawmaking authority throughout all British possessions and thus entitled to levy any tax without colonial approval
3.
Union Jack
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The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the national flag of the United Kingdom. Further, it is used as a flag in some of the smaller British overseas territories. The Union Jack also appears in the canton of the flags of several nations, the claim that the term Union Jack properly refers only to naval usage has been disputed, following historical investigations by the Flag Institute in 2013. The origins of the flag of Great Britain date back to 1606. King James also began to refer to a Kingdom of Great Britaine, the present design of the Union Flag dates from a Royal proclamation following the union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. Notably, the country of Wales is not represented separately in the Union Jack, being only indirectly represented through the cross of St George. The terms Union Jack and Union Flag are both historically correct for describing the de facto flag of the United Kingdom. Whether the term Union Jack applies only when used as a flag on a ship is a modern matter of debate. According to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Until the early 17th century England and Scotland were two independent kingdoms. This changed dramatically in 1603 on the death of Elizabeth I of England, because the Queen died unmarried and childless, the English crown passed to the next available heir, her cousin James VI, King of Scotland. England and Scotland now shared the same monarch under what was known as a union of the crowns, in 1606, James VI gave orders for a British flag to be created which bore the combined crosses of St. George and of St. Andrew. The result was the Union Jack, Jack being a shortening of Jacobus, the institute also notes, it is often stated that the Union Flag should only be described as the Union Jack when flown in the bows of a warship, but this is a relatively recent idea. In 1908, a government minister stated, in response to a parliamentary question, notwithstanding Their Lordships circular of 1902, by 1913 the Admiralty described the Union Flag and added in a foot note that A Jack is a Flag to be flown only on the Jack Staff. However, the authoritative A Complete Guide to Heraldry published in 1909 by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies uses the term Union Jack, the term Union Flag is used in King Charles Is 1634 proclamation. Andrew and St. Patrick Quarterly per Saltire, counterchanged Argent and Gules, when the first flag representing Britain was introduced on the proclamation of King James I in 1606, it became known simply as the British flag or the flag of Britain. The royal proclamation gave no name to the new flag. The word jack was in use before 1600 to describe the maritime bow flag, by 1627 a small Union Jack was commonly flown in this position. Reinforcing the distinction the Kings proclamation of the day concerning the arms
4.
Grand Union Flag
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The Grand Union Flag is considered to be the first national flag of the United States of America, previously that of the United Colonies of North America, until 1777. This flag consisted of 13 alternating red and white stripes, individual states had been using their own independent flags with Massachusetts using the Taunton Flag and New York using the George Rex Flag prior to the adoption of the Grand Union Flag. The event had been documented in letters to Congress and eyewitness accounts, the flag was used by the American Continental Army forces as both a naval ensign and garrison flag throughout 1776 and early 1777. It is not known for certain when or by whom the design of the Continental Colors was created, the Alfred flag has been credited to Margaret Manny. Some scholars dispute the account and conclude that the flag raised at Prospect Hill was probably a British union flag. The name Grand Union is contemporary to Reconstruction-era historians and was first applied to the Continental Colors by George Henry Preble, the design of the flag is strikingly similar to the flag of the British East India Company. Indeed, certain EIC designs in use since 1707 were nearly identical and that EIC flags could be well known by the American colonists has been the basis of a theory of the origin of the national flags design. The combined crosses in the British Union flag symbolized the union of the Kingdom of England, the symbolism of a union of equal parts was retained in the new American flag, as described in the Flag Resolution of June 14,1777. Betsy Ross flag Ansoff, Peter, The Flag on Prospect Hill, Raven, A Journal of Vexillology,13, 77–100, ISSN 1071-0043, LCCN94642220. Fawcett, Charles, The Striped Flag of the East India Company, History of the National Flag of the United States of America Leepson, Marc, Flag, An American Biography, ISBN 0-312-32308-5. Preble, George Henry, History of the Flag of the United States of America, Grand Union Flag at Flags of the World
5.
Betsy Ross flag
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The first documented usage of this flag was in 1792. The flag features 13 stars to represent the original 13 colonies with the stars arranged in a circle, the National Museum of American History notes that the story first entered into American consciousness about the time of the 1876 Centennial Exposition celebrations. Canby said he first obtained this information from his aunt Clarissa Sydney Wilson in 1857, Canby dates the historic episode based on Washingtons journey to Philadelphia, in late spring 1776, a year before Congress passed the Flag Act. Betsy Ross was promoted as a role model for young girls. Historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich further explored this line of enquiry in a 2007 article, How Betsy Ross Became Famous, Oral Tradition, Nationalism, Betsy accepted the job to manufacture the flag, altering the committees design by replacing the six-pointed stars with five-pointed stars. Betsy Rosss story was published in 1870,34 years after her death, by her only surviving grandson, William J. Canby, the paper included stories he had heard from family members throughout the years. According to Canbys paper, Sitting sewing in her one day with her girls around her. She recognized one of these as the uncle of her husband, Col. GEORGE ROSS. The committee were shown into her back parlor, the back of the shop. It was defective to the eye of Mrs Ross and unsymmetrical, and she offered suggestions which Washington. One of the alterations had reference to the shape of the stars, in the drawing they were made with six points. Mrs Ross at once said that this was wrong, the stars should be five pointed, they were aware of that, colonel Washington was the active one in making the design, the others having little or nothing to do with it. When it was completed, it was given to William Barrett, painter, the gentleman drew out of a chest an old ships color, which he loaned her to show her how the sewing was done, and also the drawing painted by Barrett. Other designs had been prepared by the committee and one or two of them were placed in the hands of other seamstresses to be made. The flag was finished, and Betsy returned it, the first Star Spangled Banner that ever floated upon the breeze. The next day Col. Canbys account has been the source of some debate and it is generally regarded as being neither proven nor disproven, and any evidence that may have once existed has been lost. The main reason historians and flag experts do not believe that Betsy Ross designed or sewed the first American flag is a lack of historical evidence, no records show that the Continental Congress had a committee to design the national flag in the spring of 1776. However he did serve on a committee with John Ross uncle George Read in 1776, there is no evidence to show that Betsy Ross and George Washington knew each other, or that George Washington was ever in her shop
6.
Declaration of Independence (Trumbull)
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It was based on a much smaller version of the same scene, presently held by the Yale University Art Gallery. Trumbull painted many of the figures in the picture from life, the oil-on-canvas work was commissioned in 1817, purchased in 1819, and placed in the rotunda in 1826. The painting is incorrectly described as the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The painting shows 42 of the 56 signers of the Declaration and he also depicted several participants in the debate who did not sign the document, including John Dickinson, who declined to sign. Trumbull also had no portrait of Benjamin Harrison V to work with, the Declaration was debated and signed over a period of time when membership in Congress changed, so the men in the painting had actually never all been in the same room at the same time. Thomas Jefferson seems to be stepping on John Adams foot in the painting, however, upon closer examination of the painting, it can be seen that their feet are merely close together. This part of the image was depicted on the two-dollar bill version. Key to figures, Four men seated on the far left,1, Seated at the table on the left,4. Benjamin Harrison Seated together to the right of Harrison and in front of the figures,6. George Clinton Five figures standing together on the left,9, arthur Middleton Three seated figures in the back between the two sets of standing figures,14. George Walton Set of three figures standing together in the back,23, george Clymer Ten figures seated,17. Francis Hopkinson Five figures standing in front,30, Benjamin Franklin Four background figures seated together near the right corner of the room,35. Samuel Huntington Two figures standing in the corner of the room,39. Oliver Wolcott Two foreground figures at the table,42. John Hancock Three figures standing at right,43, edward Rutledge Two figures seated at far right,46. Its first use was on the side of the $100 National Bank Note issued in 1863. The depiction was engraved by Frederick Girsch of the American Bank Note Company, the same steel engraving was used on the 24¢ stamp issued as part of the 1869 pictorial series of definitive U. S. postage stamps. Trumbulls painting is depicted on the reverse of the two-dollar bill
7.
