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Olive Branch Petition
The Olive Branch Petition was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 5, 1775, and signed on July 8, 1775, in a final attempt to avoid war between Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies in America. The Congress had already authorized the invasion of Canada more than a week earlier, but the petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and entreated King George III to prevent further conflict. It was followed by the July 6, 1775 Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, however, which made its success unlikely in London. In August 1775, the colonies were formally declared to be in rebellion by the Proclamation of Rebellion, and the petition was rejected by the British government; King George had refused to read it before declaring the colonists traitors. Drafting The Second Continental Congress, convened in present-day Independence Hall in the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia in May 1775, and most of its delegates initially general ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Petition To The King
The Petition to the King was a petition sent to King George III by the First Continental Congress in 1774, calling for the repeal of the Intolerable Acts. The King's rejection of the petition was one of the causes of the later United States Declaration of Independence and American Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress had hoped to resolve conflict without a war. Political background Following the end of the French and Indian War (the North American theater of the Seven Years' War) in 1763, relations between the Thirteen Colonies and Britain had been deteriorating. Because the war had plunged the British government deep into debt, Parliament enacted a series of measures to increase tax revenue from the colonies. These acts, such as the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767, were seen as legitimate means of collecting revenues to pay off the nearly two-fold increase in British debt stemming from the war. Many colonists in the Americas, however, developed a diff ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Jay
John Jay (, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United States and from 1795 to 1801 as the second governor of New York. Jay directed U.S. foreign policy for much of the 1780s and was an important leader of the Federalist Party after the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788. Jay was born into a wealthy family of merchants and New York City government officials of French Americans, French Huguenot and Dutch Americans, Dutch descent. He became a lawyer and joined the New York Committee of Correspondence, organizing American opposition to Kingdom of Great Britain, British policies such as the Intolerable Acts in the leadup to the American Revolution. Jay was elected to the First Continental Congress, where he signed the Continental Association, and to the Second Continental Congr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Sense (pamphlet)
Common sense () is "knowledge, judgement, and taste which is more or less universal and which is held more or less without reflection or argument". As such, it is often considered to represent the basic level of sound practical judgement or knowledge of basic facts that any adult human being ought to possess. It is "common" in the sense of being shared by nearly all people. Relevant terms from other languages used in such discussions include the aforementioned Latin, itself translating Ancient Greek ('), and French '. However, these are not straightforward translations in all contexts, and in English different shades of meaning have developed. In philosophical and scientific contexts, since the Age of Enlightenment the term "common sense" has been used for rhetorical effect both approvingly and disapprovingly. On the one hand it has been a standard for good taste, good sense, and source of scientific and logical axioms. On the other hand it has been equated to conventional wisdo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In the old calendar, the new year began on March 25, not January 1. Paine's birth date, therefore, would have been before New Year, 1737. In the new style, his birth date advances by eleven days and his year increases by one to February 9, 1737. The Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. link gives more detail if needed. – June 8, 1809) was an English-born American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father, French Revolutionary, inventor, and political philosophy, political philosopher. He authored ''Common Sense'' (1776) and ''The American Crisis'' (1776–1783), two of the most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution, and he helped to inspire the Colonial history of the United States, colonial era Patriot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Bunker Hill
The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Boston, Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peripherally involved. It was the original objective of both the colonial and British troops, though the majority of combat took place on the adjacent hill, which became known as Breed's Hill. On June 13, 1775, the leaders of the colonial forces besieging Boston learned that the British were planning to send troops out from the city to fortify the unoccupied hills surrounding the city, which would give them control of Boston Harbor. In response, 1,200 colonial troops under the command of William Prescott stealthily occupied Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill. They constructed a strong redoubt on Breed's Hill overnight, as well as smaller fortified lines across the Charlestown Peninsula. By daybreak of June 17, the British became aware of the presen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Legge, 2nd Earl Of Dartmouth
William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth, PC, FRS (20 June 1731 – 15 July 1801), styled as Viscount Lewisham from 1732 to 1750, was a British statesman who served as Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1772 to 1775, during the initial stages of the American Revolution. He is also the namesake of Dartmouth College. Early life Dartmouth was the son of George Legge, Viscount Lewisham, who died when Dartmouth was one year old. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Arthur Kaye, 3rd Baronet. He entered Trinity College, Oxford, in 1748, and succeeded his grandfather in the earldom in 1750. It was Lord Dartmouth who, in 1764, at the suggestion of Thomas Haweis, recommended John Newton, the former slave trader and author of "Amazing Grace", to Edmund Keene, the Bishop of Chester. He was instrumental in Newton's acceptance for the Anglican ministry. Political career Lord Dartmouth's political career began with the presidency of the Board of Trade and Foreign Plantations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battles Of Lexington And Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 were the first major military actions of the American Revolutionary War between the Kingdom of Great Britain and Patriot (American Revolution), Patriot militias from America's Thirteen Colonies. Day-long running battles were fought in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Massachusetts, Lexington, Concord, Massachusetts, Concord, Lincoln, Massachusetts, Lincoln, Arlington, Massachusetts, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge. The American victory resulted in an outpouring of support for the anti-British cause. In the summer of 1774, Colonial leaders in Suffolk County, Massachusetts adopted the Suffolk Resolves in resistance to the Massachusetts Government Act, alterations made to the Massachusetts colonial government by the British parliament in the Intolerable Acts following the Boston Tea Party. The leade ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The National Archives (United Kingdom)
The National Archives (TNA; ) is a non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Its parent department is the Department for Culture, Media and Sport of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is the official National archives, national archive of the UK Government and for England and Wales; and "guardian of some of the nation's most iconic documents, dating back more than 1,000 years." There are separate national archives for Scotland (the National Records of Scotland) and Northern Ireland (the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland). TNA was formerly four separate organisations: the Public Record Office (PRO), the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Historical Manuscripts Commission, the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) and Office of Public Sector Information, His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO). The Public Record Office still exists as a legal entity, as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Lee (diplomat)
Arthur Lee (20 December 1740 – 12 December 1792) was an American physician, diplomat and abolitionist who was born in the British colony of Virginia. He helped negotiate and signed the 1778 Treaty of Alliance with France, along with Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane, which allied France and the United States in fighting the war. Lee was educated in medicine and law at the University of Edinburgh and in London, respectively. After passing the bar, he practiced law in London for several years. He stayed in London during the Revolutionary War, representing the colonies to Britain and France and also serving as an American spy to track their activities. After his return to Virginia, he served as a delegate to the Continental Congress. Life Born at Stratford Hall, Virginia, Arthur Lee was the youngest son of Hon. Thomas Lee (1690–1750) and Hannah Harrison Ludwell (1701–1750). Three of his five surviving elder brothers, Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794), Francis Lightfoot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Penn (governor)
Richard Penn Jr. (1735 – 27 May 1811, Richmond, Surrey, England) served as the lieutenant governor of the Province of Pennsylvania from 1771 to 1773, and was later a member of the British Parliament. Life Penn, of Laleham in Middlesex, was the second son of Richard Penn Sr. (1706–1771) and his wife Hannah Lardner, daughter of Richard Lardner M.D.; and the grandson of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. He was educated at Eton College and St John's College, Cambridge before joining the Inner Temple. In 1763, he and his brother John visited Pennsylvania, of which his family were still sole proprietors. He was qualified as a councilor on 12 January 1764. In 1768, he was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society. In 1771, he returned to Pennsylvania and was appointed lieutenant governor. He soon became acting governor when his brother returned to England to attend to the colony's legal interests. He proved popular with the provincials, taking much c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Province Of Georgia
The Province of Georgia (also Georgia Colony) was one of the Southern Colonies in colonial-era British America. In 1775 it was the last of the Thirteen Colonies to support the American Revolution. The original land grant of the Province of Georgia included a narrow strip of land that extended west to the Pacific Ocean. The colony's corporate charter was granted to General James Oglethorpe on April 21, 1732, by George II, for whom the colony was named. The charter was finalized by the King's privy council on June 9, 1732. The English colony of Georgia was planned as utopian society with an integrated physical, economic and social design influenced by the ideals of James Harrington. Oglethorpe envisioned a colony which would serve as a haven for English subjects who had been imprisoned for debt and "the worthy poor." General Oglethorpe imposed laws that many colonists disagreed with, such as the banning of alcoholic beverages. He disagreed with slavery and thought a syste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts, sometimes referred to as the Insufferable Acts or Coercive Acts, were a series of five punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws aimed to punish Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest of the Tea Act, a tax measure enacted by Parliament in May 1773. In Great Britain, these laws were referred to as the Coercive Acts. They were a key development leading to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in April 1775. Four acts were enacted by Parliament in early 1774 in direct response to the Boston Tea Party of 16 December 1773: Boston Port, Massachusetts Government, Impartial Administration of Justice, and Quartering Acts. The acts took away self-governance and rights that Massachusetts had enjoyed since its founding, triggering outrage and indignation in the Thirteen Colonies. The British Parliament hoped these punitive measures would, by making an example of Massachusetts, re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
