American Revolution

<p>Overshadowed in memory by Lexington and Concord, the Massachusetts town of Menotomy saw the most violent and deadly fighting on April 19, 1775.</p>

<p>This special issue looks at the dramatic and momentous events that occurred 250 years ago this month.</p>

This vivid allegorical cartoon, which illustrates the fatal effects on the empire that would result from taxing the colonies, was designed by Franklin in 1766. Franklin printed the image on cards that he distributed to Parliament during the debate over the repeal of the Stamp Act.

WIlliam Franklin (1730-1813) was the illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin and an unknown woman. He was born in Philadelphia, PA and attended school in London. He pursued a law education in London and was admitted to the bar. In 1763, he was appointed the Royal Governor of New Jersey.

In 1890, the Society of Old Brooklynites sent an appeal to the Congress of the United States to request the establishment of a monument to honor the 11,500 prisoners of war who died on board British prison ships during the Revolutionary War. The monument was eventually built and dedicated in 1908…

This political cartoon, made in the year 1775, shows King George III of Great Britian and Ireland and Lord Mansfield, a British judge and politician, riding on two horses labeled "Obstinacy" and "Pride." The carriage is headed towards an abyss, representing the author's interpretation of entering

The treaty, sent to Congress by the American negotiators, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay, formally ended the Revolutionary War. They emerged from the peace process with one of the most advantageous treaties ever negotiated for the United States. Two crucial provisions of the treaty…

This treaty, signed on February 8th, 1778, formalized France’s financial and military support of the revolutionary government in America. As part of the alliance between “the most Christian King and the United of North America,” neither party could conclude a peace “with Great Britain without the…

<p>American resistance to British authority developed with stunning speed 250 years ago in response to George III’s inflexibility. </p>

The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts printed about 100 copies of depositions from witnesses at the Battle of Lexington and Concord to influence public and official opinion. The colonists wanted to produce their own account of the events before General Gage was able to produce his own report…

The entry for April 19th, 1775, is from the diary of Lieutenant John Barker, an officer in the British army. Selections from this diary were first published under the title of ‘A British officer in Boston in 1775’, in the Atlantic Monthly for April 1877.

The Declaration of Independence is a document that announced the independence of the 13 American colonies from Great Britain. It was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.

This political cartoon shows Lord North, with the "Boston Port Bill" extending from a pocket, forcing tea (the Intolerable Acts) down the throat of a partially draped Native female figure representing "America" whose arms are restrained by Lord Mansfield, while Lord Sandwich, a notorious womanize

<p><span class="deck">Washington was his idol, but he could not apply his American ideals to a France sliding into the Terror</span></p>

<p><span class="deck"> At Cowpens, Dan Morgan showed how militia can be used. The formula worked in three later fights.</span> </p>

<p><span class="deck"><span class="typestyle">Stickler for a point of honor, the General marched to defeat and helped to lose a war</span> </span></p>

<p><span class="deck"> Modern G. I.’s will recognize a fellow spirit in the sergeant who wrote this account of life in General Washington’s army</span> </p>

<p><span class="deck">Skillful money-juggling by America’s first financier aided the new nation but led Morris himself to utter ruin</span></p>

<p>Participants describe the opening of the American Revolution</p>

<p><span class="deck">No American ships were involved, yet on its outcome hung Great Britain’s recognition of our independence</span></p>

<p><span class="deck"><span class="typestyle">Three times John Glover’s Marblehead fishermen saved Washington’s army; in a final battle, the “amphibious regiment” rowed him to victory across the Delaware</span> </span></p>

<p><span class="deck"> In Pierre Landais the Continental Navy had its own real-life Commander Queeg. His tour as master of the <span class="typestyle"> Alliance</span> was a nightmare wilder than any a novelist could invent </span></p>

<p><span class="deck">The battle between rebels and redcoats that should have taken place at Bunker Hill was fought at Breed’s instead. It was the first of many costly mistakes for both sides</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">George Washington had his Martha; John Adams had his Abigail—and Henry Knox had his Lucy. Or did Lucy have him? She was high-strung, demanding, and stubborn, but she loved him unto death</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">The battle smoke of the Revolution had scarcely cleared when desperate economic conditions in Massachusetts led former patriots to rise against the government they had created. The fear this event aroused played an important part in shaping the new Constitution of the United States</span></p>

<p><span class="deck"> Unless the makeshift Yankee admiral with his tiny homemade fleet could hold Lake Champlain, the formidable invasion from Canada might overwhelm the rebel army</span> </p>

<p><span class="deck"> For ten tumultuous years Sam Adams burned with a single desire: American independence from Great Britain.</span> </p>

<p>“Whom can we trust now?” cried out General Washington when he discovered his friend’s “villainous perfidy.”</p>

<p><span class="deck">Just what moved those Revolutionary War officers to form the Society of the Cincinnati, America’s first veterans’ organization? Some said it was treason</span></p>

<p>After the Revolution, Washington returned to farming at Mount Vernon but eventually called for that he wished a “Convention of the People” to establish a “Federal Constitution”</p>

<p><span class="deck"><span class="typestyle">Behind the ancient towers of the Duke of Northumberland's home are the unique Revolutionary War battle maps of the general who saved the British from disaster at Lexington</span> </span></p>

<p><span class="deck"> In reprisal for a Tory atrocity, Washington ordered the hanging of a captive British officer chosen by lot. He was nineteen.</span> </p>

<p><span class="deck"><span class="typestyle">In which John Jones, né Paul, invades both England and Scotland, despoils a countess, and defeats a British sloop—all in less than forty-eight hours</span> </span></p>

<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> A domino theory, distant wilderness warfare, the notion of “defensive enclaves,” hawks, doves, hired mercenaries, possible intervention by hostile powers, a Little trouble telling friendly natives from unfriendly—George</span> III <span class="typestyle"> went through the whole routine</span> </span></p>

<p>The British commander felt the rebels didn't a real army. But letters he addressed to "George Washington, Esq." were returned to sender.</p>

<p><span class="deck"> The Most Uncommon Pamphlet of the Revolution</span> </p>

<p><span class="deck">BETWEEN KING AND COUNTRY</span></p>

<p><span class="deck"> BATTLES OF THE REVOLUTION</span> </p>

<p><span class="deck"><span class="typestyle">The Man, the Myth, and the Midnight Ride</span> </span></p>

<p><span class="deck">Only one man had the wit, audacity, and self-confidence to make the case.</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">When the French Revolution broke out 200 years ago this month, Americans greeted it enthusiastically. After all, without the French, <span class="typestyle">we</span> could never have become free. But the cheers faded as the brutality of the convulsion emerged, and Americans realized that they were still only a feeble newborn facing a giant, intimidating world power. </span></p>