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                       JUN 15, 1215.                                      King John signing the Magna Carta in 1215       

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                       JUN 15, 1215.                                      King John signing the Magna Carta in 1215       

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The Magna carta provided the principle of limited government which it provided protection against punishment and the loss of life liberty and property this document was used to gain more political liberties and support for the idea of constitutional government (The Decoration of Independence)

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You have probably heard about the Magna Carta, also known as the "Great Charter." But do you really know what the document was about? What did it guarantee? Officially signed on June 15, 1215, the Magna Carta would become one of the most important documents in history. But why?

First, what was it?

Signed by King John following a revolt by the English nobility against his abuse of feudal law and custom, the Magna Carta established a crucial principle in 1215 that everyone (even King John) was subject to the law. The document guaranteed the rights of individuals, the rights to justice, and the right to a fair trial. King John signed the document as a peace treaty between himself and his rivals-rebel barons of England.

The document stated, "No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land." While this sounds like a good idea, King John soon regretted his decision.

Causing a war

Who knew one document could start a war? That's what happened when King John realized the Magna Carta concerned himself and he asked Pope Innocent III to annul the document. The Pope agreed, calling the document "illegal, unjust, harmful to royal rights and shameful to the English people." But this decision wreaked havoc on King John's monarchy. A civil war broke out between the king and his barons, lasting until King John's death in 1216. His son, King Henry III, later issued a revised Magna Carta, which formally entered English statue law in 1225.

Why was it important?

The Magna Carta has been exaggerated greatly as establishing English parliament. That's not true, according to historians, but the document was one of the necessary steps taken in England to establish parliament-serving as a symbol of the sovereignty of the rule of law. But the document had a widespread influence-even in the United States. In 1791, James Madison penned the Bill of Rights and many of the principles listed in the Magna Carta are found in Madison's very own important document. The United States isn't that different from England after all.

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June 15, 1215: King John signs the Magna Carta

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You have probably heard about the Magna Carta, also known as the "Great Charter." But do you really know what the document was about? What did it guarantee? Officially signed on June 15, 1215, the Magna Carta would become one of the most important documents in history. But why?

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                       MAY 24, 1607                                      The Establishment of Jamestown in 1607   

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                       MAY 24, 1607                                      The Establishment of Jamestown in 1607   

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People from many places such as England Spain France, Germany, Sweden, and West Africa came to North America and settled here. The English colonist brought ideas about governmente, that had been developing in England.

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The English arrive at Jamestown.
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On December 6, 1606, the journey to Virginia began on three ships: the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery. In 1607, 104 English men and boys arrived in North America to start a settlement. On May 13 they picked Jamestown, Virginia for their settlement, which was named after their King, James I. The settlement became the first permanent English settlement in North America.

The site for Jamestown was picked for several reasons, all of which met criteria the Virginia Company, who funded the settlement, said to follow in picking a spot for the settlement. The site was surrounded by water on three sides (it was not fully an island yet) and was far inland; both meant it was easily defensible against possible Spanish attacks. The water was also deep enough that the English could tie their ships at the shoreline - good parking! The site was also not inhabited by the Native population.

Once the spot was chosen the instructions sent by the Virginia Company, with the list of the council members (chosen by officials in England), was read. The names were kept in a sealed box on the ship (each ship had a sealed copy). The first President of the new Virginia colony was to be Edward Maria Winfield. The other six council members were: Bartholomew Gosnold, Christopher Newport, John Martin, John Ratcliffe, George Kendall, and John Smith.

By June 15, the fort was completed. It was triangle shaped with a bulwark at each corner, holding four or five pieces of artillery. The settlers were now protected against any attacks that might occur from the local Powhatan Indians, whose hunting land they were living on. Relations had already been mixed between the newcomers and the Powhatan Indians. On June 22, Captain Newport left for England to get more supplies for the new settlement.

Not long after Captain Newport left, the settlers began to succumb to a variety of diseases. They were drinking water from the salty or slimy river, which was one of several things that caused the death of many. The death tolls were high. They were dying from swellings, fluxes, fevers, by famine, and sometimes by wars. Food was running low, though then Chief Powhatan starting to send gifts of food to help the English. If not for the Powhatan Indians help in the early years, the settlement would most likely have failed, as the English would have died from the various diseases or simply starved.

By late 1609, the relationship between the Powhatan Indians and the English had soured as the English were demanding too much food during a drought. That winter of 1609-10 is known as the "Starving Time." During that winter the English were afraid to leave the fort, due to a legitimate fear of being killed by the Powhatan Indians. As a result they ate anything they could: various animals, leather from their shoes and belts, and sometimes fellow settlers who had already died. By early 1610 most of the settlers, 80-90% according to William Strachey, had died due to starvation and disease.

In May 1610, shipwrecked settlers who had been stranded in Bermuda finally arrived at Jamestown. Part of a fleet sent the previous fall, the survivors used two boats built on Bermuda to get to Jamestown. Sir Thomas Gates, the newly named governor, found Jamestown in shambles with the palisades of the fort torn down, gates off their hinges, and food stores running low. The decision was made to abandon the settlement. Less than a day after leaving, however, Gates and those with him, including the survivors of the "Starving Time," were met by news of an incoming fleet. The fleet was bringing the new governor for life, Lord Delaware. Gates and his party returned to Jamestown.

Harvesting Tobacco.
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In 1612, John Rolfe, one of many shipwrecked on Bermuda, helped turn the settlement into a profitable venture. He introduced a new strain of tobacco from seeds he brought from elsewhere. Tobacco became the long awaited cash crop for the Virginia Company, who wanted to make money off their investment in Jamestown.

On July 30, 1619, newly appointed Governor Yeardley called for the first representative legislative assembly. This was the beginning of representative government in what is now the United States of America.

In that same year, the first documented Africans were forcibly captured and brought to Virginia to work the tobacco fields. It is contested whether, at the time, these people were considered indentured servants or enslaved peoples however, historical evidence suggests they were often treated in a manner that more closely resembles enslavement as we understand it today.

Also in 1619, the Virginia Company recruited and shipped over about 90 women to become wives and start families in Virginia, something needed to establish a permanent colony. Over one hundred women, who brought or started families, had arrived in prior years, but 1619 was when establishing families became a primary focus.

Peace between the Powhatan Indians and the English, brought about by the conversion and marriage of Pocahontas (kidnapped by the English in 1613) and John Rolfe in 1614, ended in 1622. In March of that year the paramount chief, then Opechancanough, planned a coordinated attack against the English settlements. He was tired of the English encroachment on Powhatan lands. Jamestown escaped being attacked, due to a warning from a Powhatan boy living with the English. During the attack 350-400 of the 1,200 settlers were killed. After the attack, the Powhatan Indians withdrew, as was their way, and waited for the English to learn their lesson or pack up and leave. Once the English regrouped they retaliated and there was fighting between the two peoples for ten years, until a tenuous peace was reached in 1632.