Stamp Act 1765
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Printed materials included legal documents, magazines, playing cards, newspapers, and many other types of paper used throughout the colonies. Like previous taxes, the tax had to be paid in valid British currency. The purpose of the tax was to pay for troops stationed in North America after the British victory in the Seven Years War and its North American theater of the French. The Americans said that there was no military need for the soldiers there were no foreign enemies on the continent. They suggested that it was actually a matter of British patronage to surplus British officers, the Stamp Act was very unpopular among colonists. A consensus considered it a violation of their rights as Englishmen to be taxed without their consent—consent that only the colonial legislatures could grant and their slogan was No taxation without representation. Colonial assemblies sent petitions and protests, the Stamp Act Congress held in New York City was the first significant joint colonial response to any British measure, it petitioned Parliament and the King. Local protest groups led by merchants and landowners established connections through Committees of Correspondence. Protests and demonstrations initiated by a new organization called the Sons of Liberty often turned violent. Very soon, all stamp tax distributors were intimidated into resigning their commissions, opposition to the Stamp Act was not limited to the colonies. British merchants and manufacturers, whose exports to the colonies were threatened by colonial boycotts, the Act was repealed on March 18,1766 as a matter of expedience, but Parliament affirmed its power to legislate for the colonies in all cases whatsoever by also passing the Declaratory Act. There followed a series of new taxes and regulations, likewise opposed by the colonists, the British victory in the Seven Years War, known in America as the French and Indian War, had been won only at a great financial cost. During the war, the British national debt increased more than fourfold, the primary reason for retaining such a large force was that demobilizing the army would put 1,500 officers out of work, many of whom were well-connected in Parliament. Stationing 10,000 troops to separate American Indians and frontiersmen was one role, the outbreak of Pontiacs Rebellion in May 1763 apparently reinforced the logic of this decision, as it was an American Indian uprising against the British expansion. The main reason to send 10,000 troops deep into the wilderness was to provide billets for the officers who were part of the British patronage system. John Adams said, Revenue is still demanded from America, and appropriated to the maintenance of swarms of officers and pensioners in idleness and luxury. George Grenville became prime minister in April 1763 after the failure of the short-lived Bute Ministry, raising taxes in Britain was out of the question, since there had been virulent protests in England against the Bute ministrys 1763 cider tax, with Bute being hanged in effigy. The Grenville ministry therefore decided that Parliament would raise revenue by taxing the American colonists without their consent
8.
Tea Act
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Tea Act of 1773 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The principal objective was to reduce the amount of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses. A related objective was to undercut the price of illegal tea and this was supposed to convince the colonists to purchase Company tea on which the Townshend duties were paid, thus implicitly agreeing to accept Parliaments right of taxation. It received the royal assent on May 10,1773, the companys authorised consignees were harassed, and in many colonies successful efforts were made to prevent the tea from being landed. In Boston, this culminated in the Boston Tea Party on December 16,1773. These actions further raised tensions that led to the eruption of the American War of Independence in April 1775, the Act effectively became a dead letter, but was not formally removed from the books until passage of the Statute Law Revision Act 1861. In the 1760s and early 1770s, the East India Company had been required to sell its tea exclusively in London on which it paid a duty which averaged two shillings and six pence per pound. Tea destined for the North American colonies would be purchased by merchants specializing in that trade, smugglers imported some 900,000 pounds of cheap foreign tea per year. The quality of the smuggled tea did not match the quality of the dutiable East India Company tea, the administration of Lord North saw an opportunity to achieve several goals with a single bill. Colonists would willingly pay for cheaper Company tea, on which the Townshend tax was still collected, the Act, which received the royal assent on May 10,1773, contained the following provisions, The Company was eligible to be granted licence to export tea to North America. The Company was no longer required to sell its tea at the London Tea Auction, duties on tea destined for North America and foreign parts would either be refunded on export or not imposed. Consignees receiving the Companys tea were required to pay a deposit upon receipt of tea, proposals were made that the Townshend tax also be waived, but North opposed this idea, citing the fact that those revenues were used to pay the salaries of crown officials in the colonies. The Company was granted license by the North administration to ship tea to major American ports, including Charleston, Philadelphia, New York City, consignees who were to receive the tea and arrange for its local resale were generally favorites of the local governor. In Massachusetts, Governor Thomas Hutchinson was a part-owner of the hired by the Company to receive tea shipped to Boston. Many colonists opposed the Act, not so much because it rescued the East India Company, merchants who had been acting as the middlemen in legally importing tea stood to lose their business, as did those whose illegal Dutch trade would be undercut by the Companys lowered prices. These interests combined forces, citing the taxes and the Companys monopoly status as reasons to oppose the Act, in New York and Philadelphia, opposition to the Act resulted in the return of tea delivered there back to Britain. In Charleston, the left the tea on the docks to rot. Governor Hutchinson in Boston was determined to leave the ships in port, similar Destruction of the Tea occurred in New York and other ports shortly thereafter, though Boston took the brunt of Imperial retaliation, because it was the first culprit
9.
Boston Massacre
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The Boston Massacre, known as the Incident on King Street by the British, was an incident on March 5,1770, in which British Army soldiers shot and killed people while under attack by a mob. The incident was publicized by leading Patriots, such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams. Amid ongoing tense relations between the population and the soldiers, a mob formed around a British sentry, who was subjected to verbal abuse and he was eventually supported by eight additional soldiers, who were subjected to verbal threats and snowballs. Spontaneously they fired into the crowd, instantly killing three demonstrators, two died later. The crowd eventually dispersed after Acting Governor Thomas Hutchinson promised an inquiry, eight soldiers, one officer, and four civilians were arrested and charged with murder. Defended by lawyer and future American president John Adams, six of the soldiers were acquitted, Boston, the capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and an important shipping town, was a major center of resistance to unpopular acts of taxation by the British Parliament in the 1760s. In 1768, the Townshend Acts were placed upon the colonists, by which a variety of items that were manufactured in Britain. Colonists objected that the Townshend Acts were a violation of the natural, charter, the Massachusetts House of Representatives began a campaign against the Townshend Acts by sending a petition to King George III asking for the repeal of the Townshend Revenue Act. In Great Britain, Lord Hillsborough, who had recently appointed to the newly created office of Colonial Secretary, was alarmed by the actions of the Massachusetts House. In April 1768 he sent a letter to the governors in America. He also ordered Massachusetts Governor Francis Bernard to direct the Massachusetts House to rescind the letter. Bostons chief customs officer, Charles Paxton, wrote to Hillsborough, commodore Samuel Hood responded by sending the fifty-gun warship HMS Romney, which arrived in Boston Harbor in May 1768. On June 10,1768, customs officials seized Liberty, a sloop owned by leading Boston merchant John Hancock, Bostonians, already angry because the captain of Romney had been impressing local sailors, began to riot. Customs officials fled to Castle William for protection, given the unstable state of affairs in Massachusetts, Hillsborough instructed General Thomas Gage, Commander-in-Chief, North America, to send such Force as You shall think necessary to Boston. On October 1,1768, the first of four British Army regiments began disembarking in Boston, two regiments were removed from Boston in 1769, but the 14th and the 29th Regiments of Foot remained. Tensions rose markedly after Christopher Seider, a lad about eleven Years of Age, was killed by a customs employee on February 22,1770. Seiders death was glorified in the Boston Gazette, and his funeral was described as one of the largest of the time in Boston, the killing and subsequent propaganda inflamed tensions, with gangs of colonists looking for soldiers to harass, and soldiers also on occasion looking for confrontation. On the evening of March 5, Private Hugh White, a British soldier, stood on duty outside the Custom house on King Street
10.
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
11.
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
12.
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
13.
Continental Army
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The Continental Army was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Congress on June 14,1775, the Continental Army was supplemented by local militias and troops that remained under control of the individual states or were otherwise independent. General George Washington was the commander-in-chief of the army throughout the war, most of the Continental Army was disbanded in 1783 after the Treaty of Paris ended the war. The 1st and 2nd Regiments went on to form the nucleus of the Legion of the United States in 1792 under General Anthony Wayne and this became the foundation of the United States Army in 1796. The Continental Army consisted of soldiers from all 13 colonies, and after 1776, when the American Revolutionary War began at the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19,1775, the colonial revolutionaries did not have an army. As tensions with Great Britain increased in the leading to the war. Training of militiamen increased after the passage of the Intolerable Acts in 1774, colonists such as Richard Henry Lee proposed forming a national militia force, but the First Continental Congress rejected the idea. On April 23,1775, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress authorized the raising of an army consisting of 26 company regiments. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut soon raised similar, on July 18,1775, the Congress requested all colonies form militia companies from all able bodied effective men, between sixteen and fifty years of age. It was not uncommon for men younger than sixteen to enlist as most colonies had no requirement of consent for those under twenty-one. Four major-generals and eight brigadier-generals were appointed by the Second Continental Congress in the course of a few days, after Pomeroy did not accept, John Thomas was appointed in his place. As the Continental Congress increasingly adopted the responsibilities and posture of a legislature for a sovereign state, as a result, the army went through several distinct phases, characterized by official dissolution and reorganization of units. Soldiers in the Continental Army were citizens who had volunteered to serve in the army, early in the war the enlistment periods were short, as the Continental Congress feared the possibility of the Continental Army evolving into a permanent army. The army never numbered more than 17,000 men, turnover proved a constant problem, particularly in the winter of 1776–77, and longer enlistments were approved. Major General Philip Schuylers ten regiments in New York were sent to invade Canada, the Continental Army of 1776, reorganized after the initial enlistment period of the soldiers in the 1775 army had expired. Despite attempts to broaden the recruiting base beyond New England, the 1776 army remained skewed toward the Northeast both in terms of its composition and of its geographical focus. This army consisted of 36 regiments, most standardized to a battalion of 768 men strong and formed into eight companies. Enlistment terms extended to three years or to the length of the war to avoid the crises that depleted forces
14.
Continental Navy
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The Continental Navy was the navy of the United States during the American Revolutionary War, and was formed in 1775. The main goal of the navy was to intercept shipments of British matériel, the initial fleet consisted of converted merchantmen because of the lack of funding, manpower, and resources, with exclusively designed warships being built later in the conflict. The vessels that made it to sea met with success only rarely. The fleet did serve to highlight a few examples of Continental resolve and it provided needed experience for a generation of officers who went on to command conflicts which involved the early American navy. With the war over and the Federal government in need of all available capital, the Continental Navy is the first establishment of what is now the United States Navy. The original intent was to intercept the supply of arms and provisions to British soldiers, George Washington had already informed Congress that he had assumed command of several ships for this purpose, and individual governments of various colonies had outfitted their own warships. The measure in the Continental Congress was met with much derision, John Adams later recalled, The opposition. Represented as the most wild, visionary, mad project that had ever been imagined and it was an infant taking a mad bull by his horns. During this time, however, the issue arose of Quebec-bound British supply ships carrying desperately needed provisions that could benefit the Continental Army. The Continental Congress appointed Silas Deane and John Langdon to draft a plan to seize ships from the convoy in question, on June 12,1775, the Rhode Island General Assembly, meeting at East Greenwich, passed a resolution creating a navy for the colony of Rhode Island. The same day, Governor Nicholas Cooke signed orders addressed to Captain Abraham Whipple, commander of the sloop Katy, the first formal movement for the creation of a Continental navy came from Rhode Island, because its merchants widespread shipping activities had been severely harassed by British frigates. On August 26,1775, Rhode Island General Assembly passed a resolution that there be a single Continental fleet funded by the Continental Congress, the resolution was introduced in the Continental Congress on October 3,1775 but was tabled. In the meantime, George Washington had begun to acquire ships, Hannah was commissioned and launched on September 5,1775 from the port of Beverly, Massachusetts, after being sold by the future General John Glover of Marblehead, Massachusetts. On this day, Congress authorized the purchase of two vessels to be armed for a cruise against British merchant ships, these ships became Andrew Doria and Cabot. The first ship in commission was the USS Alfred which was purchased on November 4, on November 10,1775, the Continental Congress passed a resolution calling for two battalions of Marines to be raised for service with the fleet. John Adams drafted its first governing regulations, which were adopted by Congress on November 28,1775, when it came to selecting commanders for ships, Congress tended to be split evenly between merit and patronage. Among those who were selected for political reasons were Esek Hopkins, Dudley Saltonstall, however, Abraham Whipple, Nicholas Biddle, and John Paul Jones managed to be appointed with backgrounds in marine warfare. On December 22,1775, Esek Hopkins was appointed the naval commander-in-chief, Saltonstall, Biddle, Hopkins, and Whipple were commissioned as captains of the Alfred, Andrew Doria, Cabot, and Columbus, respectively
15.
Minutemen
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They were also known for being ready at a minutes notice, hence the name. They provided a mobile, rapidly deployed force that allowed the colonies to respond immediately to war threats. The minutemen were among the first to fight in the American Revolution and their teams constituted about a quarter of the entire militia. They were generally younger and more mobile, and served as part of a network for early response, Minuteman and Sons of Liberty member Paul Revere was among those who spread the news that the British Regulars were coming out from Boston. Revere was captured before completing his mission when the British marched toward the arsenal in Concord to confiscate the weapons, the term has also been applied to various later United States civilian-based paramilitary forces to recall the success and patriotism of the originals. In the British colony of Massachusetts Bay, all able-bodied men between the ages of 16 and 60 were required to participate in their local militia. As early as 1645 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, some men were selected from the ranks of town-based training bands to be ready for rapid deployment. Men so selected were designated as minutemen and they were usually drawn from settlers of each town, and so it was very common for them to be fighting alongside relatives and friends. Other towns, such as Lexington, preferred to keep their entire militia in a single unit, members of the minutemen, by contrast, were no more than 30 years old, and were chosen for their enthusiasm, political reliability, and strength. They were the first armed militia to arrive at or await a battle, officers were elected by popular vote, as in the rest of the militia, and each unit drafted a formal written covenant to be signed upon enlistment. In this organization, it was common for officers to make decisions through consultation and consensus with their men, as opposed to giving orders to be followed without question. These minute-men were to comprise one-quarter of the militia, to be enlisted under the direction of the field-officers. The privates were to choose their captains and subalterns, and these officers were to form the companies into battalions, and chose the field-officers to command the same. Hence the minute-men became a distinct from the rest of the militia. More attention than formerly was likewise bestowed on the training and drilling of militia, the need for efficient minuteman companies was illustrated by the Powder Alarm of 1774. Militia companies were called out to resist British troops, who were sent to capture ammunition stores, by the time the militia was ready, the British regulars had already captured the arms at Cambridge and Charlestown and had returned to Boston. In August 1636, the first offensive attack by militias failed when Massachusetts dispatched John Endecott with four companies on an unsuccessful campaign against the Pequot Indians. According to one account, the expedition succeeded only in killing one Indian
16.
Intelligence in the American Revolutionary War
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Congress created a Secret Committee for domestic intelligence, a Committee of Secret Correspondence for foreign intelligence, and a committee on spies, for tracking spies within the Patriot movement. The Second Continental Congress created a Secret Committee by a resolution on September 18,1775, the Committee kept its transactions secret and destroyed many of its records to ensure the confidentiality of its work. The Secret Committee employed agents overseas, often in cooperation with the Committee of Secret Correspondence and it gathered intelligence about secret Loyalist ammunition stores and arranged to seize them. The Committee also sent missions to seize British supplies in the southern colonies and it arranged the purchase of military stores through intermediaries to conceal the fact that Congress was the true purchaser. They then used foreign flags to attempt to protect the vessels from the British fleet, the original Committee members—Americas first foreign intelligence agency—were Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Johnson. Subsequent appointees included James Lovell, a teacher who had been arrested by the British after the battle of Bunker Hill on charges of spying and he had later been exchanged for a British prisoner and was elected to the Continental Congress. On the Committee, he became the Congress expert on codes and it met secretly in December 1775 with a French intelligence agent who visited Philadelphia under cover as a Flemish merchant. On April 17,1777, the Committee of Secret Correspondence was renamed the Committee of Foreign Affairs, matters of diplomacy were conducted by other committees or by the Congress as a whole. They were charged with revising the Articles of War in regard to espionage directed against the American forces, the problem was an urgent one, Dr. On November 7,1775, the penalty was added for espionage to the Articles of War, but the clause was not applied retroactively. It was resolved further that the act be printed at the end of the rules and articles of war, on February 27,1778, the law was broadened to include any inhabitants of these states whose intelligence activities aided the enemy in capturing or killing revolutionary forces. The Committee of Secret Correspondence insisted that matters pertaining to the funding, on May 20,1776, when the Committees proceedings—with the sensitive names removed—were finally read in the Congress, it was under the injunction of secrecy. On June 12,1776, the Continental Congress adopted the first secrecy agreement for employees of the new government, the Continental Congress, sensitive to the vulnerability of its covert allies, respected their desire for strict secrecy. Even after Frances declaration of war against England, the fact of French involvement prior to that time remained a state secret, Washington wanted to publicize certain encouraging information that he judged would give a certain spring to our affairs and bolster public morale. Jay replied that the intelligence is unfortunately of such a Nature, or rather so circumstanced, Townsend was usually referred to by his cover name of Culper, Junior. I would imagine that with an industry he will be able to carry on his intelligence with greater security to himself and greater advantages to us. It prevents also those suspicions which would become natural should he throw himself out of the line of his present employment. Townsend also was the silent partner of a house frequented by British officers
17.
Treaty of Paris (1783)
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The treaty set the boundaries between the British Empire and the United States, on lines exceedingly generous to the latter. Details included fishing rights and restoration of property and prisoners of war, only Article 1 of the treaty, which is the legal underpinning of United States existence as a sovereign country, remains in force. Peace negotiations began in April 1782, and continued through the summer, representing the United States were Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Henry Laurens, and John Adams. David Hartley and Richard Oswald represented Great Britain, the treaty was signed at the Hotel dYork in Paris on September 3,1783, by Adams, Franklin, Jay, and Hartley. Regarding the American Treaty, the key episodes came in September,1782, France was exhausted by the war, and everyone wanted peace except Spain, which insisted on continuing the war until it could capture Gibraltar from the British. Vergennes came up with the deal that Spain would accept instead of Gibraltar, the United States would gain its independence but be confined to the area east of the Appalachian Mountains. Britain would take the north of the Ohio River. In the area south of that would be set up an independent Indian state under Spanish control and it would be an Indian barrier state. However, the Americans realized that they could get a deal directly from London. John Jay promptly told the British that he was willing to negotiate directly with them, cutting off France, the British Prime Minister Lord Shelburne agreed. He was in charge of the British negotiations and he now saw a chance to split the United States away from France. The western terms were that the United States would gain all of the area east of the Mississippi River, north of Florida, the northern boundary would be almost the same as today. The United States would gain fishing rights off Canadian coasts, and it was a highly favorable treaty for the United States, and deliberately so from the British point of view. Prime Minister Shelburne foresaw highly profitable trade between Britain and the rapidly growing United States, as indeed came to pass. Great Britain also signed agreements with France and Spain. In the treaty with Spain, the territories of East and West Florida were ceded to Spain, Spain also received the island of Minorca, the Bahama Islands, Grenada, and Montserrat, captured by the French and Spanish, were returned to Britain. The treaty with France was mostly about exchanges of captured territory, the United States Congress of the Confederation ratified the Treaty of Paris on January 14,1784. Copies were sent back to Europe for ratification by the parties involved
18.
Financial costs of the American Revolutionary War
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The American Revolutionary War inflicted great financial costs on all of the combatants, including the United States of America, France, Spain and Great Britain. France and Great Britain spent 1.3 billion livres and 250 million pounds, the United States spent $400 million in wages for its troops. Spain increased its military spending from 454 million reales in 1778 to over 700 million reales in 1779, the economic warfare between Great Britain and the colonists began well before the colonies declared their independence in 1776. Regulations from the crown were met with opposition from the colonists. After lobbies and petitions proved ineffective, the colonists turned to boycotting imported English goods, boycotting proved to be successful in crippling British trade. The colonists persisted, and the American boycott on tea ultimately culminated in the Boston Tea Party of 1773, despite the Revolutions widespread association with the colonists aversion to higher taxes, it has been claimed that the colonists actually paid far less tax compared to their British counterparts. British efforts to weaken the colonies included isolating their economy from the rest of the world by cutting off trade, with a navy that was many times more powerful than its American counterpart, the English had virtual control over the American ports. Consequently, the U. S. saw a fall in exported goods due to the relentless British blockade, the Continental Army under the direction of George Washington sought to engage in a war of attrition. To solve this problem, the Continental Congress sent diplomats including Benjamin Franklin to Europe in search of support for the American cause. For the first two years of war, the colonists received secretive private and public loans from the French, by the end of the war, the colonies had received loans from several different European nations, including significant contribution from France, Spain and the Netherlands. In addition, the colonies received much private funding, most notably from the Marquis de Lafayette and this funding ultimately enabled them to fight the war of attrition that General Washington hoped for. Because the French possessed a navy, their entrance into the war weakened the British blockade on colonial ports. The British forces recognized that they would not last long without shipping in supplies, so in retaliation and their hope was to capture French sugar islands and cut the French financial supply line. The new war in the Caribbean added to England’s already large financial costs, yet unlike the colonies, as the war progressed, the Americans’ deteriorating financial stability quickly became Britain’s greatest asset. Because it did not possess the power to tax the colonists, as a result, the colonies experienced severe inflation and depreciation of the Continental dollar. The colonists also had difficulty in financing a wartime effort against the British southern campaign. When war ended in 1783, American negotiations, monetary policies, the American Revolutionary War took a heavy toll on Great Britain. The average cost for the war was £12 million a year, the British ended the war with a national debt of £250 million, which generated a yearly interest of over £9.5 million
19.
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
20.
Committee of Five
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The Committee of Five of the Second Continental Congress were a team of five men who drafted and presented to the Congress what would become Americas Declaration of Independence of July 4,1776. This Declaration committee operated from June 11,1776 until July 5,1776, the proposal was moved in Congress on June 7 by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, known as the Lee Resolution. The actual declaration of American Independence is precisely the text comprising the final paragraph of the broadside of July 4. The broadsides final paragraph repeated the text of the Lee Resolution as adopted by the declaratory resolve voted on July 2, certainly the committee, after discussing the general outline that the document should follow, decided that Jefferson would write the first draft. With Congresss busy schedule, Jefferson had limited time to write the draft over the ensuing 17 days and he then consulted with the others on the committee, who reviewed the draft and made extensive changes. Jefferson then produced another copy incorporating these alterations, among the changes was the simplification of the phrase Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, which Jefferson had phrased preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness. This was a return to wording closer to John Lockes original description of private property as a right, in the phrase life, liberty. On June 28,1776, the committee presented this copy to the Committee of the Whole Congress, the title of the document was A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled. Although not officially noted, the time was 18,26 LMT for the recording of this historic vote. The Congress then heard the report of the Committee of the Whole and declared the status of the United Colonies the following day. The Committee of the Whole then turned to the Declaration, on Wednesday, July 3, the Committee of the Whole gave the Declaration a third reading and commenced scrutiny of the precise wording of the proposed text. Two passages in the Committee of Fives draft were rejected by the Committee of the Whole, one was a critical reference to the English people and the other was a denunciation of the slave trade and of slavery itself. The text of the Declaration was otherwise accepted without any major changes. However, the formal adoption was deferred until the following morning. And so the Committee of Five convened in the evening of July 4 to complete its task. Historians have had no means by which to determine the identity of the authenticating party. Upon the July 5 release of the Dunlap broadside, the public could read who had signed the Declaration, just one signature as attested by Secretary Charles Thomson. Memories of the proved to be very short on this particular historic moment
21.
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
22.
Articles of Confederation
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Its drafting by a committee appointed by the Second Continental Congress began on July 12,1776, and an approved version was sent to the states for ratification on November 15,1777. The Articles of Confederation came into force on March 1,1781, a guiding principle of the Articles was to preserve the independence and sovereignty of the states. The federal government received only those powers which the colonies had recognized as belonging to king, the Articles formed a war-time confederation of states, with an extremely limited central government. Actually the adoption of the Articles made no change in the federal government. That body was now taken over as the Congress of the Confederation, as the governments weaknesses became apparent, especially after Shays Rebellion, individuals began asking for changes to the Articles. Their hope was to create a national government. Initially, some states met to deal with their trade and economic problems, however, as more states became interested in meeting to change the Articles, a meeting was set in Philadelphia on May 25,1787. It was quickly realized that changes would not work, and instead the entire Articles needed to be replaced, on March 4,1789, the general government under the Articles was replaced with the federal government under the Constitution. The new Constitution provided for a stronger federal government by establishing a chief executive, courts. The Articles of Confederation would bear some resemblance to it, over the next two decades, some of the basic concepts it addressed would strengthen and others would weaken, particularly the degree of deserved loyalty to the crown. It was an era of constitution writing—most states were busy at the task—and leaders felt the new nation must have a written constitution, during the war, Congress exercised an unprecedented level of political, diplomatic, military and economic authority. It adopted trade restrictions, established and maintained an army, issued fiat money, created a military code, to transform themselves from outlaws into a legitimate nation, the colonists needed international recognition for their cause and foreign allies to support it. The monarchies of France and Spain in particular could not be expected to aid those they considered rebels against another legitimate monarch, foreign courts needed to have American grievances laid before them persuasively in a “manifesto” which could also reassure them that the Americans would be reliable trading partners. Without such a declaration, Paine concluded, “he custom of all courts is against us, Congress then created three overlapping committees to draft the Declaration, a Model Treaty, and the Articles of Confederation. The committee met repeatedly, and chairman John Dickinson presented their results to the Congress on July 12,1776, there were long debates on such issues as sovereignty, the exact powers to be given the confederate government, whether to have a judiciary, and voting procedures. Under the Articles, the states retained sovereignty over all governmental functions not specifically relinquished to the national government, the individual articles set the rules for current and future operations of the United States government. Article XIII stipulated that their provisions shall be observed by every state. John Dickinsons and Benjamin Franklins handwritten drafts of the Articles of Confederation are housed at the National Archives in Washington, after the war, nationalists, especially those who had been active in the Continental Army, complained that the Articles were too weak for an effective government
23.
