250 and Counting

This day in American History, 250 years ago.

  • The Virginia Declaration of Rights–June 12, 1776

    Cover art for June 12, 1776: portrait of George Mason created by Dominic W. Boudet. It was an 1850 copy of a 1750 original by John Hesselius that had badly deteriorated.

    While the Virginia Declaration of Rights wasn’t adopted until today, and Thomas Jefferson only got started on writing the Declaration of Independence yesterday, it’s known that the Virginia document was one of the few references that Jefferson had with him when he first began writing.

    The other one we know about for sure is the draft of the Virginia Constitution, which Jefferson himself had written.

    The Virginia Declaration of Rights not only served as a big chunk of Jefferson’s inspiration for the Declaration of Independence, you can definitely see echoes of it in the US Constitution, particularly the Bill of Rights. (In fact, if you read Section 13 of the Virginia Declaration, you’ll see the heart of the more contentious language from the Constitution’s Second Amendment.)

    The big difference between the Virginia Declaration and the Constitution is that the Constitution is the actual law, whereas George Mason’s document is more prescriptive (e.g. thus-and-such should happen, or this ought to be the situation.)

    Follow the links above and do a little compare-and-contrast. You might have fun!

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  • The Declaration Begins–June 11, 1776

    Cover art for June 11, 1776: "Writing the Declaration of Independence 1776" by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1900. via Wikimedia Commons.

    After temporarily tabling the Lee Resolution, which called for our independence from Great Britain, the Second Continental Congress identified its Declaration Committee. Five men were chosen to articulate why we were asking King George to go screw himself in the politest possible terms.

    While the Committee involved five men—John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston—most of the work fell to three of them: Jefferson, Adams and Franklin. Jefferson spent a few days working on the first draft in isolation, then Adams and Franklin began reviewing and revising his work.

    The Declaration Committee worked steadily for over two weeks before presenting their finished product to the Congress, though John Hancock did get to see an earlier draft.

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  • Who Wants To Write A Declaration?–June 10, 1776

    Cover art for June 10, 1776: photo of Gordon S. Wood (1933-2026) in 2008. Photo by Earl McDonald, NARA.

    With the Lee Resolution on hold for the time being, but still a very real thing, the Continental Congress needed to get organized with regard to how this was going to be presented and effected. As we told you a few days ago, some delegates needed hard instructions. Others needed a little more clarity regarding the structure. Still others determined that a formal declaration was necessary.

    Why? You have to remember, this kind of thing had never been done before. And even though some other nations saw what was going on and were sympathetic in some way, it was still necessary for us to lay out the argument, and in such a way that the entire world could look at it and say “Well yeah, that makes sense.”

    (Maybe not in so many words; they probably said archaic stuff like “ye” or something, but you get the idea. Also: catch me on a slow show notes day and I’ll dive into the whole “ye” thing.)

    Now, you may be wondering why Lee’s proposal was presented on the 7th and only on the 10th did they decide that a Declaration Committee was necessary? I have two reasons off the top of my head. First, June 7th, 1776 was a Friday, and while they did do some business on Saturday, the whole thing needed greater consideration so it was probably tabled to the 10th. Second, remember we’ve been telling you for many months that the Second Continental Congress was a very thoughtful, deliberate body of men. They considered many, many things before making decisions, and it’s likely that they had to arrive at consensus regarding the need for a declaration at all. So in that respect it does make sense.

    And tomorrow, while one guy gets most of the credit, we’re going to meet all of the men responsible for the declaration.

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  • News From All Over–June 9, 1776

    Cover art for June 9, 1776: Map of New York which the British published shortly after the Battle of Long Island.

    It was a busy day for corresponding with George Washington on this day, as three letters to Washington were sent.

    Each one had a bit of information that was negative at its worst and neutral at its best. But these letters were a bit of a problem, in that information took so long to get from one place to another: by the time Washington received warning that British troops were enroute, they were thisclose to actually being there.

    On the other hand, both sides are equally disadvantaged by the time lag, and Washington was shrewd enough to find a way to take advantage of that, as we’ll discover.

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  • Finally Bailing Out Of Canada–June 8, 1776

    Cover art for June 8, 1776: 1759 map of Montreal, St. Lawrence River, Richelieu River at Sorel, and Three Rivers east of Lake St. Peters. This is the Trois-Rivières area referenced in today's episode.

    As a nation, we should be able to face our failures as squarely as we crow our triumphs, and make no mistake: the invasion of, and withdrawal from Canada was a botched effort from one end to the other.

    Perhaps the only thing that kept it from being a bigger deal was the distraction a few weeks later of the Colonies delcaring themselves to be states independent from Great Britain.

    We barely had an army that had any idea of how to provision its forces, yet we sent a bunch of them to the north anyway, far from home and no easy way to get there or back. We started this invasion in a blizzard! And, perhaps even worse, our withdrawal from Canada suddenly left us open to a potential invasion from the north by British troops.