On May 24, 1624, the Virginia Company's charter was revoked by King James I due to overwhelming financial problems and politics, and Virginia became a royal colony, which it remained until the Revolutionary War. This shift in control did not change the English policy towards the Powhatan Indians. Despite peace being declared in 1632, English encroachments on Powhatan lands continued undiminished as more settlers arrived in the Colony.

In April 1644, Opechancanough planned another coordinated attack, which resulted in the deaths of another 350-400 of the 8,000 settlers. The attack ended when Opechancanough was captured in 1646, taken to Jamestown, and shot in the back by a guard - against orders - and killed. His death brought an eventual death to the Powhatan Chiefdom; it was reduced to tributary status. His successor signed the first treaties with the English, which made the Powhatan Indians subjects of the English.

Bacon's Rebellion.
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Bacon's Rebellion, in 1676, saw more struggles in Jamestown. The settlers were unhappy about their tobacco being sold only to English merchants due to the Navigation Acts, high taxes, and attacks on outlying plantations by American Indians on the frontiers. Nathaniel Bacon got about 1,000 settlers to join him and take care of the "Indian Problem." Bacon forced Governor Berkeley to give him an official commission to attack the American Indians to blame. Bacon and his followers, however, did not differentiate between those tribes responsible for the attacks and those who were loyal to the English. Governor Berkeley declared Bacon a rebel and civil war erupted in the colony. In September, Bacon and his followers set fire to Jamestown, destroying 16 to 18 houses, the church and the statehouse. Not long after, in October, the Rebellion began its end with the death of Nathaniel Bacon of the "bloody flux." Eventually, many of the rebels were captured and 23 were hanged by Governor Berkeley.

As a result of Bacon's Rebellion, another treaty was signed between the English and the Virginia Indians. More tribes were part of this treaty than the one of 1646. The treaty set up more reservation lands and reinforced a yearly tribute payment of fish and game that the tribes had to make to the English.

In 1698, fire struck Jamestown again. The fire was evidently started by a prisoner awaiting execution in the nearby prison. The fire destroyed the prison and the statehouse, though many of the public records were saved. In 1699, the government and capital were moved from Jamestown to Middle Plantation, renamed Williamsburg. People continued to live on Jamestown Island and owned farm lands, but it ceased to be a town.

Today, Jamestown Island is a historic site, though there is still a private residence on the island. It is preserved by the National Park Service and Preservation Virginia for visitors to learn about the importance of Jamestown and what was born out of its being the first permanent English settlement in North America.

Bibliography

Egloff, Keith and Deborah Woodward. First People: The Early Indians of Virginia. Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia, 1992.

Haile, Edward Wright (editor). Jamestown Narratives: Eyewitness Accounts of the Virginia Colony: The First Decade: 1607-1617. Chaplain: Roundhouse, 1998.

McCartney, Martha W. Jamestown: An American Legacy. Hong Kong: Eastern National, 2001.

Price, David A. Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Start of a New Nation. New York: Alfred A. Knoff, 2003.

Kelso, William M. and Beverly Straube. Jamestown Rediscovery 1994-2004. Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, 2004.

Wood, Karenne (editor). Charlottesville: Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 2007.

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A Short History of Jamestown - Historic Jamestowne Part of Colonial National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)

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On December 6, 1606, the journey to Virginia began on three ships: the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery. In 1607, 104 English men and boys arrived in North America to start a settlement. On May 13 they picked Jamestown, Virginia for their settlement, which was named after their King, James I.

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                       MAR 1, 1688                                         The Glorious Revolution of 1688 e

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                       MAR 1, 1688                                         The Glorious Revolution of 1688 e

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James 2nd was removed from the throne and crowned William 3rd. They made the King and Queen follow the English Bill of Rights which set limits on what a ruler could and couldn't do.

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King James II

King James II took the throne in England in 1685, during a time when relations between Catholics and Protestants were tense. There was also considerable friction between the monarchy and the British Parliament.

James, who was Catholic, supported the freedom of worship for Catholics and appointed Catholic officers to the army. He also had close ties with France-a relationship that concerned many of the English people.

In 1687, King James II issued a Declaration of Indulgence, which suspended penal laws against Catholics and granted acceptance of some Protestant dissenters. Later that year, the king formally dissolved his Parliament and attempted to create a new Parliament that would support him unconditionally.

James's daughter Mary, a Protestant, was the rightful heir to the throne until 1688 when James had a son, James Francis Edward Stuart, whom he announced would be raised Catholic.

The birth of James's son changed the line of succession, and many feared a Catholic dynasty in England was imminent. The Whigs, the main group that opposed Catholic succession, were especially outraged.

The king's elevation of Catholicism, his close relationship with France, his conflict with Parliament and uncertainty over who would succeed James on the English throne led to whispers of a revolt-and ultimately the fall of James II.

William of Orange

In 1688, seven of King James's peers wrote to the Dutch leader, William of Orange, pledging their allegiance to the prince if he invaded England.

William was already in the process of taking military action against England, and the letter served as an additional propaganda motive.

William of Orange assembled an impressive armada for the invasion and landed in Torbay, Devon, in November 1688.

King James, however, had prepared for military attacks and left London to bring his forces to meet the invading army. But several of James's own men, including his family members, deserted him and defected to William's side. In addition to this setback, James's health was deteriorating.

James decided to retreat back to London on November 23. He soon announced that he was willing to agree to a "free" Parliament but was making plans to flee the country due to concerns for his own safety.

In December 1688, King James made an attempt to escape but was captured. Later that month, he made another attempt and successfully fled to France, where his Catholic cousin Louis XIV held the throne and where James eventually died in exile in 1701.

Bill of Rights

In January 1689, the now-famous Convention Parliament met. After significant pressure from William, Parliament agreed to a joint monarchy, with William as king and James's daughter, Mary, as queen.

The two new rulers accepted more restrictions from Parliament than any previous monarchs, causing an unprecedented shift in the distribution of power throughout the British realm.

The king and queen both signed the Declaration of Rights, which became known as the Bill of Rights. This document acknowledged several constitutional principles, including the right for regular Parliaments, free elections and freedom of speech in Parliament. Additionally, it forbade the monarchy from being Catholic.

Many historians believe the Bill of Rights was the first step toward a constitutional monarchy.

Bloodless Revolution

The Glorious Revolution is sometimes dubbed the Bloodless Revolution, although this description isn't entirely accurate.

While there was little bloodshed and violence in England, the revolution led to significant loss of life in Ireland and Scotland.

Catholic historians typically refer to the Glorious Revolution as the "Revolution of 1688," while Whig historians prefer the phrase "Bloodless Revolution." The term "Glorious Revolution" was first coined by John Hampden in 1689.

