250 and Counting

Category: Second Continental Congress

  • June 21, 1775: New Jersey Gets in the Game

    Cover art for June 21, 1775: Portrait of William Franklin, attributed to Mather Brown, ca 1790

    New Jersey’s Provincial Congress first convened in May, but by now they’d gotten a bunch of stuff done. They’d already made arrangements to remove the Royal Governor from power, and resolved to do it like gentlemen (it didn’t work out that way, unfortunately).

    At this point the colony had only one delegate to the Continental Congress: a couple had resigned, one never showed up, and that left exactly one man holding down the fort. So the Provincial Congress appointed new delegates, with a specific mission.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • June 16, 1775: Washington Officially Accepts Command

    Cover art for June 16, 1775: George Washington accepting command of the Continental Army (detail). From a print by Currier and Ives, c. 1876.

    Yesterday, George Washington was unanimously elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army.

    Today he officially accepted the position.

    He won’t take actually begin until early July (we’ll get to that episode in a few weeks), but take a look at this image here. He’s already in the blue coat, and his hair is whiter than it was in yesterday’s art.

    The truth about his hair color is likely somewhere in between these two images, but of course he wasn’t wearing a coat like that just yet. This art is from a hundred years later, by Currier and Ives.

    What I found interesting is that some of the people in the background look a little put out by Washington, even though they’re the ones who elected him. I think Currier and Ives were trying to convey that it was a serious event, but everyone just looks angry. John Adams (in the dark blue to the right) appears especially annoyed, and he’s the one who nominated him in the first place.

    And check out the guy to Adams’ right, staring straight at us. There’s always one guy who can’t help but look at the camera.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • June 15, 1775: The Original G-Man

    Cover art for June 15, 1775: Portrait of George Washington in 1775 by Samuel King

    Jeez, I gotta stop writing these titles late at night.

    Sometimes the history books make it sound like some people just appeared out of nowhere, but they did have pasts. George Washington would be a good example.

    Washington has been nearly invisible since this show started on January 1, but that doesn’t mean that the Congress hollered “Anyone wanna be a general?” and he stepped up first. In fact, he was a delegate to the First Continental Congress in 1774, and for some time he’d been a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, often simultaneously with the Congress thing. And he did have a commendable military background dating back to the French and Indian War, so appointing him the Commander of Colonial forces wasn’t part of someone’s crazy scheme: they thought he could really do it.

    And do it, he did.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • June 12, 1775: Press One for English

    Cover art for June 12, 1775: The cover of the first of the letters directed at citizens of Canada, ca. 1774.

    The folks in America wanted to ensure that the folks in Canada knew just how bad the conditions were, but the problem was that most of the regular inhabitants of Canada spoke French, so when the Continental Congress created documents meant to sway the Canadians to our side of the loyalty fence, they were written in French.

    But the problem was, they couldn’t use these documents as evidence for folks here in the Colonies, because not enough people understood French. What to do, what to do?

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • June 7, 1775: Just Another Day In Congress

    Cover art for June 7, 1775: a printed version of the proclamation written by the committee assigned on this day.

    The Second Continental Congress was in full swing by now. The first committees are beginning to report out to the Congress. New committees are being created for various purposes. The Congress is meeting as a group to determine the state of America. And one committee is recruited to draft a proclamation that, to modern ears, might sound a little peculiar. But the fact is, even a hundred years later a proclamation like this was quite common.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • June 3, 1775: Committees Everywhere

    Cover art for June 3, 1775: Portrait of Silas Deane by William Johnston, 1766

    Silas Deane was a delegate to the Continental Congress from Connecticut, and by most accounts he did a decent job of it, although he did lose his position after a dispute with Roger Sherman. He stuck around Congress anyway, helping however he could.

    The following year he went to France as a secret delegate to drum up support for the Colonies. Unfortunately when he returned he was accused of financial impropriety; it took some time to clear his name and when the dust settled, he was nearly broke.

    The following year he returned to France and, while there, letters he’d written suggesting that the Colonies would not win the war were released to the press by British spies, and he again faced accusations, this time of treason.

    Eventually Deane moved to Ghent and in 1789 he made plans to return to the newly-minted United States of America so he could clear his name. But he fell ill and died shortly after boarding a ship to take him back home. He was 51 years old.

    P.S. you only think this has nothing to do with today’s episode.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • June 2, 1775: Joseph Warren Has A Good Idea

    Cover Art for June 2, 1775: Joseph Warren portrait by John Singleton Copley, 1765

    Joseph Warren is definitely one of the unsung heroes of the American Revolution. We last heard from him on March 5, when he did his You Are There routine describing the events of the Boston Massacre at a memorial event (in fact, we used the same cover art).

    Today he’s more of the guy with the common sense solution: “Hey, instead of having a whole bunch of little militias fighting this thing…what if we put ’em all together into one big army?”

    And the Continental Congress, moving with its usual speed…took no action for about two weeks. It’s possible that there were still delegates not feeling the urgency just yet, though.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • May 31, 1775: The Second Letter to Canada

    Cover art for May 31, 1775: Portrait of John Jay by Gilbert Stuart, 1794.

    With all the talk of our good relationships with Canada possibly going awry in the light of tariffs being levied [or not] against that country, it’s interesting to recognize that there was, in fact, a genuine relationship established before the Colonies broke away from England.

    It started in 1774, and continues on this day in 1775, and there’s one more attempt in the works. But for the time being let’s live for today.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • May 30, 1775: Thomas Willing Gets Mail

    Cover art for May 30, 1775: Portrait of Thomas Willing by John Wollaston the Younger, 1750

    As we noted a couple of days ago, the Continental Congress had its share of delegates who wanted to take one more crack at reconciliation. To that end they’d begun working on the Olive Branch Petition, though it wouldn’t be ready to send to Britain for several more weeks.

    So when a letter came in from Lord North to one of the delegates, and the letter offered its own form of reconciliation…well, attention must be paid.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

  • May 26, 1775: One More Attempt at Peace

    Cover art for May 26, 1775: Portrait of John Dickinson, ca. 1780 by Charles Wilson Peale

    Despite everything that had already happened, there was still a sizeable chunk of the Second Continental Congress who thought that some form of reconciliation with England was possible.

    Under their logic, the fact that there had been fighting at Lexington and Concord should have provided King George with ample proof that his policies were unpopular, and maybe he could back off on them a little bit.

    In retrospect, we can see that this was rather short-sighted, and that those people truly didn’t understand the motivations that the English leadership had for their actions. Plus, England had history on their side: someone’s acting up? Squash them like bugs and get them all back in line.

    Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed