Semiquincentennial of the American Revolution
- Thread starter Tidewater
- Start date
I like how he said he would tell the story and let the people draw their implications..
On the subject of democracy, here is what Fisher Ames said on the subject in 1788:
"Faction and enthusiasm are the instruments by which popular governments are destroyed. We need not talk of the power of an aristocracy. The people, when they lose their liberties, are cheated out of them. They nourish factions in their bosoms, which will subsist so long as abusing their honest credulity shall be the means of acquiring power. A democracy is a volcano, which conceals the fiery materials of its own destruction. These will produce an eruption, and carry desolation in their way. The people always mean right; and, if time is allowed for reflection and information, they will do right. I would not have the first wish, the momentary impulse of the public mind, become law; for it is not always the sense of the people, with whom I admit that all power resides. On great questions, we first hear the loud clamors of passion, artifice, and faction."
Think of Marc Anthony's "Friends, Romans, Countrymen" speech. Caesar's assssins speak to the crowd and they were ready to lynch Caesar's supporters. Then Marc Anthony speaks and the same crowd us ready to lynch Caesar's assassins. That was written almost two centuries before the Constitution.
"Faction and enthusiasm are the instruments by which popular governments are destroyed. We need not talk of the power of an aristocracy. The people, when they lose their liberties, are cheated out of them. They nourish factions in their bosoms, which will subsist so long as abusing their honest credulity shall be the means of acquiring power. A democracy is a volcano, which conceals the fiery materials of its own destruction. These will produce an eruption, and carry desolation in their way. The people always mean right; and, if time is allowed for reflection and information, they will do right. I would not have the first wish, the momentary impulse of the public mind, become law; for it is not always the sense of the people, with whom I admit that all power resides. On great questions, we first hear the loud clamors of passion, artifice, and faction."
Think of Marc Anthony's "Friends, Romans, Countrymen" speech. Caesar's assssins speak to the crowd and they were ready to lynch Caesar's supporters. Then Marc Anthony speaks and the same crowd us ready to lynch Caesar's assassins. That was written almost two centuries before the Constitution.
I cannot believe I missed this, but November 7th was the semiquincentennial of Lord Dunmore's Proclamation:
By His Excellency the Right Honorable JOHN Earl of DUNMORE, His Majesty's Lieutenant and Governor General of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia, and Vice Admiral of the same.
A PROCLAMATION.
As I have ever entertained Hopes that an Accommodation might have taken Place between Great-Britain and this colony, without being compelled by my Duty to this most disagreeable but now absolutely necessary Step, rendered so by a Body of armed Men unlawfully assembled, bring on His MAJESTY'S Tenders, and the formation of an Army, and that Army now on their March to attack His MAJESTY'S troops and destroy the well disposed Subjects of this Colony. To defeat such unreasonable Purposes, and that all such Traitors, and their Abetters, may be brought to Justice, and that the Peace, and good Order of this Colony may be again restored, which the ordinary Course of the Civil Law is unable to effect; I have thought fit to issue this my Proclamation, hereby declaring, that until the aforesaid good Purposes can be obtained, I do in Virtue of the Power and Authority to ME given, by His MAJESTY, determine to execute Martial Law, and cause the same to be executed throughout this Colony: and to the end that Peace and good Order may the sooner be restored, I do require every Person capable of bearing Arms, to resort to His MAJESTY'S STANDARD, or be looked upon as Traitors to His MAJESTY'S Crown and Government, and thereby become liable to the Penalty the Law inflicts upon such Offences; such as forfeiture of Life, confiscation of Lands, &c. &c. And I do hereby further declare all indentured Servants, Negroes, or others, (appertaining to Rebels,) free that are able and willing to bear Arms, they joining His MAJESTY'S Troops as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing this Colony to a proper Sense of their Duty, to His MAJESTY'S Crown and Dignity. I do further order, and require, all His MAJESTY'S Leige Subjects, to retain their Quitrents, or any other Taxes due or that may become due, in their own Custody, till such Time as Peace may be again restored to this at present most unhappy Country, or demanded of them for their former salutary Purposes, by Officers properly authorised to receive the same.
GIVEN under my Hand on board the ship WILLIAM, off Norfolk the 7th Day of November, in the sixteenth Year of His MAJESTY'S Reign.
DUNMORE.
(GOD save the KING.)
When the 1619 Project declared that the Patriots in America were fighting to defend slavery, this is what the authors were referring to. One question stands out:
Considering all the events up to Nov. 7, 1775 , was the war well and truly begun before Dunmore's proclamation? (Can an event that occured after the start of the war be described as a cause of the war?)
By His Excellency the Right Honorable JOHN Earl of DUNMORE, His Majesty's Lieutenant and Governor General of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia, and Vice Admiral of the same.