Legacy of the Glorious Revolution

Many historians believe the Glorious Revolution was one of the most important events leading to Britain's transformation from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. After this event, the monarchy in England would never hold absolute power again.

With the Bill of Rights, the regent's power was defined, written down and limited for the first time. Parliament's function and influence changed dramatically in the years following the revolution.

The event also had an impact on the 13 colonies in North America. The colonists were temporarily freed of strict, anti- Puritan laws after King James was overthrown.

When news of the revolution reached the Americans, several uprisings followed, including the Boston Revolt, Leisler's Rebellion in New York and the Protestant Revolution in Maryland.

Since the Glorious Revolution, Parliament's power in Britain has continued to increase, while the monarchy's influence has waned. There's no doubt this important event helped set the stage for the United Kingdom's present-day political system and government.

Sources

The Glorious Revolution, BBC.
The Glorious Revolution of 1688, Economic History Association.
The Glorious Revolution, Parliament.uk.
The 1688 Revolution, The History Learning Site.
How did the Glorious Revolution in England Affect the Colonies? History of Massachusetts Blog.

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Glorious Revolution of 1688 - Definition & Summary

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The Glorious Revolution of 1688 overthrew English Catholic king James II, who was replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange.

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                       MAR 1, 1690                                       "Two Treatises of Government" in 1690   

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                       MAR 1, 1690                                       "Two Treatises of Government" in 1690   

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Locke's writings made a point that in a state of nature all people were born to be free and equal, and independentwhich influenced the views of people in both Europe and America.

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Table of Contents

This article was most recently revised and updated by

Two Treatises of Government, major statement of the political philosophy of the English philosopher John Locke, published in 1689 but substantially composed some years before then.

The work may be considered a response to the political situation as it existed in England at the time of the exclusion controversy-the debate over whether a law could be passed to forbid (exclude) the succession of James, the Roman Catholic brother of King Charles II (reigned 1660-85), to the English throne-though its message was of much more lasting significance. Locke strongly supported exclusion. In the preface to the work, composed at a later date, he makes clear that the arguments of the two treatises are continuous and that the whole constitutes a justification of the Glorious Revolution, which deposed James (who reigned, as James II, from 1685 to 1688) and brought the Protestant William III and Mary II to the throne.

It should be noted that Locke's political philosophy was guided by his deeply held religious commitments. Throughout his life he accepted the existence of a creating God and the notion that all humans are God's servants in virtue of that relationship. God created humans for a certain purpose, namely to live a life according to his laws and thus to inherit eternal salvation; most importantly for Locke's philosophy, God gave humans just those intellectual and other abilities necessary to achieve this end. Thus, humans, using the capacity of reason, are able to discover that God exists, to identify God's laws and the duties they entail, and to acquire sufficient knowledge to perform their duties and thereby to lead happy and successful lives. They can come to recognize that some actions, such as failing to care for one's offspring or to keep one's contracts, are morally reprehensible and contrary to natural law, which is identical to the law of God. Other specific moral laws can be discovered or known only through revelation.

The essentially Protestant Christian framework of Locke's philosophy meant that his attitude toward Roman Catholicism would always be hostile. He rejected the claim of papal infallibility (how could it ever be proved?), and he feared the political dimensions of Catholicism as a threat to English autonomy, especially after King Louis XIV of France in 1685 revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had granted religious liberty to the Protestant Huguenots.

The first treatise

The first treatise was aimed squarely at the work of another 17th-century political theorist, Sir Robert Filmer, whose Patriarcha (1680, though probably written in the 1630s) defended the theory of the divine right of kings: the authority of monarchs is divinely sanctioned by their descent from Adam-according to the Bible, the first king and the father of humanity. Locke claims that Filmer's doctrine defies "common sense." The right to rule by descent from Adam's first grant could not be supported by any historical record or any other evidence, and any contract that God and Adam entered into would not be binding on remote descendants thousands of years later, even if a line of descent could be identified. His refutation was widely accepted as decisive, and in any event the theory of the divine right of kings ceased to be taken seriously in England after 1688.

The second treatise

Locke's importance as a political philosopher lies in the argument of the second treatise. He begins by defining political power as a

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right of making Laws with Penalties of Death, and consequently all less Penalties, for the Regulating and Preserving of Property, and of employing the force of the Community, in the Execution of such Laws and in defence of the Common-wealth from Foreign Injury, and all this only for the Publick Good.

Much of the remainder of the second treatise is a commentary on this paragraph.

The state of nature and the social contract

Locke's definition of political power has an immediate moral dimension. It is a "right" of making laws and enforcing them for "the public good." Power for Locke never simply means "capacity" but always "morally sanctioned capacity." Morality pervades the whole arrangement of society, and it is this fact, tautologically, that makes society legitimate. Locke's account of political society is based on a hypothetical consideration of the human condition before the beginning of communal life. In this " state of nature," humans are entirely free. But this freedom is not a state of complete license, because it is set within the bounds of the law of nature. It is a state of equality, which is itself a central element of Locke's account. In marked contrast to Filmer's world, there is no natural hierarchy among humans. Each person is naturally free and equal under the law of nature, subject only to the will of "the infinitely wise Maker." Each person, moreover, is required to enforce as well as to obey this law. It is this duty that gives to humans the right to punish offenders. But in such a state of nature, it is obvious that placing the right to punish in each person's hands may lead to injustice and violence. This can be remedied if humans enter into a contract with each other to recognize by common consent a civil government with the power to enforce the law of nature among the citizens of that state. Although any contract is legitimate as long as it does not infringe upon the law of nature, it often happens that a contract can be enforced only if there is some higher human authority to require compliance with it. It is a primary function of society to set up the framework in which legitimate contracts, freely entered into, may be enforced, a state of affairs much more difficult to guarantee in the state of nature and outside civil society.

Property

Before discussing the creation of political society in greater detail, Locke provides a lengthy account of his notion of property, which is of central importance to his political theory. Each person, according to Locke, has property in his or her own person-that is, each person literally owns his or her own body. Other people may not use a person's body for any purpose without that person's permission. But one can acquire property beyond one's own body through labour. By mixing one's labour with objects in the world, one acquires a right to the fruits of that work. If one's labour turns a barren field into crops or a pile of wood into a house, then the valuable product of that labour, the crops or the house, becomes one's property. Locke's view was a forerunner of the labour theory of value, which was expounded in different forms by the 19th-century economists David Ricardo and Karl Marx ( see also classical economics).

