united states of america

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On July 4, 1776, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were given the task of creating a seal for the United States of America. The Great Seal of the United States of America was finalized and approved on June 20, 1782. The seal reflects the beliefs and values that the Founding Fathers wanted to pass on to future generations of American citizens.

In the center of the seal is an bald eagle, the US national bird. It holds in its beak a scroll inscribed - E PLURIBUS UNIM - which in Latin means “out of many, one” and stands for one nation that was created from many colonies and personal backgrounds. In one claw is an olive branch, in the other is a bundle of 13 arrows. The olive branch and arrows represent the power of peace and war.

A shield with 13 red and white stripes covers the eagle’s breast. The shield is supported solely by the American eagle to denote that Americans should rely on their own virtue. The red and white stripes of the shield represent the states united under and supporting the blue, representing an elected federal Government. The color white represents purity and innocence. Red represents hardiness and valor. Blue represents vigilance, perseverance and justice. Above the eagle’s head is a cloud surrounding a blue field containing 13 stars, which forms a constellation. The constellation denotes that a new Nation is taking its place among other nations. 13 represents the first 13 states: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

The Great Seal of the United States of America’s reverse side contains a 13-step pyramid with the year 1776 (MDCCLXXVI) in Roman numerals at the base. At the top of the pyramid is the Eye of Providence and above is the motto - ANNUIT COEPTIS - which in Latin means “It [the Eye of Providence] is favorable to our undertakings” or “He favors our undertakings.” Below the pyramid, a scroll reads - NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM - which in Latin means “New Order of the Ages.” It refers to 1776 as the beginning of the new era of the American nation.

The Great Seal of the United States of America can be seen on the back of a $1 bill. The Secretary of State is the official custodian of the seal. It is only affixed to certain documents, such as foreign treaties and presidential proclamations. The Great Seal of the USA is displayed in the Exhibit Hall of the Department of State, in Washington, DC.

• Famous Patriotic Quotes About America
• Free American Patriotic Songs
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An informed patriotism is what we want — Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address to the Nation: January 11, 1989

And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. — John F Kennedy, Inauguration Address: January 20, 1961

The great fundamental issue now before the Republican party and before our people can be stated briefly. It is: Are the American people fit to govern themselves, to rule themselves, to control themselves? I believe they are. — Theodore Roosevelt, The Right of the People to Rule: March 20, 1912

Yours is the profession of arms, the will to win, the sure knowledge that in war there is no substitute for victory; that if you lose, the nation will be destroyed; that the very obsession of your public service must be: Duty, Honor, Country. — Douglas MacArthur, Duty, Honor, Country: May 12, 1962

This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure, as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. — Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address: March 4, 1933

The name of american, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. — George Washington, Farewell Address: December 23, 1783

Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev — Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! — Ronald Reagan, Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate: June 12, 1987

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! — Patrick Henry, Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death: March 23, 1775

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. — John F. Kennedy, The Decision to Go to the Moon: May 25, 1961

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. — Franklin D. Roosevelt, Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation: December 8, 1941

This nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. — Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address: November 19, 1863

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” — Dr Martin Luther King Jr, I Have a Dream: August 23, 1968

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence: July 4, 1776

National honor is national property of the highest value. — James Monroe, First Inaugural Address: March 4, 1817

Yet America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Poet” Essays Second Series: 1844

America is a passionate idea or it is nothing. America is a human brotherhood or it is chaos. — Max Lerner, Actions and Passions: 1949

All we have of freedom, all we use or know - This our fathers bought for us long and long ago. — Rudyard Kipling, The Old Issue: 1899

We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America. — Barack Obama, One Voice Can Change a Room: December 9, 2007

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he live. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him. — Abraham Lincoln

America is a tune. It must be sung together. — Gerald Stanley Lee, Crowds - A Moving-Picture of Democracy: 1913

We can’t all be Washington’s, but we can all be patriots. — Charles F. Browne (Artemus Ward), 1860s

What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom “to” and freedom “from.” — Marilyn vos Savant, Parade (Ask Marilyn): July 17, 2005

Patriotism… is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. — Adlai Stevenson, American Legion Convention Speech: August 27, 1952

A man’s country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle; and patriotism is loyalty to that principle. — George William Curtis, Union College, Schenectady, NY Speech: July 20, 1857

Patriotism is easy to understand in America; it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country. — Calvin Coolidge, The Destiny of America: May 30, 1923

I think patriotism is like charity - it begins at home. — Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady Volume 1: 1880

A thoughtful mind, when it sees a Nation’s flag, sees not the flag only, but the Nation itself; and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag the Government, the principles, the truths, the history which belongs to the Nation that sets it forth. — Henry Ward Beecher, The American Flag: 1861

Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as liberty without freedom of speech. — Benjamin Franklin, Dogwood Papers: 1722

The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time. — Thomas Jefferson, Summary View of the Rights of British America: July 1774

There are those, I know, who will say that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind, is nothing but a dream. They are right. It is the American dream. — Archibald MacLeish, 1960

We are as great as our belief in human liberty - no greater. And our belief in human liberty is only ours when it is larger than ourselves. — Archibald MacLeish, Now Let Us Address the Main Question: Bicentennial of What?, New York Times: July 3, 1976

Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. — John Quincy Adams

We need an America with the wisdom of experience. But we must not let America grow old in spirit. — Hubert H. Humphrey

The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people. — Woodrow Wilson

The Conquest of New Spain History - 1492-1901

At the height of the Spanish Empire (17th Century), the Spanish Empire was the largest empire in the world and included the following modern countries and territories: Bahamas, Belize, Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan), Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States (California, Oregon, Washington, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Nebraska, Alaska).

New Spain was a viceroyalty, or administrative unit of the Spanish colonial empire. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire. New Spain was established following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1521.

The creation of a viceroyalty in the Americas was a result of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519 to 1521). The lands and societies brought under Spanish control were of unprecedented complexity and wealth, which presented both an incredible opportunity and a threat to the Crown of Castile. The societies could provide the conquistadors, especially Hernán Cortés, a base from which to become autonomous, or even independent, of the Crown. As a result the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, Charles V created the Council of the Indies in 1524.

A few years later the first mainland Audiencia was created in 1527 to take over the administration of New Spain from Hernán Cortés. An earlier Audiencia had been established in Santo Domingo in 1526 to deal with the Caribbean settlements. The Audiencia was charged with encouraging further exploration and settlements under its own authority. Management by the Audiencia, which was expected to make executive decisions as a body, proved unwieldy. Therefore in 1535, King Charles V named Antonio de Mendoza as the first Viceroy of New Spain. After the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire in 1532 opened up the vast territories of South America to further conquests, the Crown established an independent Viceroyalty of Peru there in 1540.

Upon his arrival, Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza vigorously took to the duties entrusted to him by the King and encouraged the exploration of Spain’s new mainland territories. He commissioned the expeditions of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado into the present day American Southwest in 1540–1542. The Viceroy commissioned Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in the first Spanish exploration up the Pacific Ocean along the western coast of the Las Californias Province in 1542–1543. He sailed above present day Baja California (Vieja California), to what he called ‘New California’ (Nueva California), becoming the first European to see present day California, U.S. The Viceroy also sent Ruy López de Villalobos to the Spanish East Indies in 1542–1543. As these new territories became controlled, they were brought under the purview of the Viceroy of New Spain.

During the 16th century, many Spanish cities were established in North and Central America. Spain attempted to establish missions in what is now the Southern United States including Georgia and South Carolina between 1568 and 1587. Despite their efforts, the Spaniards were only successful in the region of present day Florida, where they founded St. Augustine in 1565.

Seeking to develop trade between the East Indies and the Americas across the Pacific Ocean, Miguel López de Legazpi established the first Spanish settlement in the Philippine Islands in 1565, which became the town of San Miguel. Andrés de Urdaneta discovered an efficient sailing route from the Philippine Islands returning to Mexico. In 1571, the city of Manila became the capital of the Spanish East Indies, with trade soon beginning via the Manila-Acapulco Galleons. The Manila-Acapulco trade route shipped products such as silks, spices, silver, and gold, and enslaved people to the Americas from Asia.

Products brought from East Asia were sent to Veracruz México, then shipped to Spain, and then traded across Europe. There were attacks on these shipments in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea by British and Dutch pirates and privateers, led by Francis Drake in 1586, and Thomas Cavendish in 1587. In addition, the cities of Huatulco (Oaxaca) and Barra de Navidad in Jalisco Province of México were sacked. Lope Díez de Armendáriz was the first Viceroy of New Spain that was born in the ‘New World’ (Nueva España). He formed the ‘Navy of Barlovento’ (Armada de Barlovento), based in Veracruz, to patrol coastal regions and protect the harbors, port towns, and trade ships from pirates and privateers.

Luis de Velasco, marqués de Salinas gained control over many of the semi-nomadic Chichimeca indigenous tribes of northern México in 1591 for awhile. This allowed expansion into the ‘Province of New Mexico’ or Provincia de Nuevo México. In 1598, Juan de Oñate pioneered ‘The Royal Road of the Interior Land’ or El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro between Mexico City and the Tewa village of ‘Ohkay Owingeh’ or San Juan Pueblo. He also founded the settlement (a Spanish pueblo) of San Juan on the Rio Grande near the Native American Pueblo, located in the present day U.S. state of New Mexico. In 1609, Pedro de Peralta, a later governor of the Province of New Mexico, established the settlement of Santa Fe in the region of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the Rio Grande. Missions were established for conversions and agricultural industry. The territory’s Puebloan peoples resented the Spaniards denigration and prohibition of their traditional religion, and their encomienda system’s forced labor. The Pueblo Revolt ensued in 1680, with final resolution including some freedom from Spanish efforts to eradicate their culture and religion, the issuing of substantial communal land grants to each Pueblo, and a public defender of their rights and for their legal cases in Spanish courts. In 1776 the Province came under the new Provincias Internas jurisdiction. In the late 18th century the Spanish land grant encouraged the settlement by individuals of large land parcels outside Mission and Pueblo boundaries, many of which became ranchos.

In 1602, Sebastián Vizcaíno, the first Spanish presence in the ‘New California’ or Nueva California region of the frontier Las Californias Province since Cabrillo in 1542, sailed as far upcoast north as Monterey Bay. In 1767 King Charles III ordered the Jesuits, who had established missions in the lower Baja California region of Las Californias, forcibly expelled and returned to Spain.[15] New Spain’s Visitador General José de Gálvez replaced them with the Dominican Order in Baja, and the Franciscans to establish the new northern missions. In 1768, Visitador General José de Gálvez received the following orders: “Occupy and fortify San Diego and Monterey for God and the King of Spain.” The Spanish colonization there, with far fewer recognized natural resources and less cultural development than Mexico or Peru, was to combine establishing a presence for defense of the territory with a perceived responsibility to convert the indigenous people to Christianity. The method was the traditional missions (misiones), forts (presidios), civilian towns (pueblos), and land grant ranches (ranchos) model, but more simplified due to the region’s great distance from supplies and support in México. Between 1769 and 1833 twenty one Spanish missions in California were established. In 1776 the Province came under the administration of the new ‘Commandancy General of the Internal Provinces of the North’ (Provincias Internas) to invigorate growth. The crown created two new governments in Las Californias, the southern peninsular one called Baja California, and the northern mainland one called Alta California in 1804. The issuing of Spanish land grants in California encouraged settlement and establishment of large California ranchos. Some Californio rancho grantees emulated the Dons of Spain, with cattle and sheep marking wealth. The work was usually done by displaced and relocated Native Americans. After the Mexican War of Independence and subsequent secularization (“disestablishment”) of mission lands, Mexican land grant transactions increased the spread of ranchos. The land grants and ranchos established land-use patterns that are recognizable in present day California and New Mexico.

The forts, pueblos (civilian towns) and the misiones (missions) were the three major agencies employed by the Spanish crown to extend its borders and consolidate its colonial holdings in these territories.

The town of Alburquerque (present day Albuquerque, New Mexico) was founded in 1660. The Mexican towns of: Paso del Norte (present day Ciudad Juárez) founded in 1667; Santiago de la Monclova in 1689; Panzacola, Tejas in 1681; and San Francisco de Cuéllar (present day city of Chihuahua) in 1709. From 1687, Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, with the marqués de Villapuente’s economic help, founded over twenty missions in the Sonoran Desert (in present day Mexican state Sonora and U.S. state Arizona). From 1697, Jesuits established eighteen missions throughout the Baja California Peninsula. In 1668 Padre San Vitores established the first mission in the Mariana Islands (now Guam). Between 1687 and 1700 several Missions were founded in Trinidad, but only four survived as Amerindian villages throughout the 18th century. In 1691, explorers and missionaries visited the interior of Texas and came upon a river and Amerindian settlement on June 13, the feast day of St. Anthony, and named the location and river San Antonio in his honor.

Immersed in a low intensity war with Great Britain (mostly over the Spanish ports and trade routes harassed by British pirates), the defenses of Veracruz and San Juan de Ulúa, Jamaica, Cuba and Florida were strengthened. Santiago de Cuba (1662), St. Augustine Spanish Florida (1665) or Campeche 1678 were sacked by the British. The Tarahumara Indians were in revolt in the mountains of Chihuahua for several years. In 1670 Chichimecas invaded Durango, and the governor, Francisco González, abandoned its defense. In 1680, 25,000 previously subjugated Indians in 24 pueblos of New Mexico rose against the Spanish and killed all the Europeans they encountered. In 1685, after a revolt of the Chamorros, the Marianas islands were incorporated to the Captaincy General of the Philippines. In 1695, this time with the British help, the viceroy Gaspar de la Cerda attacked the French who had established a base on the island of Española.

Early in the Queen Anne’s War, in 1702, the English captured and burned the Spanish town St. Augustine, Florida. However, the English were unable to take the main fortress (presidio) of St. Augustine, resulting in the campaign being condemned by the English as a failure. The Spanish maintained St. Augustine and Pensacola for more than a century after the war, but their mission system in Florida was destroyed and the Apalachee tribe was decimated in what became known as the Apalachee Massacre of 1704. Also in 1704 the viceroy Francisco Fernández de la Cueva suppressed a rebellion of the Pima Indians in Nueva Vizcaya.

Diego Osorio de Escobar y Llamas reformed the postal service and the marketing of mercury. In 1701 under the Duke of Alburquerque the ‘Court of the Agreement’ (Tribunal de la Acordada), an organization of volunteers, similar to the ‘Holy Brotherhood’ (Hermandad), intended to capture and quickly try bandits, was founded. The church of the Virgin of Guadalupe, patron of Mexico, was finished in 1702.

The new Bourbon kings did not split the Viceroyalty of New Spain into smaller administrative units as they did with the Viceroyalty of Peru. The first innovation, in 1776, was by José de Gálvez, the new Minister of the Indies (1775–1787), establishing the Commandancy General of the Provincias Internas known as the Provincias Internas (Commandancy General of the Internal Provinces of the North, (Spanish: Comandancia y Capitanía General de las Provincias Internas). He appointed Teodoro de Croix (nephew of the former viceroy) as the first Commander General of the Provinicas Internas, independent of the Viceroy of New Spain, to provide more autonomy for the frontier provinces. They included Nueva Vizcaya, Nuevo Santander, Sonora y Sinaloa, Las Californias, Coahuila y Tejas (Coahuila and Texas), and Nuevo México.

The prime innovation introduction of intendancies, an institution borrowed from France. They were first introduced on a large scale in New Spain, by the Minister of the Indies José de Gálvez, in the 1770s, who originally envisioned that they would replace the viceregal system (viceroyalty) alltogether. With broad powers over tax collection and the public treasury and with a mandate to help foster economic growth over their districts, intendants encroached on the traditional powers of viceroys, governors and local officials, such as the corregidores, which were phased out as intendancies were established. The Crown saw the intendants as a check on these other officers. Over time accommodations were made. For example, after a period of experimentation in which an independent intendant was assigned to Mexico City, the office was thereafter given to the same person who simultaneously held the post of viceroy. Nevertheless, the creation of scores of autonomous intendancies throughout the Viceroyalty, created a great deal of decentralization, and in the Captaincy General of Guatemala, in particular, the intendancy laid the groundwork for the future independent nations of the 19th century.

In 1780, Minister of the Indies José de Gálvez sent a royal dispatch to Teodoro de Croix, Commandant General of the Internal Provinces of New Spain (Provincias Internas), asking all subjects to donate money to help the American Revolution. Millions of pesos were given.

The focus on the economy (and the revenues it provided to the royal coffers) was also extended to society at large. Economic associations were promoted, such as the Economic Society of Friends of the Country Governor-General José Basco y Vargas established in the Philippines in 1781. Similar “Friends of the Country” economic societies were established throughout the Spanish world, including Cuba and Guatemala.

A secondary feature of the Bourbon Reforms was that it was an attempt to end the significant amount of local control that had crept into the bureaucracy under the Habsburgs, especially through the sale of offices. The Bourbons sought a return to the monarchical ideal of having outsiders, who in theory should be disinterested, staff the higher echelons of regional government. In practice this meant that there was a concerted effort to appoint mostly peninsulares, usually military men with long records of service (as opposed to the Habsburg preference for prelates), who were willing to move around the global empire. The intendancies were one new office that could be staffed with peninsulares, but throughout the 18th century significant gains were made in the numbers of governors-captain generals, audiencia judges and bishops, in addition to other posts, who were Spanish-born.

The first century that saw the Bourbons on the Spanish throne coincided with series of global conflicts that pitted primarily France against Great Britain. Spain as an ally of Bourbon France was drawn into these conflicts. In fact part of the motivation for the Bourbon Reforms was the perceived need to prepare the empire administratively, economically and militarily for what was the next expected war. The Seven Years’ War proved to be catalyst for most of the reforms in the overseas possessions, just like the War of the Spanish Succession had been for the reforms on the Peninsula.

In 1720, the Villasur expedition from Santa Fe met and attempted to parley with French- allied Pawnee in what is now Nebraska. Negotiations were unsuccessful, and a battle ensued; the Spanish were badly defeated, with only thirteen managing to return to New Mexico. Although this was a small engagement, it is significant in that it was the deepest penetration of the Spanish into the Great Plains, establishing the limit to Spanish expansion and influence there.

The War of Jenkins’ Ear broke out in 1739 between the Spanish and British and was confined to the Caribbean and Georgia. The major action in the War of Jenkins’ Ear was a major amphibious attack launched by the British under Admiral Edward Vernon in March, 1741 against Cartagena de Indias, one of Spain’s major gold-trading ports in the Caribbean (today Colombia). Although this episode is largely forgotten, it ended in a decisive victory for Spain, who managed to prolong its control of the Caribbean and indeed secure the Spanish Main until the 19th century.

Following the French and Indian War/Seven Years War, the British troops invaded and captured the Spanish cities of Havana in Cuba and Manila in the Philippines in 1762. The Treaty of Paris (1763) gave Spain control over the New France Louisiana Territory including New Orleans, Louisiana creating a Spanish empire that stretched from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, but Spain also ceded Florida to Great Britain to regain Cuba, which the British occupied during the war. Louisiana settlers, hoping to restore the territory to France, in the bloodless Rebellion of 1768 forced the Louisiana Governor Antonio de Ulloa to flee to Spain. The rebellion was crushed in 1769 by the next governor Alejandro O’Reilly who executed five of the conspirators. The Louisiana territory was to be administered by superiors in Cuba with a governor onsite in New Orleans.

The 21 northern missions in present-day California (U.S.) were established along California’s El Camino Real from 1769. In an effort to exclude Britain and Russia from the eastern Pacific, King Charles III of Spain sent forth from Mexico a number of expeditions to the Pacific Northwest between 1774 and 1793. Spain’s long-held claims and navigation rights were strengthened and a settlement and fort were built in Nootka Sound, Alaska.
A Spanish army defeats British soldiers in the Battle of Pensacola in 1781. In 1783 the Treaty of Paris returns all of Florida to Spain for the return of the Bahamas.

Spain entered the American Revolutionary War as an ally of France in June 1779, a renewal of the Bourbon Family Compact. In 1781, a Spanish expedition during the American Revolutionary War left St. Louis, Missouri (then under Spanish control) and reached as far as Fort St. Joseph at Niles, Michigan where they captured the fort while the British were away. On 8 May 1782, Count Bernardo de Gálvez, the Spanish governor of Louisiana, captured the British naval base at New Providence in the Bahamas. On the Gulf Coast, the actions of Gálvez led to Spain acquiring East and West Florida in the peace settlement, as well as controlling the mouth of the Mississippi River after the war—which would prove to be a major source of tension between Spain and the United States in the years to come.

In the second Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended the American Revolution, Britain ceded West Florida back to Spain to regain The Bahamas, which Spain had occupied during the war. Spain then had control over the river south of 32°30′ north latitude, and, in what is known as the Spanish Conspiracy, hoped to gain greater control of Louisiana and all of the west. These hopes ended when Spain was pressured into signing Pinckney’s Treaty in 1795. France reacquired ‘Louisiana’ from Spain in the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800. The United States bought the territory from France in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.

New Spain claimed the entire west coast of North America and therefore considered the Russian fur trading activity in Alaska, which began in the middle to late 18th century, an encroachment and threat. Likewise, the exploration of the northwest coast by James Cook of the British Navy and the subsequent fur trading activities by British ships was considered an invasion of Spanish territory. To protect and strengthen its claim, New Spain sent a number of expeditions to the Pacific Northwest between 1774 and 1793. In 1789 a naval outpost called Santa Cruz de Nuca (or just Nuca) was established at Friendly Cove in Nootka Sound (now Yuquot), Vancouver Island. It was protected by an artillery land battery called Fort San Miguel. Santa Cruz de Nuca was the northermost establishment of New Spain. It was the first colony in British Columbia and the only Spanish settlement in what is now Canada. Santa Cruz de Nuca remained under the control of New Spain until 1795, when it was abandoned under the terms of the third Nootka Convention. Another outpost, intended to replace Santa Cruz de Nuca, was partially built at Neah Bay on the southern side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca in what is now the U.S. state of Washington. Neah Bay was known as Bahía de Núñez Gaona in New Spain, and the outpost there was referred to as “Fuca”. It was abandoned, partially finished, in 1792. Its personnel, livestock, cannons, and ammunition were transferred to Nuca.

In 1789, at Santa Cruz de Nuca, a conflict occurred between the Spanish naval officer Esteban José Martínez and the British merchant James Colnett, triggering the Nootka Crisis, which grew into an international incident and the threat of war between Britain and Spain. The first Nootka Convention averted the war but left many specific issues unresolved. Both sides sought to define a northern boundary for New Spain. At Nootka Sound, the diplomatic representative of New Spain, Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, proposed a boundary at the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but the British representative, George Vancouver refused to accept any boundary north of San Francisco. No agreement could be reached and the northern boundary of New Spain remained unspecified until the Adams–Onís Treaty with the United States (1819). That treaty also ceded Spanish Florida to the United States.

The Third Treaty of San Ildefonso ceded to France the vast territory that Napoleon then sold to the United States, known as the Louisiana Purchase (1803). Spanish Florida followed in 1819. In the 1821 Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire, Mexico and Central America declared their independence after three centuries of Spanish rule and formed the First Mexican Empire. After priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla’s 1810 Grito de Dolores (call for independence), the insurgent army began an eleven-year war. At first, the Criollo class fought against the rebels. But in 1820, coinciding with the approval of the Spanish Constitution, which took privileges away from the Criollos, they switched sides. This led to Mexican triumph in 1821. The new Mexican Empire offered the crown to Ferdinand VII or to a member of the Spanish royal family that he would designate. After the refusal of the Spanish monarchy to recognize the independence of Mexico, the ejército Trigarante (Army of the Three Guarantees), led by Agustin de Iturbide and Vincente Guerrero, cut all political and economic ties with Spain and crowned Agustin I as emperor of Mexico. Central America was originally part of the Mexican Empire, but seceded peacefully in 1823, forming the United Provinces of Central America.

This left only Cuba, the Spanish East Indies (including the Philippines and Guam), and Puerto Rico in the Spanish empire until their loss to the United States in the Spanish–American War (1898).

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Spain

Pre-Columbian Native Americans

The first residents of what is now the United States emigrated from Asia over 30,000 years ago by crossing from present-day Russia into what is now present-day Alaska then headed south. A migration of humans from Eurasia to the Americas took place via Beringia, a land bridge which formerly connected the two continents across what is now the Bering Strait. Falling sea levels created the Bering land bridge that joined Siberia to Alaska, which began about 60,000 – 25,000 years ago. The most recent date by which this migration had taken place is about 12,000 years ago. These early Paleoamericans soon spread throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes. The North American climate finally stabilized about 10,000 years ago and had climatic conditions that were very similar to today. This led to widespread migration, cultivation of crops and a dramatic rise in population all over the Americas. Between about 8000 BC and 1492 AD, there were numerous and complex events that shaped the North American tribes, culture, language, range and more.

Pre-Columbian Indian Cultures Timeline

13,000 BC (near the end of the Ice Age): First migration of Paleo-Indians in North America by people of Beringian subcontinent.


9,200 BC (Clovis Culture): Known for invention of superbly crafted grooved or fluted stone projectiles (Clovis points) first found near Clovis, New Mexico, in 1932. Clovis points have been found throughout the Americas. Hunted big game, notably mammoths.


8,900 BC (Folsom Culture): Named for site found near Folsom, New Mexico, 1926. Developed a smaller, thinner, fluted spear point than Clovis type. Hunted big game, notably the huge bison ancestor of the modern buffalo. First used a spear-throwing device called an atlatl (an Aztec word for “spear-thrower”).


8,500 BC (Plano or Plainview Culture): Named after the site in Plainview, Texas. They are associated primarily with the Great Plains area. Were bison hunters. Developed a delicately flaked spear point that lacked fluting. Adopted mass-hunting technique (jump-kill) to drive animal herds off a cliff. Preserved meat in the form of pemmican (from the Cree word pimîhkân, it is a concentrated mixture of fat and protein used as a nutritious food). First to use grinding stones to grind seeds and meat.


6,500 BC (Northwest Coast Indians): Some modern descendants are the Tlingit, Haida, Kwakiutl, Nootka, and Makah tribes. Settled along the shores, rivers, and creeks of southeastern Alaska to northern California. A maritime culture, were expert canoe builders. Salmon fishing was important. Some tribes hunted whales and other sea mammals. Developed a high culture without the benefit of agriculture, pottery, or influence of ancient Mexican civilizations. Tribes lived in large, complex communities, constructed multifamily cedar plank houses. Evolved a caste system of chiefs, commoners, and slaves. Were highly skilled in crafts and woodworking that reached their height after European contact, which provided them steel tools. Placed an inordinate value on accumulated wealth and property. Held lavish feasts (called potlatches) to display their wealth and social status. Important site: Ozette, Washington (a Makah village).


500 BC – 200 AD (Adena Culture): Named for the estate called Adena near Chilicothe, Ohio, where their earthwork mounds were first found. Culture was centered in present southern Ohio, but also lived in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Were the pioneer mound builders in the U.S. and constructed spectacular burial and effigy mounds. Settled in villages of circular post-and-wattle houses. Primarily hunter-gatherers, they farmed corn, tobacco, squash, pumpkins, and sunflowers at an early date. Important sites: The Adena Mound, Ohio; Grave Creek Mound, West Virginia; Monks Mound, Illinois, is the largest mound. May have built the Great Serpent Mound in Ohio.


300–1300 AD (Hohokam people): Believed to be ancestors of the modern Papago (Tohono O’odham) and Pima (Akimel O’odham) Indian groups. Settled in present-day Arizona. Were desert farmers. Cultivated corn. Were first to grow cotton in the Southwest. Wove cotton fabrics. Built pit houses and later multi-storied buildings (pueblos). Constructed vast network of irrigation systems. Major canals were over 30 miles long. Built ball courts and truncated pyramids similar to those found in Middle America. First in world known to master etching (etched shells with fermented Saguaro juice). Traded with Mesoamerican Toltecs. Important sites: Pueblo Grande, Arizona; Snaketown, Arizona; Casa Grande, Arizona.


300 BC – 1100 AD (Mogollon Culture): Were highland farmers but also hunters in what is now eastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. Named after cluster of mountain peaks along Arizona-New Mexico border. They developed pit houses, later dwelt in pueblos. Were accomplished stoneworkers. Famous for magnificent black on white painted pottery (Minbres Valley pottery), the finest North American native ceramics. Important settlements: Casa Malpais, Arizona (first ancient catacombs in U.S., discovered there 1990); Gila Cliff, New Mexico; Galaz, New Mexico, Casa Grandes in Mexico was largest settlement.


300 BC – 1300 AD (Anasazi): Their descendants are the Hopi and other Pueblo Indians. Inhabited Colorado Plateau “four corners,” where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado meet. An agricultural society that cultivated cotton, wove cotton fabrics. The early Anasazi are known as the Basketmaker People for their extraordinary basketwork. Were skilled workers in stone. Carved stone Kachina dolls. Built pit houses, later apartment-like pueblos. Constructed road networks. Were avid astronomers. Used a solar calendar. Traded with Mesoamerican Toltecs. Important sites: Chaco Canyon, New Mexico; Mesa Verde, Colorado; Canyon de Chelly, Arizona; Bandelier, New Mexico; Betatkin, New Mexico, The Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico, built circa A.D. 1300 and still occupied, may be the oldest continuously inhabited village in the U.S.


100 BC – 500 AD (Hopewell Culture): May be ancestors of present-day Zuni Indians. Named after site in southern Ohio. Lived in Ohio valley, central Mississippi, and Illinois River Valleys. Were both hunter-gatherers and farmers. Villages were built along rivers, characterized by large conical or dome-shaped burial mounds and elaborate earthen walls enclosing large oval or rectangular areas. Were highly skilled craftsmen in pottery, stone, sculpture, and metalworking, especially copper. Engaged in widespread trade all over northern America extending west to the Rocky Mountains. Important sites: Newark Mound, Ohio; Great Serpent Mound, Ohio; Crooks Mound, Louisiana.


700 AD – European contact (Mississippi Culture): Major tribes of the Southeast are their modern descendants. Extended from Mississippi Valley into Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Constructed large flat-topped earthen mounds on which were built wooden temples and meeting houses and residences of chiefs and priests. (They were also known as Temple Mound Builders.) Built huge cedar pole circles (“woodhenges”) for astronomical observations. Were highly skilled hunters with bow and arrow. Practiced large-scale farming of corn, beans, and squash. Were skilled craftsmen. Falcon and Jaguar were common symbols in their art. Had clear ties with Mexico. The largest Mississippian center and largest of all mounds (Monks Mound) was at Cahokia, Illinois. Other great temple centers were at Spiro, Oklahoma; Moundville, Alabama; and Etowah, Georgia.

Eric the Red / Leif Ericsson

Eric the Red (about 950 AD - 1000 AD) was born in Norway was best known for colonizing Greenland. Eric the Red (also Erik Thorvaldson, Eirik Raude or Eirik Torvaldsson), for three years, sailed around and explored the southern part of what he dubbed Greenland. In 986 he left Iceland with more than 20 ships and around 400-500 people. He arrived in Greenland with 14 boats and an estimated 350 colonizers. Although the settlement eventually disappeared, it opened the door to centuries of occasional explorations of the area and colonization attempts by northern Europeans. Leif Eriksson (975 AD - 1020 AD) was born in Iceland. He was a leader of Viking expeditions and may have been the first European to reach North America.

Age of Exploration

The Age of Discovery, also known as the Age of Exploration, was a period in history starting in the 15th century and continuing into the early 17th century during which Europeans engaged in intensive exploration of the world, establishing direct contacts with Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania and mapping the planet. The pioneer Portuguese and Spanish traveled long distances over open ocean in search of alternative trade routes to “the Indies”, moved by the trade of gold, silver and spices.

1492 - 1493: Christopher Columbus (representing Spain) set sail from port of Palos, in southern Spain on August 3, 1492. Sighted land in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492, discovered Cuba (Española) and other islands in West Indies.

1497: John Cabot (representing England) - Giovanni Caboto born in Genoa sailed for England from Bristol, England, in May 20, 1497. Reached Belle Island on the northern coast of Newfoundland, on June 24, 1497. He sailed down the east coast of Newfoundland, to the southern corner, landing only on Newfoundland, at Belle Island. He never landed again on the coast, before he returned to England on July 30, 1497.

1499 - 1500: João Fernandes (representing Portugal) - An Azorean farmer that sailed from Terceira and viewed Greenland and discovered Labrador.

1500: Gaspar Corte Real (representing Portugal) sailed from the Azores and explored Newfoundland, looking for the Northeast Passage, and returned to Lisbon in the autumn of 1500.

1513: Juan Ponce de Leon (representing Spain) set sail from San German, Puerto Rico, on March 3, 1513, in search of the Fountain of Youth. They sailed northwest and on April 2nd, sighted, what he thought was a large island, which he gave the name of Pascua Florida, because it was Easter season, and there were many flowers in the area. On April 3rd, he went ashore to claim it for Spain. He landed in a small inlet near Daytona Beach. He also discovered a strong current (Gulf Stream) that forced his ships, that were sailing south, to sail backwards. He sailed down the coast of Florida, past the Florida Keys, and up the western coast to Charlotte Harbor. Returning home, he sailed west, skirting the Yucatan, past the north coast of Cuba, and back to Puerto Rico, getting home on October 10th, 1513.

1518: Alonso Alvarez de Pineda (representing Spain) sailed at the end of 1518. They landed on the west coast of Florida, and encountered the same reception that Ponce de Leon received, and continued up the coast. They discovered the Mississippi River, and sailed 20 miles up the Mississippi. They then continued along the coast, west and south, along the coast of Texas. At a place called Chila, they were defeated by the Indians, and Pineda was killed. The natives managed to burn most of the ships in the fleet, but one. The survivors, arrived in Vera Cruz, and joined Cortez’s army, that was already there. Pineda, was able to navigate, along the Gulf of Mexico coast, and positively prove, that were was no passage to the Pacific Ocean. He and not De Soto or La Salle, discovered the Mississippi River.

1520: João Alvares Fagundes (representing Portugal) sailed from Portugal in 1520 to explore Codfish Land (Newfoundland) and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. He discovered St. Pierre, Miquelon and the many islands between Newfoundland and St. Lawrence including the Penguin Island. He also sailed along the coast of Nova Scotia and discovered the Bay of Fundy. He went back in 1521 and 1525 to establish colonies in the area.

1521: Juan Ponce de Leon (representing Spain) set sail from San Juan, Puerto Rico, on February 15th, 1521. He went to colonize Florida, and had seeds, and priests to convert the Indians. He reach Sanibel Island, on the west coast of Florida, where he had a battle with the natives, received and arrow wound, that became infected. They returned to Cuba, but he died in July.

1524: Giovanni da Verrazzano (representing France) sailed from Dieppe, France on January 17, 1524. He made landfall on March 1st, 1524 at Cape Fear, southernmost of North Carolina’s three capes. They sailed south for about 110 miles, and turned north, to avoid running into any Spaniards, he sailed another 250 miles north, along the coast. He explored the coasts of Georgia, North and South Carolina, and as far north as New York Bay and Arcadia. He returned and anchored at Dieppe on July 8, 1524.

1527: Pánfilo Narváez (representing Spain) sailed from Barrameda on February 22nd, 1527 with the commission to colonize all the lands between Florida and Mexico. He, with a force of 260 men, landed in Florida, near St. Petersburg, on May 1st. He sent his ship on to Mexico to wait for him while he marched up the coast of Florida. He traveled north battling Indians all the way to Apalachee. They constructed 4 boats here and continued on to Pensacola Bay, battling Indians all the way. They crossed the Mississippi River in their boats. Eventually, all of their boats were lost and the Indians kill them all, except for 4 men, one being Cabeza de Vaca.

1527 - 1528: John Rut (representing England) set sail from Plymouth, England, on June 10th. On July 21st, they arrived in Newfoundland, and looking for the Northwest Passage, sailed as far as Labrador. His ship was seen by Spaniards on Mona Island, and later, November 25, 1527 in Española. The Spanish reported that the ship was lost. In Puerto Rico, they took in supplies and returned to England in the spring of 1528.

1527 - 1536: Alvar Nuñez de Vera (Cabeza de Vaca) (representing Spain) was one of the four surviving members of the Pánfilo Narváez expedition. On November 8, 1527, the boat he was on, capsized, and they managed to swim to the shore. They walked to Texas and then Mexico, with the help of friendly Indians that fed them along the way. They lost all of their cloths along the way, and continued naked. Cabeza de Vaca, wrote that the shed their skin, twice a year, like serpents. They finally reached Mexico City on July 25th, 1536. It took him and his four companions 9 years to complete the trip.

1534 - 1536: Jacques Cartier (representing France) set sail from Saint-Malo on April 20th, 1534 and made landfall at Newfoundland on May 10th. Cartier sailed all around the coast of Newfoundland, Labrador, Arcadia, and all the islands in the area. He returned on September 5th, 1534. Jacques Cartier set sail from Saint-Malo on May 19, 1535, and sighted Funk Island on July 7th. They did not stop at Newfoundland but proceeded to explore the area of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the islands in the gulf and Canada. They sailed up the Saguenay and the St. Lawrence River. They arrived at what is now Quebec in September 10th and on October 2nd, the were at the place where Montreal is today. Sailing down the river, he wintered in Quebec. He reached Saint-Malo on July 15, 1536.

1539 - 1543: Hernando de Soto (representing Spain) setting sail from Havana, Cuba, he landed near Fort Myers, Florida on May 25, 1539 with a force of 570 men and 223 horses. De Soto, got his training with Pizarro in Peru, he had no respect for the indigenous population of Florida. His basic strategy, was to enter an Indian town, capture the chief, demand provision, then move to the next village, capture that chief, then release the chief from the previous village. During his expedition, de Soto killed many Indians wherever he went. They marched north from Florida, into Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee. Near Memphis, he built barges and crossed the Mississippi River, two years after landing in Florida. They marched through Arkansas and Oklahoma, then back to the Mississippi. De Sota, died of fever on May 21, 1542, at the mouth of the Red River. His successor, Luis Moscoso, continued the expedition, spending a fourth winter at the mouth of the Arkansas River. He built a ship, sailed down the Mississippi, across the Gulf of Mexico, and arrived in Mexico on September 1543, with 311 men, out of the original 570.

1541 - 1542: Jacques Cartier (representing France) set sail from Saint-Malo on May 23rd, 1541. There were five ships in the fleet, that was going to colonize Canada. On August 23rd, 1541, it anchored off banks of the future Quebec. They established a settlement and continued their exploration, sailing up the Ottawa River. He arrived in Saint-Malo in October, 1542.

Spain

Spanish expeditions reached the Appalachian Mountains, the Mississippi River, the Grand Canyon and the Great Plains. In 1540, Hernando de Soto undertook an extensive exploration of the present US and, in the same year, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado led 2,000 Spaniards and Native Mexican Americans across the modern Arizona–Mexico border and traveled as far as central Kansas. Other Spanish explorers include Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón, Pánfilo de Narváez, Sebastián Vizcaíno, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, Gaspar de Portolà, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Tristán de Luna y Arellano and Juan de Oñate. The Spanish sent some settlers, creating the first permanent European settlement in the continental United States at St. Augustine, Florida in 1565, but it was in such a harsh political environment that it attracted few settlers and never expanded. Much larger and more important Spanish settlements included Santa Fe, Albuquerque, San Antonio, Tucson, San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Most Spanish settlements were along the California coast or the Santa Fe River in New Mexico.

Netherlands

Nieuw-Nederland, or New Netherland, was the 17th century Dutch colonial province on the eastern coast of North America. The Dutch claimed territory from the Delmarva Peninsula to Buzzards Bay, while their settlements concentrated on the Hudson River Valley, where they traded furs with the Indians to the north and were a barrier to Yankee expansion from New England. Their capital, New Amsterdam, was located at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan and was renamed New York when the English seized the colony in 1664. The Dutch were Calvinists who built the Reformed Church in America, but they were tolerant of other religions and cultures. The colony left an enduring legacy on American cultural and political life, including a secular broadmindedness and mercantile pragmatism in the city, a rural traditionalism in the countryside typified by the story of Rip Van Winkle, and politicians such as Martin Van Buren, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt.

France

New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period extending 1534 to 1763, when Britain and Spain took control. There were few permanent settlers outside Quebec, but fur traders ranged working with numerous Indian tribes who often became military allies in France’s wars with Britain. The territory was divided into five colonies: Canada, Acadia, Hudson Bay, Newfoundland and Louisiana. After 1750 the Acadians—French settlers who had been expelled by the British from Acadia (Nova Scotia)—resettled in Louisiana, where they developed a distinctive rural Cajun culture that still exists. They became American citizens in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase. Other French villages along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers were absorbed when the Americans started arriving after 1770.

England

In 1607, the Virginia Company of London established the Jamestown Settlement on the James River, both named after King James I. The strip of land along the eastern seacoast was settled primarily by English colonists in the 17th century, along with much smaller numbers of Dutch and Swedes. Colonial America was defined by a severe labor shortage that employed forms of slavery and indentured servitude, and by a British policy of benign neglect that permitted the development of an American spirit distinct from that of its European founders. Over half of all European immigrants to Colonial America arrived as indentured servants.

The first successful English colony was established in 1607, on the James River at Jamestown. It languished for decades until a new wave of settlers arrived in the late 17th century and established commercial agriculture based on tobacco. Between the late 1610s and the Revolution, the British shipped an estimated 50,000 convicts to their American colonies. During the Georgian era English officials exiled 1,000 prisoners across the Atlantic every year. One example of conflict between Native Americans and English settlers was the 1622 Powhatan uprising in Virginia, in which Native Americans had killed hundreds of English settlers. The largest conflict between Native Americans and English settlers in the 17th century was King Philip’s War in New England, although the Yamasee War may have been bloodier.

The Plymouth Colony was established in 1620. New England was initially settled primarily by Puritans who established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. The Middle Colonies, consisting of the present-day states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, were characterized by a large degree of diversity. The first attempted English settlement south of Virginia was the Province of Carolina, with Georgia Colony the last of the Thirteen Colonies established in 1733. Several colonies were used as penal settlements from the 1620s until the American Revolution. Methodism became the prevalent religion among colonial citizens after the First Great Awakening, a religious revival led by preacher Jonathan Edwards in 1734.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States, http://bruceruiz.net/PanamaHistory/age_of_exploration_time_line.htm

Greatest American Entrepreneurs and Business Professionals in the USA

It has been said that if you were born in the United States of America you were 90% of the way towards becoming a success. The US offers may opportunities through Freedom, Democracy and a culture of hard work and education that fosters growth and success. Some of the greatest minds and wealthiest people over the last 200 years have been born in and/or have lived in the United States of America. By showing how these Great Americans have worked and lived, it will give great incite into what it takes to become successful in the USA.

Addition to this list was based upon the following criteria:
- Spent most of his/her adult life in the United States
- Created significant wealth (inherited wealth is not accepted)
- Displayed behavioral characteristics described in Top Characteristics of Successful People
- Revolutionized not only an industry, but also transformed the American culture

The list order is in chronological order based on date of birth.

Benjamin Franklin
Andrew Carnegie
John Pierpont J.P. Morgan
John D Rockefeller
Thomas Edison
Henry Ford
Pierre Samuel duPont
Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr.
Walter Elias Walt Disney
Raymond Ray Kroc
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr.
Samuel Moore Sam Walton
Mary Kay Ash
George Lucas
Oprah Winfrey
Steven Paul Steve Jobs
William Henry “Bill” Gates III
Lawrence “Larry” Page / Sergey Mikhaylovich Brin
Mark Elliot “Zuck” Zuckerberg

Benjamin Franklin

Alternative Benjamin Franklin Biography Video

Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 - April 17, 1790) was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the tenth son of soap maker. His father intended for Benjamin Franklin to enter into the clergy. However, Josiah Franklin could not afford it. Young Benjamin Franklin loved to read. He became an apprentice to his brother James, who was a printer. He would help compose pamphlets, set type and sell their products in the streets.

When Benjamin Franklin was 15 his brother started The New England Courant. James’s paper carried articles, opinion pieces, advertisements and news of ship schedules. Benjamin Franklin began

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writing letters at night and signing them with the name of a fictional widow, Silence Dogood who had advice and was very critical of the world around her, particularly concerning the issue of how women were treated. He would sneak the letters under the print shop door at night so no one knew who was writing the pieces. They were a smash hit and everyone wanted to know who was the real “Silence Dogood.”

In 1723, Benjamin Franklin left his home in Boston to go to New York. Unable to find work, he eventually arrived in Philadelphia where he found work as an apprentice printer. He did so well that the governor of Pennsylvania promised to set him up in business for himself if young Benjamin Franklin would go to London to buy printing equipment. He did go to London, but the governor did not keep his promise and Benjamin Franklin was forced to spend several months in England doing print work. Upon returning to Philadelphia, he tried helping to run a shop, but soon went back to being a printer’s helper. He eventually borrowed some money and set himself up in the printing business. Benjamin Franklin worked all the time. Soon he began getting the contract to do government jobs and started doing well. In addition to running a print shop, Benjamin Franklin and his wife also ran their own store selling everything from soap to fabric and he also ran a book store.

In 1729, Benjamin Franklin bought the Pennsylvania Gazette. He printed the paper and often contributed articles to the paper under aliases. His newspaper soon became the most successful in the colonies. This newspaper, among other firsts, would print the first political cartoon. During the 1720s and 1730s, he organized the Junto, a young working-man’s group dedicated to self- and-civic improvement and joined the Masons. In 1733 he started publishing Poor Richard’s Almanack. Almanacs of the era were printed annually and contained things like weather reports, recipes, predictions and homilies. Franklin published his almanac under the guise of a man named Richard Saunders, a poor man who needed money to take care of his wife. What distinguished his almanac from others were his wit and creativity. Many famous phrases, such as “A penny saved is a penny earned,” come from Poor Richard’s Almanack. During the 1730′s, 1740′s and 1750′s, he helped launch projects to pave, clean and light Philadelphia’s streets and clean up the environment. He helped launch the Library Company, American Philosophical Society and the Pennsylvania Hospital - all of which are still in existence today. He organized Philadelphia’s Union Fire Company and founded the Philadelphia Contribution for Insurance Against Loss by Fire

Benjamin Franklin’s printing business was thriving in this 1730s and 1740s. He started setting up franchise printing partnerships in other cities. By 1749 he retired from business and started concentrating on science, experiments and inventions. He invented a heat-efficient stove (Franklin stove), swim fins, glass harmonica and bifocals. He also studied the effects of electricity and lightning.

In 1757, he went to England to represent Pennsylvania in its fight with the descendants of the Penn family over who should represent the Colony. He remained in England to 1775, as a Colonial representative not only of Pennsylvania, but of Georgia, New Jersey and Massachusetts as well. In 1765, he was caught by surprise by America’s overwhelming opposition to the Stamp Act. His testimony before Parliament helped persuade the members to repeal the law. He started wondering if America should break free of England. Benjamin Franklin, though he had many friends in England, was tiring of the corruption he saw all around him in politics and royal circles. He, who had proposed a plan for a united colonies, now would earnestly start working toward that goal. He was elected to the Second Continental Congress and worked on a committee of 5 that helped draft the Declaration of Independence. In 1776 he signed the Declaration of Independence and sailed to France as an ambassador to the Court of Louis XVI. In part because of Benjamin Franklin’s popularity, the government of France signed a Treaty of Alliance with the Americans in 1778. He also helped secure loans and persuade the French they were doing the right thing. He was on hand to sign the Treaty of Paris in 1783, after the Americans had won the Revolution.

Benjamin Franklin returned to America and became President of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania. He served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and signed the Constitution. One of his last public acts was writing an anti-slavery treatise in 1789. He died at the age of 84. 20,000 people attended the funeral.

Related topics:
Declaration of Independence
US Constitution
Liberty Bell, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA
Bowers Museum: Benjamin Franklin Exhibit

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Andrew Carnegie

Alternative Andrew Carnegie Biography Video

Andrew Carnegie (November 25, 1835 – August 11, 1919) was born in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. Although he had little formal education, his family believed in the importance of books and learning. His father was a handloom weaver. At 13, Andrew Carnegie came to the United States with his family and settled in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Soon after, he went to work in a factory, earning $1.20 a week. The next year he found a job as a telegraph messenger. In 1851 he became a telegraph operator, and in 1853, he took a job with Pennsylvania Railroad. He worked as the assistant and telegraph operator to Thomas Scott, one of the railroad’s top executives. He

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learned a lot through this experience about the railroad industry and business. 3 years later, Andrew Carnegie was promoted to superintendent.

While working for the railroad, Andrew Carnegie made several smart investments, especially those in oil. In 1865, he left Pennsylvania Railroad to pursue other business interests, including Keystone Bridge Company. By the next decade, most of his time was dedicated to the steel industry. His business, which became known as the Carnegie Steel Company, revolutionized steel production in the United States. He built industrial plants around the country, using technology and methods that made manufacturing steel easier, faster and more productive. For every step of the process, he owned what he needed: the raw materials, ships and railroads for transporting the goods and coal fields to fuel the steel furnaces. This ownership strategy helped Andrew Carnegie become the dominant force in the steel industry and an exceedingly wealthy man. By 1889, Carnegie Steel Corporation was the largest of its kind in the world.

In 1901, Andrew Carnegie sold his business for a profit of $200 million to the United States Steel Corporation, started by legendary financier J.P. Morgan. At 65, Carnegie decided to spend the rest of his days helping others. Andrew Carnegie was an avid reader for much of his life. He donated approximately $5 million to the New York Public Library, established the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh (a.k.a. Carnegie-Mellon University), created the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and formed the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. It is said that more than 2,800 libraries were opened with his support.

Besides his business and charitable interests, he was friends with Mark Twain and Theodore Roosevelt. He wrote several books and numerous articles. Andrew Carnegie died of pneumonia in Lenox, Massachusetts. With a fortune estimated at $500 million at the time of his death, he left $350 million to charities, organizations and institutions that he believed in.