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
24.
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
25.
The Federalist Papers
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The Federalist is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution. Seventy-seven were published serially in the Independent Journal and the New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788. and A. McLean, the collections original title was The Federalist, the title The Federalist Papers did not emerge until the 20th century. Though the authors of The Federalist Papers foremost wished to influence the vote in favor of ratifying the Constitution,78, also written by Hamilton, lays the groundwork for the doctrine of judicial review by federal courts of federal legislation or executive acts. Federalist No.70 presents Hamiltons case for a chief executive. 39, Madison presents the clearest exposition of what has come to be called Federalism,51, Madison distils arguments for checks and balances in an essay often quoted for its justification of government as the greatest of all reflections on human nature. Morris, they are an incomparable exposition of the Constitution, a classic in political science unsurpassed in breadth and depth by the product of any later American writer. The Federal Convention sent the proposed Constitution to the Confederation Congress, on September 27,1787, Cato first appeared in the New York press criticising the proposition, Brutus followed on October 18,1787. These and other articles and public letters critical of the new Constitution would eventually become known as the Anti-Federalist Papers, in response, Hamilton decided to launch a measured defense and extensive explanation of the proposed Constitution to the people of the state of New York. Hamilton recruited collaborators for the project and he enlisted John Jay, who after four strong essays, fell ill and contributed only one more essay, Federalist No. He also distilled his case into a pamphlet in the spring of 1788, An Address to the People of the State of New-York, Hamilton cited it approvingly in Federalist No.85. James Madison, present in New York as a Virginia delegate to the Confederation Congress, was recruited by Hamilton and Jay, gouverneur Morris and William Duer were also apparently considered, Morris turned down the invitation, and Hamilton rejected three essays written by Duer. Duer later wrote in support of the three Federalist authors under the name Philo-Publius, or Friend of Publius, Hamilton chose Publius as the pseudonym under which the series would be written. While many other pieces representing both sides of the debate were written under Roman names, Albert Furtwangler contends that Publius was a cut above Caesar or Brutus or even Cato. Publius Valerius was not a defender of the republic but one of its founders. His more famous name, Publicola, meant friend of the people and it was not the first time Hamilton had used this pseudonym, in 1778, he had applied it to three letters attacking fellow Federalist Samuel Chase. Chases patriotism was questioned when Hamilton revealed that Chase had taken advantage of knowledge gained in Congress to try to dominate the flour market. At the time of publication the authorship of the articles was a guarded secret, though astute observers discerned the identities of Hamilton, Madison. Following Hamiltons death in 1804, a list that he had drafted claiming fully two-thirds of the papers for himself became public, including some that seemed more likely the work of Madison
26.
United States Bill of Rights
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The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. Proposed following the oftentimes bitter 1787–88 battle over ratification of the U. S, on June 8,1789, Representative James Madison introduced nine amendments to the constitution in the House of Representatives. Among his recommendations Madison proposed opening up the Constitution and inserting specific rights limiting the power of Congress in Article One, Seven of these limitations would become part of the ten ratified Bill of Rights amendments. Contrary to Madisons original proposal that the articles be incorporated into the body of the Constitution. Articles Three through Twelve were ratified as additions to the Constitution on December 15,1791, Article Two became part of the Constitution on May 5,1992, as the Twenty-seventh Amendment. Article One is technically still pending before the states, the door for their application upon state governments was opened in the 1860s, following ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment. Since the early 20th century both federal and state courts have used the Fourteenth Amendment to apply portions of the Bill of Rights to state, the process is known as incorporation. There are several original engrossed copies of the Bill of Rights still in existence, One of these is on permanent public display at the National Archives in Washington, D. C. However, the government that operated under the Articles of Confederation was too weak to adequately regulate the various conflicts that arose between the states. The Philadelphia Convention set out to correct weaknesses of the Articles that had been apparent even before the American Revolutionary War had been successfully concluded, the convention took place from May 14 to September 17,1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The convention convened in the Pennsylvania State House, and George Washington of Virginia was unanimously elected as president of the convention, the 55 delegates who drafted the Constitution are among the men known as the Founding Fathers of the new nation. Thomas Jefferson, who was Minister to France during the convention, Rhode Island refused to send delegates to the convention. However, the motion was defeated by a vote of the state delegations after only a brief discussion. Madison, then an opponent of a Bill of Rights, later explained the vote by calling the bills of rights parchment barriers that offered only an illusion of protection against tyranny. The quick rejection of this motion, however, later endangered the entire ratification process, thirty-nine delegates signed the finalized Constitution. Thirteen delegates left before it was completed, and three who remained at the convention until the end refused to sign it, Mason, Gerry, elbridge Gerry wrote the most popular Anti-Federalist tract, Hon. Mr. Gerrys Objections, which went through 46 printings, the essay particularly focused on the lack of a bill of rights in the proposed constitution, many were concerned that a strong national government was a threat to individual rights and that the president would become a king. Jefferson wrote to Madison advocating a Bill of Rights, Half a loaf is better than no bread, if we cannot secure all our rights, let us secure what we can
27.
Republicanism in the United States
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Republicanism is the guiding political philosophy of the United States. It has been a part of American civic thought since its founding. American republicanism was founded and first practiced by the Founding Fathers in the 18th century, for them, according to one team of historians, republicanism represented more than a particular form of government. It was a way of life, an ideology, an uncompromising commitment to liberty. Republicanism was based on Ancient Greco-Roman, Renaissance, and English models and it formed the basis for the American Revolution, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, as well as the Gettysburg Address. The term republicanism is derived from the republic, but the two words have different meanings. A republic is a form of government, republicanism refers to the values of the citizens in a republic, two major parties have used the term in their name – the Democratic-Republican party of Thomas Jefferson, and the current Republican Party, founded in 1854. The colonial intellectual and political leaders in the 1760s and 1770s closely read history to compare governments, the Revolutionists were especially concerned with the history of liberty in England and were primarily influenced by the country party. Country party relied heavily on the classical republicanism of Roman heritage, it celebrated the ideals of duty and it drew heavily on ancient Greek city-state and Roman republican examples. This approach produced a political ideology Americans called republicanism, which was widespread in America by 1775, Republicanism was the distinctive political consciousness of the entire Revolutionary generation. American republicanism was centered on limiting corruption and greed, Virtue was of the utmost importance for citizens and representatives. Revolutionaries took a lesson from ancient Rome, they knew it was necessary to avoid the luxury that had destroyed the Empire, a virtuous citizen was one who ignored monetary compensation and made a commitment to resist and eradicate corruption. The Republic was sacred, therefore, it is necessary to serve the state in a representative way, ignoring self-interest. Republicanism required the service of those who were willing to give up their own interests for a common good, virtuous citizens needed to be strong defenders of liberty and challenge the corruption and greed in government. The duty of the virtuous citizen became a foundation for the American Revolution, the commitment of most Americans to republican values and to their property rights helped bring about the American Revolution. The greatest threat to liberty was thought by many to be corruption – not just in London, the colonists associated it with luxury and, especially, inherited aristocracy, which they condemned. Historian Thomas Kidd argues that during the Revolution Christians linked their religion to republicanism and he states, With the onset of the revolutionary crisis, a major conceptual shift convinced Americans across the theological spectrum that God was raising up America for some special purpose. Kidd further argues that new blend of Christian and republican ideology led religious traditionalists to embrace wholesale the concept of republican virtue, as virtuous republicans, citizens had a growing moral obligation to eradicate the corruption they saw in the monarchy
28.
