Hot answers tagged 18th-century
27
John Hancock was the President of Congress. So, as stated, he signed first and largest. In the leftmost block are the signers from Georgia. In the block immediately to the right of that one are the signers from North Carolina. The block below contains the signers from South Carolina. This pattern continues throughout with a few exceptions. Here is a ...
11
After the Stamp Tax in 1765, the 13 colonies set up "committees of correspondence," whereby leading members of one colony commiserated with leading members of other colonies about British (mis) rule. These leaders later formed a "Continental Congress." As a result, the 13 colonies developed a certain common "consciousness." When a few of them (e.g. ...
10
Very interesting. I found this explanation on geneology.about.com:
In earlier times, a marriage bond was given to the court by the
intended groom prior to his marriage. It affirmed that there was no
moral or legal reason why the couple could not be married and it also
affirmed that the groom would not change his mind. If he did, and did
not marry ...
8
George Washington made a point of NOT wearing a military uniform in civilian life. In his First Inaugural speech, he pointedly wore a "cloth coat" to set an example for other citizens of the fledgling Republic.
Source
http://suite101.com/article/washingtons-american-made-inaugural-clothes-a213962
7
As far as I know, the main issues in French foreign policy of the period were:
Friendship with USA, with which France shared common ideological ground. In particular, the United States Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution and United States Bill of Rights much influenced the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and ...
6
I think the legislatures in many countries have the same structure. A quite distant example is the Supreme Council of the USSR which also had two chambers, the Council of the Union and the Council of the Nationalities. The former was elected by the population at rate of 1 deputy per 300000 people while the later represented the constituent republics.
I ...
6
Here is a rough translation of a page in Spanish:
In 1712, it is said that a thief named Kakinoki Kinsuke used a large kite to be transported to the top of Nagoya Castle. There, under cover of darkness, Kinsuke stole scales of a few gold dolphins.
And another page:
In 1712, a thief named Kakinoki Kinsuke is said to have used a large kite to carry ...
6
Actual tax figures had less to do with the revolution than the lack of representation in British Parliament.
In short, many in those colonies believed the lack of direct representation in the distant British Parliament was an illegal denial of their rights as Englishmen, and therefore laws taxing the colonists (one of the types of laws that affects the ...
5
It is easy to view the distance between Botany Bay and Port Jackson as small by today's standards, but it is actually a considerable 'trek'. Even with todays excellent roads, it takes two and a half hours to walk from Circular Quay (and the better soil around Port Jackson) to the northern edge of Botany Bay.
Then consider you have to carry supplies over ...
5
I do not think that there exists evidence to show that the founding fathers anticipated a civil war would break out over the issue of slavery. The founding fathers were largely against the institution of slavery, but the southern delegates (where the economy was completely dependent upon slavery) were for the institution.
There were some steps taken to ...
4
As far as I remember, mostly it was to survive against the onslaught of the rest of Europe. Most of the initial stage of the revolution was seen as an internal matter to France but some of the propaganda of the revolution was spread abroad. All the crowned heads of Europe were (rightly) worried about the events in France. So, spreading the revolution was ...
4
There are lengthy discussions on the topic of factions and mitigating the risks of insurrection in the Federalist Papers and in the responses written by anti-Federalists. The most notable paper on this subject was Federalist No. 10.
4
After getting clues from the accepted answer above and found this other article. It maybe be useful to someone in the future
MARRIAGE BONDS AND ALLEGATIONS - POINTS TO REMEMBER
• Marriage bonds and allegations only exist for couples who applied to
marry by licence. They do not exist for couples who married by banns.
• The marriage allegation was ...
4
Bonaparte's biographer Vincent Cronin's mentions the British naval blockade but no further preventive countermeasures (that I could find upon brief reconsultation). Perhaps this is because this is a one-volume biography of a (in some ways :) big subject.
As to Sidney Smith's role (he is also mentioned in the Wikipedia article), his biographer Tom Pocock ...
4
Washington conspicuously respected the subordination of military to civilian power as a general, and at his inaugurations and other official appearances as president, always wore civilian clothes. Still, that does not mean he never donned his uniform again. At least one surviving uniform is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, and to quote ...
4
I believe the answer is "everything except for the tax on tea".
The Townshend Acts except for the taxes on tea were finally repealed in March of 1770.