Related topics:
Industrial Revolution

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John Pierpont J.P. Morgan

Alternative JP Morgan Biography Federal Reserve Act History Video

John Pierpont “J.P.” Morgan (April 17, 1837 - March 31, 1913) was born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut. In the fall of 1848, he transferred to Hartford Public School and then to Episcopal Academy in Cheshire, Connecticut. In September 1851, Morgan passed the entrance exam for the English High School of Boston, a school specializing in mathematics to prepare young men for careers in commerce. In the spring of 1852, he became ill with rheumatic fever. He was sent by his father to the Azores to recover. After almost a year, he returned to English High School in Boston to resume his studies. After graduation, he was sent to Bellerive near Vevey, Switzerland. When he became fluent in

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French, his father sent him to the University of Göttingen in order to improve his German.

J.P. Morgan went into banking in 1857 at his father’s London branch. In 1858, he moved to New York where he worked at the banking house of Duncan, Sherman & Company. From 1860 to 1864, as J. Pierpont Morgan & Company, he acted as agent in New York for his father’s firm. From 1864–1872, he was a member of the firm of Dabney, Morgan & Company. In 1871, he partnered with the Drexels of Philadelphia to form the New York firm of Drexel, Morgan & Company. Anthony J. Drexel became his mentor at the request of his father. During the early days of the American Civil War, J.P. Morgan financed the purchase and upgrade of rifles for the United States. He avoided military service by paying $300 for a substitute while he worked to finance the Union war effort.

After the death of Anthony Drexel in 1893, the firm was rechristened “J. P. Morgan & Company.” He kept close ties with Drexel & Company of Philadelphia, Morgan, Harjes & Company of Paris and J.S. Morgan & Company of London. About 15 years later he created Chase Manhattan Bank. J.P. Morgan’s ascent to power was tumultuous. He gained control of the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad in 1869. He broke the government-financing privileges of Jay Cooke and soon became involved in developing and financing a railroad empire by reorganizations and consolidations in all parts of the United States. In 1885, he reorganized the New York, West Shore & Buffalo Railroad. In 1886, he reorganized the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad and in 1888 the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. He was heavily involved with railroad tycoon James J. Hill and the Great Northern Railway. After Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887, Morgan set up conferences in 1889 and 1890 that brought together railroad presidents in order to help the industry follow the new laws and write agreements. The conferences were the first of their kind and by creating a community of interest among competing lines paved the way for the great consolidations of the early 20th century.

J.P. Morgan reorganized business structures and management in order to return them to profitability. His reputation as a banker and financier also helped bring interest from investors to the businesses he took over. In 1896 Adolph Simon Ochs, who owned the Chattanooga Times, secured financing from J.P. Morgan to purchase the financially struggling New York Times. It became the standard for American journalism by cutting prices, investing in news gathering and insisting on the highest quality of writing and reporting.

During the Panic of 1893, the Federal Treasury was nearly out of gold. President Grover Cleveland arranged for J.P. Morgan to create a private syndicate on Wall Street to supply the U.S. Treasury with $65 million in gold to float a bond issue that restored the treasury surplus of $100 million.

By 1900, J.P. Morgan controlled one of the most powerful banking houses in the world. He began talks with Charles M. Schwab and Andrew Carnegie in 1900. The goal was to buy out Carnegie’s steel business and merge it with several other steel, coal, mining and shipping firms to create the United States Steel Corporation. In 1901 U.S. Steel was the first billion-dollar company in the world with an authorized capitalization of $1.4 billion. U.S. Steel aimed to achieve greater economies of scale, reduce transportation and resource costs, expand product lines and improve distribution. It was also planned to allow the United States to compete globally with Britain and Germany. U.S. Steel’s size was claimed by Charles M. Schwab and others to allow the company to pursue distant international markets. U.S. Steel was regarded as a monopoly by critics, as the business was attempting to dominate not only steel but also the construction of bridges, ships, railroad cars and rails, wire, nails and a host of other products. With U.S. Steel, J.P. Morgan had captured two-thirds of the steel market and Charles M. Schwab was confident that the company would soon hold a 75% market share. However, after 1901 the businesses’ market share dropped. Charles M. Schwab resigned from U.S. Steel in 1903 to form Bethlehem Steel, which became the second largest U.S. producer.

U.S. Steel was non-union and experienced steel producers, led by Charles M. Schwab, wanted to keep it that way with aggressive tactics to identify and root out trouble makers. The lawyers and bankers who had organized the merger, notably J.P. Morgan and the CEO Elbert Gary were more concerned with long-run profits, stability, good public relations and avoiding trouble. The bankers’ views generally prevailed, and the result was a labor policy that favored the business. U.S. Steel was not unionized until the late 1930s.

The Panic of 1907 was a financial crisis that almost crippled the American economy. Major New York banks were on the verge of bankruptcy and there was no mechanism to rescue them until J.P. Morgan stepped in and took charge, resolving the crisis. Treasury Secretary George B. Cortelyou earmarked $35 million of federal money to manage the crisis but had no easy way to use it. J.P. Morgan organized a team of bank and trust executives which redirected money between banks, secured further international lines of credit and bought plummeting stocks of healthy corporations. A delicate political issue arose regarding the brokerage firm of Moore and Schley, which was involved in the stock of Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company. Moore and Schley had pledged over $6 million of the Tennessee Coal and Iron (TCI) stock for loans among the Wall Street banks. The banks had called the loans and the firm could not pay. If Moore and Schley should fail, a hundred more failures would follow and then all Wall Street could fall apart. J.P. Morgan decided they had to save Moore and Schley. TCI was one of the chief competitors of U.S. Steel and it owned valuable iron and coal deposits. J.P. Morgan controlled U.S. Steel and he decided it had to buy the TCI stock from Moore and Schley. Judge Gary, head of US Steel, agreed, but would there be antitrust implications that could cause trouble for US Steel, which was already dominant in the steel industry. J.P. Morgan sent Judge Gary to see President Theodore Roosevelt, who promised legal immunity for the deal. U.S. Steel paid $30 million for the TCI stock and Moore and Schley was saved. The announcement had an immediate effect. By November 7, 1907, the panic was over. Vowing to never let it happen again banking and political leaders, led by Senator Nelson Aldrich, devised a plan that became the Federal Reserve System in 1913.

From 1890-1913, 42 major corporations were organized or their securities were underwritten, in whole or part, by J. P. Morgan and Company, including: General Electric Co., International Mercantile Marine, Atchison, Topeka & Sante Fe Railroad, Northern Pacific Railway System, Pennsylvania Railroad and Reading Railroad.

J.P. Morgan was scheduled to travel on the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic, but canceled at the last minute. White Star Line, Titanic’s operator, was part of J.P. Morgan’s International Mercantile Marine Company and he was to have his own private suite and promenade deck on the ship. He died while traveling in Rome, Italy. He was a notable collector of books, pictures, clocks and other art objects, many loaned or given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (of which he was president and was a major force in its establishment), and many housed in his London house and in his private library. He was a benefactor of the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Groton School, Harvard University, Trinity College, the Lying-in Hospital of the City of New York and the New York trade schools.

J.P. Morgan was one of America’s most important collectors of gems and had assembled the most important gem collection in the U.S. Tiffany & Co. assembled his first collection under their Chief Gemologist George Frederick Kunz. The collection was exhibited at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1889. The exhibit won two golden awards and drew the attention of important scholars, lapidaries and the general public. In 1911 Kunz named a newly found gem after his biggest customer: morganite.

J. P. Morgan, Jr. took over the business at his father’s death, but was never as influential. As required by the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, the “House of Morgan” became three entities: J.P. Morgan & Co., which later became Morgan Guaranty Trust, Morgan Stanley, an investment house, and Morgan Grenfell in London, an overseas securities house.

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John D Rockefeller

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John Davison Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 - May 23, 1937) was born in Richford, New York. His father owned farm property and traded in many goods, including lumber and patent medicines. His mother was very strict. In 1953 the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from high school there and excelled in mathematics. After graduation he attended a commercial college for three months, after which he found his first job at the age of 16 as a produce clerk. In 1859, he started his first trading company, Clark and Rockefeller, with a young Englishman. The first year they grossed $450,000. Clark did the fieldwork while John D Rockefeller

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controlled office management, bookkeeping and relationships with bankers.

John D Rockefeller showed a genius for organization and method. The firm prospered during the Civil War. With the Pennsylvania oil strike (1859) and the building of a railroad to Cleveland, they branched out into oil refining with Samuel Andrews, who had technical knowledge of the field. Within two years John D Rockefeller became senior partner; Clark was bought out, and the firm Rockefeller and Andrews became Cleveland’s largest refinery.

With financial help from S. V. Harkness and H. M. Flagler, who also secured favorable railroad freight rebates, John D Rockefeller survived the bitter competition in the oil industry. The Standard Oil Company, started in Ohio in 1870 by John D Rockefeller, his brother William, Flagler, Harkness and Andrews, had a worth of $1,000,000 and paid a profit of 40% a year later. While Standard Oil controlled one-tenth of American refining, the competition remained.

Rockefeller still hoped to control the oil industry. He bought out most of the Cleveland refineries as well as others in New York, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. He turned to new transportation methods, including the railroad tank car and the pipeline. By 1879 he was refining 90% of American oil, and Standard used its own tank car fleet, ships, docking facilities, barrel-making plants, depots and warehouses.

As his control approached near-monopoly, the Pennsylvania Railroad, in 1877, created a refining company to try to break John D. Rockefeller’s control. But railroad strikes forced them to surrender to Standard Oil. By 1883, after winning control of the pipeline industry, Standard’s monopoly was at a peak. John D. Rockefeller created America’s first great “trust” in 1882. Ever since 1872, Standard had placed its profits outside Ohio to Flagler as “trustee” because laws denied one company’s ownership of another’s stock. All profits went to the Ohio company while the outside businesses remained independent. Standard Oil Trust received the stock of 40 businesses and gave the various shareholders trust certificates in return. The trust had a worth of about $70 million dollars, making it the world’s largest and richest industrial organization.

In the 1880′s, John D. Rockefeller’s business began to change. He moved into producing crude oil and moved his wells westward with the new fields opening up. Standard also entered foreign markets in Europe, Asia and Latin America. From 1885 a committee system of management was developed to control Standard Oil’s enormous empire.

Public opposition to Standard Oil grew. John D Rockefeller was criticized for railroad rebates, price fixing and bribery which crushed smaller firms by unfair competition. Standard Oil was investigated by the New York State Senate and by the U.S. House of Representatives in 1888. Two years later the Ohio Supreme Court invalidated Standard’s original trust agreement. John D. Rockefeller formally disbanded the organization and in 1899 Standard was recreated legally under a new form as a “holding company,” (this merger was dissolved by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1911, long after he retired from active control in 1897).

In 1893, he helped develop the Mesabi iron ore range of Minnesota. By 1896 his Consolidated Iron Mines owned a great fleet of ore boats and virtually controlled Great Lakes shipping. He now had the power to control the steel industry. He made an alliance with Andrew Carnegie in 1896. John D. Rockefeller agreed not to enter steelmaking and Carnegie agreed not to touch transportation. In 1901 he sold his ore holdings to the new merger created by Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan, U.S. Steel. In that year his fortune passed $200 million.

John D. Rockefeller consistently gave away 10% of his earnings to charity. His donations grew with his fortune, and he also gave time and energy to philanthropic causes. He created the University of Chicago, Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research in New York (now Rockefeller University), General Education Board and the Rockefeller Foundation. The total of John D. Rockefeller’s lifetime philanthropies has been estimated at about $550 million.

John D. Rockefeller’s personal life was fairly simple. He was a man of few passions who lived for his work, and his great talent was his organizing genius and drive for order, pursued with great single-mindedness and concentration. His life was absorbed by business and family, and later by organized giving. He created order, efficiency and planning with extraordinary success and sweeping vision.

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Thomas Edison

Alternative Thomas Edison Biography Documentary Video

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was born to middle-class parents in Milan, Ohio. In 1854, his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. At an early age, Thomas Edison was hyperactive and difficult to control in school. So he was home-schooled by his mother, who was the daughter of a respected Presbyterian minister. Thomas Edison enjoyed reading and reciting poetry. At 11, his parents introduced him to the local library and he began to research many topics and ideas. At 12, he began to asks questions of his parents, especially those related to Science and Mathematics, that they could not answer. So they hired a tutor

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to help their son understand more complex subjects, such as Newtonian physics. The simple beauty of Newton’s physical laws helped him sharpen his own style of clear thinking, objective examination and experimentation. He also developed a strong sense of perseverance, hard work and mental & physical stamina. He also got a job selling newspapers, snacks and candy on the local railroad. He also started a side business selling fruits and vegetables.

And 14, during the time of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, he exploited his access to the news releases and published them in his own newspaper. He quickly enticed over 300 commuters to subscribe to his newspaper. This was the first publication to be type-set, printed and sold on a train. At its peak, his publishing venture netted him more than $10 per day. He tooks this money and invested in a chemical laboratory that he setup in the basement. It became virtually impossible for him to learn in a traditional educational setting. Adapting to whatever he was convinced was out of his control, he reacted by committing himself to compensating via alternative methods. Ultimately, he became totally deaf in his left ear and approximately 80% deaf in his right ear.

One of the most significant events in his life occurred when he was taught Morse code and the telegraph. By 15, he had mastered the basics of Morse Code and telegraphy and obtained a job as a replacement for one of the thousands of telegraph operators who had gone off to serve in the Civil War. At age 16, after working in a variety of telegraph offices he finally came up with his first invention. Called an “automatic repeater,” it transmitted telegraph signals between unmanned stations, allowing people to easily and accurately translate code at their own speed and convenience.

In 1868 his mother was beginning to show signs of insanity, his father quit his job and the local bank was about to foreclose on the house. Thomas Edison set out to make his fortunes. He applied for a permanent job as a telegrapher with the relatively prestigious Western Union Company in Boston. During the latter days of the “Age of the Telegraph,” Thomas Edison worked 12 hours a day and 6 days a week for Western Union. Meanwhile, he continued working on his own projects and, within 6 months, had applied for and received his very first patent - an electric vote-recording machine. The Massachusetts Legislature was not interested in his invention. Although he was disappointed by this, he realized his idea was so far ahead of its time that no one was willing to buy it.

While in Boston, he was exposed to lectures at Boston Tech (which became the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and new concepts related to telegraph technology. Alexander Graham Bell, who was also living in Boston, was also aware of new communication technologies. The principles discussed ultimately led to the invention of the first articulating telephone, the first fax machine, the first microphone and other communication related inventions.

Later, he moved to New York City. Penniless, and having begged for a cup of tea, he walked through some of the offices in New York’s financial district. Observing that the manager of a local brokerage firm was in a panic, Thomas Edison determined that a stock-ticker in his office had just broken down. He grasped the opportunity. Since he had been sleeping in the basement of the building for a few days - and doing quite a bit of snooping around - he already had a pretty good idea of what the device was supposed to do. He reached down and manipulated a loose spring back to where it belonged. The device began to run perfectly. The office manager was so ecstatic that he hired Thomas Edison to make all such repairs for the company for a salary of $300.00 per month. This was twice the going rate for a top electrician in New York City. During his free time, he soon resumed his work with the telegraph, the quadruplex transmitter, the stock-ticker, etc. Soon a corporation paid him $40,000 for all of his rights to the stock-ticker.

At age 29, he commenced work on the carbon transmitter, which ultimately made Alexander Graham Bell’s “articulating” telephone audible enough for practical use. Shortly after Edison moved his laboratory to Menlo Park, N.J. in 1876, he invented - in 1877 - the first phonograph. In 1879, he invented the first commercially practical incandescent electric light bulb. In 1883 and 1884, he introduced the world’s first economically viable system of centrally generating and distributing electric light, heat and power. In 1887, Thomas Edison was recognized for having set up the world’s first full fledged research and development center in West Orange, New Jersey. This operation was the largest scientific testing laboratory in the world. In 1890, he developed the first Vitascope, which would lead to the first silent motion pictures. In 1892, Edison General Electric Co. had merged with another firm to become General Electric Corporation, in which he was a major stockholder. At the turn-of-the-century, Thomas Edison invented the first practical dictaphone, mimeograph and storage battery. After creating the “kinetiscope” and the first silent film in 1904, he went on to introduce “The Great Train Robbery” in 1903, which was a ten minute clip that was his first attempt to blend audio with silent moving images to produce “talking pictures.” When World War I began, he was asked by the U. S. Government to create defensive devices for submarines and ships. During this time, he also perfected a number of important inventions relating to the enhanced use of rubber, concrete and ethanol. By 83, he held 1093 patents.

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Henry Ford

Alternative Henry Ford Biography Video

Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) grew up on a prosperous family farm in what is now Dearborn, Michigan. He had a typical rural 19th Century childhood spending days in a one-room school and doing farm chores. At an early age, he showed an interest in mechanics and engineering. At 16, he left home for Detroit to work as an apprentice machinist for the next 3 years. During the next few years, Henry Ford divided his time between operating & repairing steam engines, working in a Detroit factory, over-hauling his father’s farm machinery and working reluctantly on the farm. Upon his marriage to Clara Bryant in 1888, Henry Ford supported his

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family by operating a sawmill. In 1891, he became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company in Detroit. His promotion to Chief Engineer in 1893 gave him enough time and money to devote attention to his personal engineering experiments on internal combustion engines. In 1896 he developed a self-propelled Quadricycle.

After two unsuccessful attempts to establish an automobile manufacturing company, the Ford Motor Company was incorporated in 1903 with Henry Ford as Vice President and Chief Engineer. In the early years of car production, it produced only a few cars a day. Groups of two or three men worked on each car with made to order components. Henry Ford introduced the Model T in 1908. This vehicle initiated a new era in personal transportation. It was inexpensive and easy to operate. It immediately becoming a huge success. By 1913, Henry Ford combined precision manufacturing, standardized and interchangeable parts, a division of labor and a continuous moving assembly line. Workers remained in place, adding one component to each automobile as it moved past them on the line. The moving assembly line revolutionized automobile production by significantly reducing assembly time per vehicle, thus lowering production costs. By 1918, half of all cars in America were Model T’s.

During the late 1910′s and early 1920′s, Ford Motor Company constructed the world’s largest industrial complex along the banks of the Rouge River in Dearborn, Michigan. It included all the elements needed for automobile production: a steel mill, glass factory and automobile assembly line. Iron ore and coal were brought in on Great Lakes steamers and by railroad. Rolling mills, forges and assembly shops transformed the steel into springs, axles and car bodies. Foundries converted iron into engine blocks and cylinder heads that were assembled with other components into engines.

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Pierre Samuel duPont

Alternative DuPont History Video

Pierre Samuel duPont (January 15, 1870 – April 4, 1954) was born in Wilmington, Delaware. He was the great-great-grandson of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, a French economist elected to the Constituent Assembly. Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours’ son, Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, who emigrated to America with his grandfather to escape the French Revolution, founded the DuPont company in 1802. Frustrated by the poor quality of black powder made in America, and familiar with the powder-making process, came up with the idea to make gunpowder. His father agreed to finance the venture. Thomas Jefferson supported the idea and suggested the family set up shop in Virginia, but Eleuthère Irénée du Pont was uncomfortable with the institution of slavery

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in that state, and settled along the Brandywine River in Delaware instead. In 1805, almost 45,000 pounds of gunpowder was produced. Eleuthère Irénée du Pont died in 1834, leaving the company management to his children.

Eleuthère Irénée du Pont’s son, Alfred Victor, took over the company. His son, Lammot, was a chemist and businessman. Lammot patented a way to make blasting powder without saltpeter and also formed the Gunpowder Trade Association. Lammot’s uncle Henry set Lammot up in a company to manufacture dynamite, which had been invented by Alfred Nobel. Within 6 months the firm was producing a ton of the explosive per day.

Pierre Samuel duPont, eldest son of Lammot, took over the business when his father died in an explosion. He graduated with a degree in chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1890 and became assistant superintendent at Brandywine Mills. He and his cousin developed the first American smokeless gunpowder in 1892. Most of the 1890′s he spent working with the management at a steel firm partly owned by DuPont, the Johnson Street Rail Company in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Here he learned to deal with money from the company’s president, Arthur Moxham. In 1899, he quit and took over the Johnson Company. In 1901, while he was supervising the liquidation of Johnson Company assets in Lorain, OH, he employed John J. Raskob as a private secretary, beginning a long and profitable business and personal relationship between the two.

Pierre S. duPont and his cousins purchased E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company in 1902, in order to keep the company in family hands, after the death of its president, Eugene I. du Pont. They set about buying smaller powder firms. Until 1914, during Coleman du Pont’s illness, Pierre du Pont served as treasurer, executive vice-president and acting president. In 1915, a group headed by Pierre du Pont bought Coleman’s stock.

Pierre du Pont served as DuPont’s president until 1919. He gave the DuPont company a modern management structure and modern accounting policies and made the concept of return on investment primary. During World War I, the company grew very quickly due to advance payments on Allied munition contracts. He also established many other DuPont interests in other industries.

Pierre du Pont was a significant figure in the success of General Motors, building a large personal investment in the company as well as supporting Raskob’s proposal for DuPont to invest in the automobile company. Pierre du Pont resigned the chairmanship of GM in response to GM President Alfred Sloan’s dispute with Raskob over Raskob’s involvement with the Democratic National Committee. When Pierre du Pont retired from its Board of Directors, GM was the largest company in the world.

Pierre du Pont retired from DuPont’s board in 1940. He also served on the Delaware State Board of Education and donated millions to Delaware’s public schools. A building at the University of Delaware, Du Pont Hall, is named in his honor. It houses the offices and laboratories for the College of Engineering. He is famous for opening his personal estate, Longwood Gardens, with its beautiful gardens, fountains, and conservatory, to the public. He was a longtime bachelor, eventually marrying his cousin Alice Belin in 1915 after the death of his mother, and had no children.

During World War 2, the company continued to be a major producer of war supplies. As the inventor and manufacturer of nylon, DuPont helped produce the raw materials for parachutes, powder bags and tires. DuPont also played a major role in the Manhattan Project in 1943, designing, building and operating the Hanford plutonium producing plant and the Savannah River Plant in South Carolina. After the war, DuPont developed Mylar, Dacron, Orlon and Lycra in the 1950′s, and Tyvek, Kevlar, Nomex, Qiana, Corfam and Corian in the 1960′s. DuPont materials were critical to the success of the Apollo Space program.

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Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr.

Alternative GM History Documentary, Harley Earl & Alfred Sloan Bio Videos

Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr. (May 23, 1875 – February 17, 1966) was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He studied electrical engineering and graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1895. He became president and owner of Hyatt Roller Bearing, a company that made roller and ball bearings, in 1899. At the beginning of the 20th century, Ford Motor Company bought bearings from Hyatt Roller Bearing. In 1916 his company merged with United Motors Company which eventually became part of General Motors Corporation. He became Vice-President, then President (1923), and finally Chairman of the Board (1937) of General Motors

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Corporation. In 1934, he established the philanthropic, nonprofit Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. GM under Alfred Sloan became famous for managing diverse operations.

Alfred Sloan is credited with establishing annual styling changes, from which came the concept of planned obsolescence. He also established a pricing structure in which Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac did not compete with each other, and buyers could be kept in the GM “family” as their buying power and preferences changed as they aged. These concepts, along with Ford Motor Company’s resistance to the change in the 1920′s, propelled GM to industry sales leadership, a position it retained for over 70 years. Under his direction, GM became the largest, most successful and profitable industrial enterprise the world had ever known up to date.

In the 1930′s General Motors Corporation, long hostile to unionization, confronted its workforce, newly organized and ready for labor rights, in an extended contest for control. Alfred Sloan was averse to violence associated with Henry Ford. He preferred the subtle use of spying and had built up the best undercover apparatus the business community had ever seen up to that time. When the workers organized the massive Flint Sit-Down Strike in 1936, Alfred Sloan found that espionage had little value in the face of such open tactics.

The world’s first university-based executive education program, the Sloan Fellows, was created in 1931 at MIT under the sponsorship of Alfred Sloan. A Sloan Foundation grant established the MIT School of Industrial Management in 1952 with the charge of educating the “ideal manager”, and the school was renamed in his honor as the Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, one of the world’s premier business schools. Additional grants established a Sloan Institute of Hospital Administration Sloan Program in Health Administration in 1955 at Cornell University Cornell University, the first two year graduate program of its type in the US, a Sloan Fellows Program at Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1957, and at London Business School in 1965. They became degree programs in 1976, awarding the degree of Master of Science in Management. His name is also remembered in the Sloan-Kettering Institute and Cancer Center in New York. In 1951, Sloan received The Hundred Year Association of New York’s Gold Medal Award “in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York.” The Alfred P. Sloan Museum, showcasing the evolution of the automobile industry and traveling galleries, is located in Flint, Michigan. Alfred Sloan maintained an office in 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Rockefeller Center, now known as the GE Building. He retired as GM chairman on April 2, 1956 and died in 1966. Mr. Sloan was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1975.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a philanthropic non-profit organization established by Alfred Sloan in 1934. The Foundation’s programs and interests fall into the areas of science and technology, standard of living, economic performance, and education and careers in science and technology. The total assets of the Sloan Foundation have a market value of about $1.8 billion.

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Walter Elias Walt Disney

Alternative Walt Disney Biography Video

Walter Elias “Walt” Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was born in Chicago, Illinois. In 1906, when Walt Disney was 4, his family moved to a farm in Marceline, Missouri. While in Marceline, Disney developed his love for drawing. One of their neighbors, a retired doctor named “Doc” Sherwood, paid him to draw pictures of Sherwood’s horse. He also developed his love for trains in Marceline, which owed its existence to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway which ran through town. The Disneys remained in Marceline

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for four years, before moving to Kansas City in 1911. There, Walt Disney attended Benton Grammar School where he met Walter Pfeiffer. The Pfeiffers were theatre aficionados, and introduced him to the world of vaudeville and motion pictures. He also attended Saturday courses at the Kansas City Art Institute.

In 1917, Walt Disney’s father acquired shares in the O-Zell jelly factory in Chicago and moved his family back there. In the fall, Disney began his freshman year at McKinley High School and began taking night courses at the Chicago Art Institute. He became the cartoonist for the school newspaper. His cartoons were very patriotic, focusing on World War I. Disney dropped out of high school at the age of 16. Being underage for the US Army, Walt and one of his friends joined the Red Cross. Soon after he joined The Red Cross, he was sent to France for a year, where he drove an ambulance. In 1919, he left home and moved back to Kansas City to begin his artistic career. At Pesmen-Rubin, Walt Disney created ads for newspapers, magazines, and movie theaters. It was here that he met a cartoonist named Ubbe Iwerks. When their time at the Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio expired, they were both without a job, and they decided to start their own commercial company. However, following a rough start, Walt Disney left temporarily to earn money at Kansas City Film Ad Company, and was soon joined by Ubbe Iwerks who was not able to run the business alone. While working for the Kansas City Film Ad Company, where he made commercials based on cutout animation, Disney took up an interest in the field of animation, and decided to become an animator. He was allowed by the owner of the Ad Company to borrow a camera from work, which he could use to experiment with at home. After reading a book by Edwin G. Lutz, called Animated Cartoons: How They Are Made, Their Origin and Development, he found cell animation to be much more promising than the cutout animation he was doing. Walt Disney eventually opened his own animation business, and recruited a fellow co-worker at the Kansas City Film Ad Company, Fred Harman, as his first employee. They secured a deal with local theater owner Frank L. Newman to screen their cartoons. His cartoons became widely popular in the Kansas City area. Through their success, Walt Disney was able to acquire his own studio and hire a number of animators, including Ubbe Iwerks. Unfortunately, with all his high employee salaries the studio became loaded with debt and went bankrupt.

Walt Disney and his brother pooled their money to set up a cartoon studio in Hollywood. He sent an unfinished print of the Alice Comedies to New York distributor Margaret Winkler, who promptly wrote back to him. She was keen on a distribution deal with Walt Disney for more live-action/animated shorts based upon Alice’s Wonderland.

In 1927, Charles Mintz had married Margaret Winkler and assumed control of her business, and ordered a new all-animated series to be put into production for distribution through Universal Pictures. The new series, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, was an almost instant success, and the character, Oswald — drawn and created by Iwerks — became a popular figure. The Disney studio expanded.

In February 1928, Walt Disney went to New York to negotiate a higher fee per short from Mintz. Mintz announced that he wanted to reduce the fee he paid Walt Disney per short and that he had most of his main animators under contract and would start his own studio if he did not accept the reduced production budgets. Universal, not Walt Disney, owned the Oswald trademark, and could make the films without Disney. Disney declined Mintz’s offer and lost most of his animation staff.

After losing the rights to Oswald, Walt Disney felt the need to develop a new character. He based the character on a mouse he had adopted as a pet while working in his Laugh-O-Gram studio in Kansas City. Ubbe Iwerks reworked the sketches made by Walt Disney so the character was easier to animate. Mickey’s voice and personality was provided by Disney. The initial films were animated by Ubbe Iwerks. The first animated short with Mickey Mouse was titled “Plane Crazy” which was a silent film. After failing to find a distributor for Plane Crazy or its follow-up, The Gallopin’ Gaucho, Walt Disney created a cartoon with sound called Steamboat Willie. A businessman named Pat Powers provided Walt Disney with both distribution and Cinephone, a sound-synchronization process. Steamboat Willie became an instant success. Walt Disney provided the vocal effects for the earliest cartoons and performed as the voice of Mickey Mouse until 1946. Mickey Mouse soon eclipsed Felix the Cat as the world’s most popular cartoon character.

In late 1932, Herbert Kalmus, who had just completed work on the first three-strip technicolor camera, approached Walt Disney and convinced him to redo Flowers and Trees, which was originally done in black and white, with three-strip Technicolor. Flowers and Trees would go on to be a phenomenal success and would also win the first Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons for 1932. Walt Disney was also able to negotiate a two-year deal with Technicolor, giving him the sole right to use three-strip Technicolor. In 1932, Walt Disney received a special Academy Award for the creation of “Mickey Mouse.” In 1936, Ubbe Iwerks shut his studio to work on various projects dealing with animation technology and would go on to pioneer a number of film processes and specialized animation technologies.

With several technical advances now available, Walt Disney had the ability to produce the feature film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” It was in full production from 1934 until mid-1937, when the studio ran out of money. To obtain the funding to complete Snow White, Walt Disney had to show a rough cut of the motion picture to loan officers at the Bank of America, who gave the studio the money to finish the picture. The finished film premiered on December 21, 1937. The film became the most successful motion picture of 1938 and earned over $8 million in its original theatrical release.

The success of Snow White allowed Walt Disney to build a new campus for the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, which opened for business on December 24, 1939. The feature animation staff, having just completed Pinocchio, continued work on Fantasia and Bambi and the early production stages of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan while the shorts staff continued work on the Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto cartoon series.

Shortly after the release of Dumbo in October 1941, the United States entered World War II. The U.S. Army contracted most of the Disney studio’s facilities and had the staff create training and instructional films for the military, home-front morale-boosting shorts such as Der Fuehrer’s Face and the feature film Victory Through Air Power in 1943. However, the military films did not generate income, and the feature film Bambi underperformed when it was released in April 1942. Disney successfully re-issued Snow White in 1944, establishing a seven-year re-release tradition for Disney features.

By the late 1940′s, the studio had recovered enough to continue production on the full-length features Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan, both of which had been shelved during the war years, and began work on Cinderella, which became Walt Disney’s most successful film since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

On a business trip to Chicago in the late-1940′s, Walt Disney drew sketches of his ideas for an amusement park where he envisioned his employees spending time with their children. He got his idea for a children’s theme park after visiting Children’s Fairyland in Oakland, California. This plan was originally meant for a plot located south of the Studio, across the street. The original ideas developed into a concept for a larger enterprise that was to become Disneyland. He spent five years of his life developing Disneyland and created a new subsidiary of his company, called WED Enterprises, to carry out the planning and production of the park. A small group of Disney studio employees joined the Disneyland development project as engineers and planners, and were dubbed Imagineers. Disneyland officially opened on July 18, 1955. On Sunday, July 17, 1955, Disneyland hosted a live TV preview, among the thousands of people who came out for the preview were Ronald Reagan, Bob Cummings and Art Linkletter, who shared cohosting duties, as well as the mayor of Anaheim.

As Walt Disney Productions began work on Disneyland, it also began expanding its other entertainment operations. In 1950, Treasure Island became the studio’s first all-live-action feature, and was soon followed by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (in CinemaScope, 1954), Old Yeller (1957), The Shaggy Dog (1959), Pollyanna (1960), Swiss Family Robinson (1960), The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), and The Parent Trap (1961). The Walt Disney Studio produced its first TV special, One Hour in Wonderland, in 1950. Disney began hosting a weekly anthology series on ABC named Disneyland after the park, where he showed clips of past Disney productions, gave tours of his studio, and familiarized the public with Disneyland as it was being constructed in Anaheim, California. In 1955, the studio’s first daily television show, Mickey Mouse Club debuted, which would continue in many various incarnations into the 1990′s.

By the early 1960′s, the Walt Disney empire was a major success, and Walt Disney Productions had established itself as the world’s leading producer of family entertainment. Walt Disney was the Head of Pageantry for the 1960 Winter Olympics.

In early 1964, Disney announced plans to develop another theme park located a few miles west of Orlando, Florida which was to be called Walt Disney World. Disney World was to include a larger, more elaborate version of Disneyland which was to be called the Magic Kingdom. It would also feature a number of golf courses and resort hotels. The heart of Disney World, however, was to be the Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow, or EPCOT for short.

After Walt Disney’s death, Roy Disney returned from retirement to take full control of Walt Disney Productions and WED Enterprises. In October 1971, the families of Walt and Roy met in front of Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom to officially open the Walt Disney World Resort.

Today, Walt Disney’s animation/motion picture studios and theme parks have developed into a multi-billion dollar television, motion picture, vacation destination and media corporation that all carry his name. The Walt Disney Company today owns, among other assets, 5 vacation resorts, 11 theme parks, 2 water parks, 39 hotels, 8 motion picture studios, 6 record labels, 11 cable television networks and 1 television network. As of 2007, the company had an annual revenue of over $35 billion.

In his later years, Walt Disney devoted substantial time towards funding The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). It was formed in 1961 through a merger of the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and the Chouinard Art Institute, which had helped in the training of the animation staff during the 1930′s. When Walt Disney died, one-fourth of his estate went towards CalArts, which helped in building its campus. In his will, he paved the way for creation of several charitable trusts which included one for the California Institute of the Arts and other for the Disney Foundation. He also donated 38 acres of the Golden Oaks ranch in Valencia for the school to be built on. CalArts moved onto the Valencia campus in 1972.

In 2009, the Walt Disney Family Museum opened in the Presidio of San Francisco. Thousands of artifacts of Walt Disney’s life and career are on display, including 248 awards he received. Walt Disney holds the record for number of Academy Award nominations (59) and number of awarded Oscars (26). Walt Disney was the inaugural recipient of a star on the Anaheim walk of stars. The star was awarded in honor of Walt Disney’s significant contributions to the city of Anaheim, California. Walt Disney has 2 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures and the other for television.

Walt Disney received the Congressional Gold Medal on May 24, 1968 and the Légion d’Honneur in France in 1935. In 1935, he received a special medal from the League of Nations for the creation of Mickey Mouse. He also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on September 14, 1964. On December 6, 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Walt Disney into the California Hall of Fame located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts. A minor planet, 4017 Disneya, discovered in 1980 by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Georgievna Karachkina, is named after him. The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California, opened in 2003, was named in his honor.

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Raymond Ray Kroc

Alternative Ray Kroc Documentary Video

Raymond Albert “Ray” Kroc (October 5, 1902 - January 14, 1984) was born in Oak Park, Illinois, the son of relatively poor parents. He went to public schools in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, but did not graduate. He was as an ambulance driver during World War I. After the war, he became a jazz pianist. Upon his marriage in 1922 he went to work for the Lily-Tulip Cup Company, but soon left to become musical director for one of Chicago’s pioneer radio stations, WGES. There he played the piano, arranged the music, accompanied singers and hired musicians. Later following land speculation in Florida, he began to sell real estate in Fort Lauderdale. When the boom collapsed in 1926, he was so broke that he had to play piano in a night club to send his wife and daughter back to Chicago by train. He later followed them in his dilapidated Model-T Ford.

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Ray Kroc returned to Lily-Tulip as a salesman, later becoming midwestern sales manager. In 1937 he came upon a new invention, a machine that could mix five milk shakes at one time, called the “multi-mixer.” He founded his own company to serve as exclusive distributor for the product in 1941. Many years later, in 1954, he heard of a drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California, owned by Richard and Maurice D. McDonald, which was operating eight of his multi-mixers. Curious as to how they could possibly use so many machines in a small establishment, Kroc found the brothers were doing a remarkable business selling only hamburgers, french fries, and milk shakes. He recognized a potential gold mine and approached the brothers about starting a franchise operation based on their restaurant, selling hamburgers for 15 cents, fries for 10 cents and shakes for 20 cents. After some negotiation the McDonald brothers agreed. Under the arrangement, they would receive one-half of one percent of the gross, Kroc would use the McDonald name and concept, pledged to retain high levels of quality, and would retain their symbol - the golden arches. Ray Kroc opened the first of the chain of McDonald’s restaurants on April 15, 1955, in Des Plaines, Illinois. On that first day, Ray Kroc’s restaurant had sales of $366.12. By 1961 there were over 130 outlets, and in that year he bought out the McDonald brothers for $2.7 million. From these humble beginnings emerged an empire which by 1984 had 8,300 restaurants in 34 countries with sales of more than $10 billion.

Ray Kroc revolutionized the restaurant industry in much the same way that Henry Ford transformed the automobile industry a generation earlier. His great contribution was to figure out how to mass-produce food uniformly in large quantities, and then to convince millions of Americans that they needed to buy this food. To accomplish the first objective, he reduced the food business to a science. He researched every aspect of food. The precision of the operation can be appreciated when it is understood that each McDonald’s hamburger was made with a 1.6 ounce beef patty, not more than 18.9 percent fat. It is exactly 0.221 inches thick and 3.875 inches wide.

The other side of the McDonald’s success story is franchising, marketing and advertising. Three-quarters of McDonald’s restaurants are run by franchisees. By 1985 each franchise cost about $250,000 and ran for 20 years, after which it reverted to the company. When choosing a franchisee, Ray Kroc looked for someone who was good with people. The franchise owners were trained at McDonald’s “Hamburger University” in Elk Grove, Illinois. The company also provided a lengthy manual that outlined every aspect of the operation, from how to make a milk shake to how to be responsive to the community. Also critical to the business was advertising. Hundreds of millions of dollars were poured into advertising.

Despite its astounding success, and despite the fact that the company worked hard to project a charitable and community-oriented image, McDonald’s came under attack on several fronts. A number of communities refused to allow its restaurants in their area. The company was also criticized for its extensive use of part-time teenage help, and especially for the $200,000 which Ray Kroc donated to Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign, since the administration soon after recommended amending the minimum wage law to provide for a “youth differential.” This would have allowed employers to hire teenagers at 80% of the minimum wage. The architecture of the buildings and the nutritional content of the food also came under attack.

In the mid-1970′s Ray Kroc turned his energy from hamburgers to baseball, buying the San Diego Padres. He had less success at this, however, and in 1979 gave up operating control of the team. In the years before his death he and his second wife, Joan, set up foundations to aid alcoholics and established Ronald McDonald houses to help the families of children stricken with cancer.

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Howard Robard Hughes, Jr.

Alternative Howard Hughes Biography Documentary Video

Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was born near Houston, Texas. There is some argument as to the exact date and location of his birth. His parents were Allene Stone Gano (a descendant of Owen Tudor, second husband of Catherine of Valois, Dowager Queen of England) and Howard R. Hughes, Sr., who patented the two-cone roller bit, which allowed rotary drilling for petroleum in previously inaccessible places. Howard R. Hughes, Sr. made the decision to commercialize the invention, founding the Hughes Tool Company in 1909, in which be became quite successful.

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Showing great aptitude in engineering at an early age, Howard Hughes built Houston’s first radio transmitter when he was 11 years old. At 12, he was photographed in the local newspaper as being the first boy in Houston to have a “motorized” bicycle, which he had built himself from parts taken from his father’s steam engine. As a student he liked mathematics, flying, and mechanics, taking his first flying lesson at 14 and later auditing math and aeronautical engineering courses at California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

Allene Hughes died in March 1922 from complications of an ectopic pregnancy. In January 1924, Howard Hughes Sr. died of a heart attack. Their deaths apparently inspired Howard Hughes to include the creation of a medical research laboratory in his will that he signed in 1925, at age 19. Because Howard Sr.’s will had not been updated since Allene’s death, he inherited 75% of the family fortune. On his 19th birthday, he was declared an emancipated minor, enabling him to take full control of his life and property. He dropped out of Rice University shortly after his father’s death. On June 1, 1925, he married Ella Botts Rice. They moved to Los Angeles, where he hoped to make a name for himself making movies.

His first two films, Everybody’s Acting (1927) and Two Arabian Knights (1928), were financial successes, the latter winning the first Academy Award for Best Director of a Comedy Picture. The Racket (1928) and The Front Page (1931) were also nominated for Academy Awards. He spent $3.8 million to make the flying film Hell’s Angels (1930). He produced another hit, Scarface (1932). The Outlaw, starring Jane Russell was released in 1943.

Howard Hughes’ wife returned to Houston in 1929 and filed for divorce. He dated many famous women, including Billie Dove, Bette Davis, Ava Gardner, Olivia de Havilland, Katharine Hepburn and Gene Tierney. He also proposed to Joan Fontaine. Bessie Love was a mistress during his first marriage. Jean Harlow accompanied him to the premiere of Hell’s Angels. He remained good friends with Gene Tierney. When her daughter Daria was born deaf and blind with severe mental retardation, due to Tierney being exposed to rubella during her pregnancy, Daria received the best medical care and he paid all the expenses.

On July 11, 1936, Howard Hughes struck and killed a pedestrian named Gabriel S. Meyer with his car. He was booked on suspicion of negligent homicide and held overnight in jail until his attorney obtained a writ of habeas corpus for his release pending a Coroner’s inquest. By the time of the coroner’s inquiry, however, the witness had changed his story and claimed that Meyer had moved directly in front of Howard Hughes’s car. Nancy Bayly (Watts), who was in the car with Hughes at the time of the accident, corroborates this version. On July 16, 1936, he was held blameless by a Coroner’s jury at the inquest into Meyer’s death.

Howard Hughes was a lifelong aircraft enthusiast, pilot and aircraft engineer. At Rogers Airport in Los Angeles, he learned to fly from pioneer aviators. He set many world records and designed and built several aircraft himself while heading Hughes Aircraft at the airport in Glendale. Operating from there, the most technologically important aircraft he designed was the Hughes H-1 Racer. On September 13, 1935, he, flying the H-1, set what was believed to be an airspeed record of 352 mph (566 km/h) near Santa Ana, California, although it is now recognized that Giuseppe Motta had reached 362 mph in 1929 and George Stainforth reached 407.5 mph in 1931. A year and a half later, on January 19, 1937, flying a redesigned H-1 Racer featuring extended wings, Howard Hughes set a new transcontinental airspeed record by flying non-stop from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds. His average speed over the flight was 322 mph (518 km/h). The H-1 Racer featured a number of design “innovations”: it had retractable landing gear and all rivets and joints set flush into the body of the aircraft to reduce drag. The H-1 Racer is thought to have influenced the design of a number of World War II fighters such as the Mitsubishi Zero, the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and the F8F Bearcat, although that has never been reliably confirmed. The H-1 Racer was donated to the Smithsonian Institute in 1975 and is on display at the National Air and Space Museum. On July 10, 1938, Hughes set another record by completing a flight around the world in just 91 hours. For this flight he did not fly an aircraft of his own design, but a Lockheed Super Electra (a twin-engine transport with a four-man crew) fitted with all of the latest radio and navigational equipment. He wanted the flight to be a triumph of technology, illustrating that safe, long-distance air travel was possible. He also had a hand in the design and financing of both the Boeing 307 Stratoliner and Lockheed L-049 Constellation. Howard Hughes received many awards as an aviator, including the Harmon Trophy in 1936 and 1938, the Collier Trophy in 1938, the Octave Chanute Award in 1940 and a special Congressional Gold Medal in 1939 “in recognition of the achievements of Howard Hughes in advancing the science of aviation and thus bringing great credit to his country throughout the world.”

Howard Hughes was involved in a near-fatal aircraft accident on July 7, 1946, while piloting the experimental U.S. Army Air Force reconnaissance aircraft, the XF-11, over Los Angeles. When the XF-11 finally skidded to a halt after hitting three houses, the fuel tanks exploded, setting fire to the aircraft and a nearby home. He managed to pull himself out of the flaming wreckage but lay beside the aircraft until he was rescued. He received significant injuries in the crash, including a crushed collar bone, multiple cracked ribs, crushed chest with collapsed left lung, shifting his heart to the right side of the chest cavity, and numerous 3rd-degree burns. As he lay in his hospital bed, he decided that he did not like the design of the bed. He called in plant engineers to design a “tailor-made” bed, equipped with hot and cold running water, built in 6 sections, and operated by 30 electric motors, with push-button adjustments. Many attribute his long-term addiction to opiates to his use of morphine as a painkiller during his convalescence. The trademark mustache he wore afterward was meant to cover a scar on his upper lip resulting from the accident.

The Hughes H-4 Hercules (“Spruce Goose”) was the world’s largest flying aircraft made from wood. At 319 feet 11 inches (97.51 m), it had the biggest wingspan of any aircraft ever built up to that date. The Hercules was originally contracted by the U.S. government for use during World War II to transport troops and equipment across the Atlantic as an alternative to sea-going troop transport ships that were vulnerable to German U-boats. However the aircraft was not completed until after the end of World War II. The Hercules flew only once for one mile (1.6 km), and 70 feet above the water, with Howard Hughes at the controls, on November 2, 1947. Howard Hughes was summoned to testify before the Senate War Investigating Committee to explain why the aircraft had not been delivered to the United States Army Air Forces during the war, but the committee disbanded without releasing a final report.

Hughes Aircraft Company, a division of Hughes Tool Company, was originally founded by Howard Hughes in 1932, in a rented corner of a Lockheed Aircraft Corporation hangar in Burbank, California, to carry out the expensive conversion of a military aircraft into the H-1 racer. During and after World War II, Hughes fashioned his company into a major defense contractor. The Hughes Helicopters division started in 1947 when helicopter manufacturer Kellett sold their latest design to Howard Hughes for production. In 1948, he created a new division of the company, the Hughes Aerospace Group. The Hughes Space and Communications Group and the Hughes Space Systems Division were later spun off in 1948 to form their own divisions and ultimately became the Hughes Space and Communications Company in 1961. In 1953, Howard Hughes gave all his stock in the Hughes Aircraft Company to the newly formed Howard Hughes Medical Institute, thereby turning the aerospace and defense contractor into a tax-exempt charitable organization. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute sold Hughes Aircraft in 1985 to General Motors for $5.2 billion. In 1997, General Motors sold Hughes Aircraft to Raytheon and in 2000, sold Hughes Space & Communications to Boeing. A combination of Boeing, GM and Raytheon acquired the Hughes Research Laboratories.

In 1939, at the urging of Jack Frye, president of TWA, Howard Hughes quietly purchased a majority share of TWA stock for nearly $7 million and took control of the airline. Upon assuming ownership, he was prohibited by federal law from building his own aircraft. Seeking an aircraft that would perform better than TWA’s fleet of Boeing 307 Stratoliners, he approached Boeing’s competitor, Lockheed. He had a good relationship with Lockheed since they had built the aircraft he used in his record flight around the world in 1938. Lockheed agreed to his request that the new aircraft be built in secrecy. The result was the revolutionary Constellation and TWA purchased the first 40 of the new airliners off the production line. In 1956, Howard Hughes placed an order for 63 Convair 880s for TWA at a cost of $400 million. Although he was extremely wealthy at this time, outside creditors demanded that he relinquish control of TWA in return for providing the money. In 1960, he was ultimately forced out of TWA, although he owned 78% of the company and battled to regain control. In 1966, he was forced by a U.S. federal court to sell his shares in TWA because of concerns over conflict of interest between his ownership of both TWA and Hughes Aircraft. The sale of his TWA shares netted him a profit of $547 million. During the 1970′s, he went back into the airline business, buying the airline Air West and renaming it Hughes Airwest.

In 1948, Howard Hughes gained control of RKO, a struggling major Hollywood studio, by acquiring 25% of the outstanding stock from Floyd Odlum’s Atlas Corporation. Within weeks of taking control, he dismissed three-quarters of the work force and production was shut down for 6 months while he undertook the investigation of the politics of all remaining studio employees. Completed pictures would be sent back for re-shooting if he felt his star was not properly presented, or if a film’s anti-communist politics were not sufficiently clear. Howard Hughes sold the RKO theaters in 1953 as settlement of the United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. antitrust case. With the sale of the profitable theaters, the shaky status of the film studio became increasingly apparent. A steady stream of lawsuits from RKO’s minority shareholders, charging him with financial misconduct and corporate mismanagement, became an increasing nuisance, especially because he wanted to focus on his aircraft-manufacturing and TWA holdings during the Korean War years. Eager to be rid of the distraction, he offered to buy out all other stockholders. By the end of 1954, at a cost of nearly $24 million, he had gained near total control of RKO, becoming the closest thing to a sole owner of a Hollywood studio seen in 3 decades. 6 months later, he sold the studio to the General Tire and Rubber Company for $25 million. Howard Hughes retained the rights to pictures he had personally produced, including those made at RKO. He also retained Jane Russell’s contract. For Howard Hughes, this was the virtual end of his 25-year involvement in motion pictures. He reportedly walked away from RKO having made $6.5 million in personal profit. General Tire’s studio lots in Hollywood and Culver City were sold to Desilu Productions for $6.15 million in 1957.

In 1953, Howard Hughes launched the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland, formed with the express goal of basic biomedical research, including trying to understand the “genesis of life itself.” His first will, which he signed in 1925 at the age of 19, stipulated that a portion of his estate should be used to create a medical institute bearing his name. He gave all his stock in the Hughes Aircraft Company to the institute, thereby turning the aerospace and defense contractor into a tax-exempt charity. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s new board of trustees sold Hughes Aircraft in 1985 to General Motors for $5.2 billion, allowing the institute to grow dramatically. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute was the 4th largest private organization as of 2007 and the largest devoted to biological and medical research, with an endowment of $16.3 billion as of June 2007.

On January 12, 1957, Howard Hughes married actress Jean Peters.

Shortly before the 1960 Presidential election, Richard Nixon was harmed by revelations of a $205,000 loan from Howard Hughes to Nixon’s brother Donald. In late 1971, Donald Nixon was collecting intelligence for his brother in preparation for the upcoming presidential election. One of Donald’s sources was John H. Meier, a former business adviser of Howard Hughes who had also worked with Democratic National Chairman Larry O’Brien. However, Meier conspired with former Vice President of the United States, Hubert Humphrey, and others to feed disinformation to the Nixon campaign. Meier told Donald that he was sure the Democrats would win the election because Larry O’Brien had a great deal of information on Richard Nixon’s illicit dealings with Howard Hughes that had never been released. Donald told his brother that O’Brien was in possession of damaging information that could destroy his campaign.

In 1972, Howard Hughes was approached by the CIA to help secretly recover Soviet submarine K-129 which had sunk near Hawaii 4 years earlier. Thus the Glomar Explorer, a special-purpose salvage vessel, was born. His involvement provided the CIA with a plausible cover story, having to do with civilian marine research at extreme depths and the mining of undersea manganese nodules. In the summer of 1974, Glomar Explorer attempted to raise the Soviet vessel. However, during the recovery a mechanical failure in the ship’s grapple caused half of the submarine to break off and fall to the ocean floor. This section is believed to have held many of the most sought-after items, including its code book and nuclear missiles. Two nuclear-tipped torpedoes and some cryptographic machines were recovered, along with the bodies of six Soviet submariners who were subsequently given formal burial at sea in a filmed ceremony. The operation, known as Project Azorian, became public in February 1975 because burglars had obtained secret documents from Howard Hughes’ headquarters in June 1974. Though he lent his name to the operation, Howard Hughes and his companies had no actual involvement in the project.

The wealthy and aging Howard Hughes, accompanied by his entourage of personal aides, began moving from one hotel to another, always taking up residence in the top floor penthouse. During the last 10 years of his life, from 1966 to 1976, he lived in hotels in Beverly Hills, Boston, Las Vegas, Nassau, Freeport, Xanadu Princess Hotel, Bayshore Inn Vancouver, London, Managua, Acapulco and others.

On November 24, 1966, Howard Hughes arrived in Las Vegas by railroad car and moved into the Desert Inn. Because he refused to leave the hotel and to avoid further conflicts with the owners of the hotel, he bought the Desert Inn in early 1967. The hotel’s 8th floor became the operational center of his empire and the 9th-floor penthouse became his personal residence. Between 1966 and 1968, he bought several other hotels/casinos such as the Castaways, New Frontier, The Landmark Hotel and Casino, the Sands and Silver Slipper casino. He wanted to change the image of Las Vegas to something more glamorous than it was. As he wrote in a memo to an aide, “I like to think of Las Vegas in terms of a well-dressed man in a dinner jacket and a beautifully jeweled and furred female getting out of an expensive car.” He bought several local television stations (including KLAS-TV).

In 1971, Jean Peters filed for divorce. Peters requested a lifetime alimony payment of $70,000 a year, adjusted for inflation, and waived all claims to Howard Hughes’ estate. Hughes offered her a settlement of over a million dollars, but she declined it.

Howard Hughes was reported to have died on April 5, 1976, at 1:27 PM on board an aircraft owned by Robert Graf, en route from his penthouse at the “Acapulco Fairmont Princess Hotel” in Mexico to The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. A subsequent autopsy noted kidney failure as the cause of death. He was in extremely poor physical condition at the time of his death. X-rays revealed broken-off hypodermic needles still embedded in his arms and severe malnutrition. While his kidneys were damaged, his other internal organs were deemed perfectly healthy.

Howard Hughes’ $2.5 billion estate was eventually split in 1983 among 22 cousins, including William Lummis who serves as a trustee of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Hughes Aircraft was owned by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which sold it to General Motors in 1985 for $5.2 billion. Suits brought by the states of California and Texas claiming they were owed inheritance tax were both rejected by the court. In 1984, his estate paid an undisclosed amount to Terry Moore, who claimed to have been secretly married to him on a yacht in international waters off Mexico in 1949 and never divorced.

Howard Hughes has now emerged as one of the 20th Century’s most iconic business and aviation figures spawning a wide range of cultural references.

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Industrial Revolution

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Samuel Moore “Sam” Walton

Alternative Sam Walton Biography WalMart History Video

Samuel Moore “Sam” Walton (March 29, 1918 – April 5, 1992) was born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. As a child, Sam Walton moved with his family to Missouri where he became an Eagle Scout at age 13, a student leader, basketball star and quarterback on a state championship football team at Hickman High School in Columbia, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1940 with a B.A. in Economics. During World War 2, he served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps. While in the army, he married Helen Robson of Claremore, Oklahoma, on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1943. Over the years, they had 4 children: Rob, Jim, John and Alice.

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Immediately following his military service, Sam Walton worked for JC Penney in Iowa and operated his own variety store in Newport, Arkansas. In 1951, he opened Walton’s Five and Dime in Bentonville, Arkansas. On July 2, 1962, he opened his first Walmart store in Rogers, Arkansas. He launched a determined effort to market American-made products. Included in the effort was a willingness to find American manufacturers who could supply merchandise for the entire WalMart chain at a price low enough to meet the foreign competition. The company’s early popularity exceeded his expectations, resulting in a rapid state-by-state store expansion financed largely through proceeds of a public stock offering in 1971. As part of his managing strategy, he made sure that information regarding the company’s objectives and results was not held closely by a few executives, but was shared among all the employees. Sam Walton was a role model and visionary. He introduced new technologies to retailing and encouraged employees to take risks. He experimented with different types of stores. Sam’s Club membership warehouses and Walmart Supercenters were two successful examples. When he thought the time was right, he expanded first into Mexico, and then into other countries. By late 1998, Walmart had stores on 4 continents and 9 countries.

Over his lifetime, Sam Walton was recognized for both his business success and his commitment to the community. He built this company with the purpose of saving people money so they can live better. This foresight contributed to him being named “America’s Most Successful Merchant” in the September 1991 cover story of Fortune magazine.

His commitment to philanthropy resulted in the creation of a foundation. That commitment has grown to domestic and international Walmart foundations giving more than $423 million in cash and in-kind gifts from February 1, 2008 through January 31, 2009.

Shortly before his death on April 5, 1992, Sam Walton received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George Bush, the highest honor the country bestows on its private citizens. He also received the prestigious 1997 National Patriots Award for “exemplifying the ideals that make this country strong.” In 1998, he was included in Time’s list of 100 most influential people of the 20th Century. Sam Walton was honored for all his pioneering efforts in retail in March 1992. Also that year, the Jiangsu province of the People’s Republic of China awarded him the Golden Star Foreigner’s Award for “tireless assistance in the development of People’s owned factories in the Suzhou area.

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Mary Kay Ash

Alternative Mary Kay Ash Biography Video

Mary Kay Ash (May 12, 1918 – November 22, 2001) was born Mary Kathlyn Wagner in Hot Wells, Texas. Her mother, who had studied to be a nurse, worked long hours managing a restaurant. When Mary Kay was two or three, her father was ill with tuberculosis. As a result, it was her responsibility to clean, cook, and care for her father while her mother was at work. She excelled in school, but her family could not afford to send her to college. She married at age seventeen and eventually had three children.

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During a time when few married women with families worked outside the home, Mary Kay Ash became an employee of Stanley Home Products in Houston, Texas. She conducted demonstration “parties” at which she sold company products, mostly to homemakers like herself. Energetic and a quick learner, Mary Kay Ash became a unit manager, a post she held from 1938 to 1952. She also spent a year studying at the University of Houston to follow her dream of becoming a doctor, but she gave it up and returned to sales work. After her marriage ended in 1952, she took a sales job at World Gift Company in Dallas, Texas. She began to develop her theory of marketing and sales, which included offering sales incentives to the customer as well as the sales force. She was intelligent and hardworking, but, unlike men, women were given hardly any opportunities for advancement at the time. Tired of being passed over for promotions in favor of the men she had trained, she quit. She planned to write a book about her experiences in the work force.

In 1963, with an investment of $5000 Mary Kay Ash founded her own company to sell a skin cream to which she had purchased the manufacturing rights. She named her company “Beauty by Mary Kay.” She was determined to offer career opportunities in her company to any woman who had the energy and creativity required to sell Mary Kay cosmetics. Before long she had a force of female sales representatives who were eager to prove themselves. Her second husband died in 1963, a month before her company was established. Her oldest son helped guide her through the start-up phase of her company. Three years later she married Melville J. Ash, who worked in the wholesale gift business. Believing it was important to reward hard workers, she gave away vacations, jewelry and pink Cadillacs to her top performers. With goals such as these to shoot for, her salespeople made the company a huge success. Within two years sales neared $1 million. The company’s growth continued and new products were added. Every year since 1992 Mary Kay Cosmetics made Fortune magazine’s list of 500 largest companies and was listed in a book entitled “The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America.” It now employs over 475 thousand people in over 25 countries.

Mary Kay Ash published her life story, Mary Kay, in 1981. It sold over a million copies, and she went on to write Mary Kay on People Management (1984) and Mary Kay—You Can Have It All (1995). In 1987 she became chairman emeritus of her company. She helped raise money for cancer research after her third husband died of the disease. In 1993 she was honored with the dedication of the Mary Kay Ash Center for Cancer Immunotherapy Research at St. Paul Medical Center in Dallas. In 1996 the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation was started to research cancers that mainly affect women. She was a tough businessperson with a thorough knowledge of marketing and sales. Through her belief in women’s abilities and her willingness to give them a chance, she made the dream of a successful career a reality for hundreds of thousands of women worldwide.

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Civil Rights Movement

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George Lucas

Alternative Director George Lucas Biography Video

George Walton Lucas, Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American film producer, screenwriter and director. He is best known for being the creator of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movie franchises. George Lucas was born in Modesto, California, the son of Dorothy and George Lucas, Sr. (1913–1991), who owned a stationery store.

Long before George Lucas became obsessed with film making, he wanted to be a race-car driver, and he spent most of his high school years racing on the underground circuit at fairgrounds and hanging out at garages. However, a near-fatal accident in his souped-up Autobianchi Bianchina on June 12, 1962, just days before his high school graduation, quickly changed his mind. Instead of racing, he attended Modesto Junior College and later got accepted into a junior college to study anthropology. While taking liberal arts courses, he developed a passion for cinematography and camera tricks. George Lucas graduated from Brookdale Community College in New Jersey.

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During this time, an experimental filmmaker named Bruce Baillie tacked up a bedsheet in his backyard in 1960 to screen the work of underground, avant-garde 16 mm filmmakers like Jordan Belson, Stan Brakhage and Bruce Conner. For the next few years, Baillie’s series, dubbed Canyon Cinema, toured local coffeehouses. These events became a magnet for the teenage George Lucas and his boyhood friend John Plummer. The 19-year-olds began slipping away to San Francisco to hang out in jazz clubs and find news of Canyon Cinema screenings in flyers at the City Lights bookstore. Already a promising photographer, George Lucas became infatuated with these abstract films.

George Lucas then transferred to the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. USC was one of the earliest universities to have a school devoted to motion picture film. During the years at USC, George Lucas shared a dorm room with Randal Kleiser. Along with classmates such as Walter Murch, Hal Barwood and John Milius, they became a clique of film students known as The Dirty Dozen. He also became very good friends with fellow acclaimed student filmmaker and future Indiana Jones collaborator, Steven Spielberg. George Lucas was deeply influenced by the Filmic Expression course taught at the school by filmmaker Lester Novros which concentrated on the non-narrative elements of Film Form like color, light, movement, space and time. Another huge inspiration was the Serbian montagist (and dean of the USC Film Department) Slavko Vorkapich, a film theoretician comparable in historical importance to Sergei Eisenstein, who moved to Hollywood to make stunning montage sequences for studio features at MGM, RKO and Paramount.

After graduating with a bachelor of fine arts in film in 1967, he tried joining the United States Air Force as an officer, but he was immediately turned down because of his numerous speeding tickets. He was later drafted by the Army for military service in Vietnam, but he was exempt from the draft after medical tests showed he had diabetes, the disease that killed his paternal grandfather.

In 1967, Lucas re-enrolled as a USC graduate student in film production. Working as a teaching instructor for a class of U.S. Navy students who were being taught documentary cinematography, George Lucas directed the short film Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, which won first prize at the 1967–68 National Student Film Festival, and was later adapted into his first full-length feature film, THX 1138. George Lucas was awarded a student scholarship by Warner Brothers to observe and work on the making of a film of his choosing. The film he chose was Finian’s Rainbow (1968) which was being directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who at the time was revered among film school students of the time as a cinema graduate who had “made it” in Hollywood. In 1969, George Lucas was one of the camera operators on the classic Rolling Stones concert film Gimme Shelter.

George Lucas is a filmmaker, with a film career dominated by writing and production. Aside from the nine short films he made in the 1960s, he also directed six major features. His work from 1971 and 1977 as a writer-director, which established him as a major figure in Hollywood, consists of just three films: THX 1138, American Graffiti, and Star Wars. There was a 22-year hiatus between Star Wars Episode IV and his only other feature-film directing credits, the three Star Wars prequels.

George Lucas acted as a writer and executive producer on another successful Hollywood film franchise, the Indiana Jones series. In addition, his decision to establish his own effects company to make the original Star Wars film has produced enormous benefits; this company, the award-winning Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), is one of the world leaders in movie special effects.

George Lucas co-founded the studio American Zoetrope with Francis Ford Coppola — whom he met during his internship at Warner Brothers - hoping to create a liberating environment for filmmakers to direct outside the perceived oppressive control of the Hollywood studio system. His first full-length feature film produced by the studio, THX 1138, was not a success. George Lucas then created his own company, Lucasfilm, Ltd., and directed American Graffiti (1973). His new-found wealth and reputation enabled him to develop a story set in space. Even so, he encountered difficulties getting Star Wars made. It was only because Alan Ladd, Jr., at Fox Studios, liked American Graffiti that he forced through a production and distribution deal for the film, which ended up restoring Fox to financial stability after a number of flops.

Star Wars quickly became the highest-grossing film of all-time, displaced five years later by Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. During the filming of Star Wars, George Lucas waived his up-front fee as director and negotiated to own the merchandising and licensing rights. This decision earned him hundreds of millions of dollars, as he was able to directly profit from all the licensed games, toys and collectibles created for the franchise. This accumulated capital enabled him to finance the sequel himself.

Over the two decades after the first Star Wars film, Lucas worked extensively as a writer and/or producer, including the many Star Wars spinoffs made for film, TV, and other media. He acted as executive producer for the next two Star Wars films, assigning the direction of The Empire Strikes Back to Irvin Kershner and Return of the Jedi to Richard Marquand, while receiving a story credit on the former and sharing a screenwriting credit with Lawrence Kasdan on the latter. George Lucas also acted as executive producer and story writer on all four of the Indiana Jones films, which he convinced his colleague and good friend, Steven Spielberg, to direct. Other notable projects as a producer or executive producer in this period include Kurosawa’s Kagemusha (1980), Lawrence Kasdan’s Body Heat (1981), Jim Henson’s Labyrinth (1986), Godfrey Reggio’s Powaqqatsi (1986) and the animated film The Land Before Time (1988). There were also some other projects, including More American Graffiti (1979), Howard the Duck (1986), Willow (1988) and Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988). Between 1992 and 1996, George Lucas served as executive producer for the television spinoff The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. In 1997, for the 20th anniversary of Star Wars, George Lucas went back to his trilogy to enhance and add certain scenes using newly available digital technology. These new versions were released in theaters as the Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition. For DVD releases in 2004, this series has received further revisions to make them congruent with the prequel trilogy. Besides the additions to the Star Wars franchise, George Lucas released Special Edition director’s cuts of THX 1138 and American Graffiti containing a number of CGI revisions.

The animation studio Pixar was founded as the Graphics Group, one third of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm. Pixar’s early computer graphics research resulted in groundbreaking effects in films such as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Young Sherlock Holmes, and the group was purchased in 1986 by Steve Jobs shortly after he left Apple after a power struggle at Apple Computer. Steve Jobs paid $5 million to George Lucas and put $5 million as capital into the company. The sale reflected George Lucas’ desire to stop the cash flow losses from his 7-year research projects associated with new entertainment technology tools, as well as his company’s new focus on creating entertainment products rather than tools. A contributing factor was cash-flow difficulties following George Lucas’ 1983 divorce concurrent with the sudden dropoff in revenues from Star Wars licenses following the release of Return of the Jedi.

The sound-equipped system, THX Ltd, was founded by George Lucas and Tomlinson Holman. The company was formerly owned by Lucasfilm, and contains equipment for stereo, digital, and theatrical sound for movies, and music. Skywalker Sound and Industrial Light and Magic, the sound and visual effects subdivisions of Lucasfilm, respectively, have become among the most respected firms in their fields. Lucasfilm Games, later renamed LucasArts, is well respected in the gaming industry.

In 1994, George Lucas began work on the screenplay for the prequel The Phantom Menace, which would be the first film he had directed in over two decades. The Phantom Menace was released in 1999, beginning a new trilogy of Star Wars films. George Lucas also directed Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith which were released in 2002 and 2005, respectively.

In 2008, he reteamed with Steven Spielberg for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

In 1991, The George Lucas Educational Foundation was founded as a nonprofit operating foundation to celebrate and encourage innovation in schools. The Foundation’s content is available under the brand Edutopia, in an award-winning web site and via documentary films. George Lucas, through his foundation, was one of the leading proponents of the E-rate program in the universal service fund, which was enacted as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. On June 24, 2008, George Lucas testified before the United States House of Representatives subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet as the head of his Foundation to advocate for a free wireless broadband educational network.

The American Film Institute awarded George Lucas its Life Achievement Award on June 9, 2005. This was shortly after the release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, about which he joked stating that, since he views the entire Star Wars series as one movie, he could actually receive the award now that he had finally “gone back and finished the movie.”

On June 5, 2005, George Lucas was named among the 100 “Greatest Americans” by the Discovery Channel.

George Lucas was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Directing and Writing for American Graffiti, and Best Directing and Writing for Star Wars. He received the Academy’s Irving G. Thalberg Award in 1991. He appeared at the 79th Academy Awards ceremony in 2007 with Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola to present the Best Director award to their friend Martin Scorsese. During the speech, Spielberg and Coppola talked about the joy of winning an Oscar, making fun of George Lucas, who has not won a competitive Oscar.

In 2005, George Lucas gave $1 million to help build the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C. to commemorate American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

On September 19, 2006, USC announced that George Lucas had donated $175–180 million to his alma mater to expand the film school. It is the largest single donation to USC and the largest gift to a film school anywhere. Previous donations led to the already existing George Lucas Instructional Building and Marcia Lucas Post-Production building.

On January 1, 2007, George Lucas served as the Grand Marshal for the 2007 Tournament of Roses Parade, and made the coin toss at the 2007 Rose Bowl.

On August 25, 2009, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced that George Lucas would be one of 13 California Hall of Fame inductees in The California Museum’s yearlong exhibit. The induction ceremony was on December 1, 2009, in Sacramento, California.

On September 6, 2009, George Lucas was in Venice to present to the Pixar team the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement during the 2009 Biennale Venice Film Festival.

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Oprah Winfrey

Alternative Oprah Winfrey Biography Video

Oprah Winfrey (born Orpah Gail Winfrey on January 29, 1954) was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi to unmarried teenage parents. Her mother, Vernita Lee was a housemaid. She believed that her biological father was Vernon Winfrey, a coal miner turned barber turned city councilman who had been in the Armed Forces when she was born. She had her DNA tested. The genetic test determined that her maternal line originated among the Kpelle ethnic group, in the area that today is Liberia. Her genetic make up was determined to be 89% Sub-Saharan African. After her birth, her mother moved and she spent her first 6 years living in rural poverty with her grandmother. Her grandmother taught her to read before the age of 3 and took her to the local church. At 6, she moved to an inner-city neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her mother. Oprah Winfrey has stated that she was molested by her cousin, her uncle and a family friend, starting when she was 9 years old. When she was 14, she became pregnant, her son dying shortly after birth. Her mother sent her to live with Vernon Winfrey in Nashville, Tennessee. Vernon was strict, but encouraging and made her education a priority. Oprah Winfrey became an honors student, was voted Most Popular Girl, joined her high school speech team at East Nashville High School, placing second in the nation in dramatic interpretation. She won an oratory contest, which secured her a full scholarship to Tennessee State University where she studied communication. Her first job as a teenager was working at a local grocery store. At age 17, she won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant. She got the attention of the local black radio station, WVOL, which hired her to do the news part-time. She worked there during her senior year of high school, and again while in her first two years of college.

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Working in local media, she was both the youngest news anchor and the first black female news anchor at Nashville’s WLAC-TV. She moved to Baltimore’s WJZ-TV in 1976 to co-anchor the 6pm news. She was then recruited to join Richard Sher as co-host of WJZ’s local talk show People Are Talking, which premiered on August 14, 1978. She also hosted the local version of Dialing for Dollars. In 1983, she moved to Chicago to host WLS-TV’s low-rated half-hour morning talk show, AM Chicago. The first episode aired on January 2, 1984. Within months after she took over, the show went from last place in the ratings to overtaking Donahue as the highest rated talk show in Chicago. The movie critic Roger Ebert persuaded her to sign a syndication deal with King World. It was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show, expanded to a full hour, and broadcast nationally beginning September 8, 1986. Her syndicated show brought in double Donahue’s national audience, displacing Donahue as the number one day-time talk show in America. In the mid 1990′s she adopted a less tabloid-oriented format, hosting shows on broader topics such as heart disease, geopolitics, spirituality and meditation and interviewing celebrities on social issues they were directly involved with, such as cancer, charity work, or substance abuse.

In 1985, Oprah Winfrey co-starred in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple as distraught housewife, Sofia. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In addition, she produced and co-starred in the 1989 drama miniseries The Women of Brewster Place and Brewster Place. In October 1998, she produced and starred in the film Beloved, based on Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel. Oprah Winfrey co-founded the women’s cable television network Oxygen. She is also the president of Harpo Productions. On January 15, 2008, Winfrey and Discovery Communications announced plans to change Discovery Health Channel into a new channel called OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. In late 2008, Harpo Films signed an exclusive output pact to develop and produce scripted series, documentaries and movies for HBO. In 1993, she hosted a rare prime-time interview with Michael Jackson, which became the 4th most watched event in American television history as well as the most watched interview ever, with an audience of 36.5 million. On December 1, 2005, she appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman to promote the new Broadway musical The Color Purple, of which she was a producer. The episode helped Letterman attract his largest audience in more than 11 years: 13.45 million viewers. Oprah voiced Gussie the goose for Charlotte’s Web (2006) and the voice of Judge Bumbleden in Bee Movie (2007). In 2009, she provided the voice for the character of Eudora in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog and in 2010, narrated the US version of the BBC nature program Life for Discovery.

Oprah Winfrey has co-authored five books. She publishes 2 magazines: O, The Oprah Magazine and O at Home. In 2002 Fortune called O, the Oprah Magazine the most successful start-up ever in the industry. Her company created the Oprah.com website to provide resources and interactive content relating to her shows, magazines, book club, and public charity. Oprah.com averages more than 70 million page views and more than six million users per month, and receives approximately 20,000 e-mails each week. She initiated “Oprah’s Child Predator Watch List”, through her show and website, to help track down accused child molesters. Within the first 48 hours, two of the featured men were captured.

On February 9, 2006, it was announced that Oprah Winfrey had signed a three-year, $55 million contract with XM Satellite Radio to establish a new radio channel. The channel, Oprah Radio, features popular contributors to The Oprah Winfrey Show and O, The Oprah Magazine including Nate Berkus, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Bob Greene, Dr. Robin Smith and Marianne Williamson. Oprah & Friends began broadcasting at 11:00 am ET, September 25, 2006, from a new studio at her Chicago headquarters. At 41, she had a net worth of $340 million and replaced Bill Cosby as the only African American on the Forbes 400. With a 2000 net worth of $800 million, she is the wealthiest African American of the 20th century.

Oprah Winfrey has been called the world’s most powerful and influetial woman by CNN, Time, Life, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Ladies Home Journal, American Spectator and others. In 2010, Life magazine named Oprah Winfrey one of the 100 people who changed the world, along side such luminaries as Jesus Christ, Elvis Presley and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. She was the only living woman to make the list.

In 2005 Oprah Winfrey was named the greatest woman in American history as part of a public poll as part of The Greatest American. She was ranked #9 overall on the list of greatest Americans. The Wall Street Journal coined the term “Oprahfication”, meaning public confession as a form of therapy. The power of Oprah Winfrey’s opinions and endorsement to influence public opinion, especially consumer purchasing choices, has been dubbed “The Oprah Effect”. The effect has been documented or alleged in book sales, beef markets and election voting. She endorsed presidential candidate Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. This is the first time she publicly made such an endorsement. An analysis by two economists at the University of Maryland, College Park estimated that Oprah Winfrey’s endorsement was responsible for between 423,123 and 1,596,995 votes for Obama in the Democratic primary alone, based on a sample of states that did not include Texas, Michigan, North Dakota, Kansas, or Alaska. The results suggest that in the sampled states, her endorsement was responsible for the difference in the popular vote between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

In 1998, Oprah Winfrey created the Oprah’s Angel Network, a charity that supported charitable projects and provided grants to nonprofit organizations around the world. Oprah’s Angel Network raised more than $80,000,000. She personally covered all administrative costs associated with the charity, so 100% of all funds raised went to charity programs. The charity stopped accepting donations in May 2010 and was later dissolved. Her show raises money through promotion of her public charity and she personally donates more of her own money to charity than any other show-business celebrity in America. In 2005 she became the first black person listed by Business Week as one of America’s 50 most generous philanthropists, having given an estimated $303 million. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, she created the Oprah Angel Network Katrina registry which raised more than $11 million for relief efforts. She personally gave $10 million to the cause. Homes were built in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama before the one year anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. She has also helped 250 African-American men continue or complete their education at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. She was the recipient of the first Bob Hope Humanitarian Award at the 2002 Emmy Awards for services to television and film. To celebrate two decades on national TV, and to thank her employees for their hard work, she took her staff and their families (1065 people in total) on vacation to Hawaii in the summer of 2006. She invested $40 million and some of her time establishing the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls near Johannesburg, South Africa. The school opened in January 2007 with an enrollment of 152 pupils and features such amenities as a beauty salon and yoga studio. Nelson Mandela praised her for overcoming her own disadvantaged youth to become a benefactor for others and for investing in the future of South Africa. Winfrey teaches a class at the school via satellite.

Related topics:
Civil Rights Movement

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Steven Paul Steve Jobs

Alternative Steve Jobs Biography Video

Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 - October 5, 2011) was born in San Francisco and was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs. His biological parents – Abdulfattah Jandali, a Syrian Muslim graduate student who later became a political science professor, and Joanne Simpson, an American graduate student who went on to become a speech therapist – later married, giving birth to and raising his biological sister, the novelist Mona Simpson. He attended Cupertino Junior High School and Homestead High School in Cupertino, California, and frequented after-school lectures at the Hewlett-Packard Company in Palo Alto, California. He was soon hired there and worked with Steve Wozniak as a summer employee.

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In 1972, he graduated from high school and enrolled in Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Although he dropped out after only one semester, he continued auditing classes at Reed. In the autumn of 1974, he returned to California and began attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club with Wozniak. He took a job as a technician at Atari with the primary intent of saving money for a spiritual retreat to India. After his retreat to India, he was given the task of creating a circuit board for the game Breakout. Atari offered $100 for each chip that was eliminated in the machine. Steve Jobs had little interest or knowledge in circuit board design and made a deal with Wozniak to split the bonus evenly between them if Wozniak could minimize the number of chips. Wozniak reduced the number of chips by 50.

In 1976, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, with later funding from a then-semi-retired Intel product-marketing manager and engineer A.C. “Mike” Markkula Jr., founded Apple. As Apple continued to expand, the company began looking for an experienced executive to help manage its expansion.

In 1978, Apple recruited Mike Scott from National Semiconductor to serve as CEO. In 1983, Steve Jobs lured John Sculley away from Pepsi-Cola to serve as Apple’s CEO. The following year, Apple aired a Super Bowl television commercial titled “1984.” The Macintosh became the first commercially successful small computer with a graphical user interface.

While Steve Jobs was a persuasive and charismatic director for Apple, some of his employees from that time had described him as an erratic and temperamental manager. An industry-wide sales slump towards the end of 1984 caused a deterioration in Steve Jobs’s working relationship with Sculley, and at the end of May 1985 – following an internal power struggle and an announcement of significant layoffs – Sculley relieved Steve Jobs of his duties as head of the Macintosh division.

Around the same time, Steve Jobs founded another computer company, NeXT Computer. Like the Apple Lisa, the NeXT workstation was technologically advanced. Among those who could afford it, the NeXT workstation garnered a strong following because of its technical strengths, chief among them its object-oriented software development system. He marketed NeXT products to the scientific and academic fields because of the innovative, experimental new technologies it incorporated. He ran NeXT with an obsession for aesthetic perfection, as evidenced by such things as the NeXTcube’s magnesium case. This put considerable strain on NeXT’s hardware division, and in 1993, after having sold only 50,000 machines, NeXT transitioned fully to software development with the release of NeXTSTEP/Intel.

In 1986, Steve Jobs bought The Graphics Group (later renamed Pixar) from Lucasfilm’s computer graphics division for the price of $10 million. The new company was initially intended to be a high-end graphics hardware developer. After years of unprofitability selling the Pixar Image Computer, it contracted with Disney to produce a number of computer-animated feature films, which Disney would co-finance and distribute. The first film produced by the partnership, Toy Story, brought fame and critical acclaim to the studio when it was released in 1995. Over the next ten plus years, under Pixar’s creative chief John Lasseter, the company would produce the box-office hits A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up and Toy Story 3. Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL-E and Up each received the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, an award introduced in 2001. On January 24, 2006, Steve Jobs announced that Disney had agreed to purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction worth $7.4 billion. Once the deal closed, Steve Jobs became The Walt Disney Company’s largest single shareholder with approximately 7% of the company’s stock. He joined the company’s board of directors upon completion of the merger.

In 1996, Apple announced that it would buy NeXT for $429 million. The deal was finalized in late 1996, bringing Steve Jobs back to the company he co-founded. He soon became Apple’s interim CEO after the directors lost confidence in and ousted then-CEO Gil Amelio in a boardroom coup. In March 1998, to concentrate Apple’s efforts on returning to profitability, He immediately terminated a number of projects such as Newton, Cyberdog, and OpenDoc. He also changed the licensing program for Macintosh clones, making it too costly for the manufacturers to continue making machines. With the purchase of NeXT, much of the company’s technology found its way into Apple products, most notably NeXTSTEP, which evolved into Mac OS X. Under his guidance the company increased sales significantly with the introduction of the iMac and other new products.

In recent years, the company has branched out, introducing and improving upon other digital appliances. With the introduction of the iPod portable music player, iTunes digital music software and the iTunes Store, the company made forays into consumer electronics and music distribution. In 2007, Apple entered the cellular phone business with the introduction of the iPhone, which also included the features of an iPod and, with its own mobile browser, revolutionized the mobile browsing scene. While stimulating innovation, He reminds his employees that delivering working products on time is as important as innovation and attractive design.

As of October 2009, Steve Jobs owned 5.426 million shares of Apple, most of which was granted in 2003 when he was given 10 million shares. He also owned 138 million shares of Disney, which he received in exchange for Disney’s acquisition of Pixar. Forbes estimated his net wealth at $5.1 billion in 2009, making him the 43rd wealthiest American.

Steve Jobs has always aspired to position Apple and its products at the forefront of the information technology industry by foreseeing and setting trends, at least in innovation and style. His model for business is “The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each other’s negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts.” Great things in business are not done by one person, they are done by a team of people.

Steve Jobs was awarded the National Medal of Technology from President Ronald Reagan in 1985 with Steve Wozniak, and a Jefferson Award for Public Service in the category “Greatest Public Service by an Individual 35 Years or Under”. On November 27, 2007, he was named the most powerful person in business by Fortune Magazine. On December 5, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted him into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts. In August 2009, he was selected the most admired entrepreneur among teenagers on a survey by Junior Achievement. On November 5, 2009, Jobs was named the CEO of the decade by Fortune Magazine. In November 2009 Jobs was ranked #57 on Forbes: The World’s Most Powerful People.

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William Henry “Bill” Gates III

Alternative Bill Gates Biography Video

William Henry “Bill” Gates III (born October 28, 1955) was born in Seattle, Washington. His father was a prominent lawyer, his mother served on the board of directors for First Interstate BancSystem and the United Way, and her father, J. W. Maxwell, was a national bank president. At 13 he enrolled in the Lakeside School, an exclusive preparatory school. When he was in the 8th grade, the Mothers Club at the school used proceeds from Lakeside School’s rummage sale to buy an ASR-33 teletype terminal and a block of computer time on a General Electric (GE) computer for the school’s students. He took an interest in programming the GE system in BASIC and was excused from math classes to pursue his interest. He wrote his first computer program on this machine: tic-tac-toe that allowed users to play games against the computer. After the Mothers Club donation was exhausted, he and other students sought time on systems including DEC PDP minicomputers. One of these systems was a PDP-10 belonging to Computer Center Corporation (CCC), which banned 4 Lakeside students: Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Ric Weiland, and Kent Evans after it caught them exploiting bugs in the operating system to obtain free computer time. At the end of the ban, the 4 students offered to find bugs in CCC’s software in exchange for computer time. Rather than use the system via teletype, Bill Gates went to CCC’s offices and studied source code for various programs that ran on the system, including programs in FORTRAN, LISP and machine language. The arrangement with CCC continued until 1970, when the company went out of business. The following year, Information Sciences, Inc. hired the 4 Lakeside students to write a payroll program in COBOL, providing them computer time and royalties. After his administrators became aware of his programming abilities, Bill Gates wrote the school’s computer program to schedule students in classes. He modified the code so that he was placed in classes with mostly female students. At age 17, he formed a venture with Allen, called Traf-O-Data, to make traffic counters based on the Intel 8008 processor. In early 1973, Bill Gates served as a congressional page in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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Bill Gates graduated from Lakeside School in 1973. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the SAT and enrolled at Harvard College in the autumn of 1973. He did not have a specific study plan while a student at Harvard and spent a lot of time using the school’s computers. He remained in contact with Paul Allen, joining him at Honeywell during the summer of 1974. The following year saw the release of the MITS Altair 8800 based on the Intel 8080 CPU, and Bill Gates and Allen saw this as the opportunity to start their own computer software company. He had talked this decision over with his parents, who were supportive of him after seeing how much he wanted to start a company. After reading the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics that demonstrated the Altair 8800, Bill Gates contacted Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), the creators of the new microcomputer, to inform them that he and others were working on a BASIC interpreter for the platform. In reality, they did not have an Altair and had not written code for it. They just wanted to gauge MITS’s interest. MITS president Ed Roberts agreed to meet them for a demo, and over the course of a few weeks they developed an Altair emulator that ran on a minicomputer, and then the BASIC interpreter. The demonstration, held at MITS’s offices in Albuquerque, was a success and resulted in a deal with MITS to distribute the interpreter as Altair BASIC. Paul Allen was hired into MITS, and Bill Gates took a leave of absence from Harvard to work with Allen at MITS in Albuquerque in November 1975. On November 26, 1976, the trade name “Microsoft” was registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.

During Microsoft’s early years, all employees had broad responsibility for the company’s business. Bill Gates oversaw the business details, but continued to write code as well. In the first 5 years, he personally reviewed every line of code the company shipped, and often rewrote parts of it as he saw fit. In 1980, IBM approached Microsoft to write the BASIC interpreter for its upcoming personal computer, the IBM PC. When IBM’s representatives mentioned that they needed an operating system, Gates referred them to Digital Research (DRI). IBM’s discussions with Digital Research went poorly, and they did not reach a licensing agreement. A few weeks later Bill Gates proposed using 86-DOS (QDOS), an operating system similar to CP/M that Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products (SCP) had made for hardware similar to the PC. Microsoft made a deal with SCP to become the exclusive licensing agent, and later the full owner, of 86-DOS. After adapting the operating system for the PC, Microsoft delivered it to IBM as PC-DOS in exchange for a one-time fee of $50,000. Bill Gates did not offer to transfer the copyright on the operating system, because he believed that other hardware vendors would clone IBM’s system. They did, and the sales of MS-DOS made Microsoft a major player in the industry. Bill Gates oversaw Microsoft’s company restructuring on June 25, 1981, which re-incorporated the company in Washington state and made him President of Microsoft and the Chairman of the Board.

Microsoft launched its first retail version of Microsoft Windows on November 20, 1985. From Microsoft’s founding in 1975 until 2006, Bill Gates had primary responsibility for the company’s product strategy. He aggressively broadened the company’s range of products, and wherever Microsoft achieved a dominant position he vigorously defended it. Many decisions that led to antitrust litigation over Microsoft’s business practices have had his approval. Despite his denials, the judge ruled that Microsoft had committed monopolization and tying, and blocking competition, both in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Since leaving Microsoft, Bill Gates continues his philanthropy and, among other projects, purchased the videos rights to the Messenger Lectures series titled The Character of Physical Law, given at Cornell University by Richard Feynman in 1964 and recorded by the BBC. The videos are available online to the public at Microsoft’s Project Tuva. In April 2010, Gates was invited to visit and speak at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he asked the students to take on the hard problems of the world in their futures. Bill Gates was number one on the “Forbes 400″ list from 1993 through to 2007 and number one on Forbes list of “The World’s Richest People” from 1995 to 2007 and 2009. In 1999, his wealth briefly surpassed $101 billion, causing the media to call him a “centibillionaire”. Since 2000, the nominal value of his Microsoft holdings has declined due to a fall in Microsoft’s stock price after the dot-com bubble burst and the multi-billion dollar donations he has made to his charitable foundations. He has several investments outside Microsoft, which in 2006 paid him a salary of $616,667, and $350,000 bonus totalling $966,667. He founded Corbis, a digital imaging company, in 1989. In 2004 he became a director of Berkshire Hathaway, the investment company headed by long-time friend Warren Buffett. He studied the work of Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller and in 1994 sold some of his Microsoft stock to create the William H. Gates Foundation. In 2000, he and his wife combined three family foundations into one to create the charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is the largest transparently operated charitable foundation in the world. The foundation is set up to allow benefactors access to how its money is being spent, unlike other major charitable organizations such as the Wellcome Trust. The generosity and extensive philanthropy of David Rockefeller has been credited as a major influence. He and his father have met with Rockefeller several times and have modeled their giving in part on the Rockefeller family’s philanthropic focus, namely those global problems that are ignored by governments and other organizations. As of 2007, Bill and Melinda Gates were the second most generous philanthropists in America, having given over $28 billion to charity.

Time magazine named Bill Gates one of the 100 people who most influenced the 20th century, as well as one of the 100 most influential people of 2004, 2005, and 2006. Time also collectively named Gates, his wife Melinda and U2′s lead singer Bono as the 2005 Persons of the Year for their humanitarian efforts. In 2006, he was voted 8th in the list of “Heroes of our time”. In 1994, he was honoured as the 20th Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society. He received honorary doctorates from Nyenrode Business Universiteit, Breukelen, The Netherlands, in 2000; the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, in 2002; Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, in 2005; Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in April 2007; Harvard University in June 2007; the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, in January 2008, and Cambridge University in June 2009. He was also made an honorary trustee of Peking University in 2007. He was also made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005, in addition to having entomologists name the Bill Gates flower fly, Eristalis gatesi, in his honor. In November 2006, he and his wife were awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle for their philanthropic work around the world in the areas of health and education, particularly in Mexico. In October 2009, it was announced that Gates will be awarded the 2010 Bower Award for Business Leadership of The Franklin Institute for his achievements in business and for his philanthropic work. In 2010 he was honored with the Silver Buffalo Award by the Boy Scouts of America, its highest award for adults, for his service to youth.

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Lawrence “Larry” Page / Sergey Mikhaylovich Brin

Alternative Google History Video

Lawrence “Larry” Page (born March 26, 1973) was born in East Lansing, Michigan. Sergey Mikhaylovich Brin (Russian: Серге́й Миха́йлович Брин; born August 21, 1973) was born in Moscow, Russia. Larry Page’s father was a professor of computer science at Michigan State University and an early pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence. He eventually entered the University of Michigan, where he earned an undergraduate degree in engineering with a concentration in computer engineering. An innovative thinker with a sense of humor, he once built a working ink-jet printer out of Lego blocks. He was eager to advance in his career, and decided to study for a Ph.D degree. He was admitted to the doctoral program in computer science at Stanford University. On an introductory weekend at the Palo Alto campus that had been arranged for new students, he met Sergey Brin. A native of Moscow, Russia, Sergey Brin was also the son of a professor, and came to the United States with his family when he was 6. His father taught math at the University of Maryland, and it was from that school’s College Park campus that Sergey Brin earned an undergraduate degree in computer science and math.

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Larry Page and Sergey Brin created an algorithm, or set of step-by-step instructions for solving a specific computer task. Their algorithm searched all the hypertext documents in cyberspace. A typical search engine such as Hot Bot, which was popular at one time in the mid-1990′s, worked by looking for a term the user entered. If a certain phrase was written into a web site several dozen or even a hundred times, that document would come up first in the search results. But it might just turn out to be an Internet store that sold memorabilia.

They wanted to create a search tool that would find the most relevant Web page first. If someone typed in “New York Yankees,” for example, the official Yankees site would be the first result returned. Their algorithm analyzed the “back links” in a hypertext document, or how many times other sites linked to it — the more links, the higher the relevancy of the page. As an article in Time explained, their search technology was the first to “treat the Internet as a democracy. Google interprets connections between websites as votes. The most linked-to sites win on the Google usefulness ballot and rise to the top of the search results.” The search engine with their unique algorithm was initially named “Backrub,” but they later settled on “PageRank,” named after Larry Page. It soon caught on with other Stanford users when they let them try it out. The two set up a simple search page for users, because they did not have a web page developer to create anything very impressive. They also began stringing together the necessary computing power to handle searches by multiple users, by using any computer part they could find. As their search engine grew in popularity among Stanford users, it needed more and more servers to process the queries.

During this time they were running the project out of their dorm rooms at Stanford. Larry Page’s room served as the data hub, while Sergey Brin’s was the business office. They had the idea to license their PageRank technology to other companies to pay off their debts, but none were interested. David Filo (1966–), another Stanford graduate who had started Yahoo.com, suggested they form a search-engine company. They named their company “Google,” after the mathematical term Googol, which specified the number one followed by a hundred zeros. They took it to Andy Bechtolsheim (1956–), a Stanford graduate and co-founder of Sun Microsystems. He liked their idea and wrote them a check for $100,000. They went on to raise more money from friends, family, and then from venture capital firms that funded new businesses. By the end of 1999 they had set up headquarters in an office park in Mountain View, and had officially launched the site.

In their first years in business, Brin served as president, while Page was the chief executive officer. The company continued to grow exponentially during 2001. They hired Eric Schmidt as chief executive officer and board chair in 2001. Schmidt was a veteran of Sun Microsystems, where he had served as chief technology officer.

Google kept expanding. It added search capabilities in dozens of languages, and began partnering with overseas sites as well. Its headquarters were informally known as the “Googleplex,” and workers were relatively free to make their own hours, with the idea that employees should be able to work when they felt they were most productive. Google staff were also encouraged to use 80% of their work hours on regular work, and the other 20% on projects of their own design.

By early 2004 Google was one of the most-visited Web sites in the world. Its servers handled some 138,000 search queries per minute, or about 200,000,000 daily. Analysts believed it was taking in approximately $1 billion in revenues annually, and the company announced plans to become a publicly traded company with an initial public offering (IPO) of stock. Theirs, however, would utilize a unique online auction process to sell its first shares to the public. This meant that the large Wall Street firms that handled the IPO underwriting would not be able to give the first shares out to their top clients as a perk. It was estimated that Google was going to be valued at least at $15 billion, and possibly even as high as $30 billion. Larry Page and Sergey Brin each own 38 million shares of Google stock. They would become overnight millionaires when Google began trading on the NASDAQ in 2004.

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Mark Elliot “Zuck” Zuckerberg

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (May 14, 1984 - ) was born in White Plains, New York to Karen, a psychiatrist, and Edward, a dentist. He started programming when he was in middle school. His father taught him Atari BASIC Programming in the 1990′s, and then software developer David Newman was hired as his tutor in about 1995. He also took a graduate course in the subject at Mercy College near his home in the mid-1990′s. He developed computer programs, especially communication tools and games. He also designed and programmed a computer application system to help the workers in his father’s office communicate. At Ardsley High School he had excelled in the classics before in his junior year transferring to Phillips Exeter Academy, where he won prizes in science and Classical studies (in which he was fluent in French, Hebrew, Latin and ancient Greek). While in high school, under the company name Intelligent Media Group, he built a music player named the Synapse Media Player that used artificial intelligence to learn the user’s listening habits, which was posted to Slashdot and received a rating of 3 out of 5 from PC Magazine. Microsoft and AOL tried to purchase Synapse and recruit Mark Zuckerberg, but he instead went to Harvard College in September 2002 where he studied computer science and psychology and joined Alpha Epsilon Pi. At a fraternity party during his sophomore year, Zuckerberg met Priscilla Chan, who subsequently became his girlfriend. As of September 2010, he was studying Mandarin with a tutor in preparation for the couple’s slated visit to China and possibly to help in setting up operations in China, since Facebook, like Twitter, is blocked by that country’s internet firewall.

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Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard dormitory room on February 4, 2004. Facebook started off as just a “Harvard thing” until he decided to spread it to other schools, enlisting the help of roommate Dustin Moskovitz. They first started it at Stanford, Dartmouth, Columbia, New York University, Cornell, Brown and Yale, and then at other schools that had social contacts with Harvard. He moved to Palo Alto, California, with Moskovitz and some friends. They leased a small house that served as an office. Over the summer, he met Peter Thiel who invested in the company. They got their first office in mid-2004. They had turned down offers by major corporations to buy out Facebook. On July 21, 2010, Mark Zuckerberg reported that the company reached the 500 million-user mark.

A month after Facebook launched in February 2004, i2hub, another campus-only service, created by Wayne Chang, was launched. i2hub focused on peer-to-peer file sharing. At the time, both i2hub and Facebook were gaining the attention of the press and growing rapidly in users and publicity. In August 2004, Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew McCollum, Adam D’Angelo, and Sean Parker launched a competing peer-to-peer file sharing service called Wirehog. It was a precursor to Facebook Platform applications. Traction was low compared to i2hub, and Facebook ultimately shut Wirehog down the following summer.
On May 24, 2007, Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook Platform, a development platform for programmers to create social applications within Facebook. Within weeks, many applications had been built and some already had millions of users. It grew to more than 800,000 developers around the world building applications for Facebook Platform. On July 23, 2008, he announced Facebook Connect, a version of Facebook Platform for users. On November 6, 2007, he announced a new social advertising system called Beacon, which enabled people to share information with their Facebook friends based on their browsing activities on other sites. The program came under scrutiny because of privacy concerns from groups and individual users. Zuckerberg and Facebook failed to respond to the concerns quickly, and on December 5, 2007, Zuckerberg wrote a blog post on Facebook taking responsibility for the concerns about Beacon and offering an easier way for users to opt out of the service.

In June 2010, Deputy Attorney General Muhammad Azhar Sidiqque of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan launched a criminal investigation into Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook co-founders Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes after a “Draw Muhammad” contest was hosted on Facebook. The investigation also named the anonymous German woman who created the contest. Sidiqque asked the country’s police to contact Interpol to have Mark Zuckerberg and the 3 others arrested for blasphemy. On May 19, 2010, Facebook’s website was temporarily blocked in Pakistan until Facebook removed the contest from its website at the end of May. Sidiqque also asked its United Nations representative to raise the issue with the United Nations General Assembly. No formal charges have been filed against Mark Zuckerberg.

Vanity Fair magazine named Mark Zuckerberg number 1 on its 2010 list of the Top 100 “most influential people of the Information Age”. He ranked number 23 on the Vanity Fair 100 list in 2009. In 2010, he was chosen as number 16 in New Statesman’s annual survey of the world’s 50 most influential figures.

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Who is Randy King?
– Top sales leader with U.S. Chamber of Commerce for 14 years
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Top 10 Most Patriotic Speeches in American History

If a person wants to be an effective communicator and great leader for positive change, one must first understand what these ideas mean. In order to achieve, one must study, observe and learn from achievers.

Patriotism can be defined as “Love of and Devotion to One’s Country.” An effective speech is “The Act of Describing Thoughts, Feelings and Perceptions in Words.” Characteristics of a great leader include: High Energy Level, Goal Oriented Behavior, Self-Confidence, Creativity, Clear Vision, Commitment to Excellence, Strong Integrity, Being an Agent of Change and Being a Positive Role Model.

One who delivers a great patriotic speech will have a love a country, a clear vision of what he/she wants to accomplish and the ability to lead and motivate others to follow him/her in order to achieve this vision.

In order to be on this list of great American patriotic speeches, the speech needs to:

Be Memorable and Quotable
Contain a Clear Vision of the Future
Contain Clear Objective Goals
Achieve The Goals Laid Out in the Speech
Be Delivered in a Strong Effective Manner
Create a Lasting Positive Change in America

These Top 10 Patriotic Speeches in American History have lifted hearts in dark times, gave hope in despair, refined the characters of men, inspired brave feats, gave courage to the weary, honored the dead and, most importantly, changed the course of history.