American Enlightenment
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The leading political thinkers were John Adams, James Madison, George Mason, James Wilson, Ethan Allen, and Alexander Hamilton, and polymaths Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Coldens daughter, Jane Colden, was the first female botanist working in America, count Rumford was a leading scientist, especially in the field of heat. The term “American Enlightenment” was coined in the post-World War II era. It was not used in the century, when English speakers commonly referred to a process of becoming “enlightened. ”Various dates for the American Enlightenment have been proposed, including the dates 1750–1820, 1765–1815. Enlightened Founding Fathers, especially Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George Washington, fought for, according to the founding fathers, the United States should be a country where peoples of all faiths could live in peace and mutual benefit. James Madison summed up this ideal in 1792 saying, Conscience is the most sacred of all property, a switch away from established religion to religious tolerance, was one of the distinguishing features of the era from 1775 to 1818. The new constitution guaranteed freedom of religion, and disestablished the Congregational church and it saw a consensus on a pursuit of happiness based political philosophy. Politically, the age is distinguished by an emphasis upon liberty, republicanism and religious tolerance. Attempts to reconcile science and religion resulted in a rejection of prophecy, miracle, American republicanism emphasized consent of the government, riddance of aristocracy, and fear of corruption. It represented the convergence of classical republicanism and English republicanism, pocock explained the intellectual sources in America, Sources of the American Enlightenment are many and vary according to time and place. As a result of a book trade with Great Britain. Early influences were English writers, including James Harrington, Algernon Sidney, the Viscount Bolingbroke, John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, although John Lockes Two Treatises of Government has long been cited as a major influence on American thinkers, historians David Lundberg and Henry F. May demonstrate that Lockes Essay Concerning Human Understanding was far more read than were his political Treatises. The Scottish Enlightenment also influenced American thinkers, David Humes Essays and his History of England were widely read in the colonies, and Humes political thought had a particular influence on James Madison and the Constitution. Another important Scottish writer was Francis Hutcheson, by far the most important French sources to the American Enlightenment, however, were Montesquieus Spirit of the Laws and Emer de Vattels Law of Nations. Both informed early American ideas of government and were influences on the Constitution. Voltaires histories were widely read but seldom cited, noah Webster used Rousseaus educational ideas of child development to structure his famous Speller. A German influence includes Samuel Pufendorf, whose writings were also cited by American writers
29.
Liberalism in the United States
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Liberalism in the United States is a broad political philosophy centered on the unalienable rights of the individual. Modern liberalism in the United States includes issues such as marriage, voting rights for all adult citizens, civil rights, environmentalism. The origins of American liberalism lie in the ideals of the Enlightenment. The Constitution of the United States of 1787 set up the first modern republic, with sovereignty in the people, however, the Constitution limited liberty, in particular by accepting slavery. The Founding Fathers recognized the contradiction, and most expected slavery to wither away, indeed, it was abolished in all the Northern states by 1804, but due to the demand for raw cotton by the Industrial Revolution, plantation slavery continued to flourish in the Deep South. From the time of the American Revolution to the present day, the states abolished many restrictions on voting for white males in the early 19th century. The Constitution was amended in 1865 to abolish slavery, in 1870 to extend the vote to Black men, in 1920 to extend the vote to women, and in 1971 to lower the voting age to 18. The Jim Crow system of the South between the 1890s and 1960s relegated blacks to second class citizenship, until it was overthrown by the Civil Rights Movement, thomas Jefferson believed that America should remain a nation of small farmers. As the American economy began to shift to manufacturing and services, liberals began to fear threats to liberty from corruption and monopolies. The dominance of the Republican Party for most of the era 1860–1932, the Third Party System, during the Progressive Era of the early 20th century, laws were passed restricting monopolies and regulating railroad rates. According to James Reichley, it was during this era that the term took on its current meaning. Prior to the early 1900s, the term had usually described classical liberalism, which emphasizes limited government, and Theodore Roosevelt who came out of retirement to run again for president under a third party called Progressive Party. Later, political figures such as Franklin Roosevelt adopted the term liberal to describe an individual in favor of some government activism, after 1933, modern liberals used the New Deal to provide jobs during the Great Depression. The Social Security Act of 1935 provided retirement and disability income for Americans unable to work or unable to find jobs, in the Social Security Act of 1965, this was extended to provide benefits for Americans unable to work due to illness. A reaction against modern American liberalism began with Barry Goldwater, which led to the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Deregulation began in the mid-1970s and had support from both liberals and conservatives. Clinton pushed to extend modern liberal ideals especially in the areas of health care, according to Louis Hartz, liberalism was the only significant political tradition in the United States. However, in the 1970s, Bernard Bailyn, Gordon Wood, in the 1980s, J. David Green returned to Hartzs thesis, but saw two different types of liberalism in the tradition, which he called humanist and reform
30.
First Great Awakening
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It resulted from powerful preaching that gave listeners a sense of deep personal revelation of their need of salvation by Jesus Christ. It had little impact on most Anglicans, Lutherans, Quakers, throughout the colonies, especially in the south, the revivalist movement increased the number of African slaves and free blacks who were exposed to and subsequently converted to Christianity. The Second Great Awakening began about 1800 and reached out to the unchurched, 18th-century American Christians added an emphasis on outpourings of the Holy Spirit to the evangelical imperatives of Reformation Protestantism. Revivals encapsulated those hallmarks and spread the newly created evangelicalism in the early republic, Evangelical preachers sought to include every person in conversion, regardless of gender, race, and status. The evangelical revival was international in scope, affecting predominantly Protestant countries of Europe, historian Sydney E. Ahlstrom sees it as part of a great international Protestant upheaval that also created Pietism in Germany, the Evangelical Revival and Methodism in England. Revivalism was a component of the Great Awakening, and actually began in the 1620s in Scotland among Presbyterians. The idea of a great awakening has been contested by Butler as vague and exaggerated, the First Great Awakening led to changes in Americans understanding of God, themselves, the world around them, and religion. In the Middle and Southern colonies, especially in the country regions. In the southern Tidewater and Low Country, northern Baptist and Methodist preachers converted both white and black people, whether enslaved or free, evangelist leaders in the southern colonies had to deal with the issue of slavery much more frequently than those in the North. Still, many leaders of the revivals proclaimed that slaveholders should educate their slaves so that they could become literate and be able to read, consequently, many Africans were finally provided with some sort of education. Africans hoped that their newly acquired spiritual equality would translate into earthly equalities, as black people started to make up substantial proportions of congregations, they were given a chance to momentarily forget about their bondage and enjoy a slight sense of freedom. Before the American Revolution, the first black Baptist churches were founded in the South in Virginia, South Carolina, the revival began with Jonathan Edwards in Northampton, Massachusetts. Edwards came from Puritan, Calvinist roots, but emphasized the importance and power of immediate, Religious experience had to be immediate, he taught. Scientific inquiry was useless, he taught that only a personal experience can be valid and his sermons were solemn, with a distinct and careful enunciation, and a slow cadence. His sermons were powerful and attracted a large following, both Edwards and Whitefield were slave owners and believed that blacks would acquire absolute equality with whites in the Millennial church. Winiarski examines Edwardss preaching in 1741, especially his famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, at this point, Edwards countenanced the noise of the Great Awakening, but his approach to revivalism became more moderate and critical in the years immediately following. The arrival of young Anglican preacher George Whitefield sparked the Great Awakening, Whitefields reputation preceded his visit as a great pulpit and open-air orator. He traveled through the colonies in 1739 and 1740 and he attracted large and emotional crowds everywhere, eliciting countless conversions as well as considerable controversy
31.
United States Bicentennial
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It was a central event in the memory of the American Revolution. The Bicentennial culminated on Sunday, July 4,1976, with the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the plans for the Bicentennial began when Congress created the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission on July 4,1966. Initially, the Bicentennial celebration was planned as a single city exposition that would be staged in either Philadelphia or Boston, ARBA selected a logo via contest in 1974. Bruce N. Blackburn, co-designer of the modernized NASA insignia used from 1975 to 1992, the logo consisted of a white five-point star inside a stylized star of red, white and blue. It was encircled by the inscription American Revolution Bicentennial 1776–1976 in Helvetica Regular, the logo became a flag that flew at many government facilities throughout the United States and appeared on many other souvenirs and postage stamps issued by the Postal Service. The official Bicentennial events began April 1,1975, when the American Freedom Train launched in Wilmington, Delaware to start its 21-month,25, 388-mile tour of the 48 contiguous states. On April 18,1975, President Gerald Ford traveled to Boston to light a lantern at the historic Old North Church. Festivities included elaborate fireworks in the skies above major American cities, President Ford presided over the display in Washington, D. C. which was televised nationally. A large international fleet of tall-masted sailing ships gathered first in New York City on Independence Day and these nautical parades were named Operation Sail and witnessed by several million observers. The gathering was the second of six such Op Sail events to date, the vessels docked and allowed the general public to tour the ships in both cities, while their crews were entertained on shore at various ethnic celebrations and parties. In addition to the presence of the ships, navies of many nations sent warships to New York harbor for an International Naval Review held the morning of July 4. The review ended just above Liberty Island around 10,30 am, several people threw packages labeled Gulf Oil and Exxon into Boston Harbor in symbolic opposition to corporate power, in the style of the Boston Tea party. Britains Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip made a visit to the United States to tour the country and attend Bicentennial festivities with President. Their visit aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia included stops in Philadelphia, Washington, Virginia, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. While in Philadelphia on July 6,1976, Queen Elizabeth presented the Bicentennial Bell on behalf of the British people, local observances included painting mailboxes and fire hydrants red, white, and blue. A wave of patriotism and nostalgia swept the nation and there was a feeling that the irate era of the Vietnam War. In Washington, D. C. the Smithsonian Institution opened an exhibition in its Arts and Industries Building that replicated the look. Many of the Smithsonians museum artifacts dated from the 1876 Worlds Fair in Philadelphia that commemorated the 100th anniversary of the independence of the United States, the Smithsonian also opened the new home of the National Air and Space Museum July 1,1976
32.