A PROCLAMATION.
As I have ever entertained Hopes that an Accommodation might have taken Place between Great-Britain and this colony, without being compelled by my Duty to this most disagreeable but now absolutely necessary Step, rendered so by a Body of armed Men unlawfully assembled, bring on His MAJESTY'S Tenders, and the formation of an Army, and that Army now on their March to attack His MAJESTY'S troops and destroy the well disposed Subjects of this Colony. To defeat such unreasonable Purposes, and that all such Traitors, and their Abetters, may be brought to Justice, and that the Peace, and good Order of this Colony may be again restored, which the ordinary Course of the Civil Law is unable to effect; I have thought fit to issue this my Proclamation, hereby declaring, that until the aforesaid good Purposes can be obtained, I do in Virtue of the Power and Authority to ME given, by His MAJESTY, determine to execute Martial Law, and cause the same to be executed throughout this Colony: and to the end that Peace and good Order may the sooner be restored, I do require every Person capable of bearing Arms, to resort to His MAJESTY'S STANDARD, or be looked upon as Traitors to His MAJESTY'S Crown and Government, and thereby become liable to the Penalty the Law inflicts upon such Offences; such as forfeiture of Life, confiscation of Lands, &c. &c. And I do hereby further declare all indentured Servants, Negroes, or others, (appertaining to Rebels,) free that are able and willing to bear Arms, they joining His MAJESTY'S Troops as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing this Colony to a proper Sense of their Duty, to His MAJESTY'S Crown and Dignity. I do further order, and require, all His MAJESTY'S Leige Subjects, to retain their Quitrents, or any other Taxes due or that may become due, in their own Custody, till such Time as Peace may be again restored to this at present most unhappy Country, or demanded of them for their former salutary Purposes, by Officers properly authorised to receive the same.
GIVEN under my Hand on board the ship WILLIAM, off Norfolk the 7th Day of November, in the sixteenth Year of His MAJESTY'S Reign.
DUNMORE.
(GOD save the KING.)
When the 1619 Project declared that the Patriots in America were fighting to defend slavery, this is what the authors were referring to. One question stands out:
Considering all the events up to Nov. 7, 1775 , was the war well and truly begun before Dunmore's proclamation? (Can an event that occured after the start of the war be described as a cause of the war?)
250 years ago, Congress makes provision for capturing ships used in "be employed in the present cruel and unjust war against the United Colonies." If captured in a harbor, the colony will have jurisdiction.
The same resolve allows private ship owners to outfit for "cruizing" (privateering), "when any vessel or vessels shall be fitted out at the expence of any private person or persons, then the captures made shall be to the use of the owner or owners of the said vessel or vessels; that where the vessels employed in the capture shall be fitted out at the expence of any of the United Colonies, then one-third of the prize taken shall be to the use of the captors, and the remaining two-thirds to the use of the said colony, and where the vessels so employed shall be fitted out at the continental charge, then one-third shall go to the captors, and the remaining two to the use of the United Colonies."
Privateers are required to secure "a commission from the Congress" or from one of the colonies.
Congress recommended that the colonies set up courts and give them jurisdiction over the cases.
The same resolve allows private ship owners to outfit for "cruizing" (privateering), "when any vessel or vessels shall be fitted out at the expence of any private person or persons, then the captures made shall be to the use of the owner or owners of the said vessel or vessels; that where the vessels employed in the capture shall be fitted out at the expence of any of the United Colonies, then one-third of the prize taken shall be to the use of the captors, and the remaining two-thirds to the use of the said colony, and where the vessels so employed shall be fitted out at the continental charge, then one-third shall go to the captors, and the remaining two to the use of the United Colonies."
Privateers are required to secure "a commission from the Congress" or from one of the colonies.
Congress recommended that the colonies set up courts and give them jurisdiction over the cases.
250 years ago today, Congress resolved, "Whereas Lord Dunmore, by his proclamation lately published,* has declared his intention to execute martial law, thereby tearing up the foundations of civil authority and government within the said colony:
Resolved, Therefore, that if the convention of Virginia shall find it necessary to establish a form of government in that colony, it be recommended to that Convention to call a full and free representation of the people, and that the said representatives, if they think it necessary, establish such form of government as in their judgment will best produce the happiness of the people, and most effectually secure peace and good order in the colony, during the continuance of the present dispute between Great Britain and these colonies."
* Written November 7, 1775 and published November 15, 1775 declaring martial law and freedom, to any slave who fought for the Crown.
Civil authority and government was key to the colonists..