Honorable Mentioned #3: Winston Churchill - Blood, Toil, Sweat and Tears

Blood, Toil, Sweat and Tears - Winston Churchill - May 13, 1940

“Sir, to form an Administration of this scale and complexity is a serious undertaking in itself, but it must be remembered that we are in the preliminary stage of one of the greatest battles in history, that we are in action at many points in Norway and in Holland, that we have to be prepared in the Mediterranean, that the air battle is continuous and that many preparations have to be made here at home.”

The only reason Winston Churchill did not make the Top 10 list is because he was not an American. He has a well deserved place here because of his foresight, conviction, clarity of thought and leadership. He was preparing for war against Adolf Hitler and Germany long before people even saw the Axis Powers as a threat. And after his successful leadership through World War 2 in charge of the British Empire, he again strongly voiced concern about Joseph Stalin and the rise of the Soviet Union. Lack of action from the rest of the world brought forth the Cold War.

Honorable Mentioned #2: Theodore Roosevelt - The Right of the People to Rule

The Right of the People to Rule - Theodore Roosevelt - March 20, 1912

“The great fundamental issue now before the Republican party and before our people can be stated briefly. It is: Are the American people fit to govern themselves, to rule themselves, to control themselves? I believe they are.”

Teddy Roosevelt was a great orator. He gave style, class and charisma to his many speeches. I placed him on the honorable mentioned list for this reason. Where he falls short is quotability and a tendency for being verbose (using a lot of words).

Honorable Mentioned #1: John F Kennedy - Inauguration Address

Inauguration Address - John Fitzgerald Kennedy - January 20, 1961

“And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”

John F Kennedy just became the youngest President in history in a close contest against Vice President Richard Nixon. He desired to communicate and gather support for the agenda he envisioned for the country, an agenda of government involvement which would be decidedly different than that of outgoing President Eisenhower’s.

It is a great speech with a clear vision. It did not make the Top 10 list because its lasting impact was not as great as the others that made the Top 10 list.

#10: Douglas MacArthur - Duty, Honor, Country

Duty, Honor, Country - Douglas MacArthur - May 12, 1962

“Yours is the profession of arms, the will to win, the sure knowledge that in war there is no substitute for victory; that if you lose, the nation will be destroyed; that the very obsession of your public service must be: Duty, Honor, Country.”

Although this was addressed to Military cadets at West Point, his poignant speech about Duty, Honor, Country lays a road map of thought and behavior, that, when followed in both military and personal life, will bring about victory and success. His speech rhythm is slow, but steady. He truly believes in America and its values. He shows a true love and patriotism for the people of the United States of America.

#9: Franklin Delano Roosevelt - First Inaugural Address

First Inaugural Address - Franklin D. Roosevelt – March 4, 1933

“This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure, as it has endured, will revive and will prosper.”

FDR was trying to pull the country out of the Great Depression. He needed to lead and inspire. And he did so with this effective speech.

#8: Ronald Reagan - Farewell Address to the Nation

Farewell Address to the Nation - Ronald Reagan - January 11, 1989

“As long as we remember our first principles and believe in ourselves, the future will always be ours. And something else we learned: Once you begin a great movement, there’s no telling where it will end. We meant to change a nation, and instead, we changed a world.”

This was a speech that was thought out, thorough, contemplative, delivered well and encouraged Americans to continue the good fight. Many of his thoughts and ideas reverberate through a large group of people to this day.

#7: George Washington - Farewell Address - December 23, 1783

George Washington - Farewell Address

“Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of american, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.”

George Washington, along with a handful of other men, such as John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, played an integral part in the formation of the United States of America. In his last act as a statesman, he stepped down after serving 8 years as President of the United States. This created the tradition that a President is a servant of the Nation and should not serve more than 8 years. It was not until the 22nd Amendment in 1951 that this became law. Even then, there is only 1 President who served more than 8 years (Franklin Delano Roosevelt). It was because of his almost 4-term Presidency that the 22nd Amendment was written.

#6: Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate - Ronald Reagan - June 12, 1987

Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate - Ronald Reagan

“Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev — Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

With strong leadership and conviction, President Ronald Reagan was an integral part in ending the Cold War with the Soviet Union. With military build up, strong economic growth and the goal to end the stalemate with the Soviet Union, Reagan stood strong at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, and stated to the world for Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union, to tear down the wall separating East Berlin from West Berlin. On November 10, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union was on its way to extinction.

#5: Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death - Patrick Henry - March 23, 1775

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death - Patrick Henry

“Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace– but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

Patrick Henry made a passionate speech full of clarity and conviction to the Virginia governing body just after the Boston Tea Party and before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Also, the future second President of the United States - Thomas Jefferson - was in the audience. As a result, Virginia voted to join the other colonies to fight for independence. And Virginia played a major role in the American Revolution. The American colonies won and the United States of America was born.

#4: The Decision to Go to the Moon - John F. Kennedy - May 25, 1961

The Decision to Go to the Moon - John F. Kennedy

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

In the middle of the Cold War against the Soviet Union, JFK makes an ambitious goal to send men to the Moon in less than 9 years. As most great leaders know, a great vision, clear goals and strong leadership can generate amazing results. Although the Soviet Union had some early successes over the United States, it was the USA that eventually sent the first men to the Moon. As a result, JFK greatly sped up research and development in technology. These competitive advances led to many tools that gave the United States significant military advantages and helped to usher in the Information Age.

#3: Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation - Franklin Delano Roosevelt - December 8, 1941

Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

“Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”

FDR placed clear and undeniable blame on Japan for the attack on Pearl Harbor. He laid out his arguments for war, and at the end of the speech asked Congress to declare war on Japan. He was able to get what he asked for and was able to wage war against the Axis powers. Eventually, with strong leadership from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight D Eisenhower, Winston Churchill and others, the Allies eventually won World War 2.

#2: Gettysburg Address - Abraham Lincoln - November 19, 1863

Gettysburg Address - Abraham Lincoln

“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Abraham Lincoln took on the responsibility to preserve the Union during the American Civil War. The Battle of Gettysburg was one of the deadliest battles of the war. It also marked the turning point in which the North began its long road to eventual victory over the South. He wanted to make sure that these lives that were sacrificed were not in vain. When the North won the Civil War, slavery became abolished within the entire United States of America.

#1: Dr Martin Luther King Jr - I Have a Dream - August 23, 1963

Dr Martin Luther King Jr - I Have a Dream

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

In the middle of the Cold War, violent actions related to the Civil Rights Movement, and general civil unrest, Dr Martin Luther King Jr calmly walks to the podium amongst a crowd of over 100,000 people to announce to the world that African Americans in the United States of America now have equal protection under the law and are truly free from bondage and slavery. He hoped and prayed for peaceful demonstrations and fought against violence. He lost his life as a result of his public actions, but was willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice to proclaim his convictions to the world.

The 13 speeches listed above portray many important concepts: patriotism, conviction, effective public speaking, strong leadership and great vision. If you study and truly understand how and why these public figures said what they said and when they said it, you will begin to understand what American patriotism, effective communication and leadership are all about. And these three concepts will lead you to a very successful and fulfilled life.

Industrial Revolution Inventions Timeline - 1712-1942

Major Inventions of the Industrial Revolution:

1712 - Thomas Newcomen patents the atmospheric steam engine

1733 - John Kay invents the flying shuttle

1745 - E.G. von Kleist invents the leyden jar, the first electrical capacitor

1752 - Benjamin Franklin invents the lightening rod

1764 - James Hargreaves invents the spinning jenny

1768 - Richard Arkwright patents the spinning frame

1769 - James Watt invents an improved steam engine

1774 - Georges Louis Lesage patents the electric telegraph

1775 - Jacques Perrier invents a steamship

1776 - David Bushnell invents a submarine

1779 - Samuel Crompton invents the spinning mule

1780 - Gervinus invents the circular saw

1783 - Benjamin Hanks patents the self-winding clock; Englishmen, Henry Cort invents the steel roller for steel production

1784 - Andrew Meikle invents the threshing machine

1785 - Edmund Cartwright invents the power loom

1786 - John Fitch invents a steamboat

1790 - The United States issued its first patent to William Pollard of Philadelphia for a machine that roves and spins cotton

1791 - John Barber invents the gas turbine; Early bicycles invented in Scotland

1794 - Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin; Welshmen, Philip Vaughan invents ball bearings

1797 - Wittemore patents a carding machine; A British inventor, Henry Maudslay invents the first metal or precision lathe

1799 - Alessandro Volta invents the battery; Louis Robert invents the Fourdrinier Machine for sheet paper making

1800 - Frenchmen, J.M. Jacquard invents the Jacquard Loom; Count Alessandro Volta invents the battery

1804 - Richard Trevithick, an English mining engineer, developed the first steam-powered locomotive

1809 - Humphry Davy invents the first electric light - the first arc lamp

1814 - George Stephenson designs the first steam locomotive; Joseph Nicéphore Niépce was the first person to take a photograph

1825 - William Sturgeon invented the electromagnet

1829 - American, W.A. Burt invents a typewriter

1830 - Frenchmen, Barthelemy Thimonnier invents a sewing machine

1831 - American, Cyrus McCormick invents the first commercially successful reaper; Michael Faraday invents a electric dynamo

1834 - Henry Blair patents a corn planter, he is the second black person to receive a U.S. patent; Jacob Perkins invents an early refrigerator type device - an ether ice machine

1835 - Englishmen, Henry Talbot invents calotype photography; Englishmen, Francis Pettit Smith invents the propeller; Charles Babbage invents a mechanical calculator

1836 - Francis Pettit Smith and John Ericcson co-invent the propeller; Samuel Colt invented the first revolver

1837 - Samuel Morse invents the telegraph

1839 - American, Charles Goodyear invents rubber vulcanization; Frenchmen, Louis Daguerre and J.N. Niepce co-invent Daguerreotype photography; Kirkpatrick Macmillan invents a bicycle; Welshmen, Sir William Robert Grove conceives of the first hydrogen fuel cell

1843 - Alexander Bain of Scotland, invents the facsimile

1845 - American, Elias Howe invents a sewing machine; Robert William Thomson patents the first vulcanized rubber pneumatic tire

1850 - Joel Houghton was granted the first patent for a dishwasher

1851 - Isaac Singer invents a sewing machine

1852 - Henri Giffard builds an airship powered by the first aircraft engine - an unsuccessful design

1853 - George Cayley invents a manned glider

1854 - John Tyndall demonstrates the principles of fiber optics

1855 - Isaac Singer patents the sewing machine motor; Georges Audemars invents rayon

1858 - Hamilton Smith patents the rotary washing machine; Jean Lenoir invents an internal combustion engine

1862 - Richard Gatling patents the machine gun; Alexander Parkes invents the first man-made plastic

1866 - Alfred Nobel invents dynamite; Englishmen Robert Whitehead invents a torpedo

1867 - Christopher Scholes invents the first practical and modern typewriter

1868 - Robert Mushet invents tungsten steel; J P Knight invents traffic lights

1873 - Joseph Glidden invents barbed wire

1874 - American, C. Goodyear, Jr. invents the shoe welt stitcher

1876 - Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone; Nicolaus August Otto invents the first practical four-stroke internal combustion engine; Melville Bissell patents the carpet sweeper

1877 - Thomas Edison invents the cylinder phonograph or tin foil phonograph; Eadweard Muybridge invents the first moving pictures

1881 - Alexander Graham Bell invents the first crude metal detector; David Houston patents the roll film for cameras; Edward Leveaux patents the automatic player piano

1884 - George Eastman patents paper-strip photographic film; Frenchmen, H. de Chardonnet invents rayon; James Ritty invents the first working, mechanical cash register; Charles Parson patents the steam turbine

1885 - Harim Maxim invents the machine gun; Karl Benz invents the first practical automobile to be powered by an internal-combustion engine; Gottlieb Daimler invents the first gas-engined motorcycle

1886 - Josephine Cochrane invents the dishwasher; Gottlieb Daimler builds the world’s first four-wheeled motor vehicle

1888 - John Boyd Dunlop patents a commercially successful pneumatic tire; Nikola Tesla invents the AC motor and transformer

1891 - Jesse W. Reno invents the escalator

1892 - Rudolf Diesel invents the diesel-fueled internal combustion engine

1895 - Lumiere Brothers invent a portable motion-picture camera, film processing unit and projector called the Cinematographe. Lumiere Brothers using their Cinematographe are the first to present a projected motion picture to an audience of more that one person

1898 - Edwin Prescott patents the roller coaster; Rudolf Diesel receives patent #608,845 for an “internal combustion engine” the Diesel engine

1899 - John Thurman patents the motor-driven vacuum cleaner

1900 - The zeppelin invented by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin

1901 - The first radio receiver, successfully received a radio transmission

1902 - Willis Carrier invents the air conditioner

1903 - Bottle-making machinery invented by Michael J. Owens; The Wright brothers invent the first gas motored and manned airplane; William Coolidge invents ductile tungsten used in light bulbs

1904 - Benjamin Holt invents a tractor; John A Fleming invents a vacuum diode or Fleming valve

1906 - Lewis Nixon invents the first sonar like device; Lee Deforest invents electronic amplifying tube (triode)

1907 - Leo Baekeland invents the first synthetic plastic called Bakelite; Color photography invented by Auguste and Louis Lumiere; The very first piloted helicopter was invented by Paul Cornu

1908 - Cellophane invented by Jacques E. Brandenberger; Model T first sold

1910 - Thomas Edison demonstrated the first talking motion picture; Georges Claude displayed the first neon lamp to the public on December 11, 1910, in Paris

1912 - Motorized movie cameras invented, replaced hand-cranked cameras

1915 - Eugene Sullivan and William Taylor co-invented Pyrex in New York City

1916 - Radio tuners invented, that received different stations; Stainless steel invented by Henry Brearly

1921 - Artificial life begins — the first robot built

1927 - Philo Taylor Farnsworth invents a complete electronic TV system

1928 - Jacob Schick patented the electric shaver

1930 - Wallace Carothers and DuPont Labs invents neoprene; The “differential analyzer”, or analog computer invented by Vannevar Bush at MIT in Boston; Frank Whittle and Dr Hans von Ohain both invent a jet engine

1931 - Germans Max Knott and Ernst Ruska co-invent the electron microscope

1932 - Karl Jansky invents the radio telescope

1934 - Joseph Begun invents the first tape recorder for broadcasting - first magnetic recording

1935 - Wallace Carothers and DuPont Labs invents nylon ( polymer 6.6.); Robert Watson-Watt patented radar

1936 - Bell Labs invents the voice recognition machine; Samuel Colt patents the Colt revolver

1937 - Chester F. Carlson invents the photocopier; The first jet engine is built

1938 - Roy J. Plunkett invented tetrafluoroethylene polymers or Teflon

1939 - Igor Sikorsky invents the first successful helicopter

1941 - Konrad Zuse’s Z3, the first computer controlled by software; Enrico Fermi invents the neutronic reactor

1942 - John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry built the first electronic digital computer

Beginning of the Information Age…

Source: http://inventors.about.com/od/timelines/tp/timeline.htm

Liberty Bell, Independence Hall: Philadelphia PA

500 Chestnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Phone: 215-597-8787

The Declaration of Independence and US Constitution were signed at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA, in 1776. On July 8, 1776, the Liberty Bell, made by John Pass & John Stow (Pass and Stow) was rung to summon people for the reading of the Declaration of Independence.

It was cast in London, England. It cracked soon after it arrived in Philadelphia. Pass and Stow cast a new bell in 1753, using metal from the English bell. Their names appear on the front of the bell, along with the city and the date. By 1846 a thin crack began to affect the sound of the bell. The bell was repaired in 1846 and rang for a George Washington birthday celebration, but the bell cracked again and has not been rung since.

The bell weighs about 2000 pounds. It is made of 70% copper, 25% tin, and small amounts of lead, zinc, arsenic, gold and silver. It hangs from what is believed to be its original yoke, made from American elm, also known as slippery elm.

The Bell’s Message

The Liberty Bell’s inscription conveys a message of liberty. In 1751, the Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly ordered a new bell for the State House. He asked that a Bible verse to be placed on the bell - “Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the inhabitants thereof” (Leviticus 25:10). As the official bell of the Pennsylvania State House (today called Independence Hall) it rang many times for public announcements.

The old State House bell was first called the “Liberty Bell” by a group trying to outlaw slavery. These abolitionists remembered the words on the bell and, in the 1830s, adopted it as a symbol of their cause. Beginning in the late 1800s, the Liberty Bell traveled around the country to expositions and fairs to help heal the divisions of the Civil War.

Visiting the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall

The Liberty Bell Center is located on Market Street between 5th and 6th Streets, in Philadelphia, PA. The building is open year round, though hours vary by season. The Liberty Bell itself is displayed in a magnificent glass chamber with Independence Hall in the background.

What is Stories of USA?

Personal study guide to:
US History
US Historical Icons
American Patriotism
Free Boot Camp for Teenagers
How to Be a Success in America
What is BEST for America?
- 7 Point Plan

American Patriotism: Understanding the Past

• Famous People in United States History
• Famous Locations in United States History
• Important American Documents & Speeches
• Important Events in United States History that Shaped America

US History

American Patriotism: Appreciating the Present

• Important National Icons
• Patriotic Holidays & Activities
• Patriotic Quotes, Songs & Videos
• United States Flag

US Historical Icons
American Patriotism

American Patriotism: Preparing for the Future

• Learning Skills to Become Successful Adults
• Participation in Personal Development Activities

Dream2Achieve
Free Boot Camp for Teenagers
How to Be a Success in America

Social and Political Activism

• Political Activism
• Social Activism
• Making a Difference

Kids Can
Photo Gallery
Occupy the Library Movement
What is BEST for America? - 7 Point Plan

US History in 10 Minutes

10 Steps for Young Americans to do Well in School and Life

INROADS Meeting Scottsdale AZ

18th, 19th, 21st, 26th Amendments - 1919-1971

18th Amendment - 1919

Section 1: After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

Section 2: The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Section 3: This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

19th Amendment - 1920

Section 1: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Section 2: Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

21st Amendment - 1933

Section 1: The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

Section 2: The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

Section 3: The article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

26th Amendment - 1971

Section 1: The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.

Section 2: The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

American Civil Rights Movement Timeline - 1862-2008

Alternative American Black Civil Rights Movement Video

Major Events Related to Civil Rights Movement:

1862 - Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln (Freed Blacks in Southern states)

1865-1870 - 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments (Abolished slavery; Citizenship; Right to vote)

1866 - Civil Rights Act of 1866 (Illegal to discriminate based on race)

1875 - Civil Rights Act of 1875 (Struck down by US Supreme Court in 1883; Guaranteed that everyone, regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, was entitled to the same treatment in “public accommodations”)

1876 - Jim Crow Laws (Mandated racial segregation)

1883 - Civil Rights Cases (US Supreme Court held that Congress lacked the constitutional authority under the enforcement provisions of the 14th Amendment to outlaw racial discrimination by private individuals and organizations)

1896 - Plessy v. Ferguson (Separate but Equal Clause)

1906 - Susan B Anthony dies (Important person in getting voting rights for women)

1920 - 19th Amendment passed giving women right to vote

1925 - Nellie Tayloe Ross elected first female governor of US state (Wyoming)

1947 - Jackie Robinson first Black to play major league baseball

1948 - President Harry S Truman desegregates US armed forces

1954 - Brown v Board of Education (Removed Separate but Equal Clause causing desegregation)

1955 - Rosa Parks incites Montgomery Bus Boycott

1957 - Civil Rights Act of 1957 (Act was to ensure that all African Americans could exercise their right to vote but ineffective results)

1957 - Little Rock, Arkansas, school desegregated by military force

1960 - Greensboro sit-in (Black students sat at a segregated lunch counter)

1960 - Civil Rights Act of 1960 (Established federal inspection of local voter registration polls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone’s attempt to register to vote or actually vote)

1960 - Students for a Democratic Society (SDS was organized for participatory democracy, direct action, radicalism, student power, and shoestring budgets)

1963 - Martin Luther King “I Have a Dream Speech” (Largest political non-violent march on Washington DC)

1964 - Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public)

1965 - National Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Reinforces 15th Amendment)

1965, 1967 - Watts Riot; Detroit race riot; “long hot summer” (Multiple race riots)

1966 - Feminist National Organization for Women group formed

1968 - Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy assassinated

1968 - Fair Housing Act (Prevented discrimination in housing)

1968 - Shirley Chisholm (First Black woman elected to congress - New York 12th Congressional District)

1969 - Stonewall Riots (Gays and Lesbians riot against police)

1973 - Roe v Wade (US Supreme Court decision allows abortion)

1981 - Sandra Day O’Connor becomes first female US Supreme Court Justice

2008 - Barack H Obama becomes first Black President of the United States

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_history

John F Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center Complex, NASA, Cape Canaveral FL

The John F. Kennedy Space Center is the U.S. government installation that manages and operates America’s astronaut launch facilities. Serving as the base for the country’s space shuttles, the NASA field center also conducts unmanned civilian launches from adjacent Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It has been the launch site for every U.S. human space flight since 1968. Its iconic Vehicle Assembly Building is the fourth-largest structure in the world by volume.

Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is north-northwest of Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean, midway between Miami and Jacksonville on Florida’s Space Coast. It is 34 miles (55 km) long and roughly 6 miles (10 km) wide, covering 219 square miles (570 km2). A total of 13,500 people worked at the center as of 2008.

Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Arlington National Cemetery
214 McNair Road
Arlington, VA 22211
(703) 607-8000

The mansion, which was intended as a living memorial to George Washington, was owned and constructed by the first president’s adopted grandson, George Washington Parke Custis, son of John Parke Custis who himself was a child of Martha Washington by her first marriage and a ward of George Washington. Arlington won out as a name over Mount Washington, which is what George Washington Parke Custis first intended calling the 1,100-acre tract of land that he had inherited at the death of his father when he was 3.

The north wing was the first structure completed in 1802. It was in this building that Custis made his home, with a significant portion of it used to store George Washington memorabilia Custis was acquiring with regularity. Among the items purchased and stored in the north wing were portraits, Washington’s personal papers and clothes, and the command tent which the president had used at Yorktown.

George Washington Parke Custis and his wife, Mary Lee Fitzhugh (whom he had married in 1804), lived in Arlington House for the rest of their lives and were buried together on the property after their deaths in 1857 and 1853, respectively. They are buried in their original graves in Section 13, at map grid N-30. On June 30, 1831, Custis’ only child, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, married her childhood friend and distant cousin, Robert E. Lee. Lee was the son of former three-term Virginia Governor Henry (“Light Horse Harry”) Lee and was himself a graduate of West Point.

Between 1841 and 1857, Lee was away from Arlington House for several extended periods. In 1846 he served in the Mexican war under Gen. Winfield Scott, and in 1852 he was appointed superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, his alma mater. After his father-in-law died in 1857, Lee returned to Arlington to join his family and to serve as executor of the estate.

Under the terms of her father’s will, Mary Anna Custis Lee was given the right to inhabit and control the house for the rest of her life. Custis’ will also stipulated that upon Mary Anna’s death, full title would pass to her eldest son, George Washington Custis Lee. Contrary to popular belief, Robert E. Lee never owned the Arlington estate. Lee did serve as custodian of the property, which had fallen into disrepair by the time he returned to execute his father-in-law’s will. By 1859, Lee had returned the property and its holdings to profitability and good order.

Robert E. Lee and his wife, Mary Anna, lived at Arlington House until 1861, when Virginia ratified an alliance with the Confederacy and seceded from the Union

Arlington National Cemetery was established by Brig. Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, who commanded the garrison at Arlington House, appropriated the grounds June 15, 1864, for use as a military cemetery. His intention was to render the house uninhabitable should the Lee family ever attempt to return. A stone and masonry burial vault in the rose garden, 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep, and containing the remains of 1,800 Bull Run casualties, was among the first monuments to Union dead erected under Meigs’ orders. Meigs himself was later buried within 100 yards of Arlington House with his wife, father and son; the final statement to his original order.

Neither Robert E. Lee, nor his wife, as title holder, ever attempted to publicly recover control of Arlington House. They were buried at Washington University (later renamed Washington and Lee University) where Lee had served as president. The couple never returned to the home George Washington Parke Custis had built and treasured. After Gen. Lee’s death in 1870, George Washington Custis Lee brought an action for ejectment in the Circuit Court of Alexandria (today Arlington) County, Va. Custis Lee, as eldest son of Gen. and Mrs. Lee, claimed that the land had been illegally confiscated and that, according to his grandfather’s will, he was the legal owner. In December 1882, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, returned the property to Custis Lee, stating that it had been confiscated without due process

On March 3, 1883, the Congress purchased the property from Lee for $150,000. It became a military reservation, and Freedman’s Village, but not the graves, was removed.

Source: http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/historical_information/arlington_house.html

Washington DC Attractions, Sightseeing, Museums, Memorials, Monuments

Alternative Washington DC Attractions Video

Washington DC Monuments and Memorials:

African American Civil War Memorial and Museum
1200 U Street, NW.
A Wall of Honor lists the names of 209,145 United States Colored Troops (USCT) who served in the Civil War. The museum explores the African American struggle for freedom in the United States. Museum is open Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Arlington National Cemetery
Across the Memorial Bridge from DC
This is America’s largest burial ground with the graves of President John F. Kennedy, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, world champion boxer Joe Louis and the Tomb of the Unknowns. Hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

DC War Memorial
National Mall, west of 17th St. and Independence Ave. SW.
This lesser known memorial commemorates the 26,000 citizens of Washington, DC who served in World War I. Funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has been approved for $7.3 million to restore the memorial.

Eisenhower Memorial
Between 4th and 6th Streets SW.
Plans are underway to build a national memorial to honor President Dwight D. Eisenhower on a four-acre site near the National Mall. The memorial will feature a grove of oak trees, huge limestone columns, and a semicircular space made monolithic stone blocks and carvings and inscriptions that depict images of Eisenhower’s life.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
West Potomac Park near Lincoln Memorial on Ohio Drive, SW
This memorial is divided into four outdoor galleries, one for each of FDR’s terms in office from 1933 to 1945. Several sculptures depict the 32nd President. Hours are 8 a.m. to 11:45 p.m.

George Mason Memorial
900 Ohio Drive, in East Potomac Park, SW.
Monument to the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which inspired Thomas Jefferson while drafting the Declaration of Independence. Mason persuaded our forefathers to include individual rights as a part of the Bill of Rights.

Iwo Jima Memorial
Marshall Drive, next to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.
This memorial, also known as the United States Marine Corps War Memorial, is dedicated to the marines who gave their lives during one of the most historic battles of World War II, the battle of Iwo Jima.

Jefferson Memorial
15th Street, SW
This dome-shaped rotunda honors the nation’s third president. The 19-foot bronze statue of Jefferson is located on the Tidal Basin, surrounded by a grove of trees making it especially beautiful during Cherry Blossom season in the spring. Hours are 8 a.m. to midnight daily.

Korean War Veterans Memorial
Daniel French Drive and Independence Avenue, SW
Our nation honors those who were killed, captured, wounded or remain missing in action during the Korean War (1950 -1953). Nineteen figures represent every ethnic background. The statues are supported by a granite wall with 2,400 faces of land, sea and air support troops. A Pool of Remembrance lists the names of the lost Allied Forces. Hours are 8 a.m. to 11:45 p.m.

Lincoln Memorial
23rd Street between Constitution and Independence Avenues, NW
This memorial was dedicated in 1922 to honor President Abraham Lincoln. Thirty-eight Grecian columns surround a statue of Lincoln seated on a ten-foot high marble base. This impressive statue is surrounded by engraved readings of the Gettysburg address, his Second Inaugural address and murals by French painter Jules Guerin. Hours are 8 a.m. to midnight.

Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial
Tidal Basin, Washington, DC.
The memorial, which is currently under construction and is tentatively scheduled to be dedicated in 2011, memorial will honor Dr. King’s national and international contributions and vision for all to enjoy a life of freedom, opportunity, and justice. The centerpiece will be the “Stone of Hope”, a 30-foot statue of Dr. King, with a wall that will be inscribed with excerpts of his sermons and public addresses.

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial
Judiciary Square at E Street, NW, between 4th and 5th Streets.
This monument honors the service and sacrifice of federal, state and local law enforcers. A marble wall is inscribed with the names of more than 17,000 officers who have been killed in the line of duty since the first known death in 1792. A Memorial Fund is campaigning to build the National Law Enforcement Museum underground, beneath the monument. They expect to break ground on this museum in 2008 and open its doors in 2011.

Pentagon Memorial
I-395 at Boundary Channel Drive, Washington DC. The memorial honors the 184 lives lost in the Pentagon and on American Airlines Flight 77 during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The Memorial includes a park and gateway spanning approximately two acres.

Theodore Roosevelt Island
George Washington Memorial Parkway, Washington, DC.
A 91-acre wilderness preserve serves as a memorial to the nation’s 26th president, honoring his contributions to conservation of public lands for forests, national parks, wildlife and bird refuges, and monuments. The island has 2 1/2 miles of foot trails where you can observe a variety of flora and fauna. A 17-foot bronze statue of Roosevelt stands in the center of the island.

United States Air Force Memorial
One Air Force Memorial Drive, Arlington, Virginia.
This is the newest memorial in the Washington, DC area, completed in September 2006. The memorial honors the millions of men and women who have served in the United States Air Force. Open 24 hours.

U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW.
The museum serves as a memorial to the millions of people who were murdered during the Holocaust. Open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. everyday, except Yom Kippur and Christmas Day. Timed passes are distributed on a first–come first–served basis.

United States Navy Memorial
at 701 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., between 7th and 9th Streets.
The memorial commemorates U. S. Naval history and honors all who have served in the sea services. Open 24 hours, Naval Heritage Center is open Mon. - Sat. 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Constitution Avenue and Henry Bacon Drive, NW
A V-shaped granite wall is inscribed with the names of the 58,209 Americans missing or killed in the Vietnam War. Across the lawn is a life size bronze sculpture of three young servicemen. Hours are 8 a.m. to 11:45 p.m.

Washington Monument
Constitution Avenue and 15th Street, NW.
The memorial to George Washington, our nation’s first president, took 40 years to complete its original construction due to lack of funds, but was finally dedicated in 1885. It has recently been refurbished to its original splendor. Take the elevator to the top and see a wonderful view of the city. For free tickets, go to the kiosk on the Washington Monument grounds at 15th Street and Madison Drive. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. daily except for December 25. Advance tickets are available for $1.50 service fee.

Women in Vietnam Memorial
Constitution Avenue and Henry Bacon Drive, NW.
This sculpture depicts three women in the military with a wounded soldier to honor the women who served in the Vietnam War. The sculpture was dedicated in 1993 as part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

World War II Memorial
17th Street, between Constitution and Independence Avenues.
This beautiful structure serves as a peaceful place to remember those who served our country during World War II. The memorial is open 24 hours a day.

Source: http://dc.about.com/cs/sightseeing/a/Monuments.htm

911 Twin Towers Collapse Video, World Trade Center, WTC Ground Zero Museum & Memorial - September 11, 2001

** Warning - Parental Discretion Advised **

These videos follow YouTube guidelines. However, there are visual displays of war and acts of violence.

The 911 World Trade Center Memorial is currently under construction. It is a memorial to those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, when 4 airplanes crashed into the two Twin Towers in New York, the Pentagon, and an empty field in Pennsylvania.

The September 11, 2001, attacks (often referred to as September 11th or 9/11) were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon the United States. 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and many others working in the buildings. Both buildings collapsed within two hours, destroying nearby buildings and damaging others. The hijackers crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the plane, which the hijackers had redirected toward Washington, D.C. There were no survivors from any of the flights. The death toll of the attacks was 2,996, including the 19 hijackers. The overwhelming majority of casualties were civilians, including nationals of over 70 countries.

The Pearl Harbor Attack & Bombing, USS Arizona Memorial - December 7, 1941

The USS Arizona is the final resting place for many of the ship’s 1,177 crewmen who lost their lives on December 7, 1941. The 184-foot-long Memorial structure spanning the mid-portion of the sunken battleship consists of three main sections: the entry and assembly rooms; a central area designed for ceremonies and general observation; and the shrine room, where the names of those killed on the Arizona are engraved on the marble wall.

The USS Arizona Memorial grew out of wartime desire to establish some sort of memorial at Pearl Harbor to honor those who died in the attack. Suggestions for such a memorial began in 1943, but it wasn’t until 1949, when the Territory of Hawaii established the Pacific War Memorial Commission, that the first real steps were taken to bring it about.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who helped achieve Allied victory in Europe during World War II, approved the creation of the Memorial in 1958. Its construction was completed in 1961 with public funds appropriated by Congress and private donations. The Memorial was dedicated in 1962.

Source: http://www.nps.gov/valr/historyculture/index.htm

Global War on Terror Timeline - 1973-Current

** Warning - Parental Discretion Advised **

These videos follow YouTube guidelines. However, there are visual displays of war and acts of violence.

Alternative Afghanistan Election Vote for Government Video

Alternative Saddam Hussein Statue Live Video

Major Events on War on Terror:

March 2, 1973: Ambassador to Sudan Assassinated (U.S. Ambassador to Sudan Cleo A. Noel and other diplomats were assassinated at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Khartoum by members of the Black September organization.)

December 17, 1973: Attack and Hijacking at the Rome Airport (Five terrorists pulled weapons from their luggage in the terminal lounge at the Rome airport, killing two persons. They then attacked Pan American 707 bound for Beirut and Tehran, destroying it with incendiary grenades and killing 29 persons. They then herded 5 Italian hostages into a Lufthansa airliner and killed an Italian customs agent as he tried to escape, after which they forced the pilot to fly to Beirut. After Lebanese authorities refused to let the plane land, it landed in Athens, where the terrorists demanded the release of 2 Arab terrorists. In order to make Greek authorities comply with their demands, the terrorists killed a hostage and threw his body onto the tarmac. The plane then flew to Damascus, where it stopped for two hours to obtain fuel and food. It then flew to Kuwait, where the terrorists released their hostages in return for passage to an unknown destination. The Palestine Liberation Organization disavowed the attack, and no group claimed responsibility for it.)

February 14, 1979: Ambassador to Afghanistan Assassinated (Four Afghans kidnapped U.S. Ambassador Adolph Dubs in Kabul and demanded the release of various “religious figures.” Dubs was killed, along with four alleged terrorists, when Afghan police stormed the hotel room where he was being held.)

November 4, 1979: Iran Hostage Crisis (After President Carter agreed to admit the Shah of Iran into the US, Iranian radicals seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 66 American diplomats hostage. 13 hostages were soon released, but the remaining 53 were held until their release on January 20, 1981.)

October 6, 1981: Assassination of Egyptian President (Soldiers who were secretly members of the Takfir Wal-Hajira sect attacked and killed Egyptian President Anwar Sadat during a troop review.)

April 18, 1983: Bombing of U.S. Embassy in Beirut (63 people, including the CIA’s Middle East director, were killed and 120 were injured in a 400-pound suicide truck-bomb attack on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.)

October 23, 1983: Bombing of Marine Barracks, Beirut (Simultaneous suicide truck-bomb attacks were made on American and French compounds in Beirut, Lebanon. A 12,000-pound bomb destroyed the U.S. compound, killing 242 Americans, while 58 French troops were killed when a 400-pound device destroyed a French base. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.)

March 16, 1984: Kidnapping of Embassy Official (The Islamic Jihad kidnapped and later murdered Political Officer William Buckley in Beirut, Lebanon. Other U.S. citizens not connected to the U.S. government were seized over a succeeding two-year period.)

June 14, 1985: TWA Hijacking (A Trans-World Airlines flight was hijacked en route to Rome from Athens by two Lebanese Hezbollah terrorists and forced to fly to Beirut. The eight crew members and 145 passengers were held for seventeen days, during which one American hostage, a U.S. Navy sailor, was murdered. After being flown twice to Algiers, the aircraft was returned to Beirut after Israel released 435 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners.)

October 7, 1985: Achille Lauro Hijacking (4 Palestinian Liberation Front terrorists seized the Italian cruise liner in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, taking more than 700 hostages. One U.S. passenger was murdered before the Egyptian government offered the terrorists safe haven in return for the hostages’ freedom.)

November 23, 1985: Egyptian Airliner Hijacking (An EgyptAir airplane bound from Athens to Malta and carrying several U.S. citizens was hijacked by the Abu Nidal Group.)

December 27, 1985: Airport Attacks in Rome and Vienna (4 gunmen belonging to the Abu Nidal Organization attacked the El Al and Trans World Airlines ticket counters at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Airport with grenades and automatic rifles. Thirteen persons were killed and 75 were wounded before Italian police and Israeli security guards killed three of the gunmen and captured the fourth. Three more Abu Nidal gunmen attacked the El Al ticket counter at Vienna’s Schwechat Airport, killing three persons and wounding 30. Austrian police killed one of the gunmen and captured the others.)

March 30, 1986: Aircraft Bombing in Greece (A Palestinian splinter group detonated a bomb as TWA Flight 840 approached Athens airport, killing four U.S. citizens.)

April 5, 1986: Berlin Discothèque Bombing (2 U.S. soldiers were killed and 79 American servicemen were injured in a Libyan bomb attack on a nightclub in West Berlin, West Germany. In retaliation U.S. military jets bombed targets in and around Tripoli and Benghazi.)

February 17, 1988: Kidnapping of William Higgins (U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel W. Higgins was kidnapped and murdered by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group while serving with the United Nations Truce Supervisory Organization (UNTSO) in southern Lebanon.)

April 14, 1988: Naples USO Attack (The Organization of Jihad Brigades exploded a car-bomb outside a USO Club in Naples, Italy, killing one U.S. sailor.)

December 21, 1988: Pan Am 103 Bombing (Pan American Airlines Flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, by a bomb believed to have been placed on the aircraft by Libyan terrorists in Frankfurt, West Germany. All 259 people on board were killed.)

January 18-19, 1991: Attempted Iraqi Attacks on U.S. Posts (Iraqi agents planted bombs at the U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia’s home residence and at the United States Information Service (USIS) library in Manila.)

February 26, 1993: World Trade Center Bombing (The World Trade Center in New York City was badly damaged when a car bomb planted by Islamic terrorists exploded in an underground garage. The bomb left 6 people dead and 1,000 injured. The men carrying out the attack were followers of Umar Abd al-Rahman, an Egyptian cleric who preached in the New York City area.)

April 14, 1993: Attempted Assassination of President Bush by Iraqi Agents (The Iraqi intelligence service attempted to assassinate former U.S. President George Bush during a visit to Kuwait. In retaliation, the U.S. launched a cruise missile attack 2 months later on the Iraqi capital Baghdad.)

February 25, 1994: Hebron Massacre (Jewish right-wing extremist and U.S. citizen Baruch Goldstein machine-gunned Moslem worshippers at a mosque in West Bank town of Hebron, killing 29 and wounding about 150.)

March 8, 1995: Attack on U.S. Diplomats in Pakistan (2 unidentified gunmen killed two U.S. diplomats and wounded a third in Karachi, Pakistan.)

April 19, 1995: Bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City (Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols destroyed the Federal Building in Oklahoma City with a massive truck bomb that killed 166 and injured hundreds more in what was up to then the largest terrorist attack on American soil.)

July 4, 1995: Kashmiri Hostage-taking (In India six foreigners, including two U.S. citizens, were taken hostage by Al-Faran, a Kashmiri separatist group. One non-U.S. hostage was later found beheaded.)

August 21, 1995: Jerusalem Bus Attack (HAMAS claimed responsibility for the detonation of a bomb that killed 6 and injured over 100 persons, including several U.S. citizens.)

November 13, 1995: Saudi Military Installation Attack (The Islamic Movement of Change planted a bomb in a Riyadh military compound that killed one U.S. citizen, several foreign national employees of the U.S. government, and over 40 others.)

February 26, 1996: HAMAS Bus Attack (In Jerusalem, a suicide bomber blew up a bus, killing 26 persons, including three U.S. citizens, and injuring some 80 persons, including three other US citizens.)

March 4, 1996: Dizengoff Center Bombing (HAMAS and the Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) both claimed responsibility for a bombing outside of Tel Aviv’s largest shopping mall that killed 20 persons and injured 75 others, including 2 U.S. citizens.)

May 13, 1996: West Bank Attack (Arab gunmen opened fire on a bus and a group of Yeshiva students near the Bet El settlement, killing a dual U.S./Israeli citizen and wounding three Israelis. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but HAMAS was suspected.)

June 9, 1996: Zekharya Attack (Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a car near Zekharya, killing a dual U.S./Israeli citizen and an Israeli. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was suspected.)

June 25, 1996: Khobar Towers Bombing (A fuel truck carrying a bomb exploded outside the US military’s Khobar Towers housing facility in Dhahran, killing 19 U.S. military personnel and wounding 515 persons, including 240 U.S. personnel. Several groups claimed responsibility for the attack.)

August 17, 1996: Sudanese Rebel Kidnapping (Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) rebels kidnapped six missionaries in Mapourdit, including a U.S. citizen, an Italian, three Australians, and a Sudanese. The SPLA released the hostages 11 days later.)

September 13, 1996: PUK Kidnapping (In Iraq, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) militants kidnapped four French workers for Pharmaciens Sans Frontieres, a Canadian United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) official, and two Iraqis.)

December 3, 1996: Paris Subway Explosion (A bomb exploded aboard a Paris subway train as it arrived at the Port Royal station, killing two French nationals, a Moroccan, and a Canadian, and injuring 86 persons. Among those injured were one U.S. citizen and a Canadian. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but Algerian extremists are suspected.)

November 1, 1996: Red Cross Worker Kidnappings (In Sudan a breakaway group from the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) kidnapped three International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) workers, including a U.S. citizen, an Australian, and a Kenyan. On 9 December the rebels released the hostages in exchange for ICRC supplies and a health survey for their camp.)

December 3, 1996: Paris Subway Explosion (A bomb exploded aboard a Paris subway train as it arrived at the Port Royal station, killing two French nationals, a Moroccan, and a Canadian, and injuring 86 persons. Among those injured were one U.S. citizen and a Canadian. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but Algerian extremists are suspected.)

January 2-13, 1997: Egyptian Letter Bombs (A series of letter bombs with Alexandria, Egypt, postmarks were discovered at Al-Hayat newspaper bureaus in Washington, New York City, London, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Three similar devices, also postmarked in Egypt, were found at a prison facility in Leavenworth, Kansas. Bomb disposal experts defused all the devices, but one detonated at the Al-Hayat office in London, injuring two security guards and causing minor damage.)

February 23, 1997: Empire State Building Sniper Attack (A Palestinian gunman opened fire on tourists at an observation deck atop the Empire State Building in New York City, killing a Danish national and wounding visitors from the United States, Argentina, Switzerland, and France before turning the gun on himself. A handwritten note carried by the gunman claimed this was a punishment attack against the “enemies of Palestine.”)

September 4, 1997: Israeli Shopping Mall Bombing (3 suicide bombers of HAMAS detonated bombs in the Ben Yehuda shopping mall in Jerusalem, killing eight persons, including the bombers, and wounding nearly 200 others. A dual U.S./Israeli citizen was among the dead, and 7 U.S. citizens were wounded.)

October 30, 1997: Yemeni Kidnappings (Al-Sha’if tribesmen kidnapped a U.S. businessman near Sanaa. The tribesmen sought the release of two fellow tribesmen who were arrested on smuggling charges and several public works projects they claim the government promised them. They released the hostage on November 27.)

November 12, 1997: Murder of U.S. Businessmen in Pakistan (Two unidentified gunmen shot to death four U.S. auditors from Union Texas Petroleum Corporation and their Pakistani driver after they drove away from the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi. The Islami Inqilabi Council, or Islamic Revolutionary Council, claimed responsibility in a call to the U.S. Consulate in Karachi. In a letter to Pakistani newspapers, the Aimal Khufia Action Committee also claimed responsibility.)

April 15, 1998: Somali Hostage-takings (Somali militiamen abducted nine Red Cross and Red Crescent workers at an airstrip north of Mogadishu. The hostages included a U.S. citizen, a German, a Belgian, a French, a Norwegian, two Swiss, and one Somali. The gunmen were members of a sub-clan loyal to Ali Mahdi Mohammed, who controlled the northern section of the capital.)

August 7, 1998: U.S. Embassy Bombings in East Africa (A bomb exploded at the rear entrance of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, killing 12 U.S. citizens, 32 Foreign Service Nationals (FSNs), and 247 Kenyan citizens. Approximately 5,000 Kenyans, 6 U.S. citizens, and 13 FSNs were injured. The U.S. Embassy building sustained extensive structural damage. Almost simultaneously, a bomb detonated outside the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 7 FSNs and 3 Tanzanian citizens, and injuring 1 U.S. citizen and 76 Tanzanians. The explosion caused major structural damage to the U.S. Embassy facility. The U.S. Government held Osama Bin Laden responsible.)

January 2, 1999: Angolan Aircraft Downing (A UN plane carrying one U.S. citizen, four Angolans, two Philippine nationals and one Namibian was shot down, according to a UN official. No deaths or injuries were reported. Angolan authorities blamed the attack on National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) rebels. UNITA officials denied shooting down the plane.)

August 12, 2000: Kidnappings in Kyrgyzstan (In the Kara-Su Valley, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan took four U.S. citizens hostage. The Americans escaped on August 12.)

October 1, 2000: Church Bombing in Tajikistan (Unidentified militants detonated two bombs in a Christian church in Dushanbe, killing seven persons and injuring 70 others. The church was founded by a Korean-born U.S. citizen, and most of those killed and wounded were Korean. No one claimed responsibility.)

October 12, 2000: Attack on U.S.S. Cole (In Aden, Yemen, a small dingy carrying explosives rammed the destroyer U.S.S. Cole, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39 others. Supporters of Osama Bin Laden were suspected.)

December 30, 2000: Manila Bombing (A bomb exploded in a plaza across the street from the U.S. Embassy in Manila, injuring nine persons. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front was likely responsible.)

May 27, 2001: Philippines Hostage Incident (Muslim Abu Sayyaf guerrillas seized 13 tourists and 3 staff members at a resort on Palawan Island and took their captives to Basilan Island. The captives included three U.S. citizens: Guellermo Sobero and missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham. Philippine troops fought a series of battles with the guerrillas between June 1 and June 3 during which 9 hostages escaped and two were found dead. The guerrillas took additional hostages when they seized the hospital in the town of Lamitan. On June 12, Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya claimed that Sobero had been killed and beheaded; his body was found in October. The Burnhams remained in captivity until June 2002.)

September 11, 2001: Terrorist Attacks on U.S. Homeland (Two hijacked airliners crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Soon thereafter, the Pentagon was struck by a third hijacked plane. A fourth hijacked plane, suspected to be bound for a high-profile target in Washington, crashed into a field in southern Pennsylvania. The attacks killed 3,025 U.S. citizens and other nationals. President Bush and Cabinet officials indicated that Usama Bin Laden was the prime suspect and that they considered the United States in a state of war with international terrorism. In the aftermath of the attacks, the United States formed the Global Coalition Against Terrorism.)

October 7, 2001: US attacks Taliban in Afghanistan (US declares war on terrorism and attacks Afghanistan due to its assistance with known terrorists, such as Osama bin Laden)

March 19, 2003: US attacks Iraq (US opens second front on War on Terror into Iraq because Iraq is host to known terrorists.)

November 5, 2006: Saddam Hussein was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging by the newly established Iraqi government.

December 30, 2006: Saddam was hanged.

May 1, 2011: Osama bin Laden killed by US military near Islamabad, Pakistan.