Clearly, all persons are entitled to as much of the product of their labour as they need to survive. But, according to Locke, in the state of nature one is not entitled to hoard surplus produce-one must share it with those less fortunate. God has "given the World to Men in common...to make use of to the best advantage of Life, and convenience." The introduction of money, while radically changing the economic base of society, was itself a contingent development, for money has no intrinsic value but depends for its utility only on convention. Locke's account of property and how it comes to be owned faces difficult problems. For example, it is far from clear how much labour is required to turn any given unowned object into a piece of private property. In the case of a piece of land, for example, is it sufficient merely to put a fence around it? Or must it be plowed as well? There is, nevertheless, something intuitively powerful in the notion that it is activity, or work, that grants one a property right in something.

Organization of government

Locke returns to political society in Chapter VIII of the second treatise. In the community created by the social contract, the will of the majority should prevail, subject to the law of nature. The legislative body is central, but it cannot create laws that violate the law of nature, because the enforcement of natural law regarding life, liberty, and property is the rationale of the whole system. Laws must apply equitably to all citizens and not favour particular sectional interests, and there should be a division of legislative, executive, and judicial powers ( see separation of powers). The legislature may, with the agreement of the majority, impose such taxes as are required to fulfill the ends of the state-including, of course, its defense. If the executive power fails to provide the conditions under which the people can enjoy their rights under natural law, then the people are entitled to remove it, by force if necessary. Thus, revolution, in extremis, is permissible-as Locke obviously thought it was in 1688.

The significance of Locke's vision of political society can scarcely be exaggerated. His integration of individualism within the framework of the law of nature and his account of the origins and limits of legitimate government authority inspired the U.S. Declaration of Independence (1776) and the broad outlines of the system of government adopted in the U.S. Constitution. George Washington, the first president of the United States, once described Locke as "the greatest man who had ever lived." In France too, Lockean principles found clear expression in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and other justifications of the French Revolution of 1789.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Brian Duignan.

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Two Treatises of Government | Background, Content, & Facts

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Two Treatises of Government, major statement of the political philosophy of the English philosopher John Locke, published in 1689 but substantially composed some years before then.

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The war started as a struggle between the French and the british over lands in western pennsylvania and ohio. then other european countries became involved as well. the french and Indian war stoped the Britains hold on North America which would eventually cause a series of chain reactions. This made the USA to make the Declaration of independence because it proved that ones that has an established military and structured government had an advantage in war.

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The French and Indian War is one of the most significant, yet widely forgotten, events in American history. It was a conflict that pitted two of history's greatest empires, Great Britain and France, against each other for control of the North American continent. Swept up in the struggle were the inhabitants of New France, the British colonists, the Native Americans, and regular troops from France and Britain. While the major fighting occurred in New York, Pennsylvania, Canada, and Nova Scotia, the conflict had far greater implications overseas and ignited the Seven Years' War worldwide.

Since the late 17 th century, hostilities between France and Great Britain in North America had been continuous. Three major conflicts-King William's War (1689-1697), Queen Anne's War (1702-1713), and King George's War (1744-1748)-had all begun in Europe and made their way to the colonies. The French and Indian War is unique, because the fighting began in North America and spread to the rest of the world. In western Pennsylvania, the order to fire the first shots of the conflict were given by none other than a young officer from Virginia named George Washington. Many men, both American and British, who would serve in the Revolutionary War found themselves engulfed in the struggle.

What was it that both sides wanted to obtain during the French and Indian War? The answer is the same as for most wars for empire-economical and territorial expansion, and to project influence over new lands and peoples.

By the 1750s, the population of Britain's colonies in North America was over 1 million. Its inhabitants were concentrated along the eastern seaboard from Maine (Massachusetts) to Georgia, and in Nova Scotia, which was ceded to Britain following the War of Spanish Succession. Because the Atlantic Ocean rested to the east of the colonies, there was only one direction to expand-westward. As for the French, the colony of New France numbered just over 60,000, and its territorial holdings stretched in a large arc from the Gulf of the Saint Lawrence River, through the Great Lakes, and down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. The majority of settlers occupied Canada, but forts and outposts kept communications open along the waterways leading down to Louisiana. With the French to the west and the Spanish in Florida, the British colonists were boxed in. Stuck in the middle were the Native Americans, and many of them, like the Iroquois, were effective in commercially pitting Britain and France against each other all the while remaining a "neutral" nation.

New France, whose economy revolved around the fur trade, was not at all a lucrative colony for King Louis XV. That did not, however, stop France from working to prevent Britain from expanding its empire in North America. The area of contention that would ultimately serve as the spark to ignite the powder keg of war was a 200,000 square mile region known as the Ohio River Valley.

The Ohio River begins its journey at present-day Pittsburgh, where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers converge with it, creating what is known as the "Forks," and eventually empties into the Mississippi River in Illinois. This waterway was crucial for France to maintain possession of in order to keep open its line of communication with its military outposts and settlements to the south. By the late 1740s, a recent uptick in British traders moving through the region to do business with the Native Americans put New France on high alert. It was only a matter of time before Britain, who saw the Forks of the Ohio as part of the King's dominion, sent a military force from Pennsylvania or Virginia to assert its dominance in the region.

In response to the threat of British encroachment in the Ohio River Valley, in June 1749, the governor of New France dispatched a small force of over 200 men to travel through the region to reaffirm French claims and reestablish His Most Christian Majesty's authority over the Native Americans, who were keener on trading with the British. Along the way, the French commander, Captain Pierre-Joseph Céloron de Blainville, buried multiple lead plates inscribed with words which claimed the valley and its waterways for Louis XV. In the end, the mission was anything but a success. It was clear that the Native Americans were not solely devoted to the French any longer.

In 1747, the Ohio Company was founded to open trade into the Ohio River Valley and further expand Virginia westward. As Britain's continued interest in the region grew, France began constructing forts below the Great Lakes with the intention of securing the Forks. The British colonies beat them there. In the spring of 1754, Virginia troops reached the confluence and began constructing a fortification. However, a larger Canadian force arrived and the Virginians abandoned the site. Subsequently, the French built Fort Duquesne. Now it was Britain's turn to respond.

Arriving in the Ohio Country a month after the French occupied the Forks were over 100 men under the command of 22 year old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington of Virginia. They encamped 50 miles to the east of the Forks in an open field known as Great Meadows. Dispatched from Fort Duquesne and heading in their direction was a small French party led by Ensign Joseph Coulon de Jumonville with orders to obtain intelligence on the British force and if possible, demand them to leave. Washington responded to the news of the French movement and led a force of his own to intercept them. With 40 Virginians and roughly a dozen Iroquois allies, Washington ambushed Jumonville not far from Great Meadows. These were the first shots fired during the French and Indian War and would have global ramifications. The skirmish left Jumonville and nine of his men dead, as well as twenty-one others wounded. A survivor made his way back to Fort Duquesne and reported to his superiors what had happened.