Great Seal of the United States
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The Great Seal of the United States is used to authenticate certain documents issued by the U. S. federal government. The phrase is used both for the seal itself, and more generally for the design impressed upon it. The Great Seal was first used publicly in 1782, the obverse of the great seal is used as the national coat of arms of the United States. It is officially used on such as United States passports, military insignia, embassy placards. As a coat of arms, the design has official colors, since 1935, both sides of the Great Seal have appeared on the reverse of the one-dollar bill. The Seal of the President of the United States is directly based on the Great Seal, the design on the obverse of the seal is the coat of arms of the United States. The shield, though sometimes drawn incorrectly, has two differences from the American flag. First, it has no stars on the blue chief, second, unlike the American flag, the outermost stripes are white, not red, so as not to violate the heraldic rule of tincture. The supporter of the shield is an eagle with its wings outstretched. Although not specified by law, the branch is usually depicted with 13 leaves and 13 olives. The eagle has its head turned towards the branch, on its right side. In its beak, the eagle clutches a scroll with the motto E pluribus unum, over its head there appears a glory with 13 mullets on a blue field. In the current dies of the seal, the 13 stars above the eagle are arranged in rows of 1-4-3-4-1. The 1782 resolution of Congress adopting the arms, still in force, legally blazoned the shield as Paleways of 13 pieces, argent and gules, a more technically proper blazon would have been argent, six pallets gules. But the phrase used was chosen to preserve the reference to the 13 original states, the 1782 resolution adopting the seal blazons the image on the reverse as A pyramid unfinished. In the zenith an eye in a triangle, surrounded by a glory, the pyramid is conventionally shown as consisting of 13 layers to refer to the 13 original states. The adopting resolution provides that it is inscribed on its base with the date MDCCLXXVI in Roman numerals, where the top of the pyramid should be, the Eye of Providence watches over it. Two mottos appear, Annuit cœptis signifies that Providence has approved of undertakings, Novus ordo seclorum, freely taken from Virgil, is Latin for a new order of the ages
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Eye of Providence
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The Eye of Providence is a symbol showing an eye often surrounded by rays of light or a glory and usually enclosed by a triangle. It represents the eye of God watching over mankind, in the modern era, a notable depiction of the eye is the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States, which appears on the United States one-dollar bill. Seventeenth-century depictions of the Eye of Providence sometimes show it surrounded by clouds or sunbursts, in 1782, the Eye of Providence was adopted as part of the symbolism on the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States. It was first suggested as an element of the Great Seal by the first of three committees in 1776 and is thought to be the suggestion of the artistic consultant. In his original proposal to the committee, Du Simitiere placed the Eye over shields symbolizing each of the thirteen states of the Union. On the version of the seal that was approved, the Eye is positioned above an unfinished pyramid of thirteen steps. The symbolism is explained by the motto that appears above the Eye, Annuit Cœptis, meaning approves undertakings. Perhaps due to its use in the design of the Great Seal, the Eye has made its way into other American seals and logos, for example, today, the Eye of Providence is often associated with Freemasonry. The Eye first appeared as part of the iconography of the Freemasons in 1797. Here, it represents the eye of God and is a reminder that mans thoughts. Typically, the Masonic Eye of Providence has a semi-circular glory below the eye, sometimes the Eye is enclosed by a triangle. However, common Masonic use of the Eye dates to 14 years after the creation of the Great Seal, furthermore, among the members of the various design committees for the Great Seal, only Benjamin Franklin was a Mason. Indeed, many Masonic organizations have explicitly denied any connection to the creation of the Seal, a common occurrence is in the context of a reference to the Illuminati. The logo for the WWE tag team, The Ascension, media related to Eye of Providence at Wikimedia Commons
34.
Chancellor of the Exchequer
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The office is a British Cabinet-level position. The chancellor is responsible for all economic and financial matters, equivalent to the role of Secretary of the Treasury or Minister of Finance in other nations. The position is considered one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is now always Second Lord of the Treasury as one of the Lords Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Treasurer. Formerly, in cases when the Chancellorship was vacant, the Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench would act as Chancellor pro tempore, the last Lord Chief Justice to serve in this way was Lord Denman in 1834. The earliest surviving records which are the results of the audit, date from 1129–30 under King Henry I. The Chancellor controlled monetary policy as well as fiscal policy until 1997, the Chancellor also has oversight of public spending across Government departments. The current Chancellor of the Exchequer is Philip Hammond and he is entrusted with a certain amount of misery which it is his duty to distribute as fairly as he can. The Chancellor has considerable control over other departments as it is the Treasury which sets Departmental Expenditure Limits, the amount of power this gives to an individual Chancellor depends on his personal forcefulness, his status within his party and his relationship with the Prime Minister. Gordon Brown, who became Chancellor when Labour came into Government in 1997, had a personal power base in the party. One part of the Chancellors key roles involves the framing of the annual year budget, as of 2017, the first is the Autumn Budget, also known as Budget Day which forecasts government spending in the next financial year and also announces new financial measures. The second is a Spring Statement, also known as a mini-Budget, britains tax year has retained the old Julian end of year,24 March /5 April. From 1993, the Budget was in spring, preceded by an annual autumn statement. This was then called Pre-Budget Report, the Autumn Statement usually took place in November or December. The 1997,2001,2002,2003,2006,2007,2008,2012 and 2016 Budgets were all delivered on a Wednesday, although the Bank of England is responsible for setting interest rates, the Chancellor also plays an important part in the monetary policy structure. He sets the target which the Bank must set interest rates to meet. Under the Bank of England Act 1998 the Chancellor has the power of appointment of four out of nine members of the Banks Monetary Policy Committee – the so-called external members. The Act also provides that the Government has the power to give instructions to the Bank on interest rates for a period in extreme circumstances. This power has never officially used. At HM Treasury the Chancellor is supported by a team of four junior ministers
35.
Province of New York
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The majority of this land was soon reassigned by the Crown, leaving territory that included the valleys of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers, and Vermont. The territory of western New York was Iroquois land, also disputed between the English colonies and New France, and that of Vermont was disputed with the Province of New Hampshire, the province resulted from the Dutch Republic surrender of Provincie Nieuw-Nederland to the Kingdom of England in 1664. Immediately after, the province was renamed for James, Duke of York, the colony was one of the Middle Colonies, and ruled at first directly from England. British claims on any part of New York ended with the Treaty of Paris of 1783, after the American Revolution, the former colony became the State of New York. This British crown colony was established upon the former Dutch colony of New Netherland, with its core being York Shire, in what today is typically known as Downstate New York. The Province of New York was divided into counties on November 1,1683, by New York Governor Thomas Dongan, Albany County. Also claimed the area, later disputed, that is now Vermont, in addition, as there was no fixed western border to the colony, Albany County technically extended to the Pacific Ocean. Most of this land, which was Indian land for most of the history, has now been ceded to other states. Cornwall County, that part of Maine between the Kennebec River and the St. Croix River from the Atlantic Ocean to the St. Lawrence River, ceded to the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1692. Dukes County, the Elizabeth Islands, Marthas Vineyard and Nantucket Island east of Long Island, Dutchess County, now Dutchess and Putnam counties. Kings County, the current Kings County, Brooklyn, New York County, the current New York County, Manhattan. Orange County, now Orange and Rockland counties, Queens County, now Queens and Nassau counties. Richmond County, the current Richmond County, Staten Island, Suffolk County, the current Suffolk County. Ulster County, now Ulster and Sullivan counties and part of what is now Delaware, Westchester County, now Bronx and Westchester counties. On March 24,1772, Tryon County was formed out of Albany County and it was renamed Montgomery County in 1784, with a later division to Herkimer County around Little Falls. Charlotte County was formed out of Albany County and it was renamed Washington County in 1784. In 1617 officials of the Dutch West India Company in New Netherland created a settlement at present-day Albany, New Amsterdam surrendered to Colonel Richard Nicholls on August 27,1664, he renamed it New York. On September 24 Sir George Carteret accepted the capitulation of the garrison at Fort Orange, the capture was confirmed by the Treaty of Breda in July 1667
36.
