250 and Counting

This day in American History, 250 years ago.

  • The Last Signatory–November 4, 1776

    Cover art for November 4, 1776: image of Matthew Thornton from a 19th-century steel-line engraving printed on paper, artist unknown. Via Wikimedia Commons.

    The curious thing about Matthew Thornton’s being the last person to sign the Declaration of Independence isn’t why it took so long for him to get it done.

    He wasn’t appointed to the position until after all the debate had taken place, so it was rather gracious of the Continental Congress to let him sign in the first place. But, they were holding that “all-in” attitude, so he may not have had a choice.

    And because of all the doings and goings-on in the New York area, travel from New England to Philadelphia was dangerous for most civilians, never mind the ones who are out there representing the rebellious government. So sure, he gets a pass for taking his time getting to Pennsylvania.

    No. The part I don’t get is, if he could pick any space to put his signature, why he put it where he did. Now, all the others signed their names as a colonial/state group, e.g. Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall and George Walton were all from Georgia, so their names appear together. Josiah Bartlett and William Whipple are also from New Hampshire and they’re together. But Samuel Adams signed immediately below Whipple, so there wasn’t any space for Wharton to squeeze his name in, so it’s at the bottom-right of the document.

    But look at that gigantic space at the bottom left! Why did he group himself with the Connecticut crowd? Did he not want to be thought of as a Georgia man?

    It’s a mystery.

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  • The Maryland Declaration of Rights–November 3, 1776

    Cover art for November 3, 1776: the front page of the Maryland Declaration of Rights and Constitution from 1776.

    Before I get into the Maryland Declaration of Rights, can I please just note that the State Flag of Maryland is probably the coolest of all 50 state flags? And remember, I’m not native to this state. In fact, not only is it cool, it’s aggressively cool.

    I should also mention that if you happen to notice that there appears to be Christmas music playing in the background of today’s episode, you’re not entirely wrong. It’s a recording of Maryland’s state song, which is set to the tune of “O Tannenbaum.” Cool flag, way uncool anthem.

    The Maryland Declaration of Rights, which has a lot of DNA from Virginia’s Declaration of Rights, not to mention Pennsylvania’s, is actually more explicit than those documents (not to mention the US Constitution) when it comes to the enumeration of some of those rights.

    For instance, there’s Article 40, which stipulates, “That the liberty of the press ought to be inviolably preserved; that every citizen of the State ought to be allowed to speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that privilege.”

    Article 22 is the right against self-incrimination, but again it’s more explicit then the US Fifth Amendment, because it provides that exercising that right is unconditional and can’t be irrevocably waived for the duration of a trial. So if you didn’t exercise it earlier, you can still exercise it later on. Likewise, if you waived your right under the Fifth Amendment, it doesn’t mean you also waived your right under Article 22.

    Over the years, the Maryland Constitution has been modified a few times, including: a couple of times in the late 1800s to eliminate slavery, certain race-related items were removed and women’s rights broadened in 1972, and reproductive rights were reinforced in 2024.

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  • Demont Gives Up Fort Washington–November 2, 1776

    Cover art for November 2, 1776: William Demont('s ghost), as depicted in the Scooby-Doo Show, Episode 116, "The Spirits of '76". Image nicked from Scoobypedia.

    William Demont was a traitor in much the same way that Benedict Arnold was, but Washington chose to keep this story a little quieter, largely for morale reasons.

    So how does he make it into an episode of Scooby Doo?

    It’s worth remembering that as we approached the Bicentennial, America was absolutely immersed in the whole Spirit of ’76 and showed great interest in that era. (Frankly it’s sort of what we were hoping would happen again when we first came up with this show. Anyway.) The American Colonial Era was a constant focus in media, from Philadelphia turning into a major tourist location to Red, White and Blue everything everywhere. So the fact that a Scooby Doo episode offered up a history lesson didn’t really seem out of place. Here’s what happened in the story:

    Mystery, Inc. visits Washington DC but the weather turns rainy and they duck into the Splitsonian Institute. Oddly, the museum has practically no visitors and a guard explains that it’s empty because it’s haunted. Then the guard reminds them that it’s nearly closing time.

    Shaggy sees a tableau with a sign in front of it: “Traitors of American History”, with wax figures of Benedict Arnold, William Demont and Major André. (Demont is the only one wearing civilian clothes, even though he was in the Continental Army.) As everyone moves on, Scooby sniffs at Demont’s statue but is pushed away by its leg.

    Hijinks ensue, etc etc and the gang eventually reveal that Major André isn’t a ghost but an accomplice of the other two men. William Demont is unmasked and turns out to be Mr. Wilit, an employee who actually sleeps in the museum. And Benedict Arnold winds up actually being one of the guards. The three men replaced the wax dummies with themselves; their plan was to use a drill to cut through the basement wall to the US Mint next door, so they could steal the money therein. What they didn’t know is that the money they were going to steal had no treasury seal, no serial numbers and no signature printed on them yet, so they were worthless.