Washington returned to Great Meadows and constructed a crude palisade named Fort Necessity. On July 3, a force of over 300 Canadians and Native Americans led by Jumonville's brother surrounded and attacked Washington. The Virginian was forced to capitulate and, through poor translating, signed a document admitting to the "assassination" of Ensign Jumonville. After receiving the news of the loss of the Ohio River Valley, London reacted. The following year, British regular regiments were on their way across the Atlantic.

On February 19, 1755, newly-appointed Major General Edward Braddock, Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's Forces in North America, arrived in Hampton Roads, Virginia. The British were now poised to outmaneuver the French and capture territories in New York, Nova Scotia, and the Ohio River Valley before a formal declaration of war could be made between both countries. Braddock, with orders in hand from Britain's Captain-General, William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, had just the plan to do so.

In the middle of April, the general met in Alexandria with the royal governors of Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia to discuss a four-pronged offensive that summer to oust the French from His Majesty's North American dominion. Armies consisting of regular troops, colonial provincials, and Native American auxiliaries were assembled, and that summer Britain made its mighty thrust to reclaim the continent.

No war had officially been declared by Britain or France, but fighting raged in Nova Scotia, Upstate New York, and Western Pennsylvania. A British force succeeded in capturing two forts in Acadia, thus ousting French influence from the region. At the southern shore of Lake George in New York, an entirely colonial force threw back repeated assaults by professional French troops and prevented the crucial waterway from falling into enemy hands. These two victories were offset, however, by one of the most disastrous defeats in British military history. On July 9, 1755, less than ten miles outside of Fort Duquesne, a force of 1,500 regulars and provincials led by General Braddock was slaughtered at the Battle of the Monongahela. Over 900 men fell killed, wounded, or captured to the French, including Braddock, who succumbed to his wounds several days later. The British expedition that summer against Fort Niagara along Lake Ontario failed to materialize and was called off. French presence remained in the Ohio River Valley, Great Lakes, and along Lake Champlain.

Seventeen fifty-five was a disaster for British arms in North America that drew the opposing battle lines for the coming years. Blood had been spilled in an undeclared war on the continent that would ignite a world war the following spring.

Further Reading:

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The French and Indian War (1754-1763): Causes and Outbreak

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The French and Indian War (1754-1763) is one of the most significant, yet widely forgotten, events in American history. It was a conflict that pitted two of history's greatest empires, Great Britain and France, against each other for control of the North American continent.

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MAR 1, 1763.    Great Britain wins The French and Indian War 1763

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MAR 1, 1763.    Great Britain wins The French and Indian War 1763

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Great Britain gained complete control of the eastern third of the continent. The war left the British with a large debt that they expected the colonies to pay. This as well made the USA to develop a constitution.

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Table of Contents

1. Why Did the French and Indian War Start?

2. British Victory in Canada

3. The Treaty of Paris Ends the War

4. Impact of the Seven Years' War on the American Revolution

Also known as the Seven Years' War, the French and Indian war marked another chapter in the long imperial struggle between Britain and France. When France's expansion into the Ohio River valley brought repeated conflict with the claims of the British colonies, a series of battles led to the official British declaration of war in 1756. Boosted by the financing of future Prime Minister William Pitt, the British turned the tide with victories at Louisbourg, Fort Frontenac and the French-Canadian stronghold of Quebec. At the 1763 peace conference, the British received the territories of Canada from France and Florida from Spain, opening the Mississippi Valley to westward expansion.

Why Did the French and Indian War Start?

The Seven Years' War (called the French and Indian War in the colonies) lasted from 1756 to 1763, forming a chapter in the imperial struggle between Britain and France called the Second Hundred Years' War.

In the early 1750s, France's expansion into the Ohio River valley repeatedly brought it into conflict with the claims of the British colonies, especially Virginia. In 1754, the French built Fort Duquesne where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers joined to form the Ohio River (in today's Pittsburgh), making it a strategically important stronghold that the British repeatedly attacked.

During 1754 and 1755, the French won a string of victories, defeating in quick succession the young George Washington, Gen. Edward Braddock and Braddock's successor, Governor William Shirley of Massachusetts.

In 1755, Governor Shirley, fearing that the French settlers in Nova Scotia (Acadia) would side with France in any military confrontation, expelled hundreds of them to other British colonies; many of the exiles suffered cruelly. Throughout this period, the British military effort was hampered by lack of interest at home, rivalries among the American colonies and France's greater success in winning the support of the Indians.

In 1756 the British formally declared war (marking the official beginning of the Seven Years' War), but their new commander in America, Lord Loudoun, faced the same problems as his predecessors and met with little success against the French and their Indian allies.

The tide turned in 1757 because William Pitt, the new British leader, saw the colonial conflicts as the key to building a vast British empire. Borrowing heavily to finance the war, he paid Prussia to fight in Europe and reimbursed the colonies for raising troops in North America.

British Victory in Canada

In July 1758, the British won their first great victory at Louisbourg, near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. A month later, they took Fort Frontenac at the western end of the river.

In November 1758, General John Forbes captured Fort Duquesne for the British after the French destroyed and abandoned it, and Fort Pitt-named after William Pitt-was built on the site, giving the British a key stronghold.

The British then closed in on Quebec, where Gen. James Wolfe won a spectacular victory in the Battle of Quebec on the Plains of Abraham in September of 1759 (though both he and the French commander, the Marquis de Montcalm, were fatally wounded).

With the fall of Montreal in September 1760, the French lost their last foothold in Canada. Soon, Spain joined France against England, and for the rest of the war Britain concentrated on seizing French and Spanish territories in other parts of the world.

The Treaty of Paris Ends the War

The French and Indian War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in February 1763. The British received Canada from France and Florida from Spain, but permitted France to keep its West Indian sugar islands and gave Louisiana to Spain. The arrangement strengthened the American colonies significantly by removing their European rivals to the north and south and opening the Mississippi Valley to westward expansion.

Impact of the Seven Years' War on the American Revolution

The British crown borrowed heavily from British and Dutch bankers to bankroll the war, doubling British national debt. King George II argued that since the French and Indian War benefited the colonists by securing their borders, they should contribute to paying down the war debt.

To defend his newly won territory from future attacks, King George II also decided to install permanent British army units in the Americas, which required additional sources of revenue.

In 1765, parliament passed the Stamp Act to help pay down the war debt and finance the British army's presence in the Americas. It was the first internal tax directly levied on American colonists by parliament and was met with strong resistance.

It was followed by the unpopular Townshend Acts and Tea Act, which further incensed colonists who believed there should be no taxation without representation. Britain's increasingly militaristic response to colonial unrest would ultimately lead to the American Revolution.

Fifteen years after the Treaty of Paris, French bitterness over the loss of most of their colonial empire contributed to their intervention on the side of the colonists in the Revolutionary War.