Resolved, Therefore, that if the convention of Virginia shall find it necessary to establish a form of government in that colony, it be recommended to that Convention to call a full and free representation of the people, and that the said representatives, if they think it necessary, establish such form of government as in their judgment will best produce the happiness of the people, and most effectually secure peace and good order in the colony, during the continuance of the present dispute between Great Britain and these colonies."
* Written November 7, 1775 and published November 15, 1775 declaring martial law and freedom, to any slave who fought for the Crown.
Civil authority and government was key to the colonists..
British Army and U.S. Army hold joint ceremony for soldiers killed at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina (1780). A number of American bodies at least one Brit (Scottish Highlander of the 71st Regiment of Foot).
Critiques of Ken Burns are starting to come in.
Burns tells viewers that the Iroquois Confederation invented the idea of a political union in America.
In fact, as the scholar Robert Natelson has noted, the Iroquois don’t show up as a model in the 34-volume “Journals of the Continental Congress”; the three-volume collection “The Records of the Federal Convention” (the Constitutional Convention); or the more than 40-volume “Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution.”
Instead of the American union being based upon the Iroquois Confederation, Benjamin Franklin wrote to James Parker on March 22, 1751: "It would be a very strange Thing, if six Nations of ignorant Savages should be capable of forming a Scheme for such an Union, and be able to execute it in such a Manner, as that it has subsisted Ages, and appears indissoluble; and yet that a like Union should be impracticable for ten or a Dozen English Colonies, to whom it is more necessary, and must be more advantageous; and who cannot be supposed to want an equal Understanding of their Interests."
What Franklin was saying was that even people as ignorant as the Indians can manage union then the colonies have no excuse not to unite. The "ignorant savages" comment did not make the Ken Burns documentary.
Burns reported a woman named Margaret Corbin was wounded in battle after her husband was killed. Later, Congress awarded her a pension, but at half the rate of a male combatant. This makes it seem like an anti-woman bigoted Congress slighted her because of her sex. The problem is that Congress pensioned all invalid soldiers at half pay (this was a tradition inherited from the British). Corbin had not been slighted, Congress had actually been remarkably progressive in pensioning a woman but Burns selectively edited the facts to make it seem the opposite. Not cool.
Burns is an amazing filmmaker. As an historian, he sometimes lets his agenda interfere with the facts.
Burns tells viewers that the Iroquois Confederation invented the idea of a political union in America.
In fact, as the scholar Robert Natelson has noted, the Iroquois don’t show up as a model in the 34-volume “Journals of the Continental Congress”; the three-volume collection “The Records of the Federal Convention” (the Constitutional Convention); or the more than 40-volume “Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution.”
Instead of the American union being based upon the Iroquois Confederation, Benjamin Franklin wrote to James Parker on March 22, 1751: "It would be a very strange Thing, if six Nations of ignorant Savages should be capable of forming a Scheme for such an Union, and be able to execute it in such a Manner, as that it has subsisted Ages, and appears indissoluble; and yet that a like Union should be impracticable for ten or a Dozen English Colonies, to whom it is more necessary, and must be more advantageous; and who cannot be supposed to want an equal Understanding of their Interests."
What Franklin was saying was that even people as ignorant as the Indians can manage union then the colonies have no excuse not to unite. The "ignorant savages" comment did not make the Ken Burns documentary.
Burns reported a woman named Margaret Corbin was wounded in battle after her husband was killed. Later, Congress awarded her a pension, but at half the rate of a male combatant. This makes it seem like an anti-woman bigoted Congress slighted her because of her sex. The problem is that Congress pensioned all invalid soldiers at half pay (this was a tradition inherited from the British). Corbin had not been slighted, Congress had actually been remarkably progressive in pensioning a woman but Burns selectively edited the facts to make it seem the opposite. Not cool.
Burns is an amazing filmmaker. As an historian, he sometimes lets his agenda interfere with the facts.
250 years ago, two Frenchmen arrive in Washington's camp proposing furnishing arms and ammunition to the Americans.
Washington sends them to Congress to talk about their proposal.
This is the beginning of an important relationship between the colonies and the French.
Washington sends them to Congress to talk about their proposal.
This is the beginning of an important relationship between the colonies and the French.
250 years ago this month, the Continental Congress adopts the Continental Union Flag as their flag.
Obviously not (yet) ready for independence, they adopted the British Union Jack with thirteen red and white strips for the thirteen colonies.
Obviously not (yet) ready for independence, they adopted the British Union Jack with thirteen red and white strips for the thirteen colonies.
250 years ago, Henry Knox (dispatched to Fort Ticonderoga to fetch the cannons and powder and briong them to Washington outside Boston), wrote to Washington that ha had gotten the cannon across Lake Champlain. and hired sleds and oxen. If the snow held out, he would present Washington a "noble train of artillery” within weeks.
Things are in motion...
Things are in motion...
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