Wikipedia confirms
On the 5 of March 1770— the same day as the Boston Massacre—Lord North, the new Prime Minister, presented a motion in the House of Commons that called for partial repeal of the ...
4
Britain taxed the American colonies to help pay for the French and Indian War. Together with the taxes, Britain placed restrictions on their colonists crossing the Appalachian Mountains (to pacify certain Indian allies like the Iroquois.
The colonies felt that they had done Britain a favor by fighting on the front lines. They felt that they should have ...
3
Peter greatly underestimated the size and speed of the Ottoman army, overestimated his chances to peel away Ottoman vassals as allies, allowed his supply lines to be disrupted, and misread the terrain and Ottoman maneuvers, bogging his forces down in a marsh.
This should have been the end of Peter the Great, but his reputation and the timidity of the ...
3
Yes, absolutely. The Federalist /Anti-Federalist controversy went far beyond the issues you cite. The founders feared a tyrannical central government - the writings of Jefferson, Madison and Monroe are particularly clear on this point.
The 9th and 10th were designed to limit the growth of the government.
Hamilton wanted a strong, effective government. ...
3
From reading your link over, it appears that the War of Austrian Succession (and its Americas equivalent of King George's war) started quite soon thereafter. I suspect the general military land actions were considered way more important than a single Naval battle (dominated mostly by Yellow Fever) fought out in the middle of nowhere that mostly just ...
3
Jefferson and Adams' policy debates over Revolutionary War debts and relations with France and Great Britain became very public and personal throughout Washington's presidency and into the Presidential election of 1796. Their surrogates circulated vicious personal attacks during Adams' Presidency, while Jefferson served as Vice President. Their followings ...
2
Both the US and British legislative bodies underwent transformations in the last half of the 18th and first half of the 19th century, and it is useful to study them together. At the beginning of the period, neither had "political parties" as we understand them. They evolved political parties as a way of forcing a diversity of viewpoints into actionable ...
2
What led to the rise to political parties was the fact that Hamilton and Jefferson had conflicting views. Also the fact that Washington favored Hamilton’s ideas which made Jefferson very mad because he wanted to have his ideas favored also. Last but not least the two parties fought over governmental issues also played a part in the rise of political parties.
...
2
The Federalists and Anti-Federalists started around the Constitutional Ratification, during the adoption fight but eventually grew under Hamilton to the political party that they became during the first few presidential administrations. Afterwards you had like-minded groups grow because the only way to get elected, or names on the ballots because of the way ...
2
(Update: new summary)
I have given in to my weaker loquacious side and allowed this answer to become a tar baby, incorporating many topics that are only tangential to the OP. The summary is that bicameralism is one of many governmental architectures designed to incorporate stakeholders, foster deliberation and slow consensus. Although it was a tool ...
2
Presumably he is referring to the Burr conspiracy:
The Burr conspiracy in the beginning of the 19th century was a
suspected treasonous cabal of planters, politicians, and army officers
allegedly led by former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr. According to
the accusations against him, Burr’s goal was to create an independent
nation in the center of ...
1
According to your link, Nicholas Taafe was not promoted to Major General until 1739, a year after the battle of Belgrade.
Basically, he was not a senior enough officer in 1738 to have won the battle by himself. What MAY have happened was that he displayed exceptional bravery/skill that won him the 1739 promotion despite the Austrians' having lost the ...
1
I've found something:
Originally, the small building was known as Goff’s Tavern and was rumored to have secret tunnels to which the local English-sympathizing Tories would repair for escape from the Patriots. Later, runaway slaves allegedly used them during the Civil War. So
far, those tunnels haven’t been confirmed, but additional archeological digs ...
1
I found an article that indicates that the effects of ether were documented as far back as 1540. It suggests that the first use of ether in surgery was by Dr. Crawford W. Long of Georgia in 1842, when he used ether while performing three separate surgeries.
William T.G. Morton contacted Dr. John C. Warren (1778-1856) of Harvard University in 1846 and ...
1
This letter from John Adams to John Jay makes no mention of any "back turning" incident.
This website talks about how King George III eventually accepted John Adams, and claims that King George III acted in the following manner:
He behaved with dignity during the interview, though he showed that he was affected by it, and assured the minister that as he ...
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