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The French and Indian War, or Seven Years War, a conflict primarily fought between Britain and France over territory in the Americas, ended with a British victory.

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to help pay for the war the king and his ministers levied taxes on tea sugar glass paper and other products the colonist grew resentful of britain which caused retaliation through political protest and the refusal to buy british goods. This made colonist very angry this was a factor to the declaration of independence because it  rose tensions  with relationship's with people in the  colony

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Stamp Act, (1765), in U.S. colonial history, first British parliamentary attempt to raise revenue through direct taxation of all colonial commercial and legal papers, newspapers, pamphlets, cards, almanacs, and dice. The devastating effect of Pontiac's War (1763-64) on colonial frontier settlements added to the enormous new defense burdens resulting from Great Britain's victory (1763) in the French and Indian War. The British chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir George Grenville, hoped to meet at least half of these costs by the combined revenues of the Sugar Act (1764) and the Stamp Act, a common revenue device in England.

Completely unexpected was the avalanche of protest from the colonists, who effectively nullified the Stamp Act by outright refusal to use the stamps as well as by riots, stamp burning, and intimidation of colonial stamp distributors. The Sons of Liberty formed in the summer of 1765 to oppose the act and destroyed the stamps wherever they encountered them. In addition to tarring and feathering stamp agents, the Sons of Liberty sacked homes and warehouses of the wealthy, whom they presumed were favourites of the royal governors. Colonists passionately upheld their rights as Englishmen to be taxed only by their own consent through their own representative assemblies, as had been the practice for a century and a half. In the set of resolutions against the act that he created for the town of Braintree, Massachusetts, John Adams wrote

We have called this a burdensome tax, because the duties are so numerous and so high, and the embarrassments to business in this infant, sparsely settled country so great, that it would be totally impossible for the people to subsist under it, if we had no controversy at all about the right and authority of imposing it...We further apprehend this tax to be unconstitutional. We have always understood it to be a grand and fundamental principle of the constitution that no freeman should be subject to any tax to which he has not given his own consent, in person or by proxy.

In addition to nonimportation agreements among colonial merchants, the Stamp Act Congress was convened in New York (October 1765) by moderate representatives of nine colonies to frame resolutions of "rights and grievances" and to petition the king and Parliament for repeal of the objectionable measures. Because they were more conservative in their response to the act than colonial legislatures had been, some of the delegates to the congress refused to sign even the moderate petitions that resulted from their gathering, which was the first intercolonial congress to meet in America. In spite of the petitions' mildness, Parliament rejected them.

Bowing chiefly to pressure (in the form of a flood of petitions to repeal) from British merchants and manufacturers whose colonial exports had been curtailed, Parliament, largely against the wishes of the House of Lords, repealed the act in early 1766. Simultaneously, however, Parliament issued the Declaratory Act, which reasserted its right of direct taxation anywhere within the empire, "in all cases whatsoever." The protest throughout the colonies against the Stamp Act contributed much to the spirit and organization of unity that was a necessary prelude to the struggle for independence a decade later.

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Stamp Act | History, Definition, Facts, & Riots

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Stamp Act, first British parliamentary attempt (in 1765) to raise revenue through direct taxation of all American colonial commercial and legal papers, newspapers, pamphlets, cards, almanacs, and dice. It was aimed at meeting some of the defense costs resulting from Britain's victory in the French and Indian War.

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a group of colonist dressed as mohawk indians,dumped British tea into boston Harbor. This even angered Parliament and caused the British to pass harsh policies, including the Intolerable acts this was a major act of defiance with bbritish rule over the colonies it showed Britain that the Americans would not take taxation.

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Boston Tea Party, (December 16, 1773), incident in which 342 chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company were thrown from ships into Boston Harbor by American patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians. The Americans were protesting both a tax on tea (taxation without representation) and the perceived monopoly of the East India Company.

The Townshend Acts passed by Parliament in 1767 and imposing duties on various products imported into the British colonies had raised such a storm of colonial protest and noncompliance that they were repealed in 1770, saving the duty on tea, which was retained by Parliament to demonstrate its presumed right to raise such colonial revenue without colonial approval. The merchants of Boston circumvented the act by continuing to receive tea smuggled in by Dutch traders. In 1773 Parliament passed a Tea Act designed to aid the financially troubled East India Company by granting it (1) a monopoly on all tea exported to the colonies, (2) an exemption on the export tax, and (3) a "drawback" (refund) on duties owed on certain surplus quantities of tea in its possession. The tea sent to the colonies was to be carried only in East India Company ships and sold only through its own agents, bypassing the independent colonial shippers and merchants. The company thus could sell the tea at a less-than-usual price in either America or Britain; it could undersell anyone else. The perception of monopoly drove the normally conservative colonial merchants into an alliance with radicals led by Samuel Adams and his Sons of Liberty.

In such cities as New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston, tea agents resigned or canceled orders, and merchants refused consignments. In Boston, however, the royal governor Thomas Hutchinson determined to uphold the law and maintained that three arriving ships, the Dartmouth, Eleanor, and Beaver, should be allowed to deposit their cargoes and that appropriate duties should be honoured. On the night of December 16, 1773, a group of about 60 men, encouraged by a large crowd of Bostonians, donned blankets and Indian headdresses, marched to Griffin's wharf, boarded the ships, and dumped the tea chests, valued at £18,000, into the water.

In retaliation, Parliament passed the series of punitive measures known in the colonies as the Intolerable Acts, including the Boston Port Bill, which shut off the city's sea trade pending payment for the destroyed tea. The British government's efforts to single out Massachusetts for punishment served only to unite the colonies and impel the drift toward war.

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Boston Tea Party | Facts, Summary, & Significance

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Boston Tea Party, precursor to the American Revolution in which 342 chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company were thrown into Boston Harbor by American patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians on December 16, 1773. They were protesting a tax on tea and the East India Company's perceived monopoly.

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SEP 5, 1774.    The First Continental Congress 1774

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SEP 5, 1774.    The First Continental Congress 1774

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the intolerable ats prompted virginia and massachusetts to call a general meeting in philadephia to discuss their relationship with great bitain.this meeting led to the decision to impose an embargo on great Britain which caused the british to adopt stronger measures.

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September 5, 1774 - The First Continental Congress Convenes at City Tavern in Philadelphia

At 10:00 on the morning of September 5, 1774, the delegates of the First Continental Congress met for the first time at City Tavern in Philadelphia. They were there to discuss a unified colonial response to the Intolerable Acts. They were a series of laws passed by Parliament - four that punished Boston for the Boston Tea Party - and one that increased the size of the Province of Quebec, which restricted the westward expansion of the colonies.

Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia. Image Source: New York Public Library Digital Collections.