    See? History lesson and a little bit of civics/economics to boot.

    Also, for what it’s worth, John Stephenson voiced all three of the “ghost” characters and two others besides in this episode. However, Frank Welker (who also voices Fred) provided the voice for Mr. Wilit, the man in the Demont mask.

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  • A New Mission Is Re-established–November 1, 1776

    Cover art for November 1, 1776: photo of Mission San Juan Capistrano in California. via Wikipedia, uploaded by user Diana Nuttman.

    Every day you learn something new if you pay attention, and today I learned that there is more than one Mission San Juan Capistrano.

    I went looking for a photo of the mission on Wikipedia, since most images there are in the public domain, and I found one in an article about the mission but the map was all wrong. This mission was in Texas; mine is supposed to be in California!

    It took me a second to notice the line at the top of the article: “For the mission of the same name in California, click here.”

    I bet the swallows never had that kind of navigational difficulty when they went looking for the Mission San Juan Capistrano.

    So what’s the story with the Swallows of Capistrano? It turns out that as part of their migratory pattern, a species of bird called cliff swallows arrive at the mission on or around St. Joseph’s Day, which is March 19. They’ve been using the mission to build or re-establish their nests almost as long as the mission has been there. Originally they were using whatever perch they could find, because the mission is near two rivers and there’s plenty of muddy marshland, which is good for the nests (they’re made of mud) and for the baby birds (lots of insects in the marsh). But once the mission went up, they started using the overhangs and the arches there.

    Development in the area has meant that the marshland isn’t quite as marshy as it used to be, so the swallow population has gone down some. The story goes that the sky could practically turn black with birds as they arrived on St. Joseph’s Day, and again on October 23, the Day of San Juan, when they leave Capistrano and head back to Argentina to spend the winter.

    The things you learn.

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  • Retreating North–October 31, 1776

    Cover art for October 31, 1776: "The Battle of White Plains," originally designed as a commemorative postage stamp by Edmund F. Ward in 1926. Ward finished the larger oil painting in 1932. via White Plains Public Library.

    When George Washington retreated his men under cover of darkness from White Plains to North Castle, he expected General Howe to follow.

    Howe didn’t take the bait.

    So the two men sat there for a couple of days, each hoping to draw the other one out. The fact was, Howe wasn’t all that interested in pursuing Washington’s army, so he turned his attention elsewhere in the end. Stay tuned; we’ll get there in a couple of days.

    This was a good news/bad news situation for the Continental Army. Good, because they coulld take a breather from near-constant fighting since mid-August; bad because Howe’s troops weren’t stretching themselves thin with occupying territory they’d won.

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  • George M. Bibb–October 30, 1776

    Cover art for October 30, 1776: portrait of Hon George M. Bibb, 1850. via Library of Congress.

    What can I tell you about George Bibb that Mike hasn’t already shared with you?

    (Also: wait—Mike has a research staff? I don’ t have a research staff and this show was my idea! I think he’s getting his students to do his homework for him.)

    (For the record, that’s a joke. Mike and I each do our own research on these shows.)

    George Bibb was a generally wealthy guy, but in 1837 there was a financial crisis that led to several years of economic depression. It was a lot of different things coming together: land speculation in the West, cotton prices crashing, restrictive rules regarding lending money to Great Britain—a holdover from the War of 1812—and a few other things both related and not to one another, plus the fact that the US didn’t have a central bank at the time to calm things down. Today it’s referred to as the Panic of 1837, because of the resulting bank run that took place on May 10 of that year.

    This led to some serious financial difficulties for Bibb, and one can only imagine that this is why he agreed to be the Secretary of the Treasury in 1844, as things managed to begin righting themselves. Unfortunately, President John Tyler was not receptive to Bibb’s recommendation of a “sinking fund,” which would help to pay down government debt through any surplus revenue. To use a totally-made-up example, if the government expected to receive a million dollars in revenue and instead got $1.1 million, the extra hundred thousand would go to the fund. Similarly, if a department expected to spend a million dollars in a given year but only spent $900,000, that money could also go to the fund. This wasn’t his idea, though: the nation had a sinking fund from 1739 to 1835 but Bibb couldn’t get it revived.

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  • The Morning After–October 29, 1776

    Cover art for October 29, 1776: detail of a wood engraving by Benson John Lossing of Chatteron's Hill, 1851. via the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA.

    The Battle of White Plains was long, and it was complicated, and once things settled down, both armies needed a little time to regroup and figure out what happened.

    It was clear that, despite the relative gains for the British, the casualties were comparable (at worst) to those of the Americans. General Howe’s aim in not pursuing matters further was to await the arrival of reinforcements. Could he have have gotten the job done without them? Maybe; the Americans were outnumbered but they were still formidable fighters despite their relative lack of training.

    George Washington, on the other hand, was trying to re-organize in order to safely retreat and fight another day. But things in Downstate New York aren’t quite over yet, and we’ll be returning here in a couple of days. Stay tuned.

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  • Battle of White Plains–October 28, 1776

    Cover art for October 28, 1776: detail of a 19th century painting of Johann Rall, painted by George Whiting Flagg, based on an earlier sketch by John Trumbull. via the Old Barracks Museum in Trenton, NJ.

    The Battle of White Plains, like so many others we’ve described, was technically a victory for the British, but the overall cost and/or final result leaves everyone wondering whether the win was worth it.

    As we’ve noted repeatedly, the objective of all this activity in New York was for the British to take control of the Hudson Valley and the river all the way up to Canada, thus cutting New England off from the rest of the colonies and, in theory, making it impossible for Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Massachusetts to get any supplies without Britain’s permission. (Remember, Vermont and Maine weren’t states yet.)

    And while the British won in Brooklyn, and then Manhattan, and again today at the Battle of White Plains, George Washington’s movements just kept moving the goalposts just a little further away. Washington probably should ahve moved west to get away from the British and regroup, but he chose instead to move north, essentially forcing the British to chase him again rather than just move in and do whatever they wanted to do.

    As we move into the last couple of months of this podcast, we will return to this activity a few times before we’re done. So, stick around!

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  • New Command for John Paul Jones–October 27, 1776

    Cover art for October 27, 1776: portrait of John Paul Jones by George Matthews, ca. 1890, based on a 1781 portrait by Charles WIllson Peale. via the US Senate Collection.

    John Paul Jones (Mike would have me note it’s not the guy from Led Zeppelin) led a relatively short life, but it was certainly eventful.

    Jones was born in Scotland and became a sailor at age 13, where he served on multiple merchantmen, including a few slave ships. Jones fled to the Virginia colony to avoid arrest after killing a mutinous subordinate and joined the Continental Navy in 1775. Less than a year later he was the captain of the USS Alfred, which is the subject of today’s episode.

    After Jones’ successes in France, he harassed British merchant ships in the Irish Sea, and he made a couple of attempts to deeply sabotage the ships in Whitehaven, but his efforts weren’t successful.

    In 1779, while still in Europe, Jones took command of the Bonhomme Richard and continued to give the British a hard time in their own waters, sometimes with mixed results. This was the ship he was commanding when he was said to have uttered the phrase “I have not yet begun to fight!”, which is pretty gung-ho, but unfortunately apocryphal.

    Jones was left without a command in 1787, so he entered in o the service of Empress Catherine of Russia. He experienced some successes, but was undercut by an ambitious underling who deliberately mis-translated his letters to the Empress. Two years later, Tadeusz Kościuszko, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War, suggested that he leave Russia and serve another nation. Not long thereafter he was accused of raping a young girl and left the country despite the evidence being rather thin. He returned to Paris but couldn’t get a foothold in society.

    In 1792 Jones was appointed the US Consul to negotiate with Algiers for the release of American captives. Unfortunately before he could do this, he was found deat at home. The cause of his death was interstitial nephritis, an inflammation of part of the kidney which is sometimes symptomless. Nowadays it’s most often caused by reactions to certain medications but is easily treated. Jones was 45 when he died and in significant debt, largely because he hadn’t been paid for some of his endeavors. He was buried in a cemetery specifically for Protestants who weren’t native Frenchmen, but the grave was either unmarked or the marker stone was taken. It took until 1905 to locate his coffin. Today his remains are interred in a sarcophagus at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

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  • Ben Franklin Heads To France–October 26, 1776

    Cover art for October 26, 1776: A 19th century lithograph titled "Franklin at Versailles," artist unknown.

    While Benjamin Franklin departed for France on this day, actually having Franklin in France wouldn’t happen until early December. Remember, he was traveling by ship and it took a few weeks to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

    What’s more, as Mike mentions, it would take him over a year to secure the support that we needed. In fact, I cheated a little on the artwork, which depicts Franklin presenting himself before Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette at the Palace of Versailles. This didn’t happen until March of 1778, after formal diplomatic relations had been established, and Franklin named our ambassador. But the truth is, I didn’t think I was going to find a contemporary image of Franklin embarking on a ship, and there’s something about the use of line and color that has me loving this art style, so an image of Franklin in France already is where we all are now.

    Side note: there’s a very similar art style from about 100 years ago, maybe more like 80-90 years, that has a lithographic/woodcut feel and similar use of colors—though just a hair more vivid—and it just speaks to me somehow. I know that there were a few picture books from my childhood that employed that art style, and maybe that’s what I’m responding to. (There’s a sample here and I have no idea what story it’s telling, but you get the general picture [heh] of what I’m talking about, visually.)

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