The fight continues with both side still taking loses…

Source: http://www.army.mil/terrorism/

Cold War Timeline & Summary - 1945-1991

Major Historical Events for Cold War:

1945: February 4-11 - Yalta Conference with Roosevelt - Cold War Begins

1946: March - Winston Churchill delivers “Iron Curtain” Speech

1947: March - Truman declares active role in Greek Civil War

1947: June - Marshall Plan is announced (European Recovery Program was the primary program, 1947–51, of the United States for rebuilding and creating a stronger economic foundation for the countries of Western Europe)

1948: February - Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia

1948: June 24 - Berlin Blockade begins

1949: July - North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ratified

1949: May 12 - Berlin Blockade ends

1949: September - Mao Zedong, a Communist, takes control of China

1949: September - Soviets explode first atomic bomb

1950: June - Korean War begins

1953: July - Korean War ends

1954 - CIA helps overthrow unfriendly regimes in Iran and Guatemala

1954: July - Vietnam split at 17th parallel

1955: May - Warsaw Pact formed

1956: October - November - Rebellion put down in Communist Hungary. Egypt took control of Suez Canal; U.S. refused to help take it back

1957: October 4 - Sputnik launched into orbit

1958: November - Khrushchev demands withdrawal of troops from Berlin

1959: January - Cuba taken over by Fidel Castro

1960: May - Soviet Union reveals that U.S. spy plane was shot down over Soviet territory

1961: April - Bay of Pigs invasion

1961: August 13 - Berlin border closed

1961: August 17 - Construction of Berlin Wall begins

1962: - U.S. involvement in Vietnam increased

1962: October - Cuban Missile Crisis

1963: July - Nuclear Test Ban Treaty ratified

1963: November - President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas

1964: August - Gulf of Tonkin incident

1965: April - U.S. Marines sent to Dominican Republic to fight Communism

1965: July - Announcement of dispatching of 150,000 U.S. troops to Vietnam

1968: January - North Korea captured U.S.S. Pueblo

1968: August - Soviet troops crush Czechoslovakian revolt

1969: July 20 - Apollo 11 lands on the moon

1970: April - President Nixon extends Vietnam War to Cambodia

1972: July - SALT I signed

1973: January - Cease fire in Vietnam between North Vietnam and United States

1973: September - United States helps overthrow Chile government

1973: October - Egypt and Syria attack Israel; Egypt requests Soviet aid

1975: April 17 - North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam

1979: July - SALT II signed

1979: November - Shah of Iran overthrown; Iranian Hostage Crisis

1980: February - US Men’s Olympic Hockey team defeats Soviet Union at Lake Placid, NY

1983: - President Reagan proposes Strategic Defense Initiative

1983: October - U.S. troops overthrow regime in Grenada

1985: - Iran-Contra Affair (arms sold to Iran, profits used to support contras in Nicaragua)

1985: - Mikhail Gorbachev ascends to power in Soviet Union

1986: - Gorbachev ends economic aid to Soviet satellites

1986: October - Reagan and Gorbachev resolve to remove all intermediate nuclear missiles from Europe

1986: November - Iran-Contra Affair revealed to public

1987: June - Reagan does “Tear Down This Wall” speech in Berlin

1987: October - Reagan and Gorbachev agree to remove all medium and short-range nuclear missiles by signing treaty

1989: January - Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan

1989: June - China puts down protests for democracy; Poland becomes independent

1989: September - Hungary becomes independent

1989: November - Berlin Wall falls

1989: December - Communist governments fall in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania; Soviet empire ends

1990: March - Lithuania becomes independent

1990: May 29 - Boris Yeltsin elected to presidency of Russia

1990: October 3 - Germany reunited

1991: April - Warsaw Pact ends

1991: August - End of Soviet Union - Cold War Ends

Source: http://library.thinkquest.org/10826/timeline.htm

WW2 Battles History, World War 2, WWII - 1939-1945

Major Events in World War 2

July 29, 1921 - Adolf Hitler becomes leader of Nazi party

October 28, 1922 - Benito Mussolini becomes leader of Italy

September 19, 1931 - Japanese troops seize Chinese territory; Manchurian incident

November 8, 1932 - Franklin D Roosevelt elected President of the United States

January 30, 1933 - Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany

June 1933 - Nazis open Dachau concentration camp

August 19, 1934 - Adolf Hitler becomes Führer

March 7, 1936 - German troops occupy the Rhineland

May 9, 1936 - Mussolini’s Italian forces take Ethiopia

October 15, 1938 - German troops occupy Sudetenland; Czech government resigns

March 15-16, 1939 - Nazis take Czechoslovakia

May 22, 1939 - Nazis sign Pact of Steel with Italy

August 23, 1939 - German-U.S.S.R. non-aggression pact signed

September 1, 1939 - Nazis invade Poland; World War II officially begins

September 3, 1939 - Britain, France, Australia, and New Zealand declare war on Germany

September 5, 1939 - United States proclaims neutrality

September 17, 1939 - Soviets invade Poland

November 30, 1939 - Soviets attack Finland

April 9, 1940 - Nazis invade Denmark and Norway

May 10, 1940 - Nazis invade France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes British prime minister

June 14, 1940 - Germans enter Paris

July 10, 1940 - Battle of Britain begins

July 23, 1940 - Soviets annex Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia

September 27, 1940 - Tripartite (Axis) Pact signed by Germany, Italy, and Japan

October 28, 1940 - Italy invades Greece

February 12, 1941 - German General Erwin Rommel arrives in Tripoli, North Africa

April 6, 1941 - Nazis invade Greece and Yugoslavia

June 22, 1941 - Germany attacks Soviet Union as Operation Barbarossa begins

July 12, 1941 - Mutual Assistance agreement between British and Soviets

August 12, 1941 - Roosevelt and Churchill sign Atlantic Charter

August 20, 1941 - Nazi siege of Leningrad begins

December 7, 1941 - Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor; Hitler issues “Night and Fog” decree

December 8, 1941 - United States and Britain declare war on Japan

December 11, 1941 - Germany declares war on United States

April 1942 - Doolittle leads first American bombing attack on Japan

June 1942 - Mass murder of Jews by gassing begins at Auschwitz extermination camp

June 4-5, 1942 - The United States wins decisive naval battle at Midway

September 13, 1942 - Battle of Stalingrad begins

November 8, 1942 - Operation Torch begins U.S. invasion of North Africa

February 2, 1943 - Germans surrender at Stalingrad in the first big defeat of Hitler’s armies

May 13, 1943 - German and Italian troops surrender in North Africa

July 25-26, 1943 - Mussolini is arrested, and Fascist government fails; Marshal Pietro Badoglio takes over and negotiates with Allies

September 8, 1943 - Italian surrender announced

October 13, 1943 - Italy declares war on Germany

January 6, 1944 - Soviet troops advance into Poland

June 6, 1944 - D Day landings

June 9, 1944 - Soviet offensive against Finnish front begins

August 8, 1944 - U.S. troops complete capture of the Marianas Islands

August 15, 1944 - Allied invasion of southern France, Operation Dragoon(Anvil), begins

August 25, 1944 - Liberation of Paris

December 16-27, 1944 - Battle of the Bulge in Ardennes

January 26, 1945 - Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz

February 4-11, 1945 - Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet at Yalta

March 9, 1945 - U.S. B-29s bomb Tokyo

April 1, 1945 - U.S. troops encircle German troops in Ruhr; Allied offensive in northern Italy; Americans land in Okinawa

April 12, 1945 - President Roosevelt dies; Truman becomes president

April 21, 1945 - Soviets reach Berlin

April 30, 1945 - Adolf Hitler commits suicide

May 7, 1945 - Unconditional surrender of all German forces to Allies

June 5, 1945 - Allies divide up Germany and take over government

July 1, 1945 - U.S., British, and French troops move into Berlin

August 6, 1945 - First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima

August 9, 1945 - Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki

August 14, 1945 - Japanese agree to unconditional surrender

September 2, 1945 - Japanese sign surrender agreement on USS Missouri, Tokyo Bay. World War II ends

October 24, 1945 - United Nations is officially born

November 20, 1945 - Nuremberg war crimes trials begin

Source: http://www.ww2homefront.com/timeline/index.html

The Great Depression Causes, New Deal - 1919-1939

Alternative Great Depression Stories Video

1919 18th Amendment
Roaring 20s
1929 Stock Market Crash
1933-1938 New Deal
1939 Germany Invades Poland

Major Events Related to Great Depression:

1919 - 18th Amendment

Alternative Alcohol Prohibition 18th Amendment Video

The Prohibition era of the 1920s gave rise to the organized crime syndicate in the United States. Federal efforts to enforce prohibition, including raids on speakeasies, were countered by well-organized bootlegging operations with national and international connections. A particularly notorious gang of the times was Al Capone’s mob in Chicago. There were also gangs in Detroit, New York and other cities. Wars among gangs, producing grisly killings, frequently made headlines. Eventually, the public’s repugnance, given voice by the 1930 Wickersham Commission inquiry, as well as numerous revelations of compromised municipal officials, produced a temporary suppression of political corruption. When the 1933 repeal of prohibition made buying liquor legal once again, gangs that were still intact resorted to different sources of illegal gain, among them gambling, narcotics trafficking and labor racketeering.

The American grape growing industry was largely situated in California where there were about 700 bonded wineries producing table wines. Initially, prohibition forced the closure of most of the wineries when growers pulled up their vines thinking their market had evaporated. This created an enormous shortage of grapes forcing the the price per ton to rise 1000% and more from $20 to over $200. Growers realizing their mistake replanted vineyards but in their greed planted much greater acreages than previously. The increased supply forced the price per ton down to $15 by the end of prohibition.

Source: http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1596.html, http://www.1920-30.com/prohibition/

Roaring 20′s

The Roaring Twenties were traditionally viewed as an era of great economic prosperity driven by the introduction of a wide array of new consumer goods. Initially, the North American economy, particularly the economy of the USA, took sometime to convert from a wartime economy to a peacetime economy. After this dull phase, the economy was booming. The decade saw North America becoming the richest region on the earth, with industry aligned to mass production, and a society with a culture of consumerism. At the same time the 1920s were setting the stage for the Great Depression that would dominate the 1930s.

During the 1920s, mass production developed which allowed for cheaper prices. Most of the devices that became commonplace in this decade had been developed before the war, but had been unaffordable to the majority. The automobile, movie, radio, and chemical industries skyrocketed during the 1920s. One of the most important of these was the automobile industry; before the war cars were a rare luxury. In the 1920s cheap mass-produced vehicles became common throughout North America. By 1927, Henry Ford had sold 15 million Model T. In all of Canada, there were only about 300,000 vehicles registered in 1918, but by 1929 there were 1.9 million. The automobile had wide effects on the economy and society. The automobile industry rapidly became one of the largest and a number of peripheral companies running gas stations, motels, and providing oil also became important.

The new technologies led to an unprecedented need for new infrastructure, mostly built by the government. Crucial to the new vehicles were new roads. Several roads were upgraded to become highways, and a number of expressways were constructed. There emerged a class of Americans with surplus money and a desire to spend the same, spurring the demand for consumer goods, including the automobiles.

Electrification, having slowed during the war, saw huge progress during the 1920s as most of North America was added to the electric grid. Most industries switched from being coal powered to using electricity. At the same time, vast new power plants were constructed. In Canada during this decade electricity production almost quadrupled.

Telephone lines also were now being strung across the continent. Another important technology that went from rare to common in the 1920s was indoor plumbing, and modern sewer systems were installed for the first time in many regions.

These infrastructure programs were mostly left to the local governments in both Canada and the United States. During the 1920s, most local governments went deeply into debt, under the assumption that an investment in such infrastructure would pay off in the future. This would cause major problems in the Great Depression. In both Canada and the United States, the federal governments did the reverse, using the decade to pay down war debts and rollback some of the taxes that had been introduced during the war.

Urbanization was one of the most important trends during the Roaring Twenties. For the first time, more North Americans lived in cities than in small towns or rural areas. Mass transit systems, the first skyscrapers, and the growing importance of industry contributed to this. A growing service sector was also increasingly important, with the finance and insurance industries doubling or tripling in size. The basic pattern of the modern white collar job is often believed to have been established during this period. Many of the clerical jobs went to women, who entered the workforce in unprecedented numbers. The fastest growing cities were those in the Midwest and the Great Lakes region, including Chicago and Toronto. These cities prospered due to their vast agricultural hinterlands. Cities on the West Coast saw increasing benefits from the 1914 opening of the Panama Canal.

Source: http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/roaring-twenties/economy-of-the-1920s.html

1929 - Stock Market Crash

What made the stock market crash?

Capital is the tools needed to produce things of value out of raw materials. Buildings and machines are common examples of capital. A factory is a building with machines for making valued goods. Throughout the twentieth century, most of the capital in the United States was represented by stocks. A corporation owned capital. Ownership of the corporation in turn took the form of shares of stock. Each share of stock represented a proportionate share of the corporation. The stocks were bought and sold on stock exchanges, of which the most important was the New York Stock Exchange located on Wall Street in Manhattan.

Throughout the 1920s a long boom took stock prices to peaks never before seen. From 1920 to 1929 stocks more than quadrupled in value. Many investors became convinced that stocks were a sure thing and borrowed heavily to invest more money in the market.

But in 1929, the bubble burst and stocks started down an even more precipitous cliff. In 1932 and 1933, they hit bottom, down about 80% from their highs in the late 1920s. This had sharp effects on the economy. Demand for goods declined because people felt poor because of their losses in the stock market. New investment could not be financed through the sale of stock, because no one would buy the new stock.

But perhaps the most important effect was chaos in the banking system as banks tried to collect on loans made to stock market investors whose holdings were now worth little or nothing at all. Worse, many banks had themselves invested depositors’ money in the stock market. When word spread that banks’ assets contained huge noncollectable loans and almost worthless stock certificates, depositors rushed to withdraw their savings. Unable to raise fresh funds from the Federal Reserve System, banks began failing by the hundreds in 1932 and 1933.

Source: http://www.pbs.org/fmc/timeline/estockmktcrash.htm

1933-1938 New Deal

Alternative FDR The New Deal 1930s Video

Franklin Delano Roosevelt became President of the United States in 1933. Shortly after, he initiated the New Deal. This program increased government involvement in the marketplace and significantly increased government spending. View the graphs and charts below to see what these legislation acts were and how it affected government spending and Gross Domestic Product.

Source: http://home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/chart.newdeal.html, http://www.atr.org/stimulus-economics-historical-case-study-a3628, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_history_%281930%E2%80%931949%29

1939 - Germany Invades Poland

Germany invades Poland which officially started World War 2. As a result, government spending on mass production of arms and military development significantly increased. Also, the US economy, which was already recovering, began to significantly increase.

Source: http://www.mygovspending.com/includes/history-charts2.php

Mount Rushmore, Black Hills, Mt Rushmore National Memorial Park

Mount Rushmore
13000 Hwy 244 #81
Keystone, SD 57751
(605) 574-2523

Once Doane Robinson and others had found a sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, they had to get permission to do the carving. Senator Peter Norbeck and Congressman William Williamson were instrumental in getting the legislation passed to allow the carving. Williamson drafted two bills, one each, to be introduced to Congress and the State Legislature. The bill requesting permission to use Federal land for the monument was easily passed. The bill sent to the State of South Dakota was not going to be so easy. The Mount Harney National Memorial bill was defeated twice and almost a third time when on March 5, 1925 Governor Gunderson signed the bill. The Mount Harney Memorial Association was established by the Governor later that summer.

Early in the project money was hard to find despite Borglum’s promise eastern businessmen would gladly make large donations. He also promised the people of South Dakota they would not be responsible for paying for any of the mountain carving. In the summer of 1927, President Calvin Coolidge was in the Black Hills, and Borglum was planning a formal dedication of the mountain. Borglum hired a plane to fly over the State Game Lodge in Custer State Park where Coolidge was staying. As he flew by Borglum dropped a wreath to invite the President to the dedication ceremony. Fortunately Coolidge agreed to attend. On August 10, 1927 Mount Rushmore was formally dedicated. At the dedication ceremony President Coolidge gave a speech and promised federal funding for the project.

For the final two years of the project Lincoln, Borglum’s son, was in charge while Gutzon was constantly trying to get more money for the project. In March of 1941, as a final dedication was being planned, Gutzon Borglum died. With the artist gone and the impending involvement of America in World War II, finishing work on Mount Rushmore drew to a close. On October 31, 1941 the monument was declared complete.

Receiving permission to do the carving, finding funding and managing personalities were all a part of the challenge to establish Mount Rushmore National Memorial. At times it seemed harder to keep the project going than it was to do the colossal carving of the four presidents. In the end, cooler heads, charm, and determination saw the memorial through to the end. Mount Rushmore National Memorial has become a great icon of American history.

Source: http://www.nps.gov/moru/historyculture/mount-rushmore-national-memorial.htm

Kittyhawk, NC, Wright Brothers First Flight - 1903

800 W Kitty Hawk Rd
Kitty Hawk, NC 27949

Alternative Wright Brothers First Flight 1903 Video

On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright (Wright Brothers) flew the first successful airplane. The first flight, by Orville, was 120 feet (37 m) in 12 seconds. The next two flights covered approximately 175 feet (53 m) and 200 feet (61 m), by Wilbur and Orville respectively.

The Wright Brothers, in 1903, were the first to fly an airplane. This is just one example of many inventions developed during the Industrial Revolution.

Statue of Liberty

The Statue Of Liberty‎
Liberty Island
New York, NY 10004
(212) 363-3200

The story of the Statue of Liberty is a story of change. The people of France gave the Statue to the people of the United States over one hundred years ago in recognition of a friendship established during the American Revolution. Over the years, the meanings of the Statue have grown until she has become an international icon of freedom and liberty, the most recognizable symbol of democracy in the world.

The idea of the Statue originated around 1865 with Edouard de Laboulaye who saw the United States as a country that had proved that democracy was a viable type of government- after all they had just survived a Civil War and abolished slavery. De Laboulaye also saw the gift as a way to reflect his wish for a democracy in France. Artist Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, who was known for large-scale work, was commissioned to design this sculpture. Nothing happened for some time, but finally (in 1874) Bartholdi came to the United States to look for a location for his monument. He saw Bedloe’s Island from his ship as he sailed into the New York Harbor, and realized it would be a perfect location - since here his statue would always have an audience.

Since the Statue was a joint effort between American and France, it was agreed that the American people were to build the pedestal, and the French people were responsible for the Statue and assembly.

The Statue was completed in France in July of 1884, then disassembled and shipped to the United States. She arrived in NY In June 1885. Once the pedestal was finished, the statue was re-assembled in four months. On October 28, 1886 the dedication of the Statue of Liberty took place in front of thousands of spectators.

In May of 1982, in anticipation of the Statue’s 100th birthday a restoration project was initiated. At the start of the Statue’s restoration, the United Nations in 1984 designated the Statue of Liberty as a World Heritage Site. The newly restored Statue opened to the public on July 5, 1986 during Liberty Weekend, which celebrated her centennial.

Source: http://www.nps.gov/stli/historyculture/index.htm

Battle of the Little Big Horn, Custer’s Last Stand - 1876

Custer Battlefield Museum
I-90 Exit 514
Town Hall, P.O. Box 200
Garryowen, MT 59031
(406) 638-1876

Alternative Battle of Little Big Horn Custers Last Stand Video

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, or Custer’s Last Stand, was a battle between combined forces of Lakota (Sioux), Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho against the United States Army’s 7th Cavalry Regiment. The battle took place on June 25 and June 26, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in eastern Montana Territory, near what is now Crow Agency, Montana.

Led by Crazy Horse and Gall, and inspired by Sitting Bull (Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake), the battle was part of the Great Sioux War of 1876–77 (also known as the Black Hills War). It was an overwhelming victory for the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho. A force of 700 men led by George Armstrong Custer, had 268 deaths with 55 wounded. This was the last military victory obtained from a Native American tribe.

Major conflicts between Europeans and Native Americans lasted from 1492 (Landing of Christopher Columbus) to 1890 (Battle of Wounded Knee). There were numerous deaths on both sides. The primary cause of the conflicts was land and resources. The end result is that Native Americans were forced to move to reservations delegated by the United States government.

List of Major Conflicts

Spanish American War - 1898-1901

Timeline of Spanish American War:

1895: Cuban nationalists revolt against Spanish rule

1896: Spanish General Weyler (the “Butcher”) comes to Cuba.

1897: Spain recalls Weyler

Early 1898: USS Maine sent to Cuba

February 9, 1898: Hearst publishes Dupuy du Lome’s letter insulting McKinley.

February 15, 1898: Sinking of the USS Maine

February 25, 1898: Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt cables Commodore Dewey with plan: attack the Philippines if war with Spain breaks out

April 11, 1898: McKinley approves war with Spain

April 24, 1898: Spain declares war on the US

April 25, 1898: US declares war on Spain

May 1, 1898: Battle of Manila Bay (Philippines)

May, 1898: Passage of the Teller Amendment. July 1, 1898: San Juan Hill taken by “Rough Riders”

July 3, 1898: Battle of Santiago Spain’s Caribbean fleet destroyed. July 7, 1898: Hawaii annexed

July 17, 1898: City of Santiago surrenders to General William Shafter

August 12, 1898: Spain signs armistice

August 13, 1898: US troops capture Manila

December 10, 1898: Treaty of Paris signed US annexes Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines.

January 23, 1899: Philippines declares itself an independent republic Led by Emilio Aguinaldo, the self-declared Filipino government fights a guerrilla war against the US that lasts longer than the Spanish-American War itself.

February 6, 1899: the Treaty of Paris passes in the Senate

1900: Foraker Act Some self-government allowed in Puerto Rico.

1901: Supreme Court Insular Cases

March 1901: Emilio Auginaldo captured.

1901: Platt Amendment

1902: US withdraws from Cuba

1917: Puerto Ricans given US citizenship

Major Historical Figures: Theodore Roosevelt, José Martí, Valeriano Weyler, William McKinley, George Dewey, William T. Sampson, Winfield Scott Schley, William Rufus Shafter, William Randolph Hearst

Source: http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/spanishamerican/timeline.html

13th, 14th, 15th Amendments - 1865-1870

13th Amendment

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

14th Amendment

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

15th Amendment

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Plessy v. Ferguson - 1896

Alternative Plessy v Ferguson (1896) Video

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) is a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in the jurisprudence of the United States, upholding the constitutionality of racial segregation even in public accommodations, under the doctrine of “separate but equal.”

The decision was handed down by a vote of 7 to 1 (Justice David Josiah Brewer did not participate in the decision), with the majority opinion written by Justice Henry Billings Brown and the dissent written by Justice John Marshall Harlan. “Separate but equal” remained standard doctrine in U.S. law until its repudiation in the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education.

Major Historical Figures: Homer A. Plessy, John Howard Ferguson, Stephen J. Field, John M. Harland, Horace Gray, Melville W. Fuller, David J. Brewer, Henry B. Brown, George Shiras, Jr., Edward D. White, Rufus W. Peckham

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plessy_v._Ferguson

WW1 Battles Timeline, World War 1 - 1914-1918

Alternative WW1 Battles Timeline Video

The Unites States did not a have a major force in Europe until 1917. US troops provided the necessary ability to start defeating Germany and its allies. The real story is what happened after the fall of Germany and the Ottoman Empire. The armistice agreement between Germany and the Allied Powers never resulted in the defeat of Germany nor any treaty. This lack of defeat, along with other issues eventually led to World War 2. The fall of the Ottoman Empire triggered an event in which primarily the French and British carved up the middle east into governing provinces. These provinces did not take into account the religious, ethnic and social customs of the local population. These arbitrary boundaries created and the anger resulting in the fall of the Ottoman Empire are significant reasons for the lack of stability in the Middle East today.

World War 1 Timeline of Events:

June 28, 1914: Francis Ferdinand assassinated at Sarajevo

July 5, 1914: Kaiser William II promised German support for Austria against Serbia

July 28, 1914: Austria declared war on Serbia

August 1, 1914: Germany declared war on Russia

August 3, 1914: Germany declared war on France and invaded Belgium. Germany had to implement the Schlieffen Plan

August 4, 1914: Britain declared war on Germany

August 23, 1914: Germany invaded France

August 26, 1914: Russian army defeated at Tannenburg and Masurian Lakes

September 6, 1914: Battle of the Marne started

October 18, 1914: First Battle of Ypres

October 29, 1914: Turkey entered the war on Germany’s side. Trench warfare started to dominate the Western Front

January 19, 1915: The first Zeppelin raid on Britain took place

February 19, 1915: Britain bombarded Turkish forts in the Dardanelles

April 25, 1915: Allied troops landed in Gallipoli

May 7, 1915: The “Lusitania” was sunk by a German U-boat

May 23, 1915: Italy declared war on Germany and Austria

August 5, 1915: The Germans captured Warsaw from the Russians

September 25, 1915: Start of the Battle of Loos

December 19, 1915: The Allies started the evacuation of Gallipoli

February 21, 1916: Start of the Battle of Verdun

April 29, 1916: British forces surrendered to Turkish forces at Kut in Mesopotamia

May 31, 1916: Battle of Jutland

June 4, 1916: Start of the Brusilov Offensive

July 1, 1916: Start of the Battle of the Somme

August 10, 1916: End of the Brusilov Offensive

February 1, 1917: Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare campaign started

April 6, 1917, USA declared war on Germany

April 16, 1917: France launched an unsuccessful offensive on the Western Front

July 31, 1917: Start of the Third Battle at Ypres

October 24, 1917: Battle of Caporetto – the Italian Army was heavily defeated

November 6, 1917: Britain launched a major offensive on the Western Front

November 20, 1917: British tanks won a victory at Cambrai

December 5, 1917: Armistice between Germany and Russia signed

December 9, 1917: Britain captured Jerusalem from the Turks

March 3, 1918: The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed between Russia and Germany

March 21, 1918: Germany broke through on the Somme

April 9, 1918: Germany started an offensive in Flanders

July 15, 1918: Second Battle of the Marne started. The start of the collapse of the German army

August 8, 1918: The advance of the Allies was successful

September 19, 1918: Turkish forces collapsed at Megiddo

October 4, 1918: Germany asked the Allies for an armistice

October 29, 1918: Germany’s navy mutinied

October 30, 1918: Turkey made peace

November 3, 1918: Austria made peace

November 9, 1918: Kaiser William II abdicated

November 11, 1918: Germany signed an armistice with the Allies – the official date of the end of World War 1

Source: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/timeline_of_world_war_one.htm

American Indian Wars - 1622-1890

Alternative Native American History 1800s Video

American Indian Wars

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3wtz7oWikg

Source: http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1008.html

Gettysburg National Military Park, The Battle of Gettysburg - 1863

Gettysburg National Military Park
1195 Baltimore Pike
Gettysburg, PA 17325
(717) 334-1124

The Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863) was the turning point in the Civil War. The Union victory here at Gettysburg forced General Robert E. Lee back into Virginia. It was the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War with 51,000 casualties. Many officers died in this battle which weakened General Lee’s ability to effectively wage future battles against the Union.

There is a museum and many monuments and memorials on location. See the actual location where President Abraham Lincoln said his now famous speech, “The Gettysburg Address.”

Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address - 1863

Alternative Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg Address 1863 Video

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met here on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled, here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but can never forget what they did here.

It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Major Historical Figures: Abraham Lincoln

Source: http://americancivilwar.com/north/lincoln.html (text), http://www.youtube.com/user/SkylineProductions (video)

The Emancipation Proclamation - 1863

Alternative The Emancipation Proclamation 1863 Video

By the President of the United States of America:
A PROCLAMATION

Whereas on the 22nd day of September, A.D. 1862, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:

“That on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.”

“That the executive will on the 1st day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State or the people thereof shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such States shall have participated shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State and the people thereof are not then in rebellion against the United States.”

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-In-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the first day above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States the following, to wit:

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Palquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terrebone, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Morthhampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.

And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, free; and that the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all case when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.

And I further declare and make known that such persons of suitable condition will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

Major Historical Figures: Abraham Lincoln

Source: http://libertyonline.hypermall.com/Lincoln/emancipate.html

The American Civil War Timeline & Battlefields - 1854-1865

Alternative American Civil War Timeline Video

1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act
1859 John Brown’s Raid in Harpers Valley
1861 Confederate States of America
1861 Battle of Fort Sumter
1861 First Battle of Bull Run or First Battle of Manassas
1862 Battle of Antietam
1862 Battle of Fredericksburg
1863 Battle of Gettysburg
1864 Sherman March to the Sea
1865 Robert E Lee Surrenders
1865 Abraham Lincoln Shot

1854 - Kansas-Nebraska Act

The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by the U.S. Congress on May 30, 1854. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30´. The Kansas-Nebraska Act infuriated many in the North who considered the Missouri Compromise to be a long-standing binding agreement. In the pro-slavery South it was strongly supported. After the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, pro-slavery and anti-slavery supporters rushed in to settle Kansas to affect the outcome of the first election held there after the law went into effect. Pro-slavery settlers carried the election but were charged with fraud by anti-slavery settlers, and the results were not accepted by them. The anti-slavery settlers held another election, however pro-slavery settlers refused to vote. This resulted in the establishment of two opposing legislatures within the Kansas territory. Violence soon erupted, with the anti-slavery forces led by John Brown. The territory earned the nickname “bleeding Kansas” as the death toll rose. President Franklin Pierce, in support of the pro-slavery settlers, sent in Federal troops to stop the violence and disperse the anti-slavery legislature. Another election was called. Once again pro-slavery supporters won and once again they were charged with election fraud. As a result, Congress did not recognize the constitution adopted by the pro-slavery settlers and Kansas was not allowed to become a state. Eventually, however, anti-slavery settlers outnumbered pro-slavery settlers and a new constitution was drawn up. On January 29, 1861, just before the start of the Civil War, Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free state.

Major Historical Figures: Franklin Pierce, Stephen A. Douglas

Source: http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/kansas.htm

1859 - John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Valley

John Brown was an American abolitionist, who advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to end all slavery. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas and made his name in the unsuccessful raid at Harpers Ferry in 1859. John Brown’s attempt in 1859 to start a liberation movement among enslaved African Americans in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, electrified the nation. He was tried for treason against the state of Virginia, the murder of five pro-slavery Southerners, and inciting a slave insurrection and was subsequently hanged. Southerners alleged that his rebellion was the tip of the abolitionist iceberg and represented the wishes of the Republican Party. Historians agree that the Harpers Ferry raid in 1859 escalated tensions that, a year later, led to secession and the American Civil War. During the raid, he seized the armory; seven people (including a free African American) were killed, and ten or more were injured. He intended to arm slaves with weapons from the arsenal, but the attack failed. Within 36 hours, Brown’s men had fled or been killed or captured by local farmers, militiamen, and U.S. Marines led by Robert E. Lee. Historians agree John Brown played a major role in starting the Civil War. His role and actions prior to the Civil War as an abolitionist, and the tactics he chose, still make him a controversial figure today. He is sometimes memorialized as a heroic martyr and a visionary and sometimes vilified as a madman and a terrorist. Later the song “John Brown’s Body” (the original title of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”) became a Union marching song during the Civil War.

Major Historical Figures: John Brown, Robert E Lee, Israel Green, J.E.B. Stuart

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_%28abolitionist%29

1861 - Confederate States of America

Seven states declared their secession from the United States before Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861:
1. South Carolina (December 20, 1860)
2. Mississippi (January 9, 1861)
3. Florida (January 10, 1861)
4. Alabama (January 11, 1861)
5. Georgia (January 19, 1861)
6. Louisiana (January 26, 1861)
7. Texas (February 1, 1861)

After the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, and Lincoln’s subsequent call for troops on April 15, four more states declared their secession:

1. Virginia (April 17, 1861; ratified by voters May 23, 1861)
2. Arkansas (May 6, 1861)
3. Tennessee (May 7, 1861; ratified by voters June 8, 1861)
4. North Carolina (May 20, 1861)

The border states of Kentucky and Missouri declared neutrality very early in the war. In Kentucky, the state gradually came to side with the north; however a second government (pro-Confederate) emerged in some southern counties.

In 1861, a Unionist legislature in Wheeling, Virginia seceded from Virginia, eventually claiming 50 counties for a new state. West Virginia joined the United States in 1863 with a constitution that gradually abolished slavery.

Four of the seceding states, the Deep South states of South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas, issued formal declarations of causes, each of which identified the threat to slaveholders’ rights as the cause of, or a major cause of, secession. Georgia also claimed a general Federal policy of favoring Northern over Southern economic interests. In what later became known as the Cornerstone Speech, C.S. Vice President Alexander Stephens declared that the “cornerstone” of the new government “rest[ed] upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery—subordination to the superior race—is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth”.

In his farewell speech to the United States Congress, Jefferson Davis, who became the president of the confederate states, made clear his view that the secession crisis had stemmed from the Republican Party’s failure “to recognize our domestic institutions which pre-existed the formation of the Union — our property which was guarded by the Constitution.”

Major Historical Figures: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Alexander Stephens, James Buchanan

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_States_of_America

1861 - Battle of Fort Sumter

The Battle of Fort Sumter (April 12–13, 1861) was the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter, near Charleston, South Carolina, that started the American Civil War. Following declarations of secession by seven Southern states, South Carolina demanded that the U.S. army abandon Fort Sumter, which was refused. When the ultimatum deadline passed, an artillery barrage ensued, lasting until the fort was surrendered. Once the Confederates had fired, full-scale war quickly followed.

On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President. In his inaugural address, he argued that the purpose of the United States Constitution was “to form a more perfect union.” He also stated he had no intent to invade Southern states, nor did he intend to end slavery in states where it already was legal, but that he would use force to maintain possession of federal property. The South sent delegations to Washington D.C. and offered to pay for the federal properties and enter into a peace treaty with the United States. Lincoln rejected any negotiations with Confederate agents on the grounds that the Confederacy was not a legitimate government, and that making any treaty with it would be tantamount to recognition of it as a sovereign government. Six days after the South Carolina government ratified an order of secession, U.S. Army Major Robert Anderson abandoned the indefensible Fort Moultrie and secretly relocated the 85 men under his command to Fort Sumter. Robert Anderson had been a protégé of Winfield Scott, the senior general in the U.S. Army at the time. Fort Sumter dominated the entrance to Charleston Harbor and was thought to be one of the strongest fortresses in the world. Under the cover of darkness on December 26, 1860, Anderson spiked the cannons at Fort Moultrie and moved his command to Fort Sumter. South Carolina authorities considered this a breach of faith and demanded that the fort be evacuated. At that time President James Buchanan was still in office, pending Lincoln’s inauguration on March 4, 1861. Buchanan refused their demand. President Jefferson Davis, like his counterpart in Washington, D.C., preferred that his side not be seen as the aggressor.

In March, Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard took command of South Carolina forces in Charleston; on March 1, Davis had appointed him the first general officer in the armed forces of the new Confederacy, specifically to take command of the siege. Beauregard made repeated demands that the Union force either surrender or withdraw and took steps to ensure that no supplies from the city were available to the defenders, whose food was running low. By April 4, President Lincoln ordered merchant vessels escorted by the United States Navy to Charleston. On April 6, 1861, Lincoln notified South Carolina Governor Francis W. Pickens that “an attempt will be made to supply Fort Sumter with provisions only, and that if such attempt be not resisted, no effort to throw in men, arms, or ammunition will be made without further notice, [except] in case of an attack on the fort.” In response, the Confederate cabinet, meeting in Montgomery, decided on April 9 to open fire on Fort Sumter in an attempt to force its surrender before the relief fleet arrived. Only Secretary of State Robert Toombs opposed this decision: he reportedly told Jefferson Davis the attack “will lose us every friend at the North. You will only strike a hornet’s nest. … Legions now quiet will swarm out and sting us to death.” Further discussions after midnight proved futile.

At 3:20 a.m., April 12, 1861, the Confederates informed Anderson that they would open fire in one hour. At 4:30 a.m., a single mortar round fired from Fort Johnson exploded over Fort Sumter, marking the start of the bombardment from 43 guns and mortars at Fort Moultrie, Fort Johnson, the Floating Battery of Charleston Harbor and Cummings Point. The fort had been designed to hold out against a naval assault, and naval warships of the time did not mount guns capable of elevating to fire over the walls of the fort. Anderson agreed to a truce at 2:00 p.m., April 13, 1861. Terms for the garrison’s withdrawal were settled by that evening and the Union garrison surrendered the fort to Confederate personnel at 2:30 p.m., April 14. No one from either side was killed during the bombardment. Union troops were placed aboard a Confederate steamer where they spent the night and were transported the next morning to the Union steamer Baltic, resting outside the harbor bar. The soldiers along with the women and children were safely transported back to Union territory by the U.S. Navy squadron. Anderson carried the Fort Sumter Flag with him North, where it became a widely known symbol of the battle, and rallying point for supporters of the Union. With the scale of the rebellion apparently small so far, Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers for 90 days. For months before that, several Northern governors had discreetly readied their state militias; they began to move forces the next day.

Major Historical Figures: Robert Anderson, P.G.T. Beauregard

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Sumter

1861 - First Battle of Bull Run or First Battle of Manassas

The First Battle of Bull Run, also known as the First Battle of Manassas, was fought on July 21, 1861, near Manassas, Virginia. It was the first major land battle of the American Civil War. Just months after the start of the war at Fort Sumter, the Northern public clamored for a march against the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, which could bring an early end to the war. Yielding to this political pressure, unseasoned Union Army troops under Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell advanced across Bull Run against the equally unseasoned Confederate Army under Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard near Manassas Junction.

McDowell’s ambitious plan for a surprise flank attack against the Confederate left was not well executed by his inexperienced officers and men. Confederate reinforcements under the command of Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston arrived from the Shenandoah Valley by railroad and the course of the battle changed. A brigade of Virginians under a relatively unknown colonel from the Virginia Military Institute, Thomas J. Jackson, stood their ground and Jackson received his famous nickname, “Stonewall Jackson”. The Confederate Army of the Potomac under Beauregard was encamped near Manassas Junction, approximately 25 miles (40 km) from the United States capital. McDowell planned to attack this numerically inferior enemy army. Union Maj. Gen. Robert Patterson’s 18,000 men engaged Johnston’s force in the Shenandoah Valley, preventing them from reinforcing Beauregard.

Union casualties were 460 killed, 1,124 wounded, and 1,312 missing or captured; Confederate casualties were 387 killed, 1,582 wounded, and 13 missing. Union forces and civilians alike feared that Confederate forces would advance on Washington, D.C. The Northern public was shocked at the unexpected loss of their army in a battle for which an easy victory was widely anticipated. Both sides quickly came to realize that the war would be longer and more brutal than they had thought. On July 22 President Lincoln signed a bill that provided for the enlistment of 500,000 men for up to three years of service. Beauregard was considered the hero of the battle and was promoted that day by President Davis to full general in the Confederate Army. Stonewall Jackson, arguably the most important tactical contributor to the victory, received no special recognition. Irvin McDowell bore the brunt of the blame for the Union defeat and was soon replaced by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, who was named general-in-chief of all the Union armies. Battlefield confusion relating to battle flags, especially the similarity of the Confederacy’s “Stars and Bars” and the Union’s “Stars and Stripes”, led to the adoption of the Confederate Battle Flag, which eventually became the most popular symbol of the Confederacy and the South in general.

Major Historical Figures: Irvin McDowell, Joseph E. Johnston, P.G.T. Beauregard, Thomas Jackson, Bernard Bee, Ambrose Burnside, William Sherman, J.E.B. Stuart

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Bull_Run

1862 - Battle of Antietam

The Battle of Antietam or Battle of Sharpsburg was fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek, as part of the Maryland Campaign. It was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern soil. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with about 23,000 casualties.

After pursuing Confederate General Robert E. Lee into Maryland, Union Army Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan launched attacks against Lee’s army, in defensive positions behind Antietam Creek. At dawn on September 17, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker’s corps mounted a powerful assault on Lee’s left flank. Attacks and counterattacks swept across Miller’s cornfield and fighting swirled around the Dunker Church. Union assaults against the Sunken Road eventually pierced the Confederate center, but the Federal advantage was not followed up. In the afternoon, Union Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s corps entered the action, capturing a stone bridge over Antietam Creek and advancing against the Confederate right. At a crucial moment, Confederate Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill’s division arrived from Harpers Ferry and launched a surprise counterattack, driving back Burnside and ending the battle. Although outnumbered two-to-one, Lee committed his entire force, while McClellan sent in less than three-quarters of his army, enabling Lee to fight the Federals to a standstill. During the night, both armies consolidated their lines. In spite of crippling casualties, Lee continued to skirmish with McClellan throughout September 18, while removing his battered army south of the river.

Despite having superiority of numbers, McClellan’s attacks failed to achieve concentration of mass, allowing Lee to counter by shifting forces and moving interior lines to meet each challenge. Despite ample reserve forces that could have been deployed to exploit localized successes, McClellan failed to destroy Lee’s army. Nevertheless, Lee’s invasion of Maryland was ended, and he was able to withdraw his army back to Virginia without interference from the cautious McClellan. Although the battle was tactically inconclusive, it had unique significance as enough of a victory to give President Abraham Lincoln the confidence to announce his Emancipation Proclamation, which discouraged the British and French governments from potential plans for recognition of the Confederacy.

The battle was over by 5:30 p.m. Losses for the day were heavy on both sides. The Union had 12,401 casualties with 2,108 dead. Confederate casualties were 10,318 with 1,546 dead. This represented 25% of the Federal force and 31% of the Confederate. More Americans died on September 17, 1862, than on any other day in the nation’s military history

Major Historical Figures: George B. McClellan, Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, Thomas Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart, Joseph Hooker, Edwin Sumner, Fitz John Porter, William B. Franklin, Ambrose E. Burnside, Joseph K. Mansfield

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Antietam

1862 - Battle of Fredericksburg

The battle was the result of an effort by the Union Army to regain the initiative in its struggle against Lee’s smaller but more aggressive army. Burnside was appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac in November, replacing Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan. Although McClellan had stopped Lee at the Battle of Antietam in September, President Abraham Lincoln believed he lacked decisiveness, did not pursue and destroy Lee’s army in Maryland, and wasted excessive time reorganizing and re-equipping his army following major battles.

Burnside, in response to prodding from Lincoln and General-in-Chief Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, planned a late fall offensive; he communicated his plan to Halleck on November 9. The plan relied on quick movement and deceit. He would concentrate his army in a visible fashion near Warrenton, feigning a movement on Culpeper Court House, Orange Court House, or Gordonsville. Then he would rapidly shift his army southeast and cross the Rappahannock River to Fredericksburg, hoping that Robert E. Lee would sit still, unclear as to Burnside’s intentions, while the Union Army made a rapid movement against Richmond, south along the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad from Fredericksburg. Burnside selected this plan because he was concerned that if he were to move directly south from Warrenton, he would be exposed to a flanking attack from Lt. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, whose corps was at that time in the Shenandoah Valley south of Winchester. He also believed that the Orange and Alexandria Railroad would be an inadequate supply line. While Burnside began assembling a supply base at Falmouth, near Fredericksburg, the Lincoln administration entertained a lengthy debate about the wisdom of his plan. Lincoln eventually approved but cautioned him to move with great speed, certainly doubting that Lee would cooperate as Burnside anticipated.

The casualties sustained by each army showed clearly how disastrous the Union army’s tactics were, and Burnside was relieved of command a month later, following the humiliating failure of his “Mud March.” The Union army suffered 12,653 casualties (1,284 killed, 9,600 wounded, 1,769 captured/missing). Two Union generals were mortally wounded: Brig. Gens. George D. Bayard and Conrad F. Jackson. The Confederate army lost 5,377 (608 killed, 4,116 wounded, 653 captured/missing), most of them in the early fighting on Jackson’s front. Confederate Brig. Gens. Maxcy Gregg and T. R. R. Cobb were both mortally wounded.

Major Historical Figures: Ambrose E. Burnside, Edwin V. Sumner, Joseph Hooker, William B. Franklin, Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, Thomas Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fredricksburg

1863 - Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was the battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War and is often described as the war’s turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade’s Army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, ending Lee’s invasion of the North.

After his success at Chancellorsville in May 1863, Lee led his army through the Shenandoah Valley to begin his second invasion of the North—the Gettysburg Campaign. He intended to move the focus of the summer campaign from war-ravaged northern Virginia and hoped to influence Northern politicians to give up their prosecution of the war by penetrating as far as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, or even Philadelphia. Prodded by President Abraham Lincoln, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker moved his army in pursuit, but was relieved just three days before the battle and replaced by Meade.

The two armies began to collide at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, as Lee urgently concentrated his forces there. Low ridges to the northwest of town were defended initially by a Union cavalry division, which was soon reinforced with two corps of Union infantry. However, two large Confederate corps assaulted them from the northwest and north, collapsing the hastily developed Union lines, sending the defenders retreating through the streets of town to the hills just to the south.

On the second day of battle, most of both armies had assembled. The Union line was laid out in a defensive formation resembling a fishhook. Lee launched a heavy assault on the Union left flank, and fierce fighting raged at Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Devil’s Den, and the Peach Orchard. On the Union right, demonstrations escalated into full-scale assaults on Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Hill. All across the battlefield, despite significant losses, the Union defenders held their lines.

On the third day of battle, July 3, fighting resumed on Culp’s Hill, and cavalry battles raged to the east and south, but the main event was a dramatic infantry assault by 12,500 Confederates against the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge, known as Pickett’s Charge. The charge was repulsed by Union rifle and artillery fire, at great losses to the Confederate army. Lee led his army on a torturous retreat back to Virginia. Between 46,000 and 51,000 Americans were casualties in the three-day battle. That November, President Lincoln used the dedication ceremony for the Gettysburg National Cemetery to honor the fallen and redefine the purpose of the war in his historic Gettysburg Address.

The two armies suffered between 46,000 and 51,000 casualties. Union casualties were 23,055 (3,155 killed, 14,531 wounded, 5,369 captured or missing), while Confederate casualties were 23,231 (4,708 killed, 12,693 wounded, 5,830 captured or missing). Nearly a third of Lee’s general officers were killed, wounded, or captured. The casualties for both sides during the entire campaign were 57,225.

Major Historical Figures: George G. Meade, Robert E. Lee, Joseph Hooker, James Longstreet, Richard S. Ewell, A.P. Hill, J.E.B. Stuart, J. Johnston Pettigrew, Henry Heth, John Buford, John F. Reynolds, Abner Doubleday, William Dorsey Pender, Winfield S. Hancock, George Pickett, John Bell Hood, Lafayette McLaws, Joshua L. Chamberlain, George Armstrong Custer, Lewis A. Armistead

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gettysburg

1864 - March to the Sea

Sherman’s March to the Sea is the name commonly given to the Savannah Campaign conducted across Georgia during November-December 1864 by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army in the American Civil War. The campaign began with Sherman’s troops leaving the captured city of Atlanta, Georgia on November 15 and ended with the capture of the port of Savannah on December 21. It inflicted significant damage, particularly to industry and infrastructure (as per the doctrine of total war), and also to civilian property. A military historian wrote that Sherman “defied military principles by operating deep within enemy territory and without lines of supply or communication. He destroyed much of the South’s potential and psychology to wage war.”

Major Historical Figures: William Tecumseh Sherman, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, John Bell Hood, George H. Thomas

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman%27s_March_to_the_Sea

1865 - Robert E Lee Surrenders

On April 2nd, the word reached Richmond that lines in Petersburg had broken. Richmond would have to be evacuated. The next day Lincoln was able to visit Richmond. On April 7th Lee’s surrounded (and hungry) army was forced to surrender.

The end came quickly, when the lines at Petersburg broke, it forced both Petersburg and Richmond fell.. Jefferson Davis was in church, when he received a message- he turned white, Lee had informed him that Richmond would have to be evacuated.

The next day President Lincoln who had been visiting Grant was able to tour Petersburg. He stated to Admiral David Porter: “Thank God I have lived to see this. It seems to me that I have been dreaming a horrid dream for four years, and now the nightmare is gone, I want to see Richmond”. Porter obliged and took Lincoln upriver to Richmond the next day. There guarded initially by 10 sailors he made his way through the streets to Jefferson Davis office. He was thronged by Blacks one old lady is said to have shouted: “I know I am alive for I have seen Father Abraham and felt him.”

Meanwhile Grant and the army pursued Lee. On April 6th near a stream called Saylers Creek, 6,000 confederates were captured. Finally on the morning of April 9th Lee and his hungry men found themselves surrounded by five times the number of Union soldiers. Lee had no choice- At a ceremony at Appomattox Court House he surrendered the army of Northern Virginia, thus effectively bringing to an end the most horrible war in American history.

Major Historical Figures: Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E Lee

Source: http://www.historycentral.com/CivilWar/Surrender.html

1865 - Abraham Lincoln Shot

On the evening of April 14, 1865, while attending a special performance of the comedy, “Our American Cousin,” President Abraham Lincoln was shot. Accompanying him at Ford’s Theater that night were his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, a twenty-eight year-old officer named Major Henry R. Rathbone, and Rathbone’s fiancee, Clara Harris. After the play was in progress, a figure with a drawn derringer pistol stepped into the presidential box, aimed, and fired. The president slumped forward.

The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, dropped the pistol and waved a dagger. Rathbone lunged at him, and though slashed in the arm, forced the killer to the railing. Booth leapt from the balcony and caught the spur of his left boot on a flag draped over the rail, and shattered a bone in his leg on landing. Though injured, he rushed out the back door, and disappeared into the night on horseback.

A doctor in the audience immediately went upstairs to the box. The bullet had entered through Lincoln’s left ear and lodged behind his right eye. He was paralyzed and barely breathing. He was carried across Tenth Street, to a boarding-house opposite the theater, but the doctors’ best efforts failed. Nine hours later, at 7:22 AM on April 15th, Lincoln died.

At almost the same moment Booth fired the fatal shot, his accomplice, Lewis Paine, attacked Lincoln’s Secretary of State, William Henry Seward. Seward lay in bed, recovering from a carriage accident. Paine entered the mansion, claiming to have a delivery of medicine from the Secretary’s doctor. Seward’s son, Frederick, was brutally beaten while trying to keep Paine from his father’s door. Paine slashed the Secretary’s throat twice, then fought his way past Seward’s son Augustus, an attending hospital corps veteran, and a State Department messenger.

Paine escaped into the night, believing his deed complete. However, a metal surgical collar saved Seward from certain death. The Secretary lived another seven years, during which he retained his seat with the Johnson administration, and purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867.

There were at least four conspirators in addition to Booth involved in the mayhem. Booth was shot and captured while hiding in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia, and died later the same day, April 26, 1865. Four co-conspirators, Paine, George Atzerodt, David Herold, and Mary Surratt, were hanged at the gallows of the Old Penitentiary, on the site of present-day Fort McNair, on July 7, 1865.

Major Historical Figures: Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth, Henry R. Rathbone, Mary Todd Lincoln, Lewis Paine, William Henry Seward

Source: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/alrintr.html

The Lewis and Clark Expedition - Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

The Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806) was the first overland expedition by the United States to the Pacific Ocean and back. The expedition team was headed by United States Army soldiers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark with help by Sacajawea and Toussaint Charbonneau. The journey’s goal was to better understand the resources recently obtained through the Louisiana Purchase. The expedition laid much of the groundwork for the westward expansion of the United States.