The First Decision of the First Continental Congress

However, the first decision the members of the Continental Congress made had nothing to do with "No taxation without representation" or the Intolerable Acts. No, the first vote they took was on a room to hold their meetings in.

They walked from City Tavern to Carpenter's Hall - about five minutes - where they were given a tour. John Adams, one of the Massachusetts delegates, wrote the following in his journal of this historic "first decision" of the Continental Congress.

"At Ten, The Delegates all met at the City Tavern, and walked to the Carpenters Hall, where they took a View of the Room, and of the Chamber where is an excellent Library. There is also a long Entry, where Gentlemen may walk, and a convenient Chamber opposite to the Library. The General Cry was, that this was a good Room, and the Question was put, whether We were satisfyed with this Room, and it passed in the Affirmative. A very few were for the Negative and they were chiefly from Pensylvania and New York."

The Journals of the Continental Congress notes that Joseph Galloway, the Loyalist from Pennsylvania, wanted the meetings to be held a the statehouse.

The First Session of the First Continental Congress Starts

The delegates came together from diverse backgrounds. They came from different colonies with different economic interests. They were connected by their frustration with Great Britain who, since 1763, followed a pattern of trying to subjugate the American Colonies through the enforcement of laws that were often seen as violating the rights of Americans. Americans fully believed they had the same rights as natural-born Englishmen. However, Americans also believed they had no voice - no representation - in Parliament. After two decades of turmoil, the Boston Sons of Liberty staged the Boston Tea Party - an open revolt against the Tea Act. Parliament and King George III were furious and responded by passing the Intolerable Acts. Finally, the American Colonies realized they could only act as one, and the call was made for a "General Congress."

Boston Tea Party, Illustration by Currier & Ives. Image Source: Library of Congress.

On September 25, 1774, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail and said, "Fifty Gentlemen meeting together, all Strangers, are not acquainted with Each others Language, Ideas, Views, Designs. They are therefore jealous, of each other - fearfull, timid, skittish..."

Introductions - from North to South

The men took their seats and proceeded to introduce themselves to Congress and read the credentials and instructions they had been given by their respective colonies. According to the Journals of the Continental Congress, they went in order, from North to South, as follows:

Although North Carolina agreed to participate in the meetings, the delegation was not there on the first day.

Georgia did not participate in the First Continental Congress.

The First President of the Continental Congress

After the delegates took their seats, Thomas Lynch of South Carolina nominated Peyton Randolph of Virginia. As President of the Continental Congress, Randolph would also serve as the representative of the whole Congress.

Adams wrote:

"Then Mr. Lynch arose, and said there was a Gentleman present who had presided with great Dignity over a very respectable Society, greatly to the Advantage of America, and he therefore proposed that the Hon. Peytoun Randolph Esqr., one of the Delegates from Virginia, and the late Speaker of their House of Burgesses, should be appointed Chairman and he doubted not it would be unanimous.-The Question was put and he was unanimously chosen."

Randolph was the logical choice to preside over the meetings. At the time, he was the Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses, the highest elected official in the colony. Virginia was also the oldest established colony, and it made sense for the leader to come from a Southern Colony, instead of a New England Colony, which was the target of the Intolerable Acts. The Quebec Act affected most of the colonies, including Virginia.

John Adams kept a detailed account of the proceedings of the First Continental Congress.

Official Name of the Congress and Title of President

According to James Duane, the next order of business was to decide what to call the body as a whole and how to refer to Randolph as the leader of the body. Duane wrote, "A Question was then put what Title the Convention should assume & it was agred that it should be called the Congress. Another Question was put what shoud be the Stile of Mr Randolph & it was agreed that he should be called the President."

A Son of Liberty - and an Immigrant - Plays a Key Role

Charles Thomson of Philadelphia was chosen to serve as the Secretary for Congress. Thomson was born in Ireland and emigrated to the colonies with his father and two brothers in 1739, after the death of his mother. Thomson's father died during the journey, so he was an orphan when he arrived at New Castle, Delaware. Thomson has the distinction of being the only immigrant to participate in the First Continental Congress.

Thomson eventually made his way to Philadelphia where he met Benjamin Franklin and became involved with the Patriot movement. He opposed the Stamp Act and was a leader of the Philadelphia Sons of Liberty. He came to be known as the "Samuel Adams of Philadelphia."

In his role as Secretary, Thomson chose what to include in the official Journals of the Continental Congress.

According to James Duane, he was not as popular of a choice as Randolph. Duane wrote, "The next point was to fix on a Clerk or Secretary. Mr Thompson was proposd by Mr Lynch. Mr. Jay observed that he had Authority to say that one of the members of the Congress was willing to accept the Office & he conceivd the preference was due to him. To which it was answerd that such an appointment woud deprive the Congress of a Member as he woud be too much incumberd by the Duties of a Clerk to attend to the Trust for which he was chosen. The Objection being thought Reasonable Mr. Thompson was appointed by the Stile of Secretary of the Congress."

However, John Adams remembered the selection of Thomson differently. Adams wrote, "Mr. Lynch proposed that Mr. Charles Thompson a Gentleman of Family, Fortune, and Character in this City should be appointed Secretary, which was accordingly done without opposition, tho Mr. Duane and Mr. Jay discovered at first an Inclination to seek further."

A Committee to Draw Up the Rules of Conduct

Next, James Duane made a motion that a committee should be set up to determine the rules by which Congress would operate.

According to Adams, he asked Duane to clarify what he meant. Duane "mentioned particularly the Method of voting-whether it should be by Colonies, or by the Poll, or by Interests."

Patrick Henry of Virginia agreed a committee was needed. According to Adams, Henry, "...arose, and said this was the first general Congress which had ever happened - that no former Congress could be a Precedent - that We should have occasion for more general Congresses, and therefore that a precedent ought to be established now. That it would be great Injustice, if a little Colony should have the same Weight in the Councils of America, as a great one, and therefore he was for a Committee."

Patrick Henry of Virginia. Image Source: New York Public Library Digital Collections.

John Sullivan of Rhode Island spoke and said the stakes for small colonies, such as his, were just as great as they were for the larger colonies, like Virginia.

John Adams took the floor and replied to Duane's three options.

First, in regards to voting by colonies, Adams said, "This is a Question of great Importance.-If We vote by Colonies, this Method will be liable to great Inequality and Injustice, for 5 small Colonies, with 100,000 People in each may outvote 4 large ones, each of which has 500,000 Inhabitants."

Second, Adams addressed voting by poll, "If We vote by the Poll, some Colonies have more than their Proportion of Members, and others have less."

Third, he discussed voting by "Interests" and said, "If We vote by Interests, it will be attended with insuperable Difficulties, to ascertain the true Importance of each Colony."