    I realize that I have the benefit of 250 years of hindsight on this, but this really does feel like one of those things where people said “We have to see this through to the end, which will be glorious,” and then nearly six months later, when it all falls apart, the same people say, “Wow, it was so obvious.”

    (forgive me, I’m having a cynical day.)

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  • The Question is Called–June 7, 1776

    Cover art for June 7, 1776: An 1861 steel engraving of Richard Henry Lee, based on an 1860 painting by Alonzo Chappel. Part of the Massachusetts Historical Society Online Collection.

    It was one of the last major steps before the Declaration, and it happened on this day. The Lee Resolution, as it came to be known, was named after Richard Henry Lee, delegate from Virginia, who was given instructions from his government to propose that the Colonies become designated as free and independent states.

    Now, because some of the delegates didn’t have specific instructions on the Lee Resolution, and because Congress had long ago decided that votes needed to be unanimous, the vote was postponed for three weeks to give everyone an opportunity to get instructions from home. It took 26 days rather than 21 to get everyone to the point of voting, with the exception of New York, which was under instructions not to vote at all, so they abstained from voting until mid-July, at which point they finally also cast their Yes vote because a new legislative body was in place.

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  • William Reed–June 6, 1776

    Cover art for June 6, 1776: Portrait of William Reed, attributed to Gilbert Stuart or James Frothingham, date unknown.

    Mike is having a big day today (that is, his son is having a big day), so apologies for the delay in getting today’s episode to you, and thanks for your patience.

    William Reed was from Marblehead, Massachusetts, and while Mike has said about all there is to say, I thought I’d talk about Marblehead a little bit.

    I had an aunt who lived there when I was a small child (under 10 or so). I don’t know when she moved there, but when I visited she’d already picked up a strong local accent (pahk the cah and all like that).

    Now, Mike told you a little about Marblehead’s importance as a mariner’s town, and the docks are lovely to see as a tourist, to be sure. But the thing that really impressed me—if we’re being totally honest here—is that the town hall/museum there is the home of the famous painting The Spirit of ’76, a/k/a Yankee Doodle, by Archibald Willard, and at right here.

    It’s a terribly famous painting and most people don’t know who the artist was. Again: ARCHIBALD WILLARD.

    The other impressive thing about this painting is that it’s not nearly as big as you think it is. It’s about 18 x 24 inches. And even though there are photos of young me, alongside my grandparents (who took younger me on this visit), even in my memory it’s a big painting, despite knowing that it isn’t.

    The Mandela Effect…boy, I don’t know.

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  • Congress Does Some War Business–June 5, 1776

    Cover art for June 5, 1776: "American Uniforms, 1775-1783" by H.A. Ogden, 1889, as part of a larger series documenting the evolution of American uniforms.

    Using the input of George Washington from just a few days earlier, the Second Continental Congress wasted little time putting together some Continental Army protocols to ensure that this relatively ragtag group of men would adhere to some kind of formalized behavior.

    But the Continental Army protocols they worked on also helped to establish better pay for some personnel, or set up protocol ranks for some otherwise non-officer personnel.

    And, of course, getting everyone paid was important so they talked about that as well.

    And as we creep closer to a formal declaration announcing the break with Britain, more Congressional delegates are convinced that reconciliation was always on the table, at least until quite recently. Robert Morris wrote as much to Silas Deane of Connecticut, and likewise Oliver Wolcott wrote to Roger Newberry, a Connecticut military officer, that he was of the opinion that the army is undertaking a Mighty Cause, and that as far as he could tell, the people support it.

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  • Isaac Van Houten–June 4, 1776

    Cover art for June 4, 1776: aerial view of Clarkstown in 2010, looking south. via Wikimedia Commons.

    The Rockland County area of New York State is some lovely country. It’s just north of New York City and, along with adjacent Duchess and Westchester Counties, could be considered the heart of the area where the Dutch settlers came and stayed.

    As a result you’ll find many place names that have Dutch origins. This is why so many places in the downstate New York area (the triangle above NYC) end in “-kill”, because “kill” is dutch for “creek.” Thus, “Fishkill” means “fish creek”.

    At any rate, while not a lot is known about Isaac Van Houten, it’s clear that he almost certainly has Dutch ancestry, given both his name and his hometown along the lower Hudson River.

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  • Congressional Mail–June 3, 1776

    Cover art for June 3, 1776: portrait of Josiah Bartlett. Painted by Edwin Tryon Billings, mezzotint, after a portrait by John Trumbull. The original by Trumbull hangs in the State House in Concord, New Hampshire

    Josiah Bartlett was, in fact, the inspiration for the presidential character who appears in the TV show The West Wing. The modern day president, Jed Bartlet only spelled his name with a single T at the end, but it was only around this time that the spelling of English words was starting to standardize, so Bartlett gets a pass.

    Bartlett, of course, was involved in the creation of the state constitution, and while he declined the position of US Senator in 1789 despite the vote, he accepted the position of Chief Executive in 1790. When New Hanpshire adopted a constitution and became a state, Bartlett’s title changed to Governor. In 1794 he resigned because of his health, and in 175 he died.

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