Preparing for the Journey
• Monticello, Charlottesville, VA
• Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland
• American Philosophical Society Hall, Philadelphia, PA
• Big Bone Lick State Park, Union, KY
• Old Clarksville Site, Clarksville, Indiana
• Fort Massac Site, Metropolis, Illinois

The Expedition
ILLINOIS
• Old Cahokia Courthouse, Cahokia

MISSOURI
• Jefferson National Expansion Memorial National Historic Site, St. Louis
• St. Charles Historic District, St. Louis
• Tavern Cave, St. Albans
• Rocheport Historic District, Rocheport
• Arrow Rock, Saline County
• Fort Osage, Sibley

NEBRASKA
• Leary Site, Rulo
• Fort Atkinson, Fort Calhoun

IOWA
• Sergeant Floyd Monument, Sioux City

SOUTH DAKOTA
• Spirit Mound, Vermillion

NORTH DAKOTA
• Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site, Stanton
• Big Hidatsa Village Site, Stanton
• Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site, Williston

MONTANA
• Lewis and Clark Camp at Slaughter River, Missouri River
• Great Falls Portage, Great Falls
• Tower Rock, Cascade
• Three Forks of the Missouri, Three Forks
• Beaverhead Rock-Lewis and Clark Expedition, Dillon
• Lemhi Pass, (also in Idaho)
• Clark’s Lookout, August 13, 1805, Dillon
• Traveler’s Rest, Lolo
• Lolo Trail (also in Idaho), Lolo
• Nez Perce National Historical Park (also in Idaho), Wisdom
• Pompey’s Pillar (return trip), Yellowstone River
• Camp Disappointment (return trip), Browning
• Two Medicine Fight Site (return trip), Cut Bank

IDAHO
• Lemhi Pass (also in Montana)
• Lolo Trail (also in Montana), Weippe Prairie
• Weippe Prairie, Spalding
• Nez Perce National Historical Park (also in Montana), Spalding

OREGON
• Rock Fort Campsite, The Dalles
• Fort Clatsop National Memorial (winter of 1806), Astoria

WASHINGTON
• Cape Disappointment Historic District, Ilwaco
• Chinook Point, Chinook
• Lewis & Clark Trail-Travois Road, Pataha Creek

After The Expedition
• Locust Grove, Louisville, Kentucky
• Natchez Trace Parkway, Nashville, Tennessee to Natchez, Mississippi

Source: http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/LewisandClark/sitelist.htm

More Detailed Timeline

American Expansion, Marbury v Madison, Thomas Jefferson, The Louisiana Purchase, The Lewis and Clark Journey, The War of 1812, Missouri Compromise, Monroe Doctrine, Indian Removal Act, The Battle of the Alamo, Mexican American War - 1803-1853

1803 Marbury v. Madison
1803 Louisiana Purchase
1804-06 Lewis and Clark Expedition
1812-1815 War of 1812
1820 Missouri Compromise
1823 Monroe Doctrine
1830 Indian Removal Act
1836 Battle of the Alamo and San Jacinto
1846-1848 Mexican American War

1803 - Marbury v. Madison

Alternative Marbury v Madison 1803 Video

Marbury v. Madison is a landmark case in United States law. It formed the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution. This case resulted from a petition to the Supreme Court

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by William Marbury, who had been appointed by President John Adams as Justice of the Peace in the District of Columbia but whose commission was not subsequently delivered. Marbury petitioned the Supreme Court to force Secretary of State James Madison to deliver the documents, but the court, with John Marshall as Chief Justice, denied Marbury’s petition, holding that the part of the statute upon which he based his claim, the Judiciary Act of 1789, was unconstitutional. Marbury v. Madison was the first time the Supreme Court declared something “unconstitutional,” and established the concept of judicial review in the U.S. (the idea that courts may oversee and nullify the actions of another branch of government). The landmark decision helped define the “checks and balances” of the American form of government.

Major Historical Figures: John Marshall, William Cushing, William Paterson, Samuel Chase, Bushrod Washington, Alfred Moore, James Madison, William Marbury, John Adams

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbury_v._Madison

1803 - Louisiana Purchase

The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of 828,800 square miles (2,147,000 km2) of France’s claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S. paid $15 million for the Louisiana territory.

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The Louisiana Purchase encompassed all or part of 14 current U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The land purchased contained all of present-day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, parts of Minnesota that were west of the Mississippi River, most of North Dakota, nearly all of South Dakota, northeastern New Mexico, the portions of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado east of the Continental Divide, and Louisiana west of the Mississippi River, including the city of New Orleans. (The Oklahoma Panhandle, and southwestern portions of Kansas and Louisiana were still claimed by Spain at the time of the Purchase.) In addition, the Purchase contained small portions of land that would eventually become part of the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The purchase, which doubled the size of the United States, comprises around 23% of current U.S. territory. The purchase was a vital moment in the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. At the time, it faced domestic opposition as being possibly unconstitutional. Although he felt that the US Constitution did not contain any provisions for acquiring territory, Jefferson decided to purchase Louisiana because he felt uneasy about France and Spain having the power to block American trade access to the port of New Orleans. Napoleon Bonaparte, upon completion of the agreement, stated, “This accession of territory affirms forever the power of the United States, and I have given England a maritime rival who sooner or later will humble her pride.”

Major Historical Figures: Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon Bonaparte

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase

1804-1806 - Lewis and Clark Expedition

The Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806) was the first overland expedition undertaken by the United States to the Pacific coast and back. The expedition team was headed by the United States Army soldiers;

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Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and assisted by Sacajawea and Toussaint Charbonneau. The expedition’s goal was to gain an accurate sense of the resources being exchanged in the Louisiana Purchase. The expedition laid much of the groundwork for the westward expansion of the United States.

Major Historical Figures: Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, Sacajawea, Toussaint Charbonneau

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition

1812-1815 - War of 1812

Alternative War of 1812 Video

The War of 1812 was a war fought between the United States of America and the British Empire. Lasting from 1812 to 1815, it was fought chiefly on the Atlantic Ocean and on the land, coasts and waterways of North America.

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The United States took the initiative in declaring war for multiple reasons.

In 1807, Britain introduced a series of trade restrictions to impede on-going American trade with France, Britain’s long-time rival. The U.S. contested these restrictions as illegal under international law. Both the impressment of American citizens into the Royal Navy, and Britain’s military support of American Indians who were attacking American settlers moving into the Northwest further aggravated tensions. Indian raids hindered the expansion of U.S. into potentially valuable farmlands in the Northwest Territory, comprising the modern states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Some British officials – and some dissident Americans – charged that the goal was to annex part of Canada, but they did not specify which part. The states nearest Canada strongly opposed the war. Most important, the United States sought to uphold its national honor in the face of what they considered to be British insults, such as the Chesapeake affair. Although the British made some concessions before the war on neutral trade, they insisted on the right to reclaim their deserting sailors.

The British also had the long-standing goal of creating a large “neutral” Indian state that would cover much of Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. They made the demand as late as the fall of 1814 at the peace conference, but lost control of western Ontario at key battles on Lake Erie, thus giving the Americans control of the proposed neutral zone.

The war was fought in four theaters. Warships and privateers of both sides attacked each other’s merchant ships. The British blockaded the Atlantic coast of the U.S. and mounted large-scale raids in the later stages of the war. Battles were also fought on the frontier, which ran along the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River and separated the U.S. from Upper and Lower Canada, and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. During the war, the Americans and British invaded each other’s territory. These invasions were unsuccessful or temporary.

At the end of the war, the British held parts of Maine and some outposts in the sparsely populated West, while the Americans held Canadian territory near Detroit, but these occupied territories were restored at the end of the war. In the U.S., battles such as New Orleans and the earlier successful defense of Baltimore (which inspired the lyrics of the U.S. national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner) produced a sense of euphoria over a “second war of independence” against Britain. It ushered in an “Era of Good Feelings,” in which the partisan animosity that had once verged on treason practically vanished. Canada also emerged from the war with a heightened sense of national feeling and solidarity. Britain, which had regarded the war as a sideshow to the Napoleonic Wars raging in Europe, was less affected by the fighting; its government and people subsequently welcomed an era of peaceful relations and trade with the U.S.

Major Historical Figures: James Madison, Henry Dearborn, Jacob Brown, Winfield Scott, Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, Lord Liverpool, George Prevost, Isaac Brock, Roger Sheaffe, Gordon Drummond, Robert Ross, Tecumseh

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_1812

1820 - Missouri Compromise

Alternative Missouri Compromise 1820 Video

The institution of slavery had been a divisive issue in the United States for decades before the territory of Missouri petitioned Congress for admission to the Union as a state in 1818. Since the Revolution, the country had grown

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from 13 states to 22 and had managed to maintain a balance of power between slave and free states. There were 11 free states and 11 slave states, a situation that gave each faction equal representation in the Senate and the power to prevent the passage of legislation not to its liking. The free states, with their much larger populations, controlled the House of Representatives, 105 votes to 81. In February 1819, New York Representative James Tallmadge proposed an amendment to ban slavery in Missouri even though there were more than 2,000 slaves living there. The country was again confronted with the volatile issue of the spread of slavery into new territories and states. The South’s economy was dependent upon black slavery, and 200 years of living with the institution had made it an integral part of Southern life and culture. The South demanded that the North recognize its right to have slaves as secured in the Constitution. Through the efforts of Henry Clay, “the great pacificator,” a compromise was finally reached on March 3, 1820, after Maine petitioned Congress for statehood. Both states were admitted, a free Maine and a slave Missouri, and the balance of power in Congress was maintained as before, postponing the inevitable showdown for another generation. In an attempt to address the issue of the further spread of slavery, however, the Missouri Compromise stipulated that all the Louisiana Purchase territory north of the southern boundary of Missouri, except Missouri, would be free, and the territory below that line would be slave.

Major Historical Figures: James Tallmadge, Henry Clay

Source: http://civilwar.bluegrass.net/secessioncrisis/200303.html

1823 - Monroe Doctrine

The Monroe Doctrine is a United States policy that was introduced on December 2, 1823, which stated that further efforts by European countries to colonize land or interfere with states in the Americas would be viewed by the United States of America as acts of aggression requiring US intervention. The Monroe Doctrine asserted that the Western Hemisphere was not to be further colonized by European countries, and that the United States would not interfere with existing European colonies nor in the internal concerns of European countries. The Doctrine was issued at the time when

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many Latin American countries were on the verge of becoming independent from Spain, and the United States, reflecting concerns echoed by Great Britain, hoped to avoid having any European power take Spain’s colonies. US President James Monroe first stated the doctrine during his seventh annual State of the Union Address to Congress. It became a defining moment in the foreign policy of the United States and one of its longest-standing tenets, invoked by U.S. presidents, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, John F. Kennedy, and others. It would have been nearly impossible for Monroe to envision that its intent and impact would persist with only minor variations for almost two centuries. Its primary objective was to free the newly independent colonies of Latin America from European intervention and control. The doctrine put forward that the New World and the Old World were to remain distinctly separate spheres of influence, for they were composed of entirely separate and independent nations.

Major Historical Figures: James Monroe

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_Doctrine

1830 - Indian Removal Act

In 1823 the Supreme Court handed down a decision (Johnson v. M’Intosh) which stated that Indians could occupy lands within the United States, but could not hold title to those lands. The Indian Removal Act, part of a United

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States government policy known as Indian removal, was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 26, 1830. The Removal Act was strongly supported in the South, where states were eager to gain access to lands inhabited by the “Five Civilized Tribes”. In particular, Georgia, the largest state at that time, was involved in a contentious jurisdictional dispute with the Cherokee nation. President Jackson hoped removal would resolve the Georgia crisis. The Indian Removal Act was also very controversial. While Native American removal was, in theory, supposed to be voluntary, in practice great pressure was put on Native American leaders to sign removal treaties. Most observers, whether they were in favor of the Indian removal policy or not, realized that the passage of the act meant the inevitable removal of most Indians from the states. Some Native American leaders who had previously resisted removal now began to reconsider their positions, especially after Jackson’s landslide re-election in 1832. The Indian Removal Act paved the way for the reluctant—and often forcible—emigration of tens of thousands of American Indians to the West. The first removal treaty signed after the Removal Act was the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek on September 27, 1830, in which Choctaws in Mississippi ceded land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the West. The Treaty of New Echota (signed in 1835) resulted in the removal of the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears. The Seminoles did not leave peacefully as did other tribes; along with fugitive slaves they resisted the removal. The Second Seminole War lasted from 1835 to 1842 and resulted in the forced removal of Seminoles, only a small number to remain, and around 3,000 were killed amongst American soldiers and Seminoles.

Major Historical Figures: Andrew Jackson

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Removal_Act

1836 - Battle of the Alamo, Battle of San Jacinto

Battle of the Alamo

The Alamo was already a hundred years old at the time of the siege and battle. It was founded in 1718 as a Spanish mission for the purpose of Christianizing the Indians indigenous to the area. The Indians themselves built

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the mission under the supervision of the Spanish priests and it was named Mission “San Antonio de Valero.” By 1793, most of the Indians had died from disease and “San Antonio de Valero” was closed as a mission. In 1803, a Spanish cavalry unit from Alamo de Parras, Mexico, was quartered in the mission and it was from this unit that the mission received the name “Pueblo del Alamo.” The Spanish word “alamo” means “cottonwood”.

In 1821, Mexico won her independence from Spain and claimed all the land that Spain owned including Texas. In 1824, Mexico created a democratic constitution based on the United States Constitution. Mexico opened Texas for colonization, offering land very cheaply to new settlers. Many people, both Americans and Europeans, relocated to the area which offered the opportunity for a fresh start. In 1833, a Mexican general, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, was elected President of Mexico, but it wasn’t long before he turned his presidency into a dictatorship. Santa Anna sent his brother-in-law, General Martin de Cos, to reinforce the Alamo. General Cos arrived in San Antonio, quartered himself and his troops in the Alamo, and converted the old mission into a fortress. He added some 21 cannons which he placed around the walls and began to prepare for a siege and battle. Almost two months after Cos’ arrival, in December of 1835, a force of 400 Texans led by Ben Milam made their way into San Antonio and engaged General Cos in battle. After several days of fighting Cos surrendered. The Texan force of 400 suffered 19 casualties while defeating Mexican forces of 1100 and gained the most important military stronghold north of the Rio Grande. The defeat of Cos angered Santa Anna.

It became a matter of honor to teach the Texans a lesson and he began to raise an army which he would personally lead to San Antonio. In the meantime, despite the obvious importance of the Alamo location, Texas Army Commander Sam Houston ordered the Alamo abandoned and destroyed. Feeling that the outpost was far too isolated. he sent Colonel James Bowie with 30 men to carry out his orders. Hearing that Santa Anna was marching toward The Alamo, he became determined to save the Alamo. Committed to death inside the Alamo were 189 known patriots who valued freedom more than life itself. Many were colonists. Theirs was a fight against Santa Anna’s intolerable decrees. Others were volunteers such as David Crockett and his “Tennessee Boys” who owned nothing in Texas, and owed nothing to it. Theirs was a fight against tyranny wherever it might be. A handful were native Texans of Spanish and Mexican descent who suffered under the same injustices as the other colonists.

It came suddenly in the chilly, pre-dawn hours of March 6. Columns of Mexican soldiers attacked from the north, the east, the south and the west. Twice repulsed by withering musket fire and cannon shot, they concentrated their third attack at the battered north wall. The Mexicans swarmed through the breach and into the plaza. Santa Anna’s loses numbered nearly 600.

1836 - Battle of San Jacinto

On April 21, 46 days after the fall of the Alamo, less than 800 angered Texans and American volunteers led by General Sam Houston launched a furious attack on the Mexican army of 1,500 at San Jacinto. Shouting “Remember the Alamo!”, they completely routed the Mexican army in a matter of minutes, killing 630 while losing 9. Santa Anna was captured. Texas was free; a new republic was born. An independent nation for nearly 10 years, Texas was officially annexed to the United States on December 29, 1845.

Major Historical Figures: James Bowie, David Crockett, William Travis, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Sam Houston

Source: http://www.alamocity.com/alamo/

1846-1848 - Mexican American War

The Mexican War between the United States and Mexico began with a Mexican attack on American troops along the southern border of Texas on Apr. 25, 1846. Fighting ended when U.S. Gen. Winfield Scott occupied

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Mexico City on Sept. 14, 1847; a few months later a peace treaty was signed (Feb. 2, 1848) at Guadalupe Hidalgo. In addition to recognizing the U.S. annexation of Texas, defeated Mexico ceded California and New Mexico (including all the present-day states of the Southwest) to the United States.

At the time of the war, Mexico had a highly unstable government. The federal constitution of 1824 had been abrogated in 1835 and replaced by a centralized dictatorship. During that time numerous rebellions and insurgencies occurred within Mexican territory, including the temporary disaffection of California and the Texas Revolution, which resulted in the independence of Texas.

James Polk won the 1844 presidential election by advocating a belligerent stand against Britain on the Oregon Question. Once in office he declared that “the people of this continent alone have the right to decide their own destiny.” About the same time the term Manifest Destiny came into vogue to describe what was regarded as a God-given right to expand U.S. territory. Fearing that American patience was running short, Herrera seemed determined to settle the issue. He requested that the United States send a minister to Mexico, and President Polk appointed John Slidell. Slidell was authorized to purchase California and New Mexico from Mexico and to settle the Texas boundary. While the Republic of Texas had claimed the Rio Grande as its boundary, the adjacent Mexican state of Tamaulipas claimed the area north of the Rio Grande to the Nueces River. When Slidell arrived, Herrera, in an effort to save his government, refused to meet with him. A few days later (December 14), Parades issued a revolutionary manifesto; he entered Mexico City at the head of an army on Jan. 2, 1846. Herrera fled, and Parades, who assumed the presidency on January 4, ordered Slidell out of Mexico.

After the failure of the Slidell mission, Polk ordered Zachary Taylor to move his army to the mouth of the Rio Grande and to prepare to defend Texas from invasion. Taylor did so, arriving at the Rio Grande on Mar. 28, 1846. Before Taylor had moved to the Rio Grande, Parades had begun mobilizing troops. On April 4 the new dictator of Mexico ordered the attack on Taylor. When his commander at Matamoros delayed, Parades replaced him, issued a declaration of war (April 23), and reordered the attack. On April 25, 1846, Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande and ambushed a detachment of American dragoons commanded by Captain Seth B. Thornton. Taylor’s report of this ambush reached President Polk. On Wednesday, May 13, over the vigorous opposition by the abolitionists, the U.S. Congress voted to declare war on Mexico. In the meantime two more Mexican attacks had been made across the Rio Grande at Palo Alto ( May 8 ) and Resaca de la Palma (May 9), and both had been repulsed.

The U.S. victories against a larger, better trained force were attributed to the effectiveness of the American light artillery. The Mexican garrison evacuated Matamoros, moving to the south. The Mexicans did not attack again because the Centralist government was collapsing. On July 28, Parades turned the government over to his vice-president and went into hiding. The Centralists’ government fell completely with the resignation of the vice-president on August 6. On August 22 the Federalists solemnly restored the constitution of 1824, and Valentin Gomez Farias, who had been deposed as vice-president by the Centralists in 1834, assumed temporary control of the government as the nation’s only legitimate official. In the meantime, Santa Anna had returned to Mexico. Having promised President Polk that he would work to effect a truce, he was allowed to pass through the U.S. naval blockade and land at Veracruz on August 16. He soon received command of the Mexican army; in December he was elected president by the Mexican Congress but did not formally assume office until the following March. In the meantime, Taylor began his advance on Monterrey. He reached that fortified town, which had a garrison of more than 10,000 troops, on September 19 and began his attack on the morning of September 21. With about 2,000 men, Gen. William J. Worth captured the road between Monterrey and Saltillo and by noon was storming Federation Hill. Total Mexican casualties were estimated at 367. The Americans had 368 wounded and 120 killed.

In January 1847, Santa Anna moved north with about 20,000 men to dislodge Taylor. Dispatches captured by the Mexicans had revealed that most of Taylor’s forces were being withdrawn to take part in Gen. Winfield Scott’s proposed landing at Veracruz. Word of Santa Anna’s approach reached Taylor on February 21, and although outnumbered almost 3-1, he took up a position at the hacienda of Buena Vista, a few miles from Saltillo. The Mexican attack began on February 22, when troops led by Ampudia gained an advantage and forced the Americans to abandon important defensive positions. The next morning the main Mexican force nearly overcame the U.S. defense. However, a dramatic charge led by Col. Jefferson Davis about noon and a determined artillery advance under Capt. Braxton Bragg finally saved the day for the Americans. Their casualties numbered about 700, but the Mexican losses were about 1,800. Santa Anna withdrew that night and moved south to intercept Scott’s invasion force. No further fighting occurred in northern Mexico, but Taylor remained in command of a small force there until he returned to the United States in November 1847. The decisive campaign of the war was Scott’s advance from Veracruz to Mexico City. Scott’s expedition began at a staging area at the mouth of the Rio Grande in February 1847. He assembled an army of approximately 12,000. A combined naval and land attack began on March 22. Heavy shelling from navy guns forced the almost impregnable town to surrender on March 28. Almost immediately Scott began the advance toward Mexico City. Only sporadic resistance was encountered until his army reached the village of Cerro Gordo about 80 km (50 mi) inland. There Santa Anna prepared to turn back the Americans. The attack on Cerro Gordo was led by units under William J. Worth on April 18. The U.S. engineers, who included Robert E. Lee, George B. McClellan, Joseph E. Johnston, and P. G. T. Beauregard, found a trail that enabled the Americans to envelop and rout Santa Anna’s forces. The Mexicans lost 1,000 men in casualties and another 3,000 as prisoners. The Americans had 64 killed and 353 wounded.

On May 14-15, Worth and John A. Quitman moved into Puebla, about 80 km (50 mi) closer to Mexico City. They expected heavy resistance because of Santa Anna’s reported presence there. However, the town’s leaders and the priests had decided to open Puebla to the Americans. Santa Anna had only about 2,000 cavalry, which the Americans easily routed. During June and July, Santa Anna frantically prepared to defend Mexico City. On August 7, Scott began his advance from Puebla. The first heavy fighting occurred on August 19-20 at Contreras, outside Mexico City, where Mexican losses were estimated at 700 and American casualties at 60. Santa Anna fell back about 8 km (5 mi) to Churubusco, where he took up a defensive position in a fortified convent. Advancing under extremely heavy fire on August 20, Scott’s men finally forced the convent’s surrender, although Santa Anna and much of his command escaped. Mexican losses were estimated at more than 4,000 killed and wounded and more than 2,500 prisoners; by contrast, American losses were slightly more than 1,000. Scott might have moved promptly into the capital. Instead he granted (August 24) the armistice of Tacubaya to permit the negotiation of a peace treaty. Santa Anna used the time to muster his forces and prepare a final defense of the city. Fighting was renewed on September 7-8 at Molino del Rey, where the Americans forced the Mexican position but lost nearly 800 soldiers. The Mexican losses totaled about 2,700. The final battle for Mexico City took place at the fortified hill of Chapultepec. American artillery bombardment on September 12 was followed the next day by an infantry assault. The citadel was heroically defended by cadets from the Mexican Military College, but they were forced to surrender before noon. American troops entered Mexico City that afternoon, and shortly after midnight Santa Anna evacuated his troops. The war was over. In just over five months, Winfield Scott had done what many had considered impossible. On September 16, Santa Anna resigned the Mexican presidency and fled the country. The new acting president, Pedro Maria Anaya, began negotiations with the American peace commissioner Nicholas Trist in November. Trist had just been recalled to Washington, but he decided to negotiate without credentials. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was the unsatisfactory result of Nicholas Trist’s unauthorized negotiations. It was reluctantly approved by the U.S. Senate on Mar. 10, 1848, and ratified by the Mexican Congress on May 25. Mexico’s cession of California and New Mexico and its recognition of U.S. sovereignty over all Texas north of the Rio Grande formalized the addition of 3.1 million sq km (1.2 million sq mi) of territory to the United States. In return the United States agreed to pay $15 million and assumed the claims of its citizens against Mexico. A final territorial adjustment between Mexico and the United States was made by the Gadsden Purchase in 1853.

Major Historical Figures: James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Winfield Scott, Stephen W. Kearny, John D. Sloat, Antonio López de Santa Anna, Mariano Arista, Pedro de Ampudia, José María Flores

Many US soldiers in this war became commanders in the US Civil War, including: Lewis Addison Armistead, P.G.T. Beauregard, George Cadwalader, Jefferson Davis, Richard S. Ewell, Ulysses S. Grant, Winfield Scott Hancock, A. P. Hill, Joseph Hooker, Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, George B. McClellan, George Meade, John F. Reynolds, Winfield Scott, Thomas W. Sherman

Source: http://www.lone-star.net/mall/texasinfo/mexicow.htm

Original Bill of Rights, First 10 Amendments to US Constitution - 1791

Alternative Original Bill of Rights, First 10 Amendments Video

The Bill of Rights

Article I

After the first enumeration required by the first article of the Constitution, there shall be one representative for every thirty thousand, until the number shall amount to one hundred, after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall be not less than one hundred representatives, nor less than one representative for every forty thousand persons, until the number of representatives shall amount to two hundred; after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall be not less than two hundred representatives, nor more than one representative for every fifty thousand persons.

Article II

No law varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.

Article III

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Article IV

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Article V

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Article VI

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Article VII

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Article VIII

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Article IX

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Article X

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Article XI

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Article XII

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

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Framers of the US Constitution, Preamble, Ratification by United States, Founding Fathers - 1787

The Constitution for the United States

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Article I - Legislative Powers

Section 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Section 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Section 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.

No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of Honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

Section 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

Section 5. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Section 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time: and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.

Section 7. All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.

Section 8. The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;-And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Section 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear or pay Duties in another.

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Section 10. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

Article II - Executive Power

Section 1. The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.

The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:-”I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Section 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.

Section 4. The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Article III - Judicial Power

Section 1. The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

Section 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;-to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls;-to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction;-to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;-to Controversies between two or more States;-between a State and Citizens of another State;-between Citizens of different States;-between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

Article IV - State Powers and Limits

Section 1. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records, and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.

Section 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.

No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.

Section 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new States shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.

Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

Article V - Amendments

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.

Article VI - Federal Power

All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwith-standing.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Article VII - Ratification

The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.

Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth

In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,

George Washington-President and deputy from Virginia

New Hampshire: John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman

Massachusetts: Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King

Connecticut: William Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman

New York: Alexander Hamilton

New Jersey: William Livingston, David Brearly, William Paterson, Jonathan Dayton

Pennsylvania: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, George Clymer, Thomas FitzSimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris

Delaware: George Read, Gunning Bedford, Jr., John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, Jacob Broom

Maryland: James McHenry, Daniel of Saint Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll

Virginia: John Blair, James Madison, Jr.

North Carolina: William Blount, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Hugh Williamson

South Carolina: John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler

Georgia: William Few, Abraham Baldwin

Ratification of the Constitution
Date - State - Yes - No
December 7, 1787 - Delaware - 30 - 0
December 11, 1787 - Pennsylvania - 46 - 23
December 18, 1787 - New Jersey - 38 - 0
January 2, 1788 - Georgia - 26 - 0
January 9, 1788 - Connecticut - 128 - 40
February 6, 1788 - Massachusetts - 187 - 168
April 26, 1788 - Maryland - 63 - 11
May 23, 1788 - South Carolina - 149 - 73
June 21, 1788 - New Hampshire - 57 - 47
June 25, 1788 - Virginia - 89 - 79
July 26, 1788 - New York - 30 - 27
November 21, 1789 - North Carolina - 194 - 77
May 29, 1790 - Rhode Island - 34 - 32

US Flag History, United States Flags Timeline - 1777-1960

1777 - 13 Stars

Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island

1795 - 15 Stars

Vermont, Kentucky

1818 - 20 Stars

Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi

1819 - 21 Stars

Illinois

1820 - 23 Stars

Alabama, Maine

1822 - 24 Stars

Missouri

1836 - 25 Stars

Arkansas

1837 - 26 Stars

Michigan

1845 - 27 Stars

Florida

1846 - 28 Stars

Texas

1847 - 29 Stars

Iowa

1848 - 30 Stars

Wisconsin

1851 - 31 Stars

California

1858 - 32 Stars

Minnesota

1859 - 33 Stars

Oregon

1861 - 34 Stars

Kansas

1863 -35 Stars

West Virginia

1865 - 36 Stars

Nevada

1867 - 37 Stars

Nebraska

1877 - 38 Stars

Colorado

1890 - 43 Stars

North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho

1891 - 44 Stars

Wyoming

1896 - 45 Stars

Utah

1908 - 46 Stars

Oklahoma

1912 - 48 Stars

New Mexico, Arizona

1959 - 49 Stars

Alaska

1960 - 50 Stars

Hawaii

The Articles of Confederation - 1781

The Articles of Confederation

Agreed to by Congress November 15, 1777; ratified and in force, March 1, 1781.
Preamble

To all to whom these Presents shall come, we the undersigned Delegates of the States affixed to our Names send greeting.

Whereas the Delegates of the United States of America in Congress assembled did on the fifteenth day of November in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy seven, and in the Second Year of the Independence of America, agree to certain articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts-bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, in the words following, viz:

Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts-bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

Article I. The Stile of this Confederacy shall be “The United States of America.”

Article II. Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every Power, Jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.

Article III. The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever.

Article IV. The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the different States in this union, the free inhabitants of each of these States, paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States; and the people of each State shall have free ingress and regress to and from any other State, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, impositions, and restrictions as the inhabitants thereof respectively, provided that such restrictions shall not extend so far as to prevent the removal of property imported into any State, to any other State, of which the owner is an inhabitant; provided also that no imposition, duties or restriction shall be laid by any State, on the property of the united States, or either of them.

If any person guilty of, or charged with, treason, felony, or other high misdemeanor in any State, shall flee from justice, and be found in any of the united States, he shall, upon demand of the Governor or executive power of the State from which he fled, be delivered up and removed to the State having jurisdiction of his offense.

Full faith and credit shall be given in each of these States to the records, acts, and judicial proceedings of the courts and magistrates of every other State.

Article V. For the most convenient management of the general interests of the united States, delegates shall be annually appointed in such manner as the legislatures of each State shall direct, to meet in Congress on the first Monday in November, in every year, with a power reserved to each State to recall its delegates, or any of them, at any time within the year, and to send others in their stead for the remainder of the year.

No State shall be represented in Congress by less than two, nor more than seven members; and no person shall be capable of being a delegate for more than three years in any term of six years; nor shall any person, being a delegate, be capable of holding any office under the united States, for which he, or another for his benefit, receives any salary, fees or emolument of any kind.

Each State shall maintain its own delegates in a meeting of the States, and while they act as members of the committee of the States.

In determining questions in the united States, in Congress assembled, each State shall have one vote.

Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Congress, and the members of Congress shall be protected in their persons from arrests or imprisonments, during the time of their going to and from, and attendance on Congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace.

Article VI. No State, without the consent of the united States in Congress assembled, shall send any embassy to, or receive any embassy from, or enter into any conference, agreement, alliance or treaty with any King, Prince or State; nor shall any person holding any office of profit or trust under the united States, or any of them, accept any present, emolument, office or title of any kind whatever from any King, Prince or foreign State; nor shall the United States in congress assembled, or any of them, grant any title of nobility.

No two or more States shall enter into any treaty, confederation or alliance whatever between them, without the consent of the united States in congress assembled, specifying accurately the purposes for which the same is to be entered into, and how long it shall continue.

No State shall lay any imposts or duties, which may interfere with any stipulations in treaties, entered into by the united States in congress assembled, with any King, Prince or State, in pursuance of any treaties already proposed by congress, to the courts of France and Spain.

No vessel of war shall be kept up in time of peace by any State, except such number only, as shall be deemed necessary by the united States in congress assembled, for the defense of such State, or its trade; nor shall any body of forces be kept up by any State in time of peace, except such number only, as in the judgement of the united States, in congress assembled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison the forts necessary for the defense of such State; but every State shall always keep up a well-regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutered, and shall provide and constantly have ready for use, in public stores, a due number of filed pieces and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammunition and camp equipage.

No State shall engage in any war without the consent of the united States in congress assembled, unless such State be actually invaded by enemies, or shall have received certain advice of a resolution being formed by some nation of Indians to invade such State, and the danger is so imminent as not to admit of a delay till the united States in congress assembled can be consulted; nor shall any State grant commissions to any ships or vessels of war, nor letters of marque or reprisal, except it be after a declaration of war by the united States in congress assembled, and then only against the kingdom or State and the subjects thereof, against which war has been so declared, and under such regulations as shall be established by the united States in congress assembled, unless such State be infested by pirates, in which case vessels of war may be fitted out for that occasion, and kept so long as the danger shall continue, or until the united States in congress assembled shall determine otherwise.

Article VII. When land forces are raised by any State for the common defense, all officers of or under the rank of colonel, shall be appointed by the legislature of each State respectively, by whom such forces shall be raised, or in such manner as such State shall direct, and all vacancies shall be filled up by the State which first made the appointment.

Article VIII. All charges of war, and all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common defense or general welfare, and allowed by the united States in congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several States in proportion to the value of all land within each State, granted or surveyed for any person, as such land and the buildings and improvements thereon shall be estimated according to such mode as the united States in congress assembled, shall from time to time direct and appoint.

The taxes for paying that proportion shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the legislatures of the several States within the time agreed upon by the united States in congress assembled.

Article IX. The united States in congress assembled, shall have the sole and exclusive right and power of determining on peace and war, except in the cases mentioned in the sixth article — of sending and receiving ambassadors — entering into treaties and alliances, provided that no treaty of commerce shall be made whereby the legislative power of the respective States shall be restrained from imposing such imposts and duties on foreigners, as their own people are subjected to, or from prohibiting the exportation or importation of any species of goods or commodities whatsoever — of establishing rules for deciding in all cases, what captures on land or water shall be legal, and in what manner prizes taken by land or naval forces in the service of the United States shall be divided or appropriated — of granting letters of marque and reprisal in times of peace — appointing courts for the trial of piracies and felonies committed on the high seas and establishing courts for receiving and determining finally appeals in all cases of captures, provided that no member of Congress shall be appointed a judge of any of the said courts.

The United States in Congress assembled shall also be the last resort on appeal in all disputes and differences now subsisting or that hereafter may arise between two or more States concerning boundary, jurisdiction or any other causes whatever; which authority shall always be exercised in the manner following. Whenever the legislative or executive authority or lawful agent of any State in controversy with another shall present a petition to Congress stating the matter in question and praying for a hearing, notice thereof shall be given by order of Congress to the legislative or executive authority of the other State in controversy, and a day assigned for the appearance of the parties by their lawful agents, who shall then be directed to appoint by joint consent, commissioners or judges to constitute a court for hearing and determining the matter in question: but if they cannot agree, Congress shall name three persons out of each of the United States, and from the list of such persons each party shall alternately strike out one, the petitioners beginning, until the number shall be reduced to thirteen; and from that number not less than seven, nor more than nine names as Congress shall direct, shall in the presence of Congress be drawn out by lot, and the persons whose names shall be so drawn or any five of them, shall be commissioners or judges, to hear and finally determine the controversy, so always as a major part of the judges who shall hear the cause shall agree in the determination: and if either party shall neglect to attend at the day appointed, without showing reasons, which Congress shall judge sufficient, or being present shall refuse to strike, the Congress shall proceed to nominate three persons out of each State, and the secretary of Congress shall strike in behalf of such party absent or refusing; and the judgement and sentence of the court to be appointed, in the manner before prescribed, shall be final and conclusive; and if any of the parties shall refuse to submit to the authority of such court, or to appear or defend their claim or cause, the court shall nevertheless proceed to pronounce sentence, or judgement, which shall in like manner be final and decisive, the judgement or sentence and other proceedings being in either case transmitted to Congress, and lodged among the acts of Congress for the security of the parties concerned: provided that every commissioner, before he sits in judgement, shall take an oath to be administered by one of the judges of the supreme or superior court of the State, where the cause shall be tried, ‘well and truly to hear and determine the matter in question, according to the best of his judgement, without favor, affection or hope of reward’: provided also, that no State shall be deprived of territory for the benefit of the United States.

All controversies concerning the private right of soil claimed under different grants of two or more States, whose jurisdictions as they may respect such lands, and the States which passed such grants are adjusted, the said grants or either of them being at the same time claimed to have originated antecedent to such settlement of jurisdiction, shall on the petition of either party to the Congress of the United States, be finally determined as near as may be in the same manner as is before prescribed for deciding disputes respecting territorial jurisdiction between different States.

The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective States — fixing the standards of weights and measures throughout the United States — regulating the trade and managing all affairs with the Indians, not members of any of the States, provided that the legislative right of any State within its own limits be not infringed or violated — establishing or regulating post offices from one State to another, throughout all the United States, and exacting such postage on the papers passing through the same as may be requisite to defray the expenses of the said office — appointing all officers of the land forces, in the service of the United States, excepting regimental officers — appointing all the officers of the naval forces, and commissioning all officers whatever in the service of the United States — making rules for the government and regulation of the said land and naval forces, and directing their operations.

The United States in Congress assembled shall have authority to appoint a committee, to sit in the recess of Congress, to be denominated ‘A Committee of the States’, and to consist of one delegate from each State; and to appoint such other committees and civil officers as may be necessary for managing the general affairs of the United States under their direction — to appoint one of their members to preside, provided that no person be allowed to serve in the office of president more than one year in any term of three years; to ascertain the necessary sums of money to be raised for the service of the United States, and to appropriate and apply the same for defraying the public expenses — to borrow money, or emit bills on the credit of the United States, transmitting every half-year to the respective States an account of the sums of money so borrowed or emitted — to build and equip a navy — to agree upon the number of land forces, and to make requisitions from each State for its quota, in proportion to the number of white inhabitants in such State; which requisition shall be binding, and thereupon the legislature of each State shall appoint the regimental officers, raise the men and cloath, arm and equip them in a solid- like manner, at the expense of the United States; and the officers and men so cloathed, armed and equipped shall march to the place appointed, and within the time agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled. But if the United States in Congress assembled shall, on consideration of circumstances judge proper that any State should not raise men, or should raise a smaller number of men than the quota thereof, such extra number shall be raised, officered, cloathed, armed and equipped in the same manner as the quota of each State, unless the legislature of such State shall judge that such extra number cannot be safely spread out in the same, in which case they shall raise, officer, cloath, arm and equip as many of such extra number as they judge can be safely spared. And the officers and men so cloathed, armed, and equipped, shall march to the place appointed, and within the time agreed on by the united States in congress assembled.

The united States in congress assembled shall never engage in a war, nor grant letters of marque or reprisal in time of peace, nor enter into any treaties or alliances, nor coin money, nor regulate the value thereof, nor ascertain the sums and expenses necessary for the defense and welfare of the United States, or any of them, nor emit bills, nor borrow money on the credit of the united States, nor appropriate money, nor agree upon the number of vessels of war, to be built or purchased, or the number of land or sea forces to be raised, nor appoint a commander in chief of the army or navy, unless nine States assent to the same: nor shall a question on any other point, except for adjourning from day to day be determined, unless by the votes of the majority of the united States in congress assembled.

The congress of the united States shall have power to adjourn to any time within the year, and to any place within the united States, so that no period of adjournment be for a longer duration than the space of six months, and shall publish the journal of their proceedings monthly, except such parts thereof relating to treaties, alliances or military operations, as in their judgement require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the delegates of each State on any question shall be entered on the journal, when it is desired by any delegates of a State, or any of them, at his or their request shall be furnished with a transcript of the said journal, except such parts as are above excepted, to lay before the legislatures of the several States.

Article X. The committee of the States, or any nine of them, shall be authorized to execute, in the recess of congress, such of the powers of congress as the united States in congress assembled, by the consent of the nine States, shall from time to time think expedient to vest them with; provided that no power be delegated to the said Committee, for the exercise of which, by the articles of confederation, the voice of nine States in the Congress of the United States assembled be requisite.

Article XI. Canada acceding to this confederation, and adjoining in the measures of the united States, shall be admitted into, and entitled to all the advantages of this union; but no other colony shall be admitted into the same, unless such admission be agreed to by nine States.

Article XII. All bills of credit emitted, monies borrowed, and debts contracted by, or under the authority of congress, before the assembling of the united States, in pursuance of the present confederation, shall be deemed and considered as a charge against the United States, for payment and satisfaction whereof the said united States, and the public faith are hereby solemnly pledged.

Article XIII. Every State shall abide by the determination of the united States in congress assembled, on all questions which by this confederation are submitted to them. And the Articles of this confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them; unless such alteration be agreed to in a congress of the united States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every State.

And Whereas it hath pleased the Great Governor of the World to incline the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said articles of confederation and perpetual union. Know Ye that we the undersigned delegates, by virtue of the power and authority to us given for that purpose, do by these presents, in the name and in behalf of our respective constituents, fully and entirely ratify and confirm each and every of the said articles of confederation and perpetual union, and all and singular the matters and things therein contained: And we do further solemnly plight and engage the faith of our respective constituents, that they shall abide by the determinations of the united States in congress assembled, on all questions, which by the said confederation are submitted to them. And that the articles thereof shall be inviolably observed by the States we respectively represent, and that the union shall be perpetual.

In Witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands in Congress. Done at Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania the ninth Day of July in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven Hundred and Seventy-eight, and in the Third Year of the independence of America.

On the part and behalf of the State of New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
John Wentworth Junr. August 8th 1778

On the part and behalf of The State of Massachusetts Bay:
John Hancock
Samuel Adams
Elbridge Gerry
Francis Dana
James Lovell
Samuel Holten

On the part and behalf of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations:
William Ellery
Henry Marchant
John Collins

On the part and behalf of the State of Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
Oliver Wolcott
Titus Hosmer
Andrew Adams

On the Part and Behalf of the State of New York:
James Duane
Francis Lewis
Wm Duer
Gouv Morris

On the Part and in Behalf of the State of New Jersey, November 26, 1778.
Jno Witherspoon
Nath. Scudder

On the part and behalf of the State of Pennsylvania:
Robt Morris
Daniel Roberdeau
John Bayard Smith
William Clingan
Joseph Reed 22nd July 1778

On the part and behalf of the State of Delaware:
Tho Mckean February 12, 1779
John Dickinson May 5th 1779
Nicholas Van Dyke

On the part and behalf of the State of Maryland:
John Hanson March 1 1781
Daniel Carroll

On the Part and Behalf of the State of Virginia:
Richard Henry Lee
John Banister
Thomas Adams
Jno Harvie
Francis Lightfoot Lee

On the part and Behalf of the State of No Carolina:
John Penn July 21st 1778
Corns Harnett
Jno Williams

On the part and behalf of the State of South Carolina:
Henry Laurens
William Henry Drayton
Jno Mathews
Richd Hutson
Thos Heyward Junr

On the part and behalf of the State of Georgia:
Jno Walton 24th July 1778
Edwd Telfair
Edwd Langworthy

Thomas Paine - Author of Common Sense - 1776

Alternative Thomas Paine – Author of Common Sense – 1776 Video

Common Sense
By Thomas Paine

Introduction

PERHAPS the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.

As a long and violent abuse of power is generally the means of calling the right of it in question, (and in matters too which might never have been thought of, had not the sufferers been aggravated into the inquiry,) and as the king of England hath undertaken in his own right, to support the parliament in what he calls theirs, and as the good people of this country are grievously oppressed by the combination, they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the pretensions of both, and equally to reject the usurpations of either.

In the following sheets, the author hath studiously avoided every thing which is personal among ourselves. Compliments as well as censure to individuals make no part thereof. The wise and the worthy need not the triumph of a pamphlet; and those whose sentiments are injudicious or unfriendly, will cease of themselves, unless too much pains is bestowed upon their conversion.

The cause of America is, in a great measure, the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all lovers of mankind are affected, and in the event of which, their affections are interested. The laying a country desolate with fire and sword, declaring war against the natural rights of all mankind, and extirpating the defenders thereof from the face of the earth, is the concern of every man to whom nature hath given the power of feeling; of which class, regardless of party censure, is

THE AUTHOR.
Philadelphia, Feb. 14, 1776

OF THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL. WITH CONCISE REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION

SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.

Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamities is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer! Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.

In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of government, let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with the rest, they will then represent the first peopling of any country, or of the world. In this state of natural liberty, society will be their first thought. A thousand motives will excite them thereto, the strength of one man is so unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for perpetual solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and relief of another, who in his turn requires the same. Four or five united would be able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a wilderness, but one man might labor out the common period of life without accomplishing any thing; when he had felled his timber he could not remove it, nor erect it after it was removed; hunger in the mean time would urge him from his work, and every different want call him a different way. Disease, nay even misfortune would be death, for though neither might be mortal, yet either would disable him from living, and reduce him to a state in which he might rather be said to perish than to die.

Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our newly arrived emigrants into society, the reciprocal blessings of which, would supersede, and render the obligations of law and government unnecessary while they remained perfectly just to each other; but as nothing but heaven is impregnable to vice, it will unavoidably happen, that in proportion as they surmount the first difficulties of emigration, which bound them together in a common cause, they will begin to relax in their duty and attachment to each other; and this remissness, will point out the necessity, of establishing some form of government to supply the defect of moral virtue.

Some convenient tree will afford them a State-House, under the branches of which, the whole colony may assemble to deliberate on public matters. It is more than probable that their first laws will have the title only of Regulations, and be enforced by no other penalty than public disesteem. In this first parliament every man, by natural right will have a seat.

But as the colony increases, the public concerns will increase likewise, and the distance at which the members may be separated, will render it too inconvenient for all of them to meet on every occasion as at first, when their number was small, their habitations near, and the public concerns few and trifling. This will point out the convenience of their consenting to leave the legislative part to be managed by a select number chosen from the whole body, who are supposed to have the same concerns at stake which those have who appointed them, and who will act in the same manner as the whole body would act were they present. If the colony continue increasing, it will become necessary to augment the number of the representatives, and that the interest of every part of the colony may be attended to, it will be found best to divide the whole into convenient parts, each part sending its proper number; and that the elected might never form to themselves an interest separate from the electors, prudence will point out the propriety of having elections often; because as the elected might by that means return and mix again with the general body of the electors in a few months, their fidelity to the public will be secured by the prudent reflection of not making a rod for themselves. And as this frequent interchange will establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this (not on the unmeaning name of king) depends the strength of government, and the happiness of the governed.

Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here too is the design and end of government, viz., freedom and security. And however our eyes may be dazzled with snow, or our ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken our understanding, the simple voice of nature and of reason will say, it is right.

I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature, which no art can overturn, viz., that the more simple any thing is, the less liable it is to be disordered, and the easier repaired when disordered; and with this maxim in view, I offer a few remarks on the so much boasted constitution of England. That it was noble for the dark and slavish times in which it was erected is granted. When the world was overrun with tyranny the least therefrom was a glorious rescue. But that it is imperfect, subject to convulsions, and incapable of producing what it seems to promise, is easily demonstrated.

Absolute governments (though the disgrace of human nature) have this advantage with them, that they are simple; if the people suffer, they know the head from which their suffering springs, know likewise the remedy, and are not bewildered by a variety of causes and cures. But the constitution of England is so exceedingly complex, that the nation may suffer for years together without being able to discover in which part the fault lies, some will say in one and some in another, and every political physician will advise a different medicine.

I know it is difficult to get over local or long standing prejudices, yet if we will suffer ourselves to examine the component parts of the English constitution, we shall find them to be the base remains of two ancient tyrannies, compounded with some new republican materials.

First.- The remains of monarchical tyranny in the person of the king. Secondly.- The remains of aristocratical tyranny in the persons of the peers. Thirdly.- The new republican materials, in the persons of the commons, on whose virtue depends the freedom of England.

The two first, by being hereditary, are independent of the people; wherefore in a constitutional sense they contribute nothing towards the freedom of the state.

To say that the constitution of England is a union of three powers reciprocally checking each other, is farcical, either the words have no meaning, or they are flat contradictions.

To say that the commons is a check upon the king, presupposes two things.

First.- That the king is not to be trusted without being looked after, or in other words, that a thirst for absolute power is the natural disease of monarchy. Secondly.- That the commons, by being appointed for that purpose, are either wiser or more worthy of confidence than the crown.

But as the same constitution which gives the commons a power to check the king by withholding the supplies, gives afterwards the king a power to check the commons, by empowering him to reject their other bills; it again supposes that the king is wiser than those whom it has already supposed to be wiser than him. A mere absurdity!

There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required. The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a king requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore the different parts, unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove the whole character to be absurd and useless.

Some writers have explained the English constitution thus; the king, say they, is one, the people another; the peers are an house in behalf of the king; the commons in behalf of the people; but this hath all the distinctions of an house divided against itself; and though the expressions be pleasantly arranged, yet when examined they appear idle and ambiguous; and it will always happen, that the nicest construction that words are capable of, when applied to the description of something which either cannot exist, or is too incomprehensible to be within the compass of description, will be words of sound only, and though they may amuse the ear, they cannot inform the mind, for this explanation includes a previous question, viz. How came the king by a power which the people are afraid to trust, and always obliged to check? Such a power could not be the gift of a wise people, neither can any power, which needs checking, be from God; yet the provision, which the constitution makes, supposes such a power to exist.

But the provision is unequal to the task; the means either cannot or will not accomplish the end, and the whole affair is a felo de se; for as the greater weight will always carry up the less, and as all the wheels of a machine are put in motion by one, it only remains to know which power in the constitution has the most weight, for that will govern; and though the others, or a part of them, may clog, or, as the phrase is, check the rapidity of its motion, yet so long as they cannot stop it, their endeavors will be ineffectual; the first moving power will at last have its way, and what it wants in speed is supplied by time.

That the crown is this overbearing part in the English constitution needs not be mentioned, and that it derives its whole consequence merely from being the giver of places pensions is self evident, wherefore, though we have and wise enough to shut and lock a door against absolute monarchy, we at the same time have been foolish enough to put the crown in possession of the key.

The prejudice of Englishmen, in favor of their own government by king, lords, and commons, arises as much or more from national pride than reason. Individuals are undoubtedly safer in England than in some other countries, but the will of the king is as much the law of the land in Britain as in France, with this difference, that instead of proceeding directly from his mouth, it is handed to the people under the most formidable shape of an act of parliament. For the fate of Charles the First, hath only made kings more subtle not- more just.

Wherefore, laying aside all national pride and prejudice in favor of modes and forms, the plain truth is, that it is wholly owing to the constitution of the people, and not to the constitution of the government that the crown is not as oppressive in England as in Turkey.

An inquiry into the constitutional errors in the English form of government is at this time highly necessary; for as we are never in a proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue under the influence of some leading partiality, so neither are we capable of doing it to ourselves while we remain fettered by any obstinate prejudice. And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute, is unfitted to choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession in favor of a rotten constitution of government will disable us from discerning a good one.

OF MONARCHY AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION

MANKIND being originally equals in the order of creation, the equality could only be destroyed by some subsequent circumstance; the distinctions of rich, and poor, may in a great measure be accounted for, and that without having recourse to the harsh, ill-sounding names of oppression and avarice. Oppression is often the consequence, but seldom or never the means of riches; and though avarice will preserve a man from being necessitously poor, it generally makes him too timorous to be wealthy. But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is, the distinction of men into KINGS and SUBJECTS. Male and female are the distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species, is worth enquiring into, and whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind.

In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology, there were no kings; the consequence of which was there were no wars; it is the pride of kings which throw mankind into confusion. Holland without a king hath enjoyed more peace for this last century than any of the monarchial governments in Europe. Antiquity favors the same remark; for the quiet and rural lives of the first patriarchs hath a happy something in them, which vanishes away when we come to the history of Jewish royalty.

Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom. It was the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot for the promotion of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honors to their deceased kings, and the Christian world hath improved on the plan by doing the same to their living ones. How impious is the title of sacred majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor is crumbling into dust!

As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be justified on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be defended on the authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty, as declared by Gideon and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves of government by kings. All anti-monarchial parts of scripture have been very smoothly glossed over in monarchial governments, but they undoubtedly merit the attention of countries which have their governments yet to form. Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s is the scriptural doctrine of courts, yet it is no support of monarchial government, for the Jews at that time were without a king, and in a state of vassalage to the Romans.

Near three thousand years passed away from the Mosaic account of the creation, till the Jews under a national delusion requested a king. Till then their form of government (except in extraordinary cases, where the Almighty interposed) was a kind of republic administered by a judge and the elders of the tribes. Kings they had none, and it was held sinful to acknowledge any being under that title but the Lords of Hosts. And when a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous homage which is paid to the persons of kings he need not wonder, that the Almighty, ever jealous of his honor, should disapprove of a form of government which so impiously invades the prerogative of heaven.

Monarchy is ranked in scripture as one of the sins of the Jews, for which a curse in reserve is denounced against them. The history of that transaction is worth attending to.

The children of Israel being oppressed by the Midianites, Gideon marched against them with a small army, and victory, through the divine interposition, decided in his favor. The Jews elate with success, and attributing it to the generalship of Gideon, proposed making him a king, saying, Rule thou over us, thou and thy son and thy son’s son. Here was temptation in its fullest extent; not a kingdom only, but an hereditary one, but Gideon in the piety of his soul replied, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you, THE LORD SHALL RULE OVER YOU. Words need not be more explicit; Gideon doth not decline the honor but denieth their right to give it; neither doth be compliment them with invented declarations of his thanks, but in the positive stile of a prophet charges them with disaffection to their proper sovereign, the King of Heaven.

About one hundred and thirty years after this, they fell again into the same error. The hankering which the Jews had for the idolatrous customs of the Heathens, is something exceedingly unaccountable; but so it was, that laying hold of the misconduct of Samuel’s two sons, who were entrusted with some secular concerns, they came in an abrupt and clamorous manner to Samuel, saying, Behold thou art old and thy sons walk not in thy ways, now make us a king to judge us like all the other nations. And here we cannot but observe that their motives were bad, viz., that they might be like unto other nations, i.e., the Heathen, whereas their true glory laid in being as much unlike them as possible. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us; and Samuel prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, THEN I SHOULD NOT REIGN OVER THEM.

According to all the works which have done since the day; wherewith they brought them up out of Egypt, even unto this day; wherewith they have forsaken me and served other Gods; so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice, howbeit, protest solemnly unto them and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them, i.e., not of any particular king, but the general manner of the kings of the earth, whom Israel was so eagerly copying after. And notwithstanding the great distance of time and difference of manners, the character is still in fashion. And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people, that asked of him a king. And he said, This shall be the manner of the king that shall reign over you; he will take your sons and appoint them for himself for his chariots, and to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his chariots (this description agrees with the present mode of impressing men) and he will appoint him captains over thousands and captains over fifties, and will set them to ear his ground and to read his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots; and he will take your daughters to be confectionaries and to be cooks and to be bakers (this describes the expense and luxury as well as the oppression of kings) and he will take your fields and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants; and he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give them to his officers and to his servants (by which we see that bribery, corruption, and favoritism are the standing vices of kings) and he will take the tenth of your men servants, and your maid servants, and your goodliest young men and your asses, and put them to his work; and he will take the tenth of your sheep, and ye shall be his servants, and ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen, AND THE LORD WILL NOT HEAR YOU IN THAT DAY. This accounts for the continuation of monarchy; neither do the characters of the few good kings which have lived since, either sanctify the title, or blot out the sinfulness of the origin; the high encomium given of David takes no notice of him officially as a king, but only as a man after God’s own heart. Nevertheless the People refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, Nay, but we will have a king over us, that we may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us and fight our battles. Samuel continued to reason with them, but to no purpose; he set before them their ingratitude, but all would not avail; and seeing them fully bent on their folly, he cried out, I will call unto the Lord, and he shall sent thunder and rain (which then was a punishment, being the time of wheat harvest) that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great which ye have done in the sight of the Lord, IN ASKING YOU A KING. So Samuel called unto the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God that we die not, for WE HAVE ADDED UNTO OUR SINS THIS EVIL, TO ASK A KING. These portions of scripture are direct and positive. They admit of no equivocal construction. That the Almighty hath here entered his protest against monarchial government is true, or the scripture is false. And a man hath good reason to believe that there is as much of kingcraft, as priestcraft in withholding the scripture from the public in Popish countries. For monarchy in every instance is the Popery of government.

To the evil of monarchy we have added that of hereditary succession; and as the first is a degradation and lessening of ourselves, so the second, claimed as a matter of right, is an insult and an imposition on posterity. For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others for ever, and though himself might deserve some decent degree of honors of his contemporaries, yet his descendants might be far too unworthy to inherit them. One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion.

Secondly, as no man at first could possess any other public honors than were bestowed upon him, so the givers of those honors could have no power to give away the right of posterity, and though they might say, “We choose you for our head,” they could not, without manifest injustice to their children, say, “that your children and your children’s children shall reign over ours for ever.” Because such an unwise, unjust, unnatural compact might (perhaps) in the next succession put them under the government of a rogue or a fool. Most wise men, in their private sentiments, have ever treated hereditary right with contempt; yet it is one of those evils, which when once established is not easily removed; many submit from fear, others from superstition, and the more powerful part shares with the king the plunder of the rest.

This is supposing the present race of kings in the world to have had an honorable origin; whereas it is more than probable, that could we take off the dark covering of antiquity, and trace them to their first rise, that we should find the first of them nothing better than the principal ruffian of some restless gang, whose savage manners of preeminence in subtlety obtained him the title of chief among plunderers; and who by increasing in power, and extending his depredations, overawed the quiet and defenseless to purchase their safety by frequent contributions. Yet his electors could have no idea of giving hereditary right to his descendants, because such a perpetual exclusion of themselves was incompatible with the free and unrestrained principles they professed to live by. Wherefore, hereditary succession in the early ages of monarchy could not take place as a matter of claim, but as something casual or complemental; but as few or no records were extant in those days, and traditionary history stuffed with fables, it was very easy, after the lapse of a few generations, to trump up some superstitious tale, conveniently timed, Mahomet like, to cram hereditary right down the throats of the vulgar. Perhaps the disorders which threatened, or seemed to threaten on the decease of a leader and the choice of a new one (for elections among ruffians could not be very orderly) induced many at first to favor hereditary pretensions; by which means it happened, as it hath happened since, that what at first was submitted to as a convenience, was afterwards claimed as a right.

England, since the conquest, hath known some few good monarchs, but groaned beneath a much larger number of bad ones, yet no man in his senses can say that their claim under William the Conqueror is a very honorable one. A French bastard landing with an armed banditti, and establishing himself king of England against the consent of the natives, is in plain terms a very paltry rascally original. It certainly hath no divinity in it. However, it is needless to spend much time in exposing the folly of hereditary right, if there are any so weak as to believe it, let them promiscuously worship the ass and lion, and welcome. I shall neither copy their humility, nor disturb their devotion.

Yet I should be glad to ask how they suppose kings came at first? The question admits but of three answers, viz., either by lot, by election, or by usurpation. If the first king was taken by lot, it establishes a precedent for the next, which excludes hereditary succession. Saul was by lot, yet the succession was not hereditary, neither does it appear from that transaction there was any intention it ever should. If the first king of any country was by election, that likewise establishes a precedent for the next; for to say, that the right of all future generations is taken away, by the act of the first electors, in their choice not only of a king, but of a family of kings for ever, hath no parallel in or out of scripture but the doctrine of original sin, which supposes the free will of all men lost in Adam; and from such comparison, and it will admit of no other, hereditary succession can derive no glory. For as in Adam all sinned, and as in the first electors all men obeyed; as in the one all mankind were subjected to Satan, and in the other to Sovereignty; as our innocence was lost in the first, and our authority in the last; and as both disable us from reassuming some former state and privilege, it unanswerably follows that original sin and hereditary succession are parallels. Dishonorable rank! Inglorious connection! Yet the most subtle sophist cannot produce a juster simile.

As to usurpation, no man will be so hardy as to defend it; and that William the Conqueror was an usurper is a fact not to be contradicted. The plain truth is, that the antiquity of English monarchy will not bear looking into.

But it is not so much the absurdity as the evil of hereditary succession which concerns mankind. Did it ensure a race of good and wise men it would have the seal of divine authority, but as it opens a door to the foolish, the wicked; and the improper, it hath in it the nature of oppression. Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions.

Another evil which attends hereditary succession is, that the throne is subject to be possessed by a minor at any age; all which time the regency, acting under the cover of a king, have every opportunity and inducement to betray their trust. The same national misfortune happens, when a king worn out with age and infirmity, enters the last stage of human weakness. In both these cases the public becomes a prey to every miscreant, who can tamper successfully with the follies either of age or infancy.

The most plausible plea, which hath ever been offered in favor of hereditary succession, is, that it preserves a nation from civil wars; and were this true, it would be weighty; whereas, it is the most barefaced falsity ever imposed upon mankind. The whole history of England disowns the fact. Thirty kings and two minors have reigned in that distracted kingdom since the conquest, in which time there have been (including the Revolution) no less than eight civil wars and nineteen rebellions. Wherefore instead of making for peace, it makes against it, and destroys the very foundation it seems to stand on.

The contest for monarchy and succession, between the houses of York and Lancaster, laid England in a scene of blood for many years. Twelve pitched battles, besides skirmishes and sieges, were fought between Henry and Edward. Twice was Henry prisoner to Edward, who in his turn was prisoner to Henry. And so uncertain is the fate of war and the temper of a nation, when nothing but personal matters are the ground of a quarrel, that Henry was taken in triumph from a prison to a palace, and Edward obliged to fly from a palace to a foreign land; yet, as sudden transitions of temper are seldom lasting, Henry in his turn was driven from the throne, and Edward recalled to succeed him. The parliament always following the strongest side.

This contest began in the reign of Henry the Sixth, and was not entirely extinguished till Henry the Seventh, in whom the families were united. Including a period of 67 years, viz., from 1422 to 1489.

In short, monarchy and succession have laid (not this or that kingdom only) but the world in blood and ashes. ‘Tis a form of government which the word of God bears testimony against, and blood will attend it.

If we inquire into the business of a king, we shall find that (in some countries they have none) and after sauntering away their lives without pleasure to themselves or advantage to the nation, withdraw from the scene, and leave their successors to tread the same idle round. In absolute monarchies the whole weight of business civil and military, lies on the king; the children of Israel in their request for a king, urged this plea “that he may judge us, and go out before us and fight our battles.” But in countries where he is neither a judge nor a general, as in England, a man would be puzzled to know what is his business.

The nearer any government approaches to a republic, the less business there is for a king. It is somewhat difficult to find a proper name for the government of England. Sir William Meredith calls it a republic; but in its present state it is unworthy of the name, because the corrupt influence If the crown, by having all the places in its disposal, hath so effectually swallowed up the power, and eaten out the virtue of the house of commons (the republican part in the constitution) that the government of England is nearly as monarchical as that of France or Spain. Men fall out with names without understanding them. For it is the republican and not the monarchical part of the constitution of England which Englishmen glory in, viz., the liberty of choosing a house of commons from out of their own body- and it is easy to see that when the republican virtue fails, slavery ensues. My is the constitution of England sickly, but because monarchy hath poisoned the republic, the crown hath engrossed the commons?

In England a king hath little more to do than to make war and give away places; which in plain terms, is to impoverish the nation and set it together by the ears. A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and worshipped into the bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.

THOUGHTS OF THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS

IN the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense; and have no other preliminaries to settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to determine for themselves; that he will put on, or rather that he will not put off the true character of a man, and generously enlarge his views beyond the present day.

Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between England and America. Men of all ranks have embarked in the controversy, from different motives, and with various designs; but all have been ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms, as the last resource, decide the contest; the appeal was the choice of the king, and the continent hath accepted the challenge.

It hath been reported of the late Mr. Pelham (who tho’ an able minister was not without his faults) that on his being attacked in the house of commons, on the score, that his measures were only of a temporary kind, replied, “they will fast my time.” Should a thought so fatal and unmanly possess the colonies in the present contest, the name of ancestors will be remembered by future generations with detestation.

The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. ‘Tis not the affair of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom, but of a continent- of at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. ‘Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected, even to the end of time, by the proceedings now. Now is the seed time of continental union, faith and honor. The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak; The wound will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown characters.

By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new area for politics is struck; a new method of thinking hath arisen. All plans, proposals, &c. prior to the nineteenth of April, i.e., to the commencement of hostilities, are like the almanacs of the last year; which, though proper then, are superseded and useless now. Whatever was advanced by the advocates on either side of the question then, terminated in one and the same point, viz., a union with Great Britain; the only difference between the parties was the method of effecting it; the one proposing force, the other friendship; but it hath so far happened that the first hath failed, and the second hath withdrawn her influence.

As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation, which, like an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, it is but right, that we should examine the contrary side of the argument, and inquire into some of the many material injuries which these colonies sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected with, and dependant on Great Britain. To examine that connection and dependance, on the principles of nature and common sense, to see what we have to trust to, if separated, and what we are to expect, if dependant.

I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished under her former connection with Great Britain, that the same connection is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We may as well assert, that because a child has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat; or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting more than is true, for I answer roundly, that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power had any thing to do with her. The commerce by which she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe.

But she has protected us, say some. That she hath engrossed us is true, and defended the continent at our expense as well as her own is admitted, and she would have defended Turkey from the same motive, viz., the sake of trade and dominion.

Alas! we have been long led away by ancient prejudices and made large sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted the protection of Great Britain, without considering, that her motive was interest not attachment; that she did not protect us from our enemies on our account, but from her enemies on her own account, from those who had no quarrel with us on any other account, and who will always be our enemies on the same account. Let Britain wave her pretensions to the continent, or the continent throw off the dependance, and we should be at peace with France and Spain were they at war with Britain. The miseries of Hanover last war, ought to warn us against connections.

It hath lately been asserted in parliament, that the colonies have no relation to each other but through the parent country, i.e., that Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, and so on for the rest, are sister colonies by the way of England; this is certainly a very roundabout way of proving relation ship, but it is the nearest and only true way of proving enemyship, if I may so call it. France and Spain never were, nor perhaps ever will be our enemies as Americans, but as our being the subjects of Great Britain.

But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young; nor savages make war upon their families; wherefore the assertion, if true, turns to her reproach; but it happens not to be true, or only partly so, and the phrase parent or mother country hath been jesuitically adopted by the king and his parasites, with a low papistical design of gaining an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds. Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America. This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers off civil and religious liberty from every Part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home pursues their descendants still.

In this extensive quarter of the globe, we forget the narrow limits of three hundred and sixty miles (the extent of England) and carry our friendship on a larger scale; we claim brotherhood with every European Christian, and triumph in the generosity of the sentiment.

It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations we surmount the force of local prejudice, as we enlarge our acquaintance with the world. A man born in any town in England divided into parishes, will naturally associate most with his fellow parishioners (because their interests in many cases will be common) and distinguish him by the name of neighbor; if he meet him but a few miles from home, he drops the narrow idea of a street, and salutes him by the name of townsman; if he travels out of the county, and meet him in any other, he forgets the minor divisions of street and town, and calls him countryman; i.e., countyman; but if in their foreign excursions they should associate in France or any other part of Europe, their local remembrance would be enlarged into that of Englishmen. And by a just parity of reasoning, all Europeans meeting in America, or any other quarter of the globe, are countrymen; for England, Holland, Germany, or Sweden, when compared with the whole, stand in the same places on the larger scale, which the divisions of street, town, and county do on the smaller ones; distinctions too limited for continental minds. Not one third of the inhabitants, even of this province, are of English descent. Wherefore, I reprobate the phrase of parent or mother country applied to England only, as being false, selfish, narrow and ungenerous.

But admitting that we were all of English descent, what does it amount to? Nothing. Britain, being now an open enemy, extinguishes every other name and title: And to say that reconciliation is our duty, is truly farcical. The first king of England, of the present line (William the Conqueror) was a Frenchman, and half the peers of England are descendants from the same country; wherefore by the same method of reasoning, England ought to be governed by France.

Much hath been said of the united strength of Britain and the colonies, that in conjunction they might bid defiance to the world. But this is mere presumption; the fate of war is uncertain, neither do the expressions mean anything; for this continent would never suffer itself to be drained of inhabitants to support the British arms in either Asia, Africa, or Europe.

Besides, what have we to do with setting the world at defiance? Our plan is commerce, and that, well attended to,will secure us the peace and friendship of all Europe; because it is the interest of all Europe to have America a free port. Her trade will always be a protection, and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her from invaders.

I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation, to show, a single advantage that this continent can reap, by being connected with Great Britain. I repeat the challenge, not a single advantage is derived. Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe, and our imported goods must be paid for buy them where we will.

But the injuries and disadvantages we sustain by that connection, are without number; and our duty to mankind I at large, as well as to ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance: Because, any submission to, or dependance on Great Britain, tends directly to involve this continent in European wars and quarrels; and sets us at variance with nations, who would otherwise seek our friendship, and against whom, we have neither anger nor complaint. As Europe is our market for trade, we ought to form no partial connection with any part of it. It is the true interest of America to steer clear of European contentions, which she never can do, while by her dependance on Britain, she is made the make-weight in the scale of British politics.

Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be long at peace, and whenever a war breaks out between England and any foreign power, the trade of America goes to ruin, because of her connection with Britain. The next war may not turn out like the Past, and should it not, the advocates for reconciliation now will be wishing for separation then, because, neutrality in that case, would be a safer convoy than a man of war. Every thing that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, ’tis time to part. Even the distance at which the Almighty hath placed England and America, is a strong and natural proof, that the authority of the one, over the other, was never the design of Heaven. The time likewise at which the continent was discovered, adds weight to the argument, and the manner in which it was peopled increases the force of it. The reformation was preceded by the discovery of America, as if the Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary to the persecuted in future years, when home should afford neither friendship nor safety.

The authority of Great Britain over this continent, is a form of government, which sooner or later must have an end: And a serious mind can draw no true pleasure by looking forward, under the painful and positive conviction, that what he calls “the present constitution” is merely temporary. As parents, we can have no joy, knowing that this government is not sufficiently lasting to ensure any thing which we may bequeath to posterity: And by a plain method of argument, as we are running the next generation into debt, we ought to do the work of it, otherwise we use them meanly and pitifully. In order to discover the line of our duty rightly, we should take our children in our hand, and fix our station a few years farther into life; that eminence will present a prospect, which a few present fears and prejudices conceal from our sight.

Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offence, yet I am inclined to believe, that all those who espouse the doctrine of reconciliation, may be included within the following descriptions:

Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men who cannot see; prejudiced men who will not see; and a certain set of moderate men, who think better of the European world than it deserves; and this last class by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more calamities to this continent than all the other three.

It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the scene of sorrow; the evil is not sufficiently brought to their doors to make them feel the precariousness with which all American property is possessed. But let our imaginations transport us for a few moments to Boston, that seat of wretchedness will teach us wisdom, and instruct us for ever to renounce a power in whom we can have no trust. The inhabitants of that unfortunate city, who but a few months ago were in ease and affluence, have now no other alternative than to stay and starve, or turn out to beg. Endangered by the fire of their friends if they continue within the city, and plundered by the soldiery if they leave it. In their present condition they are prisoners without the hope of redemption, and in a general attack for their relief, they would be exposed to the fury of both armies.

Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offenses of Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, Come we shall be friends again for all this. But examine the passions and feelings of mankind. Bring the doctrine of reconciliation to the touchstone of nature, and then tell me, whether you can hereafter love, honor, and faithfully serve the power that hath carried fire and sword into your land? If you cannot do all these, then are you only deceiving yourselves, and by your delay bringing ruin upon posterity. Your future connection with Britain, whom you can neither love nor honor, will be forced and unnatural, and being formed only on the plan of present convenience, will in a little time fall into a relapse more wretched than the first. But if you say, you can still pass the violations over, then I ask, Hath your house been burnt? Hath you property been destroyed before your face? Are your wife and children destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you lost a parent or a child by their hands, and yourself the ruined and wretched survivor? If you have not, then are you not a judge of those who have. But if you have, and can still shake hands with the murderers, then are you unworthy the name of husband, father, friend, or lover, and whatever may be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a coward, and the spirit of a sycophant.

This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but trying them by those feelings and affections which nature justifies, and without which, we should be incapable of discharging the social duties of life, or enjoying the felicities of it. I mean not to exhibit horror for the purpose of provoking revenge, but to awaken us from fatal and unmanly slumbers, that we may pursue determinately some fixed object. It is not in the power of Britain or of Europe to conquer America, if she do not conquer herself by delay and timidity. The present winter is worth an age if rightly employed, but if lost or neglected, the whole continent will partake of the misfortune; and there is no punishment which that man will not deserve, be he who, or what, or where he will, that may be the means of sacrificing a season so precious and useful.

It is repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things, to all examples from the former ages, to suppose, that this continent can longer remain subject to any external power. The most sanguine in Britain does not think so. The utmost stretch of human wisdom cannot, at this time compass a plan short of separation, which can promise the continent even a year’s security. Reconciliation is was a fallacious dream. Nature hath deserted the connection, and Art cannot supply her place. For, as Milton wisely expresses, “never can true reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep.”

Every quiet method for peace hath been ineffectual. Our prayers have been rejected with disdain; and only tended to convince us, that nothing flatters vanity, or confirms obstinacy in kings more than repeated petitioning- and nothing hath contributed more than that very measure to make the kings of Europe absolute: Witness Denmark and Sweden. Wherefore since nothing but blows will do, for God’s sake, let us come to a final separation, and not leave the next generation to be cutting throats, under the violated unmeaning names of parent and child.

To say, they will never attempt it again is idle and visionary, we thought so at the repeal of the stamp act, yet a year or two undeceived us; as well me we may suppose that nations, which have been once defeated, will never renew the quarrel.

As to government matters, it is not in the powers of Britain to do this continent justice: The business of it will soon be too weighty, and intricate, to be managed with any tolerable degree of convenience, by a power, so distant from us, and so very ignorant of us; for if they cannot conquer us, they cannot govern us. To be always running three or four thousand miles with a tale or a petition, waiting four or five months for an answer, which when obtained requires five or six more to explain it in, will in a few years be looked upon as folly and childishness- there was a time when it was proper, and there is a proper time for it to cease.

Small islands not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island. In no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than its primary planet, and as England and America, with respect to each Other, reverses the common order of nature, it is evident they belong to different systems: England to Europe- America to itself.

I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or resentment to espouse the doctrine of separation and independence; I am clearly, positively, and conscientiously persuaded that it is the true interest of this continent to be so; that every thing short of that is mere patchwork, that it can afford no lasting felicity,- that it is leaving the sword to our children, and shrinking back at a time, when, a little more, a little farther, would have rendered this continent the glory of the earth.

As Britain hath not manifested the least inclination towards a compromise, we may be assured that no terms can be obtained worthy the acceptance of the continent, or any ways equal to the expense of blood and treasure we have been already put to.

The object contended for, ought always to bear some just proportion to the expense. The removal of the North, or the whole detestable junto, is a matter unworthy the millions we have expended. A temporary stoppage of trade, was an inconvenience, which would have sufficiently balanced the repeal of all the acts complained of, had such repeals been obtained; but if the whole continent must take up arms, if every man must be a soldier, it is scarcely worth our while to fight against a contemptible ministry only. Dearly, dearly, do we pay for the repeal of the acts, if that is all we fight for; for in a just estimation, it is as great a folly to pay a Bunker Hill price for law, as for land. As I have always considered the independency of this continent, as an event, which sooner or later must arrive, so from the late rapid progress of the continent to maturity, the event could not be far off. Wherefore, on the breaking out of hostilities, it was not worth the while to have disputed a matter, which time would have finally redressed, unless we meant to be in earnest; otherwise, it is like wasting an estate of a suit at law, to regulate the trespasses of a tenant, whose lease is just expiring. No man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than myself, before the fatal nineteenth of April, 1775 (Massacre at Lexington), but the moment the event of that day was made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen tempered Pharaoh of England for ever; and disdain the wretch, that with the pretended title of Father of his people, can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul.

But admitting that matters were now made up, what would be the event? I answer, the ruin of the continent. And that for several reasons:

First. The powers of governing still remaining in the hands of the king, he will have a negative over the whole legislation of this continent. And as he hath shown himself such an inveterate enemy to liberty, and discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power, is he, or is he not, a proper man to say to these colonies, “You shall make no laws but what I please?” And is there any inhabitants in America so ignorant, as not to know, that according to what is called the present constitution, that this continent can make no laws but what the king gives leave to? and is there any man so unwise, as not to see, that (considering what has happened) he will suffer no Law to be made here, but such as suit his purpose? We may be as effectually enslaved by the want of laws in America, as by submitting to laws made for us in England. After matters are make up (as it is called) can there be any doubt but the whole power of the crown will be exerted, to keep this continent as low and humble as possible? Instead of going forward we shall go backward, or be perpetually quarrelling or ridiculously petitioning. We are already greater than the king wishes us to be, and will he not hereafter endeavor to make us less? To bring the matter to one point. Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us? Whoever says No to this question is an independent, for independency means no more, than, whether we shall make our own laws, or whether the king, the greatest enemy this continent hath, or can have, shall tell us, “there shall be now laws but such as I like.”

But the king you will say has a negative in England; the people there can make no laws without his consent. in point of right and good order, there is something very ridiculous, that a youth of twenty-one (which hath often happened) shall say to several millions of people, older and wiser than himself, I forbid this or that act of yours to be law. But in this place I decline this sort of reply, though I will never cease to expose the absurdity of it, and only answer, that England being the king’s residence, and America not so, make quite another case. The king’s negative here is ten times more dangerous and fatal than it can be in England, for there he will scarcely refuse his consent to a bill for putting England into as strong a state of defence as possible, and in America he would never suffer such a bill to be passed.

America is only a secondary object in the system of British politics- England consults the good of this country, no farther than it answers her own purpose. Wherefore, her own interest leads her to suppress the growth of ours in every case which doth not promote her advantage, or in the least interfere with it. A pretty state we should soon be in under such a second-hand government, considering what has happened! Men do not change from enemies to friends by the alteration of a name; and in order to show that reconciliation now is a dangerous doctrine, I affirm, that it would be policy in the kingdom at this time, to repeal the acts for the sake of reinstating himself in the government of the provinces; in order, that he may accomplish by craft and subtlety, in the long run, wha he cannot do by force ans violence in the short one. Reconciliation and ruin are nearly related.

Secondly. That as even the best terms, which we can expect to obtain, can amount to no more than a temporary expedient, or a kind of government by guardianship, which can last no longer than till the colonies come of age, so the general face and state of things, in the interim, will be unsettled and unpromising. Emigrants of property will not choose to come to a country whose form of government hangs but by a thread, and who is every day tottering on the brink of commotion and disturbance; and numbers of the present inhabitant would lay hold of the interval, to dispose of their effects, and quit the continent.

But the most powerful of all arguments, is, that nothing but independence, i.e., a continental form of government, can keep the peace of the continent and preserve it inviolate from civil wars. I dread the event of a reconciliation with Britain now, as it is more than probable, that it will be followed by a revolt somewhere or other, the consequences of which may be far more fatal than all the malice of Britain.

Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity; (thousands more will probably suffer the same fate.) Those men have other feelings than us who have nothing suffered. All they now possess is liberty, what they before enjoyed is sacrificed to its service, and having nothing more to lose, they disdain submission. Besides, the general temper of the colonies, towards a British government, will be like that of a youth, who is nearly out of his time, they will care very little about her. And a government which cannot preserve the peace, is no government at all, and in that case we pay our money for nothing; and pray what is it that Britain can do, whose power will be wholly on paper, should a civil tumult break out the very day after reconciliation? I have heard some men say, many of whom I believe spoke without thinking, that they dreaded independence, fearing that it would produce civil wars. It is but seldom that our first thoughts are truly correct, and that is the case here; for there are ten times more to dread from a patched up connection than from independence. I make the sufferers case my own, and I protest, that were I driven from house and home, my property destroyed, and my circumstances ruined, that as man, sensible of injuries, I could never relish the doctrine of reconciliation, or consider myself bound thereby.

The colonies have manifested such a spirit of good order and obedience to continental government, as is sufficient to make every reasonable person easy and happy on that head. No man can assign the least pretence for his fears, on any other grounds, that such as are truly childish and ridiculous, viz., that one colony will be striving for superiority over another.

Where there are no distinctions there can be no superiority, perfect equality affords no temptation. The republics of Europe are all (and we may say always) in peace. Holland and Switzerland are without wars, foreign or domestic; monarchical governments, it is true, are never long at rest: the crown itself is a temptation to enterprising ruffians at home; and that degree of pride and insolence ever attendant on regal authority swells into a rupture with foreign powers, in instances where a republican government, by being formed on more natural principles, would negotiate the mistake.

If there is any true cause of fear respecting independence it is because no plan is yet laid down. Men do not see their way out; wherefore, as an opening into that business I offer the following hints; at the same time modestly affirming, that I have no other opinion of them myself, than that they may be the means of giving rise to something better. Could the straggling thoughts of individuals be collected, they would frequently form materials for wise and able men to improve to useful matter.

Let the assemblies be annual, with a President only. The representation more equal. Their business wholly domestic, and subject to the authority of a continental congress.

Let each colony be divided into six, eight, or ten, convenient districts, each district to send a proper number of delegates to congress, so that each colony send at least thirty. The whole number in congress will be at least three hundred ninety. Each congress to sit….. and to choose a president by the following method. When the delegates are met, let a colony be taken from the whole thirteen colonies by lot, after which let the whole congress choose (by ballot) a president from out of the delegates of that province. I the next Congress, let a colony be taken by lot from twelve only, omitting that colony from which the president was taken in the former congress, and so proceeding on till the whole thirteen shall have had their proper rotation. And in order that nothing may pass into a law but what is satisfactorily just, not less than three fifths of the congress to be called a majority. He that will promote discord, under a government so equally formed as this, would join Lucifer in his revolt.

But as there is a peculiar delicacy, from whom, or in what manner, this business must first arise, and as it seems most agreeable and consistent, that it should come from some intermediate body between the governed and the governors, that is between the Congress and the people, let a Continental Conference be held, in the following manner, and for the following purpose:

A committee of twenty-six members of Congress, viz., two for each colony. Two members for each house of assembly, or provincial convention; and five representatives of the people at large, to be chosen in the capital city or town of each province, for, and in behalf of the whole province, by as many qualified voters as shall think proper to attend from all parts of the province for that purpose; or, if more convenient, the representatives may be chosen in two or three of the most populous parts thereof. In this conference, thus assembled, will be united, the two grand principles of business, knowledge and power. The members of Congress, Assemblies, or Conventions, by having had experience in national concerns, will be able and useful counsellors, and the whole, being empowered by the people will have a truly legal authority.

The conferring members being met, let their business be to frame a Continental Charter, or Charter of the United Colonies; (answering to what is called the Magna Charta of England) fixing the number and manner of choosing members of Congress, members of Assembly, with their date of sitting, and drawing the line of business and jurisdiction between them: always remembering, that our strength is continental, not provincial: Securing freedom and property to all men, and above all things the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; with such other matter as is necessary for a charter to contain. Immediately after which, the said conference to dissolve, and the bodies which shall be chosen conformable to the said charter, to be the legislators and governors of this continent for the time being: Whose peace and happiness, may God preserve, Amen.

Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for this or some similar purpose, I offer them the following extracts from that wise observer on governments Dragonetti. “The science” says he, “of the politician consists in fixing the true point of happiness and freedom. Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages, who should discover a mode of government that contained the greatest sum of individual happiness, with the least national expense.”- Dragonetti on Virtue and Rewards.

But where says some is the king of America? I’ll tell you Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America the law is king. For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it is.

A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become convinced, that it is in finitely wiser and safer, to form a constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance. If we omit it now, some Massenello* may hereafter arise, who laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the desperate and the discontented, and by assuming to themselves the powers of government, may sweep away the liberties of the continent like a deluge. Should the government of America return again into the hands of Britain, the tottering situation of things, will be a temptation for some desperate adventurer to try his fortune; and in such a case, what relief can Britain give? Ere she could hear the news the fatal business might be done, and ourselves suffering like the wretched Britons under the oppression of the Conqueror. Ye that oppose independence now, ye know not what ye do; ye are opening a door to eternal tyranny, by keeping vacant the seat of government.

(*Thomas Anello, otherwise Massenello, a fisherman of Naples, who after spiriting up his countrymen in the public market place, against the oppression of the Spaniards, to whom the place was then subject, prompted them to revolt, and in the space of a day became king.)

There are thousands and tens of thousands; who would think it glorious to expel from the continent, that barbarous and hellish power, which hath stirred up the Indians and Negroes to destroy us; the cruelty hath a double guilt, it is dealing brutally by us, and treacherously by them. To talk of friendship with those in whom our reason forbids us to have faith, and our affections, (wounded through a thousand pores) instruct us to detest, is madness and folly. Every day wears out the little remains of kindred between us and them, and can there be any reason to hope, that as the relationship expires, the affection will increase, or that we shall agree better, when we have ten times more and greater concerns to quarrel over than ever?

Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore to us the time that is past? Can ye give to prostitution its former innocence? Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last cord now is broken, the people of England are presenting addresses against us. There are injuries which nature cannot forgive; she would cease to be nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive the ravisher of his mistress, as the continent forgive the murders of Britain. The Almighty hath implanted in us these inextinguishable feelings for good and wise purposes. They are the guardians of his image in our hearts. They distinguish us from the herd of common animals. The social compact would dissolve, and justice be extirpated the earth, of have only a casual existence were we callous to the touches of affection. The robber and the murderer, would often escape unpunished, did not the injuries which our tempers sustain, provoke us into justice.

O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and Africa, have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.

OF THE PRESENT ABILITY OF AMERICA, WITH SOME MISCELLANEOUS REFLECTIONS

I HAVE never met with a man, either in England or America, who hath not confessed his opinion, that a separation between the countries, would take place one time or other. And there is no instance in which we have shown less judgment, than in endeavoring to describe, what we call, the ripeness or fitness of the Continent for independence.

As all men allow the measure, and vary only in their opinion of the time, let us, in order to remove mistakes, take a general survey of things and endeavor if possible, to find out the very time. But we need not go far, the inquiry ceases at once, for the time hath found us. The general concurrence, the glorious union of all things prove the fact.

It is not in numbers but in unity, that our great strength lies; yet our present numbers are sufficient to repel the force of all the world. The Continent hath, at this time, the largest body of armed and disciplined men of any power under Heaven; and is just arrived at that pitch of strength, in which no single colony is able to support itself, and the whole, who united can accomplish the matter, and either more, or, less than this, might be fatal in its effects. Our land force is already sufficient, and as to naval affairs, we cannot be insensible, that Britain would never suffer an American man of war to be built while the continent remained in her hands. Wherefore we should be no forwarder an hundred years hence in that branch, than we are now; but the truth is, we should be less so, because the timber of the country is every day diminishing, and that which will remain at last, will be far off and difficult to procure.

Were the continent crowded with inhabitants, her sufferings under the present circumstances would be intolerable. The more sea port towns we had, the more should we have both to defend and to loose. Our present numbers are so happily proportioned to our wants, that no man need be idle. The diminution of trade affords an army, and the necessities of an army create a new trade. Debts we have none; and whatever we may contract on this account will serve as a glorious memento of our virtue. Can we but leave posterity with a settled form of government, an independent constitution of its own, the purchase at any price will be cheap. But to expend millions for the sake of getting a few we acts repealed, and routing the present ministry only, is unworthy the charge, and is using posterity with the utmost cruelty; because it is leaving them the great work to do, and a debt upon their backs, from which they derive no advantage. Such a thought is unworthy a man of honor, and is the true characteristic of a narrow heart and a peddling politician.

The debt we may contract doth not deserve our regard if the work be but accomplished. No nation ought to be without a debt. A national debt is a national bond; and when it bears no interest, is in no case a grievance. Britain is oppressed with a debt of upwards of one hundred and forty millions sterling, for which she pays upwards of four millions interest. And as a compensation for her debt, she has a large navy; America is without a debt, and without a navy; yet for the twentieth part of the English national debt, could have a navy as large again. The navy of England is not worth, at this time, more than three millions and a half sterling.

The first and second editions of this pamphlet were published without the following calculations, which are now given as a proof that the above estimation of the navy is a just one. (See Entick’s naval history, intro. page 56.)

The charge of building a ship of each rate, and furnishing her with masts, yards, sails and rigging, together with a proportion of eight months boatswain’s and carpenter’s sea-stores, as calculated by Mr. Burchett, Secretary to the navy, is as follows:
For a ship of 100 guns £35,553
90 £29,886
80 £23,638
70 £17,785
60 £14,197
50 £10,606
40 £7,558
30 £5,846
20 £3,710

And from hence it is easy to sum up the value, or cost rather, of the whole British navy, which in the year 1757, when it was as its greatest glory consisted of the following ships and guns:
Ships Guns Cost of one Cost of all
6 100 £35,533 £213,318
12 90 £29,886 £358,632
12 80 £23,638 £283,656
43 70 £17,785 £746,755
35 60 £14,197 £496,895
40 50 £10,606 £424,240
45 40 £7,758 £344,110
58 20 £3,710 £215,180
85 Sloops, bombs,
and fireships, one another £2,000 £170,000

Cost £3,266,786
Remains for guns £229,214
Total £3,500,000

No country on the globe is so happily situated, so internally capable of raising a fleet as America. Tar, timber, iron, and cordage are her natural produce. We need go abroad for nothing. Whereas the Dutch, who make large profits by hiring out their ships of war to the Spaniards and Portuguese, are obliged to import most of the materials they use. We ought to view the building a fleet as an article of commerce, it being the natural manufactory of this country. It is the best money we can lay out. A navy when finished is worth more than it cost. And is that nice point in national policy, in which commerce and protection are united. Let us build; if we want them not, we can sell; and by that means replace our paper currency with ready gold and silver.

In point of manning a fleet, people in general run into great errors; it is not necessary that one-fourth part should be sailors. The privateer Terrible, Captain Death, stood the hottest engagement of any ship last war, yet had not twenty sailors on board, though her complement of men was upwards of two hundred. A few able and social sailors will soon instruct a sufficient number of active landsmen in the common work of a ship. Wherefore, we never can be more capable to begin on maritime matters than now, while our timber is standing, our fisheries blocked up, and our sailors and shipwrights out of employ. Men of war of seventy and eighty guns were built forty years ago in New England, and why not the same now? Ship building is America’s greatest pride, and in which, she will in time excel the whole world. The great empires of the east are mostly inland, and consequently excluded from the possibility of rivalling her. Africa is in a state of barbarism; and no power in Europe, hath either such an extent or coast, or such an internal supply of materials. Where nature hath given the one, she has withheld the other; to America only hath she been liberal of both. The vast empire of Russia is almost shut out from the sea; wherefore, her boundless forests, her tar, iron, and cordage are only articles of commerce.

In point of safety, ought we to be without a fleet? We are not the little people now, which we were sixty years ago; at that time we might have trusted our property in the streets, or fields rather; and slept securely without locks or bolts to our doors or windows. The case now is altered, and our methods of defence ought to improve with our increase of property. A common pirate, twelve months ago, might have come up the Delaware, and laid the city of Philadelphia under instant contribution, for what sum he pleased; and the same might have happened to other places. Nay, any daring fellow, in a brig of fourteen or sixteen guns, might have robbed the whole Continent, and carried off half a million of money. These are circumstances which demand our attention, and point out the necessity of naval protection.

Some, perhaps, will say, that after we have made it up with Britain, she will protect us. Can we be so unwise as to mean, that she shall keep a navy in our harbors for that purpose? Common sense will tell us, that the power which hath endeavored to subdue us, is of all others the most improper to defend us. Conquest may be effected under the pretence of friendship; and ourselves, after a long and brave resistance, be at last cheated into slavery. And if her ships are not to be admitted into our harbors, I would ask, how is she to protect us? A navy three or four thousand miles off can be of little use, and on sudden emergencies, none at all. Wherefore, if we must hereafter protect ourselves, why not do it for ourselves? Why do it for another.

The English list of ships of war is long and formidable, but not a tenth part of them are at any one time fit for service, numbers of them not in being; yet their names are pompously continued in the list, if only a plank be left of the ship: and not a fifth part, of such as are fit for service, can be spared on any one station at one time. The East, and West Indies, Mediterranean, Africa, and other parts over which Britain extends her claim, make large demands upon her navy. From a mixture of prejudice and inattention, we have contracted a false notion respecting the navy of England, and have talked as if we should have the whole of it to encounter at once, and for that reason, supposed that we must have one as large; which not being instantly practicable, have been made use of by a set of disguised tories to discourage our beginning thereon. Nothing can be farther from truth than this; for if America had only a twentieth part of the naval force of Britain, she would be by far an over match for her; because, as we neither have, nor claim any foreign dominion, our whole force would be employed on our own coast, where we should, in the long run, have two to one the advantage of those who had three or four thousand miles to sail over, before they could attack us, and the same distance to return in order to refit and recruit. And although Britain by her fleet, hath a check over our trade to Europe, we have as large a one over her trade to the West Indies, which, by laying in the neighborhood of the Continent, is entirely at its mercy.

Some method might be fallen on to keep up a naval force in time of peace, if we should not judge it necessary to support a constant navy. If premiums were to be given to merchants, to build and employ in their service, ships mounted with twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty guns, (the premiums to be in proportion to the loss of bulk to the merchants) fifty or sixty of those ships, with a few guard ships on constant duty, would keep up a sufficient navy, and that without burdening ourselves with the evil so loudly complained of in England, of suffering their fleet, in time of peace to lie rotting in the docks. To unite the sinews of commerce and defence is sound policy; for when our strength and our riches, play into each other’s hand, we need fear no external enemy.

In almost every article of defence we abound. Hemp flourishes even to rankness, so that we need not want cordage. Our iron is superior to that of other countries. Our small arms equal to any in the world. Cannon we can cast at pleasure. Saltpetre and gunpowder we are every day producing. Our knowledge is hourly improving. Resolution is our inherent character, and courage hath never yet forsaken us. Wherefore, what is it that we want? Why is it that we hesitate? From Britain we can expect nothing but ruin. If she is once admitted to the government of America again, this Continent will not be worth living in. Jealousies will be always arising; insurrections will be constantly happening; and who will go forth to quell them? Who will venture his life to reduce his own countrymen to a foreign obedience? The difference between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, respecting some unlocated lands, shows the insignificance of a British government, and fully proves, that nothing but Continental authority can regulate Continental matters.

Another reason why the present time is preferable to all others, is, that the fewer our numbers are, the more land there is yet unoccupied, which instead of being lavished by the king on his worthless dependents, may be hereafter applied, not only to the discharge of the present debt, but to the constant support of government. No nation under heaven hath such an advantage as this.

The infant state of the Colonies, as it is called, so far from being against, is an argument in favor of independence. We are sufficiently numerous, and were we more so, we might be less united. It is a matter worthy of observation, that the more a country is peopled, the smaller their armies are. In military numbers, the ancients far exceeded the moderns: and the reason is evident, for trade being the consequence of population, men become too much absorbed thereby to attend to anything else. Commerce diminishes the spirit, both of patriotism and military defence. And history sufficiently informs us, that the bravest achievements were always accomplished in the non-age of a nation. With the increase of commerce England hath lost its spirit. The city of London, notwithstanding its numbers, submits to continued insults with the patience of a coward. The more men have to lose, the less willing are they to venture. The rich are in general slaves to fear, and submit to courtly power with the trembling duplicity of a spaniel.

Youth is the seed-time of good habits, as well in nations as in individuals. It might be difficult, if not impossible, to form the Continent into one government half a century hence. The vast variety of interests, occasioned by an increase of trade and population, would create confusion. Colony would be against colony. Each being able might scorn each other’s assistance: and while the proud and foolish gloried in their little distinctions, the wise would lament that the union had not been formed before. Wherefore, the present time is the true time for establishing it. The intimacy which is contracted in infancy, and the friendship which is formed in misfortune, are, of all others, the most lasting and unalterable. Our present union is marked with both these characters: we are young, and we have been distressed; but our concord hath withstood our troubles, and fixes a memorable area for posterity to glory in.

The present time, likewise, is that peculiar time, which never happens to a nation but once, viz., the time of forming itself into a government. Most nations have let slip the opportunity, and by that means have been compelled to receive laws from their conquerors, instead of making laws for themselves. First, they had a king, and then a form of government; whereas, the articles or charter of government, should be formed first, and men delegated to execute them afterwards: but from the errors of other nations, let us learn wisdom, and lay hold of the present opportunity- to begin government at the right end.

When William the Conqueror subdued England he gave them law at the point of the sword; and until we consent that the seat of government in America, be legally and authoritatively occupied, we shall be in danger of having it filled by some fortunate ruffian, who may treat us in the same manner, and then, where will be our freedom? where our property?

As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of all government, to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I know of no other business which government hath to do therewith. Let a man throw aside that narrowness of soul, that selfishness of principle, which the niggards of all professions are so unwilling to part with, and he will be at once delivered of his fears on that head. Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society. For myself I fully and conscientiously believe, that it is the will of the Almighty, that there should be diversity of religious opinions among us: It affords a larger field for our Christian kindness. Were we all of one way of thinking, our religious dispositions would want matter for probation; and on this liberal principle, I look on the various denominations among us, to be like children of the same family, differing only, in what is called their Christian names.

Earlier in this work, I threw out a few thoughts on the propriety of a Continental Charter, (for I only presume to offer hints, not plans) and in this place, I take the liberty of rementioning the subject, by observing, that a charter is to be understood as a bond of solemn obligation, which the whole enters into, to support the right of every separate part, whether of religion, personal freedom, or property, A firm bargain and a right reckoning make long friends.

In a former page I likewise mentioned the necessity of a large and equal representation; and there is no political matter which more deserves our attention. A small number of electors, or a small number of representatives, are equally dangerous. But if the number of the representatives be not only small, but unequal, the danger is increased. As an instance of this, I mention the following; when the Associators petition was before the House of Assembly of Pennsylvania; twenty-eight members only were present, all the Bucks County members, being eight, voted against it, and had seven of the Chester members done the same, this whole province had been governed by two counties only, and this danger it is always exposed to. The unwarrantable stretch likewise, which that house made in their last sitting, to gain an undue authority over the delegates of that province, ought to warn the people at large, how they trust power out of their own hands. A set of instructions for the Delegates were put together, which in point of sense and business would have dishonored a school-boy, and after being approved by a few, a very few without doors, were carried into the house, and there passed in behalf of the whole colony; whereas, did the whole colony know, with what ill-will that House hath entered on some necessary public measures, they would not hesitate a moment to think them unworthy of such a trust.

Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which if continued would grow into oppressions. Expedience and right are different things. When the calamities of America required a consultation, there was no method so ready, or at that time so proper, as to appoint persons from the several Houses of Assembly for that purpose and the wisdom with which they have proceeded hath preserved this continent from ruin. But as it is more than probable that we shall never be without a Congress, every well-wisher to good order, must own, that the mode for choosing members of that body, deserves consideration. And I put it as a question to those, who make a study of mankind, whether representation and election is not too great a power for one and the same body of men to possess? When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.

It is from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims, and are frequently surprised into reason by their mistakes. Mr. Cornwall (one of the Lords of the Treasury) treated the petition of the New York Assembly with contempt, because that House, he said, consisted but of twenty-six members, which trifling number, he argued, could not with decency be put for the whole. We thank him for his involuntary honesty.*

*Those who would fully understand of what great consequence a large and equal representation is to a state, should read Burgh’s political Disquisitions.

To conclude: However strange it may appear to some, or however unwilling they may be to think so, matters not, but many strong and striking reasons may be given, to show, that nothing can settle our affairs so expeditiously as an open and determined declaration for independence. Some of which are:

First. It is the custom of nations, when any two are at war, for some other powers, not engaged in the quarrel, to step in as mediators, and bring about the preliminaries of a peace: but while America calls herself the subject of Great Britain, no power, however well disposed she may be, can offer her mediation. Wherefore, in our present state we may quarrel on for ever.

Secondly. It is unreasonable to suppose, that France or Spain will give us any kind of assistance, if we mean only to make use of that assistance for the purpose of repairing the breach, and strengthening the connection between Britain and America; because, those powers would be sufferers by the consequences.

Thirdly. While we profess ourselves the subjects of Britain, we must, in the eye of foreign nations, be considered as rebels. The precedent is somewhat dangerous to their peace, for men to be in arms under the name of subjects; we on the spot, can solve the paradox: but to unite resistance and subjection, requires an idea much too refined for common understanding.

Fourthly. Were a manifesto to be published, and despatched to foreign courts, setting forth the miseries we have endured, and the peaceable methods we have ineffectually used for redress; declaring, at the same time, that not being able, any longer to live happily or safely under the cruel disposition of the British court, we had been driven to the necessity of breaking off all connection with her; at the same time assuring all such courts of our peaceable disposition towards them, and of our desire of entering into trade with them. Such a memorial would produce more good effects to this Continent, than if a ship were freighted with petitions to Britain.

Under our present denomination of British subjects we can neither be received nor heard abroad: The custom of all courts is against us, and will be so, until, by an independence, we take rank with other nations.

These proceedings may at first appear strange and difficult; but, like all other steps which we have already passed over, will in a little time become familiar and agreeable; and, until an independence is declared, the continent will feel itself like a man who continues putting off some unpleasant business from day to day, yet knows it must be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over, and is continually haunted with the thoughts of its necessity.

APPENDIX

SINCE the publication of the first edition of this pamphlet, or rather, on the same day on which it came out, the king’s speech made its appearance in this city. Had the spirit of prophecy directed the birth of this production, it could not have brought it forth, at a more seasonable juncture, or a more necessary time. The bloody-mindedness of the one, show the necessity of pursuing the doctrine of the other. Men read by way of revenge. And the speech instead of terrifying, prepared a way for the manly principles of independence.