He continued, and made it clear there was no obvious solution, "Is the Weight of a Colony to be ascertained by the Number of Inhabitants merely - or by the Amount of their Trade, the Quantity of their Exports and Imports, or by any compound Ratio of both. This will lead us into such a Field of Controversy as will greatly perplex us. Besides I question whether it is possible to ascertain, at this Time, the Numbers of our People or the Value of our Trade. It will not do in such a Case, to take each other's Words. It ought to be ascertained by authentic Evidence, from Records."

Eventually, the delegates voted to continue the discussion the next day.

End of the First Session of the First Continental Congress

The members voted to adjourn and agreed to reconvene on September 6, 1774, at 10:00 in the morning.

Delegates in Attendance on September 5, 1774

The Province of New Hampshire

The New Hampshire delegates in attendance at the first meeting were:

The Province of Massachusetts Bay

The Massachusetts delegates in attendance at the first meeting were:

The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

The Rhode Island delegates in attendance at the first meeting were:

The Colony of Connecticut

The Connecticut delegates in attendance at the first meeting were:

The City and County of New York

The delegates from the city and county of New York in attendance at the first meeting were:

Suffolk County in the Colony of New York elected a delegate to attend.

Colonel William Floyd, Esqr.

Colony of New Jersey

The New Jersey delegates in attendance at the first meeting were:

James Kinsey, Esqr.

William Livingston, Esqr.

John Dehart, Esqr.

Stephen Crane, Esqr.

Richard Smith, Esqr.

Province of Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania delegates in attendance at the first meeting were:

New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, on Delaware

The Delaware delegates in attendance at the first meeting were:

Province of Maryland

The Maryland delegates in attendance at the first meeting were:

Robert Goldsborough, Esqr.

William Paca, Esqr.

Samuel Chase, Esqr.

Colony of Virginia

The Virginia delegates in attendance at the first meeting were:

George Washington. Image Source: Wikipedia.

South Carolina

The South Carolina delegates in attendance at the first meeting were:

Frequently Asked Questions About September 5, 1774

Learn More About the First Continental Congress on American History Central

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First Continental Congress Meeting, September 5 1774, Facts, Summary

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At 10:00 on the morning of September 5, 1774, the delegates of the First Continental Congress met for the first time at City Tavern in Philadelphia. They were there to discuss a unified colonial response to the Intolerable Acts.

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APR 19, 1775.   The "shot heard 'round the world"

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APR 19, 1775.   The "shot heard 'round the world"

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British clashed with colonies in America at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts trhis was the first battle of the revolutionary war and also caused america to declare its independence and make the declaration of independence.

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"Let it begin here," the men of Lexington said on the morning of April 19th.
"Let us die here," Concord's minister William Emerson echoed that same morning.
Drawing from the remarkable collection of the Concord Museum, as well as other public and private collections, The Shot Heard Round the World: April 19, 1775 brought together over 50 extraordinary objects that were eyewitnesses to a fateful day in American history. The exhibition marked the first time that many of these artifacts had been displayed together.

The exhibition, on view at the Concord Museum from April 18 through September 21, 2014, followed an hour-by-hour account of the actions of British Regulars and Patriots on April 19, 1775, presenting a chronological and geographical timeline of the day and representing many of the communities surrounding Boston - Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Arlington (Menotomy), and Cambridge - whose militias played a prominent role in the day-long engagement. Organized by Concord Museum curator David Wood and militaria expert Joel Bohy, the exhibition explored the objects on view and the part they played in the events of the fateful day that began an eight-year fight for independence.

This online exhibition walks you through The Shot Heard Round the World and brings together new material for an extraordinary experience. LEARN about the dramatic events of April 19, 1775; EXPLORE surviving objects and detailed first-person accounts; DISCOVER new stories about the people and places involved.

Listen to Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Concord Hymn," which is carved into the granite base of Daniel Chester French's Minute Man statue, sung by The Choir of First Parish in Concord; Elizabeth Norton, Director.

Read a blog post by Concord Museum Curator David Wood about The Shot Heard Round the World.

Background photo credit: David Bohl
Photo credit: Mary Orr

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The Shot Heard Round the World: April 19, 1775 - Concord Museum

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"Let it begin here," the men of Lexington said on the morning of April 19th. "Let us die here," Concord's minister William Emerson echoed that same morning. Drawing from the remarkable collection of the Concord Museum, as well as other public and private collections, The Shot Heard Round the World: April 19, 1775 brought together over 50 extraordinary objects that were eyewitnesses to a fateful day in American history.

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JUL 4, 1776.     THE DECLARATION OF INDPENDENCE

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JUL 4, 1776.     THE DECLARATION OF INDPENDENCE

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On this day the United States was formed and to be one of the best country's to ever exist.

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The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. It was engrossed on parchment and on August 2, 1776, delegates began signing it.

Although the section of the Lee Resolution dealing with independence was not adopted until July 2, Congress appointed on June 10 a committee of five to draft a statement of independence for the colonies. The committee included Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman, with the actual writing delegated to Jefferson.

Jefferson drafted the statement between June 11 and 28, submitted drafts to Adams and Franklin who made some changes, and then presented the draft to the Congress following the July 2nd adoption of the independence section of the Lee Resolution. The congressional revision process took all of July 3rd and most of July 4th. Finally, in the afternoon of July 4th, the Declaration was adopted.

Under the supervision of the Jefferson committee, the approved Declaration was printed on July 5th and a copy was attached to the "rough journal of the Continental Congress for July 4th." These printed copies, bearing only the names of John Hancock, President, and Charles Thomson, secretary, were distributed to state assemblies, conventions, committees of safety, and commanding officers of the Continental troops.

On July 19th, Congress ordered that the Declaration be engrossed on parchment with a new title, "the unanimous declaration of the thirteen united states of America," and "that the same, when engrossed, be signed by every member of Congress." Engrossing is the process of copying an official document in a large hand. The engrosser of the Declaration was probably Timothy Matlock, an assistant to Charles Thomson, secretary to the Congress.

On August 2nd John Hancock, the President of the Congress, signed the engrossed copy with a bold signature. The other delegates, following custom, signed beginning at the right with the signatures arranged by states from northernmost New Hampshire to southernmost Georgia. Although all delegates were not present on August 2nd, 56 delegates eventually signed the document. Late signers were Elbridge Gerry, Oliver Wolcott, Lewis Morris, Thomas McKean, and Matthew Thornton, who was unable to place his signature with the other New Hampshire delegates due to a lack of space. Some delegates, including Robert R. Livingston of New York, a member of the drafting committee, never signed the Declaration.

Note: The following text is a transcription of the Stone Engraving of the parchment Declaration of Independence (the document on display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum.) The spelling and punctuation reflects the original. In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

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EnlargeDownload Link Citation: Engrossed copy of the Declaration of Independence, August 2, 1776; Miscellaneous Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789; Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789, Record Group 360; National Archives.