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
37.
Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania
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Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania is a series of essays written by the Pennsylvania lawyer and legislator John Dickinson and published under the name A Farmer from 1767 to 1768. The twelve letters were read and reprinted throughout the thirteen colonies and were important in uniting the colonists against the Townshend Acts. The success of his letters earned Dickinson considerable fame, while acknowledging the power of Parliament in matters concerning the whole British Empire, Dickinson argued that the colonies were sovereign in their internal affairs. He thus argued that taxes laid upon the colonies by Parliament for the purpose of raising revenue, what particular circumstances will in any future case justify such resistance can never be ascertained till they happen. Perhaps it may be allowable to say generally, that it never can be justifiable until the people are convinced that any further submission will be destructive to their happiness. According to Mel Bradford, The manner of Dickinson’s twelve letters is well suited to their matter, in form they belong to the high or sober tradition of English political pamphleteering — as does Common Sense to its rough and ready but popular counterpart. Bradford argued that the letters had antecedents in the writings of Milton, Swift, Addison, and Burke, as well as the authors of Catos Letters, full text of letters Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania public domain audiobook at LibriVox
38.
Massachusetts Circular Letter
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After the Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, the British Parliament imposed the Townshend Acts as another way of generating revenue. The acts placed a duty on glass, paint, paper, lead. In response, the Massachusetts General Court issued a circular letter, the Massachusetts Circular Letter was sent to the representative bodies of the other colonies. Massachusetts received positive responses from New Jersey, Connecticut, and the Virginia House of Burgesses, in the Circular Letter, Samuel Adams argued that the Townshend Acts were unconstitutional because the colony of Massachusetts was not represented in Parliament. Adams maintained that Parliaments status as the legislative body of the British Empire did not permit it to violate the British Constitution. Instead, Adams argued in favor of the arrangement, where the colonies were taxed only by their own provincial assemblies in which they were already represented. After the Circular Letter had been passed and issued to other colonies, Lord Hillsborough, Secretary of State for the Colonies, the body voted against revoking the letter, 92-17. In response to the General Courts defiance, Governor Francis Bernard dissolved the assembly and this led to an outbreak of mob violence from colonists who no longer had any legal way to deal with their grievances. They attacked customs officials, making it impossible for them to perform their duties, in response to the deteriorating situation, Lord Hillsborough sent four regiments of British soldiers to Boston. Arriving in October 1768, the soldiers only increased the tensions, as recorded in the anonymously penned Journal of Occurrences and these tensions culminated on March 5,1770 with the Boston Massacre
39.
Frederick North, Lord North
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Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford, KG, PC, more often known by his courtesy title, Lord North, which he used from 1752 until 1790, was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782. He led Great Britain through most of the American War of Independence and he also held a number of other cabinet posts, including Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Norths reputation among historians has swung back and forth and it reached its nadir in the late nineteenth century when he was depicted as a creature of the king and an incompetent who lost the American colonies. In the early twentieth century a revisionism emphasized his strengths in administering the Treasury, handling the House of Commons, Herbert Butterfield, however, argued that his indolence was a barrier to efficient crisis management, he neglected his role in supervising the entire war effort. Lord North was born in London on 13 April 1732, at the house at Albemarle Street, just off Piccadilly. His father, the first Earl, was at the time Lord of the Bedchamber to Prince Frederick, North was descended from the 1st Earl of Sandwich and was related to Samuel Pepys and the 3rd Earl of Bute. He at times had a turbulent relationship with his father Francis North, 1st Earl of Guilford. In his early years the family was not wealthy, though their situation improved in 1735 when his father inherited property from his cousin, fredericks mother, Lady Lucy Montagu, died in 1734. His father remarried, but his stepmother, Elizabeth North, also died in 1745, one of his stepbrothers was Lord Dartmouth, who remained a close friend for life. He was educated at Eton College between 1742 and 1748, and at Trinity College, Oxford where in 1750 he was awarded an MA, after leaving Oxford he travelled in Europe on the Grand Tour with Dartmouth, visiting Leipzig where he studied at the University of Leipzig. He visited Vienna, Milan, and Paris, returning to England in 1753 and he soon developed a reputation as a good administrator and parliamentarian, and was generally liked by his colleagues. In November 1763 he was chosen to speak for the Government concerning radical MP John Wilkes, Wilkes had made a savage attack on both the Prime Minister and the King in his newspaper The North Briton, which many thought libelous. Norths motion that Wilkes be expelled from the House of Commons passed by 273 votes to 111, Wilkes expulsion took place in his absence, as he had already fled to France following a duel. When a government headed by the Whig magnate Lord Rockingham came to power in 1765, North left his post and he turned down an offer by Rockingham to rejoin the government, not wanting to be associated with the Whig grandees that dominated the Ministry. He returned to office when Pitt returned to head a government in 1766. North was appointed Joint Paymaster of the Forces in Pitts ministry, as Pitt was constantly ill, the government was effectively run by the Duke of Grafton, with North as one of its most senior members. In December 1767, he succeeded Charles Townshend as Chancellor of the Exchequer, with the resignation of the secretary of state Henry Seymour Conway in early 1768, North became Leader of the Commons as well. He continued to serve when Pitt was succeeded by Grafton in October, when the Duke of Grafton resigned as Prime Minister, North formed a government on 28 January 1770
40.
Gaspee Affair
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The Gaspee Affair was a significant event in the lead-up to the American Revolution. HMS Gaspee was a British customs schooner that had engaged in anti-smuggling operations. It ran aground in shallow water on June 9,1772, near what is now known as Gaspee Point in the city of Warwick, Rhode Island, a group of men led by Abraham Whipple and John Brown attacked, boarded, looted, and torched the ship. The event renewed hostilities between the American colonists and British officials, British officials in Rhode Island wanted to eliminate some of the illicit trade that had defined the small colony in order to increase revenue from the colony. British officials wanted to reduce hostilities between the Crown and the colonies, while the Rhode Island merchants did not, colonists protested the Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, and other British impositions that had clashed with the colony’s history of rum smuggling and slave trading. British officers clashed with Rhode Island officials concerning the events that had taken place in the burning of the Gaspee, Wanton also challenged the claims of Aaron Briggs, an indentured servant claiming to have participated in the burning. The Gaspee Affair and aftermath further deepened the divide between British and colonial officials in North America, the customs service had a violent history in Britain’s North American colonies in the eighteenth century. The Treasury in London did little to correct problems. The Admiralty purchased six Marblehead sloops and schooners and gave them Anglicized French names based on their recent acquisitions in Canada. The St. John, St. Lawrence, Chaleur, Hope, Magdalen, and Gaspee had their French accents removed, among these reforms was the deputizing of the Royal Navys Sea Officers to help enforce customs laws in colonial ports. In 1764, Rhode Islanders attacked HMS St. John, in early 1772, Lieutenant William Dudingston sailed HMS Gaspee into Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay to aid in the enforcement of customs collection and inspection of cargo. Rhode Island had a reputation for smuggling and trading with the enemy during wartime, Dudingston arrived on Rhode Island in February and met with Governor Joseph Wanton. Dudingston did not find the Governor to be overly helpful, soon after he began patrolling Narragansett Bay, the Gaspee stopped and inspected the sloop Fortune on February 17 and seized twelve hogsheads of undeclared rum. Dudingston sent the Fortune and seized rum to Boston, believing that any seized items left in a Rhode Island port would be reclaimed by colonists, Dudingston’s decision to move the Fortune to Boston brought outrage within the Rhode Island colony. The merchants were the most affected by Dudingston, and they sought to bring an end to the Gaspee’s control over Narragansett Bay. On March 21, Rhode Island Deputy Governor Darius Sessions wrote to Governor Wanton regarding Lieutenant Dudingston, Dudingston maintained the Gaspee’s operations without returning to shore, despite the problems that he faced in the Rhode Island colony. He continued making inspections without making formal seizures, infuriating Rhode Island’s merchants further, additionally, he reached out to Admiral Montagu, seeking clarification of the position taken by Governor Wanton. During the exchange between officials, Dudingston’s newly made enemies in the colony pursued methods of ending Dudingston’s inspections