Ceremony, and even, silence, from whatever motive they may arise, have a hurtful tendency, when they give the least degree of countenance to base and wicked performances; wherefore, if this maxim be admitted, it naturally follows, that the king’s speech, as being a piece of finished villainy, deserved, and still deserves, a general execration both by the congress and the people. Yet as the domestic tranquility of a nation, depends greatly on the chastity of what may properly be called national manners, it is often better, to pass some things over in silent disdain, than to make use of such new methods of dislike, as might introduce the least innovation, on that guardian of our peace and safety. And perhaps, it is chiefly owing to this prudent delicacy, that the king’s speech, hath not before now, suffered a public execution. The speech if it may be called one, is nothing better than a wilful audacious libel against the truth, the common good, and the existence of mankind; and is a formal and pompous method of offering up human sacrifices to the pride of tyrants. But this general massacre of mankind, is one of the privileges, and the certain consequences of kings; for as nature knows them not, they know not her, and although they are beings of our own creating, they know not us, and are become the gods of their creators. The speech hath one good quality, which is, that it is not calculated to deceive, neither can we, even if we would, be deceived by it. Brutality and tyranny appear on the face of it. It leaves us at no loss: And every line convinces, even in the moment of reading, that He, who hunts the woods for prey, the naked and untutored Indian, is less a savage than the king of Britain.

Sir John Dalrymple, the putative father of a whining jesuitical piece, fallaciously called, The address of the people of ENGLAND to the inhabitants of America, hath, perhaps from a vain supposition, that the people here were to be frightened at the pomp and description of a king, given, (though very unwisely on his part) the real character of the present one: “But,” says this writer, “if you are inclined to pay compliments to an administration, which we do not complain of,” (meaning the Marquis of Rockingham’s at the repeal of the Stamp Act) “it is very unfair in you to withhold them from that prince, by whose NOD ALONE they were permitted to do anything.” This is toryism with a witness! Here is idolatry even without a mask: And he who can calmly hear, and digest such doctrine, hath forfeited his claim to rationality an apostate from the order of manhood; and ought to be considered- as one, who hath, not only given up the proper dignity of a man, but sunk himself beneath the rank of animals, and contemptibly crawl through the world like a worm.

However, it matters very little now, what the king of England either says or does; he hath wickedly broken through every moral and human obligation, trampled nature and conscience beneath his feet; and by a steady and constitutional spirit of insolence and cruelty, procured for himself an universal hatred. It is now the interest of America to provide for herself. She hath already a large and young family, whom it is more her duty to take care of, than to be granting away her property, to support a power who is become a reproach to the names of men and Christians. Ye, whose office it is to watch over the morals of a nation, of whatsoever sect or denomination ye are of, as well as ye, who are more immediately the guardians of the public liberty, if ye wish to preserve your native country uncontaminated by European corruption, ye must in secret wish a separation But leaving the moral part to private reflection, I shall chiefly confine my farther remarks to the following heads:

First. That it is the interest of America to be separated from Britain. Secondly. Which is the easiest and most practicable plan, reconciliation or independence? with some occasional remarks.

In support of the first, I could, if I judged it proper, produce the opinion of some of the ablest and most experienced men on this continent; and whose sentiments, on that head, are not yet publicly known. It is in reality a self-evident position: For no nation in a state of foreign dependance, limited in its commerce, and cramped and fettered in its legislative powers, can ever arrive at any material eminence. America doth not yet know what opulence is; and although the progress which she hath made stands unparalleled in the history of other nations, it is but childhood, compared with what she would be capable of arriving at, had she, as she ought to have, the legislative powers in her own hands. England is, at this time, proudly coveting what would do her no good, were she to accomplish it; and the Continent hesitating on a matter, which will be her final ruin if neglected. It is the commerce and not the conquest of America, by which England is to be benefited, and that would in a great measure continue, were the countries as independent of each other as France and Spain; because in many articles, neither can go to a better market. But it is the independence of this country on Britain or any other which is now the main and only object worthy of contention, and which, like all other truths discovered by necessity, will appear clearer and stronger every day.

First. Because it will come to that one time or other. Secondly. Because the longer it is delayed the harder it will be to accomplish.

I have frequently amused myself both in public and private companies, with silently remarking the spacious errors of those who speak without reflecting. And among the many which I have heard, the following seems the most general, viz., that had this rupture happened forty or fifty years hence, instead of now, the Continent would have been more able to have shaken off the dependance. To which I reply, that our military ability at this time, arises from the experience gained in the last war, and which in forty or fifty years time, would have been totally extinct. The Continent, would not, by that time, have had a General, or even a military officer left; and we, or those who may succeed us, would have been as ignorant of martial matters as the ancient Indians: And this single position, closely attended to, will unanswerably prove, that the present time is preferable to all others: The argument turns thus- at the conclusion of the last war, we had experience, but wanted numbers; and forty or fifty years hence, we should have numbers, without experience; wherefore, the proper point of time, must be some particular point between the two extremes, in which a sufficiency of the former remains, and a proper increase of the latter is obtained: And that point of time is the present time.

The reader will pardon this digression, as it does not properly come under the head I first set out with, and to which I again return by the following position, viz.:

Should affairs be patched up with Britain, and she to remain the governing and sovereign power of America, (which as matters are now circumstanced, is giving up the point entirely) we shall deprive ourselves of the very means of sinking the debt we have or may contract. The value of the back lands which some of the provinces are clandestinely deprived of, by the unjust extension of the limits of Canada, valued only at five pounds sterling per hundred acres, amount to upwards of twenty-five millions, Pennsylvania currency; and the quit-rents at one penny sterling per acre, to two millions yearly.

It is by the sale of those lands that the debt may be sunk, without burden to any, and the quit-rent reserved thereon, will always lessen, and in time, will wholly support the yearly expense of government. It matters not how long the debt is in paying, so that the lands when sold be applied to the discharge of it, and for the execution of which, the Congress for the time being, will be the continental trustees.

I proceed now to the second head, viz. Which is the earliest and most practicable plan, reconciliation or independence? with some occasional remarks.

He who takes nature for his guide is not easily beaten out of his argument, and on that ground, I answer generally- That INDEPENDENCE being a SINGLE SIMPLE LINE, contained within ourselves; and reconciliation, a matter exceedingly perplexed and complicated, and in which, a treacherous capricious court is to interfere, gives the answer without a doubt.

The present state of America is truly alarming to every man who is capable of reflection. Without law, without government, without any other mode of power than what is founded on, and granted by courtesy. Held together by an unexampled concurrence of sentiment, which is nevertheless subject to change, and which every secret enemy is endeavoring to dissolve. Our present condition, is, legislation without law; wisdom without a plan; a constitution without a name; and, what is strangely astonishing, perfect Independence contending for dependance. The instance is without a precedent; the case never existed before; and who can tell what may be the event? The property of no man is secure in the present unbraced system of things. The mind of the multitude is left at random, and feeling no fixed object before them, they pursue such as fancy or opinion starts. Nothing is criminal; there is no such thing as treason; wherefore, every one thinks himself at liberty to act as he pleases. The tories dared not to have assembled offensively, had they known that their lives, by that act were forfeited to the laws of the state. A line of distinction should be drawn, between English soldiers taken in battle, and inhabitants of America taken in arms. The first are prisoners, but the latter traitors. The one forfeits his liberty the other his head.

Notwithstanding our wisdom, there is a visible feebleness in some of our proceedings which gives encouragement to dissensions. The Continental Belt is too loosely buckled. And if something is not done in time, it will be too late to do any thing, and we shall fall into a state, in which, neither reconciliation nor independence will be practicable. The king and his worthless adherents are got at their old game of dividing the continent, and there are not wanting among us printers, who will be busy spreading specious falsehoods. The artful and hypocritical letter which appeared a few months ago in two of the New York papers, and likewise in two others, is an evidence that there are men who want either judgment or honesty. It is easy getting into holes and corners and talking of reconciliation: But do such men seriously consider, how difficult the task is, and how dangerous it may prove, should the Continent divide thereon. Do they take within their view, all the various orders of men whose situation and circumstances, as well as their own, are to be considered therein. Do they put themselves in the place of the sufferer whose all is already gone, and of the soldier, who hath quitted all for the defence of his country. If their ill judged moderation be suited to their own private situations only, regardless of others, the event will convince them, that “they are reckoning without their Host.”

Put us, says some, on the footing we were in the year 1763: To which I answer, the request is not now in the power of Britain to comply with, neither will she propose it; but if it were, and even should be granted, I ask, as a reasonable question, By what means is such a corrupt and faithless court to be kept to its engagements? Another parliament, nay, even the present, may hereafter repeal the obligation, on the pretence of its being violently obtained, or unwisely granted; and in that case, Where is our redress? No going to law with nations; cannon are the barristers of crowns; and the sword, not of justice, but of war, decides the suit. To be on the footing of 1763, it is not sufficient, that the laws only be put on the same state, but, that our circumstances, likewise, be put on the same state; our burnt and destroyed towns repaired or built up, our private losses made good, our public debts (contracted for defence) discharged; otherwise, we shall be millions worse than we were at that enviable period. Such a request had it been complied with a year ago, would have won the heart and soul of the continent- but now it is too late, “the Rubicon is passed.”

Besides the taking up arms, merely to enforce the repeal of a pecuniary law, seems as unwarrantable by the divine law, and as repugnant to human feelings, as the taking up arms to enforce obedience thereto. The object, on either side, doth not justify the ways and means; for the lives of men are too valuable to be cast away on such trifles. It is the violence which is done and threatened to our persons; the destruction of our property by an armed force; the invasion of our country by fire and sword, which conscientiously qualifies the use of arms: And the instant, in which such a mode of defence became necessary, all subjection to Britain ought to have ceased; and the independency of America should have been considered, as dating its area from, and published by, the first musket that was fired against her. This line is a line of consistency; neither drawn by caprice, nor extended by ambition; but produced by a chain of events, of which the colonies were not the authors.

I shall conclude these remarks, with the following timely and well intended hints, We ought to reflect, that there are three different ways by which an independency may hereafter be effected; and that one of those three, will one day or other, be the fate of America, viz. By the legal voice of the people in congress; by a military power; or by a mob: It may not always happen that our soldiers are citizens, and the multitude a body of reasonable men; virtue, as I have already remarked, is not hereditary, neither is it perpetual. Should an independency be brought about by the first of those means, we have every opportunity and every encouragement before us, to form the noblest, purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have it in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the event of a few months. The reflection is awful- and in this point of view, how trifling, how ridiculous, do the little, paltry cavillings, of a few weak or interested men appear, when weighed against the business of a world.

Should we neglect the present favorable and inviting period, and an independence be hereafter effected by any other means, we must charge the consequence to ourselves, or to those rather, whose narrow and prejudiced souls, are habitually opposing the measure, without either inquiring or reflecting. There are reasons to be given in support of Independence, which men should rather privately think of, than be publicly told of. We ought not now to be debating whether we shall be independent or not, but, anxious to accomplish it on a firm, secure, and honorable basis, and uneasy rather that it is not yet began upon. Every day convinces us of its necessity. Even the tories (if such beings yet remain among us) should, of all men, be the most solicitous to promote it; for, as the appointment of committees at first, protected them from popular rage, so, a wise and well established form of government, will be the only certain means of continuing it securely to them. Wherefore, if they have not virtue enough to be Whigs, they ought to have prudence enough to wish for independence.

In short, independence is the only bond that can tie and keep us together. We shall then see our object, and our ears will be legally shut against the schemes of an intriguing, as well as a cruel enemy. We shall then too, be on a proper footing, to treat with Britain; for there is reason to conclude, that the pride of that court, will be less hurt by treating with the American states for terms of peace, than with those, whom she denominates, “rebellious subjects,” for terms of accommodation. It is our delaying it that encourages her to hope for conquest, and our backwardness tends only to prolong the war. As we have, without any good effect therefrom, withheld our trade to obtain a redress of our grievances, let us now try the alternative, by independently redressing them ourselves, and then offering to open the trade. The mercantile and reasonable part of England will be still with us; because, peace with trade, is preferable to war without it. And if this offer be not accepted, other courts may be applied to.

On these grounds I rest the matter. And as no offer hath yet been made to refute the doctrine contained in the former editions of this pamphlet, it is a negative proof, that either the doctrine cannot be refuted, or, that the party in favor of it are too numerous to be opposed. Wherefore, instead of gazing at each other with suspicious or doubtful curiosity, let each of us, hold out to his neighbor the hearty hand of friendship, and unite in drawing a line, which, like an act of oblivion, shall bury in forgetfulness every former dissention. Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct; and let none other be heard among us, than those of a good citizen, an open and resolute friend, and a virtuous supporter of the RIGHTS of MANKIND and of the FREE

AND INDEPENDENT STATES OF AMERICA.
EPISTLE TO QUAKERS

To the Representatives of the Religious Society of the People called Quakers, or to so many of them as were concerned in publishing a late piece, entitled “THE ANCIENT TESTIMONY and PRINCIPLES of the people called QUAKERS renewed with respect to the KING and GOVERNMENT, and Touching the COMMOTIONS now prevailing in these and other parts of AMERICA, addressed to the PEOPLE IN GENERAL.”

THE writer of this is one of those few, who never dishonors religion either by ridiculing, or cavilling at any denomination whatsoever. To God, and not to man, are all men accountable on the score of religion. Wherefore, this epistle is not so properly addressed to you as a religious, but as a political body, dabbling in matters, which the professed quietude of your Principles instruct you not to meddle with.

As you have, without a proper authority for so doing, put yourselves in the place of the whole body of the Quakers, so, the writer of this, in order to be on an equal rank with yourselves, is under the necessity, of putting himself in the place of all those who approve the very writings and principles, against which your testimony is directed: And he hath chosen their singular situation, in order that you might discover in him, that presumption of character which you cannot see in yourselves. For neither he nor you have any claim or title to Political Representation.

When men have departed from the right way, it is no wonder that they stumble and fall. And it is evident from the manner in which ye have managed your testimony, that politics, (as a religious body of men) is not your proper walk; for however well adapted it might appear to you, it is, nevertheless, a jumble of good and bad put unwisely together, and the conclusion drawn therefrom, both unnatural and unjust.

The two first pages, (and the whole doth not make four) we give you credit for, and expect the same civility from you, because the love and desire of peace is not confined to Quakerism, it is the natural, as well as the religious wish of all denominations of men. And on this ground, as men laboring to establish an Independent Constitution of our own, do we exceed all others in our hope, end, and aim. Our plan is peace for ever. We are tired of contention with Britain, and can see no real end to it but in a final separation. We act consistently, because for the sake of introducing an endless and uninterrupted peace, do we bear the evils and burdens of the present day. We are endeavoring, and will steadily continue to endeavor, to separate and dissolve a connection which hath already filled our land with blood; and which, while the name of it remains, will be the fatal cause of future mischiefs to both countries.

We fight neither for revenge nor conquest; neither from pride nor passion; we are not insulting the world with our fleets and armies, nor ravaging the globe for plunder. Beneath the shade of our own vines are we attacked; in our own houses, and on our own lands, is the violence committed against us. We view our enemies in the characters of highwaymen and housebreakers, and having no defence for ourselves in the civil law; are obliged to punish them by the military one, and apply the sword, in the very case, where you have before now, applied the halter. Perhaps we feel for the ruined and insulted sufferers in all and every part of the continent, and with a degree of tenderness which hath not yet made its way into some of your bosoms. But be ye sure that ye mistake not the cause and ground of your Testimony. Call not coldness of soul, religion; nor put the bigot in the place of the Christian.

O ye partial ministers of your own acknowledged principles! If the bearing arms be sinful, the first going to war must be more so, by all the difference between wilful attack and unavoidable defence.

Wherefore, if ye really preach from conscience, and mean not to make a political hobby-horse of your religion, convince the world thereof, by proclaiming your doctrine to our enemies, for they likewise bear ARMS. Give us proof of your sincerity by publishing it at St. James’s, to the commanders in chief at Boston, to the admirals and captains who are practically ravaging our coasts, and to all the murdering miscreants who are acting in authority under HIM whom ye profess to serve. Had ye the honest soul of Barclay* ye would preach repentance to your king; Ye would tell the royal tyrant of his sins, and warn him of eternal ruin. Ye would not spend your partial invectives against the injured and the insulted only, but like faithful ministers, would cry aloud and spare none. Say not that ye are persecuted, neither endeavor to make us the authors of that reproach, which, ye are bringing upon yourselves; for we testify unto all men, that we do not complain against you because ye are Quakers, but because ye pretend to be and are NOT Quakers.

*”Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity; thou knowest what it is to be banished thy native country, to be overruled as well as to rule, and set upon the throne; and being oppressed thou hast reason to know now hateful the oppressor is both to God and man. If after all these warnings and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the Lord with all thy heart, but forget him who remembered thee in thy distress, and give up thyself to follow lust and vanity, surely great will be thy condemnation. Against which snare, as well as the temptation of those who may or do feed thee, and prompt thee to evil, the most excellent and prevalent remedy will be, to apply thyself to that light of Christ which shineth in thy conscience and which neither can, nor will flatter thee, nor suffer thee to be at ease in thy sins.”- Barclay’s Address to Charles II.

Alas! it seems by the particular tendency of some part of your Testimony, and other parts of your conduct, as if all sin was reduced to, and comprehended in the act of bearing arms, and that by the people only. Ye appear to us, to have mistaken party for conscience, because the general tenor of your actions wants uniformity: And it is exceedingly difficult to us to give credit to many of your pretended scruples; because we see them made by the same men, who, in the very instant that they are exclaiming against the mammon of this world, are nevertheless, hunting after it with a step as steady as Time, and an appetite as keen as Death.

The quotation which ye have made from Proverbs, in the third page of your testimony, that, “when a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him;” is very unwisely chosen on your part; because it amounts to a proof, that the king’s ways (whom ye are so desirous of supporting) do not please the Lord, otherwise, his reign would be in peace.

I now proceed to the latter part of your testimony, and that, for which all the foregoing seems only an introduction, viz:

“It hath ever been our judgment and principle, since we were called to profess the light of Christ Jesus, manifested in our consciences unto this day, that the setting up and putting down kings and governments, is God’s peculiar prerogative; for causes best known to himself: And that it is not our business to have any hand or contrivance therein; nor to be busy-bodies above our station, much less to plot and contrive the ruin, or overturn any of them, but to pray for the king, and safety of our nation, and good of all men: that we may live a peaceable and quiet life, in all goodliness and honesty; under the government which God is pleased to set over us.” If these are really your principles why do ye not abide by them? Why do ye not leave that, which ye call God’s work, to be managed by himself? These very principles instruct you to wait with patience and humility, for the event of all public measures, and to receive that event as the divine will towards you. Wherefore, what occasion is there for your political Testimony if you fully believe what it contains? And the very publishing it proves, that either, ye do not believe what ye profess, or have not virtue enough to practice what ye believe.

The principles of Quakerism have a direct tendency to make a man the quiet and inoffensive subject of any, and every government which is set over him. And if the setting up and putting down of kings and governments is God’s peculiar prerogative, he most certainly will not be robbed thereof by us; wherefore, the principle itself leads you to approve of every thing, which ever happened, or may happen to kings as being his work. Oliver Cromwell thanks you. Charles, then, died not by the hands of man; and should the present proud imitator of him, come to the same untimely end, the writers and publishers of the Testimony, are bound by the doctrine it contains, to applaud the fact. Kings are not taken away by miracles, neither are changes in governments brought about by any other means than such as are common and human; and such as we are now using. Even the dispersing of the Jews, though foretold by our Savior, was effected by arms. Wherefore, as ye refuse to be the means on one side, ye ought not to be meddlers on the other; but to wait the issue in silence; and unless you can produce divine authority, to prove, that the Almighty who hath created and placed this new world, at the greatest distance it could possibly stand, east and west, from every part of the old, doth, nevertheless, disapprove of its being independent of the corrupt and abandoned court of Britain; unless I say, ye can show this, how can ye, on the ground of your principles, justify the exciting and stirring up of the people “firmly to unite in the abhorrence of all such writings, and measures, as evidence a desire and design to break off the happy connection we have hitherto enjoyed, with the kingdom of Great Britain, and our just and necessary subordination to the king, and those who are lawfully placed in authority under him.” What a slap in the face is here! the men, who, in the very paragraph before, have quietly and passively resigned up the ordering, altering, and disposal of kings and governments, into the hands of God, are now recalling their principles, and putting in for a share of the business. Is it possible, that the conclusion, which is here justly quoted, can any ways follow from the doctrine laid down? The inconsistency is too glaring not to be seen; the absurdity too great not to be laughed at; and such as could only have been made by those, whose understandings were darkened by the narrow and crabby spirit of a despairing political party; for ye are not to be considered as the whole body of the Quakers but only as a factional and fractional part thereof.

Here ends the examination of your testimony; (which I call upon no man to abhor, as ye have done, but only to read and judge of fairly;) to which I subjoin the following remark; “That the setting up and putting down of kings,” most certainly mean, the making him a king, who is yet not so, and the making him no king who is already one. And pray what hath this to do in the present case? We neither mean to set up nor to put down, neither to make nor to unmake, but to have nothing to do with them. Wherefore your testimony in whatever light it is viewed serves only to dishonor your judgment, and for many other reasons had better have been let alone than published.

First. Because it tends to the decrease and reproach of religion whatever, and is of the utmost danger to society, to make it a party in political disputes. Secondly. Because it exhibits a body of men, numbers of whom disavow the publishing political testimonies, as being concerned therein and approvers thereof. Thirdly. Because it hath a tendency to undo that continental harmony and friendship which yourselves by your late liberal and charitable donations hath lent a hand to establish; and the preservation of which, is of the utmost consequence to us all.

And here, without anger or resentment I bid you farewell. Sincerely wishing, that as men and Christians, ye may always fully and uninterruptedly enjoy every civil and religious right; and be, in your turn, the means of securing it to others; but that the example which ye have unwisely set, of mingling religion with politics, may be disavowed and reprobated by every inhabitant of America.

-THE END-

Source: Common Sense, by Thomas Paine, printed by W. and T. Bradford, Philadelphia, 1791.

-> Declaration of Independence mp3 Audio

Signed Declaration of Independence, Preamble, Signers, Author - 1776

Declaration of Independence Preamble (Author: John Adams - May 15, 1776)

Whereas his Britannic Majesty, in conjunction with the lords and commons of Great Britain, has, by a late act of Parliament, excluded the inhabitants of these United Colonies from the protection of his crown; And whereas, no answer, whatever, to the humble petitions of the colonies for redress of grievances and reconciliation with Great Britain, has been or is likely to be given; but, the whole force of that kingdom, aided by foreign mercenaries, is to be exerted for the destruction of the good people of these colonies; And whereas, it appears absolutely irreconcilable to reason and good Conscience, for the people of these colonies now to take the oaths and affirmations necessary for the support of any government under the crown of Great Britain, and it is necessary that the exercise of every kind of authority under the said crown should be totally suppressed, and all the powers of government exerted, under the authority of the people of the colonies, for the preservation of internal peace, virtue, and good order, as well as for the defense of their lives, liberties, and properties, against the hostile invasions and cruel depredations of their enemies; therefore, resolved, &c

Declaration of Independence (Author: Thomas Jefferson)

(Adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776)
The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. -Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

(Signers: Declaration of Independence Signed - 1776)

New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Source: The Pennsylvania Packet, July 8, 1776

Valley Forge National Historical Park

1400 N Outerline Dr
King of Prussia, PA 19406

Valley Forge National Historical Park is the location of the 1777-78 winter encampment of the Continental Army under General George Washington. Recruited by Benjamin Franklin in Paris, Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, former member of the Prussian General Staff, prepared the Continental Army to fight more effectively against the British Army. Although the Winter of 1777-1778 was harsh and meager, it was a turning point in the American Revolutionary War. At the Battle of Barren Hill (May 20, 1778) and the Battle of Monmouth (June 28, 1778), the Continental Army stood up to the British Army on equal footing began to wear away at the morale of the British citizenship.

Mount Vernon Memorial Park VA, Home of George Washington

Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association
Address: PO Box 110, Mount Vernon, VA 22121
Phone: 703-780-2000
Hours: Open Every Day

Mt Vernon was the house where George Washington lived. During his life, Mount Vernon was an 8,000-acre plantation with overseers, slaves, livestock, equipment and buildings. The property also contained a forest that bordered the property, rolling meadows, serpentine walkways, a pleasure garden, a kitchen garden and groves of trees. Between the Mansion and the shores of the Potomac River lay an extensive park. Over the past 150 years, George Washington’s architectural achievements at Mount Vernon have been painstakingly preserved and restored for visitors to appreciate.

A visit to Mount Vernon begins at the Ford Orientation Center where a 20-minute movie, We Fight to Be Free, is shown. The film depicts George Washington at pivotal moments in his life.

Mt Vernon is George Washington’s home filled with 18th-century antiques, many of them owned by Washington. The Mansion house sits high above the Potomac River with a view of the Maryland shore.

50 acres of the estate are open to the public. Four gardens showcase heirloom plants known to have been at Mount Vernon in the late 1700s. George Washington designed the landscape which includes 13 trees that stand today as the last living witnesses of his life.

The Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center opened on October 27, 2006. 23 theater and gallery experiences, many with interactive technology, tell the detailed story of George Washington’s life, including his military and political careers.

Directions to Mount Vernon by Car

Mount Vernon is located 16 miles south of Washington, D.C. and 8 miles south of Old Town Alexandria, Virginia at the southern terminus of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Parking is free. There are spaces for RVs, motor coaches and trailers.

Street address: (use for mapping only, not a valid postal address)
3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, Mount Vernon, Virginia 22309

Directions From the North (Frederick, Gaithersburg, Rockville, Bethesda)
Travel south on I-270 to I-495. Follow I-495 south to Virginia. As you cross the American Legion Bridge over the Potomac River, get in the right lane. Take the first exit in Virginia, marked George Washington Memorial Parkway. Follow the George Washington Parkway south for about 30 miles, which takes you directly to Mount Vernon.

Directions From the South (Woodbridge, Richmond, North Carolina)
Travel north on I-95 and turn off at exit 161, Route 1 North, marked Ft. Belvoir/Mt. Vernon. Continue north on Route 1 about 6 miles, through Ft. Belvoir. Just after Ft. Belvoir, turn right on Route 235 north. Mount Vernon is three miles straight ahead, at a large traffic circle.

The American Revolution, Revolutionary War Battles Timeline - 1770-1783

1770 - Boston Massacre
1773 - Boston Tea Party
1775 - Battle of Lexington and Concord
1775 - Battle of Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill
1775 - Battle of Lake Champlain or Battle of Valcour Island
1776 - Battle of Trenton
1777 - Valley Forge
1779 - “Light Horse” Harry Lee attacks Paulus Hook, NJ
1780 - Battle of Kings Mountain, SC
1781 - Battle of Yorktown

1770 - Boston Massacre

The Boston Massacre was an incident that led to the deaths of five civilians at the hands of British troops on March 5, 1770, the legal aftermath of which helped spark the rebellion in some of the British American colonies, which culminated in the American Revolutionary War. A heavy British military presence in Boston led to a tense situation that boiled over into incitement of brawls between soldiers and civilians and eventually led to troops discharging their muskets after being attacked by a rioting crowd. Three civilians were killed at the scene of the shooting, eleven were injured, and two died after the incident.

British troops were sent to Boston in 1768 to help officials enforce the Townshend Acts, a series of laws passed by the British Parliament. The purpose of the Townshend program was to make colonial governors and judges independent of colonial control, to create a more effective means of enforcing compliance with trade regulations, and to establish the controversial precedent that Parliament had the right to tax the colonies.
Colonists objected that the Townshend Acts were a violation of the natural, charter, and constitutional rights of British subjects in the colonies. Boston was a center of the resistance. The Massachusetts House of Representatives began a campaign against the Townshend Acts by sending a petition to King George asking for the repeal of the Townshend Revenue Act. On March 27 the soldiers, Captain Preston and four men who were in the Customs House and alleged to have fired shots, were indicted for murder.

Major Historical Figures: General Thomas Gage, Crispus Attucks

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massacre

1773 - Boston Tea Party

The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston, Massachusetts, against the British government. On December 16, 1773, after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor. The incident remains an iconic event of American history, and other political protests often refer to it.

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. Colonists objected to the Tea Act for a variety of reasons, especially because they believed that it violated their right to be taxed only by their own elected representatives. Protesters had successfully prevented the unloading of taxed tea in three other colonies, but in Boston, embattled Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to allow the tea to be returned to Britain. He apparently did not expect that the protesters would choose to destroy the tea rather than concede the authority of a legislature in which they were not directly represented.

The Boston Tea Party was a key event in the growth of the American Revolution. Parliament responded in 1774 with the Coercive Acts, which, among other provisions, closed Boston’s commerce until the British East India Company had been repaid for the destroyed tea. Colonists in turn responded to the Coercive Acts with additional acts of protest, and by convening the First Continental Congress, which petitioned the British monarch for repeal of the acts and coordinated colonial resistance to them. The crisis escalated, and the American Revolutionary War began near Boston in 1775.

Major Historical Figures: Nathaniel Bradlee, Thomas Crafts, Samuel Cooper, John Crane, George Hewes, Samuel Hobbs, David Kinnison, Amos Lincoln, Thomas Melvill, William Molineaux, Joseph Payson, Henry Prentiss, Paul Revere, Ebeneezer Stevens, Nathaniel Willis, Joshua Wyeth, Thomas Young

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party

1775-1783 - American Revolutionary War

1775 - Battles of Lexington and Concord

Following several years of rising tensions and the occupation of Boston by British troops, the military governor of Massachusetts, General Thomas Gage, began moving to secure the colony’s military supplies to keep them from the Patriot militias. His actions received official sanction on April 14, 1775, when orders arrived from the Secretary of State, the Earl of Dartmouth, commanding him to disarm the rebellious militias and to arrest key colonial leaders. Believing the militias to be hoarding supplies at Concord, Gage made plans for part of his force to march and occupy the town. On April 16, Gage sent a scouting party out of the city towards Concord. While this patrol gathered intelligence, it also alerted the colonials that the British were planning to move against them. Aware of Gage’s orders from Dartmouth, many key colonial figures, such as John Hancock and Samuel Adams, left Boston to seek safety in the country. As a result, many of the supplies at Concord had been removed to other towns.

Around 9:00-10:00 that night, Patriot leader Dr. Joseph Warren informed Paul Revere and William Dawes that the British would be embarking that night for Cambridge and the road to Lexington and Concord. Slipping out of the city by different routes, Revere and Dawes made their famous ride west to warn that the British were approaching. In Lexington, Captain John Parker mustered the town’s militia and had them fall into ranks on the town green with orders not to fire unless fired upon. Around sunrise, Smith’s advance force, led by Major John Pitcairn, arrived in Lexington. Riding forward, Pitcairn demanded the militia to disperse and lay down their arms. Parker partially complied and ordered his men to go home, but to retain their muskets.

As the militia began to move, a shot rang out from an unknown source. Charging forward the British drove the militia from the green. When the smoke cleared, eight of the militia were dead and another ten wounded. One British soldier was injured in the exchange. Departing Lexington, the British pushed on towards Concord. Outside of the town, the Concord militia fell back through the town and took up a position on a hill across the North Bridge. Smith’s men occupied the town and broke into detachments to search for the colonial munitions. After passing through Lincoln, Smith’s troops were attacked at the “Bloody Angle” by 200 men from Bedford and Lincoln. Firing from behind trees and fences, they were joined by other militiamen who took up positions across the road, catching the British in a crossfire. In the day’s fighting, the Massachusetts militia had 50 killed, 39 wounded, and 5 missing. For the British, the long march cost them 73 killed, 173 wounded, and 26 missing. The fighting at Lexington and Concord proved to be the opening battles of the American Revolution. Rushing to Boston, the Massachusetts militia was soon joined by troops from other colonies ultimately forming a force of around 20,000.

Major Historical Figures: Thomas Gage, John Parker, James Barrett, John Buttrick, William Heath, Joseph Warren, Francis Smith, John Pitcairn, Walter Laurie, Hugh Percy, Paul Revere, William Dawes

Source: http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/americanrevolution/p/lexconcord.htm

1775 - Battle of Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill

On June 15, 1775 the American colonists heard news that the British planned to control the Charlestown peninsula between the Charles and Mystic Rivers. Bunker’s and Breed’s Hill on this peninsula overlooked both Boston and its harbor, thus making the hills critical vantage points. In order to beat the British to the high ground, General Prescott took 1,200 soldiers to dig into and fortify Bunker Hill with the cover of night on June 16. When dawn broke, the British were stunned to see Breed’s Hill fortified overnight with a 160-by-30-foot earthen structure. The British General, Gage, dispatched 2,300 troops under the command of Major General Howe to take control of the hill. So it came to be that General Prescott did not actually fortify Bunker’s Hill, but Breed’s Hill instead.

The fighting began as soon as the day did. As soon as the men on British frigate awoke they opened fire on the colonial fortifications. The British just expected to march up the hill and just scare the colonists away. The British Regulars advanced with bayonets fixed; many of their muskets were not even loaded. The British troops, wearing their bright red wool jackets and weighed down by heavy equipment, marched up hill over farm fields and low stone walls hidden in the tall grass. As the colonists saw this massive red line approach slowly and steadily, they remained calm and did not open fire. Once the British came within range, the colonists began firing, and the British soldiers started to fall rapidly. The British forces were driven back twice, but on their third and final thrust forward the British were able to break through the colonists’ line, overrunning the American fortifications, thus taking the hill. The colonists had run out of ammunition and supplies.

The colonists fled back up the peninsula since it was there only escape route. This battle, which lasted for approximately three hours, was one of the deadliest of the Revolutionary War. Although the British technically won the battle because they took control of the hill, they suffered too many losses to fully benefit from it. The British had suffered more than one thousand casualties out of the 2,300 or so who fought. While the colonists only suffered 400 to 600 casualties from an estimated 2,500 to 4,000 men.

Major Historical Figures: William Howe, Sir Robert Pigot, James Abercombie, John Pitcairn, Henry Clinton, Samuel Graves, Israel Putnam, William Prescott, Joseph Warren, Seth Pomeroy, John Stark

Source: http://www.theamericanrevolution.org/battledetail.aspx?battle=5

1775 - Battle of Lake Champlain or Battle of Valcour Island

The naval Battle of Valcour Island, also known as the Battle of Valcour Bay, took place on October 11, 1776, on Lake Champlain. The battle is generally regarded as one of the first naval battles of the American Revolutionary war. Most of the ships in the American fleet under the command of Benedict Arnold were captured or destroyed by a British force under the overall direction of General Guy Carleton. The American defense of Lake Champlain stalled British plans to reach the upper Hudson River valley. The Continental Army had retreated from Quebec to Fort Ticonderoga and Fort Crown Point in June 1776 after British forces were massively reinforced. They spent the summer of 1776 fortifying those forts, and building additional ships to augment the small American fleet already on the lake. General Carleton had a 9,000 man army at Fort Saint-Jean, but needed to build a fleet to carry it on the lake.

The Americans, during their retreat, had either taken or destroyed most of the ships on the lake. By early October, the British fleet, which significantly outgunned the American fleet, was ready for launch. On October 11, Arnold drew the British fleet to a position he had carefully chosen to limit their advantages. In the battle that followed, many of the American ships were damaged or destroyed. That night Arnold sneaked the American fleet past the British one, beginning a retreat toward Crown Point and Ticonderoga. Unfavorable weather hampered the American retreat, and more of the fleet was either captured or grounded and burned before it could reach Crown Point. Upon reaching Crown Point Benedict Arnold had the fort’s buildings burned and retreated to Ticonderoga. The British fleet included four officers who later became admirals in the Royal Navy.

Major Historical Figures: Benedict Arnold, Guy Carleton, Thomas Pringle

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Valcour_Island

1776 - Battle of Trenton

After being driven out of New York by the British and forced to retreat to the West bank of the Delaware during the late summer of 1776, the American cause was at a low ebb. In the harsh winter Washington was faced with the annual crisis of the expiry of the Continental Army’s period of enlistment. He resolved to attack the Hessian position at Trenton on the extreme southern end of the over extended British line along the Delaware, before his army dispersed. Washington’s plan was to cross the Delaware at three points with a force commanded by Lt Col Cadwallader with a Rhode Island regiment, some Pennsylvanians, Delaware militia and two guns, a second force under Brigadier General James Ewing of militia and the third commanded by himself which would cross the river above Trenton and attack the Hessian garrison in the town.

Washington had some 2,400 men from Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York. The force paraded in the afternoon and set off for the Delaware River where they embarked in a flotilla of the characteristic Delaware river boats. It was a cold dark night and the river was running with flowing ice. At about 11pm a heavy snow and sleet storm broke. Washington’s force did not reach the east bank until around 3am. His soldiers were badly clothed and many did not have shoes. The German garrison comprised the regiments of Rall, Knyphausen and Lossberg, with Hessian jagers and a troop of the British 16th Light Dragoons. The Hessian commander Colonel Rall had been ordered to construct defense works around the town but had not troubled to do so.

On the night before the attack Rall was at dinner when he was brought information that the Americans were approaching. He ignored the message. The Hessians attempted to form in the town but were under artillery fire and attack from front and rear. The Americans occupied the houses and shot down the German gunners and foot soldiers during which Colonel Rall was fatally wounded. Rall’s troops retreated to an orchard in the South East of the town where they surrendered. Ewing and Cadwallader failed to make the river crossing and took no part in the attack.

The Americans suffered 4 casualties. The Hessians suffered 20 killed and around 100 wounded. 1,000 were captured. The effect of the battle of Trenton was out of all proportion to the numbers involved and the casualties. The American effort across the colonies was galvanized and the psychological dominance achieved by the British in the preceding year overturned. Howe was stunned that a strong German contingent could be surprised in such a manner and put up so little resistance. Washington’s constant problem was to maintain the enthusiasm of his army for the war, particularly with the system of one year recruitment and Trenton proved a much needed encouragement. Washington’s army crossing the Delaware River in the freezing conditions has become an important national image for the United States as can be seen in Emmanuel Leutze’s picture. Present at the battle were: two other future presidents James Madison and James Monroe, the future Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Marshall, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton.

Major Historical Figures: George Washington, Johann Rall, James Madison, James Monroe, John Marshall, Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton

Source: http://www.britishbattles.com/battle-trenton.htm

1777 - Winter at Valley Forge

In the fall of 1777, General George Washington’s Continental Army moved south from New Jersey to defend the capital of Philadelphia from the advancing forces of General William Howe. Clashing at Brandywine on September 11, Washington was decisively defeated, leading the Continental Congress to flee the city. Fifteen days later, after outmaneuvering Washington, Howe entered Philadelphia unopposed. Seeking to regain the initiative, Washington struck at Germantown on October 4, but was again defeated. With the campaign season ending and cold weather rapidly approaching, Washington moved his army into winter quarters. For his winter encampment, Washington selected Valley Forge on the Schuylkill River approximately 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia. With its high ground and position near the river, Valley Forge was easily defensible, but still close enough to the city for Washington to maintain pressure on the British. Despite the defeats of the fall, the 12,000 men of the Continental Army were in good spirits when they marched into Valley Forge on December 19, 1777.

Under the direction of the army’s engineers, the men began constructing over 2,000 log huts laid out along military streets. In addition, defensive trenches and five redoubts were built to protect the encampment. To facilitate re-supply of the army, a bridge was erected over the Schuylkill. Though far from ideal, the conditions of the encampment were on par with the Continental soldier’s routine privations. During the early months of the encampment, supplies and provisions were scarce, but available. Soldiers made due with subsistence meals such as “firecake,” a mixture of water and flour. While a lack of clothing caused suffering among some the men, many were fully uniformed with the best equipped units used for foraging and patrols. During the early months at Valley Forge, Washington lobbied to improve the army’s supply situation with some success.

On February 23, 1778, Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben arrived in the camp. A former member of the Prussian General Staff, von Steuben had been recruited to the American cause in Paris by Benjamin Franklin. Accepted by Washington, von Steuben was put to work designing a training program for the army. Though he spoke no English, von Steuben commenced his program in March with the aid of interpreters. Beginning with a “model company” of 100 chosen men, von Steuben instructed them in drill, maneuver, and a simplified manual of arms. These 100 men were in turn sent out to other units to repeat the process and so on until the entire army was trained. Von Steuben introduced a system of progressive training for recruits which educated them in the basics of soldiering. With the arrival of warmer weather in March, disease began to strike at the army. Over the next three months, influenza, typhus, typhoid, and dysentery all erupted within the encampment. Of the 2,000 men who died at Valley Forge, over two-thirds were killed by disease. These outbreaks were eventually contained through sanitation regulations, inoculations, and the work of surgeons. Surveying the encampment, von Steuben greatly improved sanitation by reorganizing the camp and repositioning kitchens and latrines. The results of von Steuben’s training were immediately evident at Barren Hill (May 20) and the Battle of Monmouth (June 28). In both cases, the Continental soldiers stood up to and fought on equal footing with the British professionals.

Major Historical Figures: George Washington, Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Benedict Arnold, Aaron Burr, John Cadwalader, John Cochran, Baron Johan DeKalb, Chevalier Louis Lebègue dePresle Duportail, Nathanael Greene, Alexander Hamilton, Jedediah Huntingdon, Henry Knox, The Marquis de Lafayette, Jacob Latch, Ebenezer Learned, John Marshall, Lachlan McIntosh, Allan McLane, James Monroe, Martha Washington, Anthony Wayne, John Armstrong

Source: http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswars16011800/p/valleyforge.htm

1779 - “Light Horse” Harry Lee attacks Paulus Hook, NJ

On July 12, 1776, the new fort at Paulus Hook traded cannon fire with the 40-gun HMS Phoenix and the 20-gun Rose as those British warships sailed to New York. That same evening, General Lord William Howe and a huge British invasion fleet also sailed by the little American stronghold. After the Americans were defeated at the Battle of Long Island, General George Washington directed Major General Hugh Mercer to evacuate Paulus Hook on the 23rd. Hours after the rear guard left, British troops landed on the beach, and for a long time thereafter Paulus Hook was their only permanent stronghold in New Jersey. Paulus Hook was well situated to dominate the gateway to northern New Jersey.

From 1776 to the spring of 1779, New Jersey was the scene of constant skirmishes and major battles. During 1779, Washington maneuvered and constantly repositioned troops throughout the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania region. Worried, the Loyalists in New York City pressed General Sir Henry Clinton, then commander of British forces there, into action. In May, more than 70 ships and 150 flatboats loaded with Redcoats sailed past Paulus Hook to seize the small rebel-held fort at Stony Point, N.Y. Clinton then returned to New York City, leaving about 1,000 troops behind to rebuild the works. Washington wanted Stony Point retaken. He directed cavalry Major Henry Lee (known as “Light-Horse Harry” Lee) to gather information.

Acting on information supplied by Lee, on July 16, 1779, Major General Anthony Wayne led a newly formed light infantry unit in a brilliant bayonet charge that retook Stony Point. Inspired by Wayne’s attack, Lee approached Washington with a similar plan to take Paulus Hook. Early in the evening of August 18, 1779, Lee organized his strike force, consisting of approximately 400 men. The lead troops crossed the first ditch without difficulty and were not challenged until they reached the gates of the fort. A shot rang out from the gate blockhouse. The alarm was sounded, and British troops ran to the main gate to counterattack. Lee’s troops climbed up the embankments. Lee’s casualties so far totaled only two men killed and three wounded. In a mere 20 minutes, Lee’s men overpowered the fort, killed or wounded more than 30 British soldiers and took 159 prisoners-all without firing a shot!

On Christmas Day 1779, the British garrison at Paulus Hook watched as Clinton sailed out of New York Harbor with his fleet of 90 ships and 8,000 troops, bound for Charleston, S.C. The war was moving south. Lee and his dragoon legion went on to fight with distinction in the southern campaign, under Major General Nathanael Greene. After the war, “Light Horse” Harry Lee was elected a representative to Congress and served as Governor of Virginia. “Light Horse” Harry Lee is the father of the great Confederate general, Robert E. Lee.

Major Historical Figures: Henry Lee III, William Sutherland, George Washington, Lord William Howe

Source: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/%27Light-Horse+Harry%27+Lee+entered+history+with+a+daring+night+attack+on…-a065574181

1780 - Battle of Kings Mountain, SC

The Battle of Kings Mountain, October 7, 1780, was a decisive Patriot victory in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War. Frontier militia loyal to the United States overwhelmed the Loyalist American militia led by British Major Patrick Ferguson of the 71st Foot. Here less than 1000 men, inspired by the urge of freedom, defeated a superior force entrenched in this strategic position.

The battle opened on October 7, 1780, around 3 pm when 900 Patriots (including John Crockett, the father of Davy Crockett), approached the steep base of Kings Mountain. The rebels formed eight groups of 100 to 200 men. Ferguson, completely unaware that the rebels had caught up to him, was at the top of the mountain with some 1100 men. They caught the Loyalists by surprise. The Patriots crept up the hill and fired on the Loyalists from behind rocks and trees. Ferguson rallied his troops and launched a bayonet charge against Campbell and Sevier’s men. With no bayonets of their own, the rebels retreated down the hill and into the woods. Campbell rallied his troops, returned to the base of the hill, and resumed firing. Ferguson launched two more bayonet charges during the course of the battle. This became the pattern of the battle all around the Loyalist position. It was hard for the Loyalists to find a target because the Patriots were constantly moving using cover and concealment. Additionally, the downhill angle of the hill caused the Loyalists to overshoot.

Finally Ferguson gathered a few officers together and attempted to cut through the Patriot ring, but Sevier’s men fired a volley and Ferguson was shot dead from his horse. Seeing their leader fall, the Loyalists began to surrender. The Battle of Kings Mountain lasted 65 minutes. The Loyalists suffered 244 killed, 163 wounded, and 668 taken prisoner. The Patriot militia suffered 29 killed and 58 wounded. The Rebels had to move out quickly for fear that Cornwallis would advance to meet them. Kings Mountain was a pivotal moment in the history of the American Revolution. Coming after a series of disasters and humiliations in the Carolinas—the fall of Charleston and capture of the American army there, the destruction of another American army at the Battle of Camden, the Waxhaws Massacre—the surprising, decisive victory at Kings Mountain was a great boost to Patriot morale. Additionally, the destruction of Ferguson’s command and the looming threat of Patriot militia in the mountains caused Lord Cornwallis to cancel his plans to invade North Carolina; he instead evacuated Charlotte and retreated to South Carolina. He would not return to North Carolina until early 1781, when he was chasing Nathanael Greene after the Americans had dealt British arms another devastating defeat at the Battle of Cowpens.

Major Historical Figures: James Johnston, William Campbell, John Sevier, Frederick Hambright (Hambrecht), Joseph McDowell, Benjamin Cleveland, James Williams, Isaac Shelby, Joseph Winston, William Chronicle, Patrick Ferguson, Abraham DePeyster

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kings_Mountain

1781 - Siege of Yorktown or Battle of Yorktown

The Siege of Yorktown or Battle of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by combined assault of American forces led by Major General George Washington and French forces led by General Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis. It proved to be the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War, as the surrender of Cornwallis’s army prompted the British government eventually to negotiate an end to the conflict. In 1780, 5,500 French soldiers landed in Rhode Island to try to help their American allies.

The two armies met North of New York City in 1781. The French Commander, the Comte de Rochambeau, convinced the American Commander, George Washington, that an attack on New York City would be hard pressed to succeed and it would be easier for the French Fleet under the command of the Comte de Grasse to assist in the attack further south. Thus, they agreed to attack Lord Cornwallis and his smaller army of 9,000 men stationed in the port town of Yorktown, Virginia. In the beginning of September, de Grasse defeated a British fleet led by Admiral Hood that came to relieve Cornwallis at the Battle of the Chesapeake. As a result of this victory, de Grasse blocked any escape by sea for Cornwallis.

Washington dispatched the French general Marquis de Lafayette to contain Cornwallis in Yorktown until he arrived, and Lafayette did so. By late September the army and naval forces surrounded Cornwallis by land and sea. With the British defense weakened, Washington, on October 14, 1781, sent two columns to attack the last major remaining British outer defenses. With these defenses gone, the allies were able to finish their 2nd parallel. With the Americans’ artillery closer and more intense than ever, the British situation began to deteriorate rapidly and Cornwallis asked for capitulation terms on the 17th. After two days of negotiation, the surrender ceremony took place on the 19th, with Cornwallis being absent since he claimed to be ill. With the capture of over 8,000 British soldiers, negotiations between the United States and Great Britain began, resulting in the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

Major Historical Figures: George Washington, Comte de Rochambeau, Comte de Grasse, Charles Cornwallis, Charles O’Hara

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Yorktown

French and Indian War - 1754-1763

The French and Indian War (1754-1763) was a war between England, the American colonies and the Iroquois Confederacy against the French and Algonquin Indian tribes. The French controlled the Mississippi River and claimed the Ohio River Valley. They began building forts in the area. The British started to build their own forts. The French expanded into areas that the British had claimed. In 1754, Major George Washington was sent by Virginia’s governor to evict the French from Fort Duquesne. Washington came upon a French scouting party and ordered his men to open fire. Washington’s men killed 12 Frenchmen and wounded 22. The war was on. In November 1758, the British recapture Fort Duquesne from the French. In 1759, the British won the Battle of The Plains of Abraham, which allowed them to occupy Quebec. The next year they captured Montreal, and thus completed the capture of Canada, effectively ending the war in North America. The War officially ended on February 10, 1763, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. When the war ended, France was no longer in control of Canada. The Indians that had been threatening the American colonists were defeated. France officially ceded all of its holdings in North America, west of the Mississippi. The cost of the war and of controlling the newly acquired territories was high. The British looked to the colonies to help pay those costs. That began the long spiral of events that led to the American Revolution.

Major Historical Figures: Jeffrey Amherst, Edward Braddock, James Wolfe, James Abercrombie, Edward Boscawen, George Washington, Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, Marquis de Vaudreuil, François-Marie de Lignery, Chevalier de Lévis

Source: http://www.historycentral.com/revolt/french.html