On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, Colonel John Nixon read the Declaration of Independence to a crowd in the State House Yard (now known as Independence Square) in the first public reading of the Declaration. After the reading the crowd shouted “God bless the free states of North America!” three times and then tore down the King’s coat of arms from the State House.
Later that day, the men of Philadelphia and from across Pennsylvania gathered in the State House to elect delegates to a convention to draft a new constitution for Pennsylvania. This vote was not limited to men with considerable property as in prior elections in Pennsylvania, and the voters elected several men who had not previously served in the government of the colony: farmer Robert Whitehill, farmer Thomas Smith, Dr. Thomas Young, Scottish immigrant James Cannon, recent immigrant and famous author Thomas Paine, the clerk to the Continental Congress Timothy Matlack, Irish immigrant George Bryan, Lambert Cadwalader, Jonathan Hoge, and James McLene, but also elected the more prominent Benjamin Franklin as Chairman, George Ross as vice-chairman and George Clymer as a delegate to the Convention. All three of the latter men had also been elected to the Continental Congress and would sign the Declaration of Independence.
Today, July 8, 2026, in Independence Square in Philadelphia, the National Park Service will reenact Col. Nixon’s reading of the Declaration of Independence. I am doubtful that the National Park Service will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the election of the little known delegates who would draft the most radical of the state constitutions during the Revolution.
On this day 250 years ago in Virginia, the HMS Fowey and HMS Fincastle returned from the Eastern Shore with provisions and 100 Loyalist recruits for Governor Dunmore’s sick and dwindling army on Gwynn’s Island. Upon learning that Dunmore had been reinforced, Virginia Gen. Andrew Lewis decided to march his men from Williamsburg to assault Gwynn’s Island.
Wrike at 76-77
On this day 250 years ago in Connecticut, John Francis Putnam provided his son Jared Putnam a musket with this poem:
I send you this my gun,
Do not handle it in fun,
But with it make ye British run.
Join ye ranks of ye Washington,
And when our independence is won
We will talk a drink of good old rum.
In 2026 this musket and poem are on display at the Griswold Inn in Essex, Connecticut.
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Declaration of Independence was published in the Pennsylvania Evening Post.
On this day 250 years ago in Annapolis, the Maryland Convention issued this resolution declaring independence from Great Britain:
We the delegates of Maryland, in convention assembled, do declare, that the king of Great Britain has violated his compact with this people, and that they owe no allegience to him; we have therefore thought it just and necessary to empower our deputies in congress to join with a majority of the united colonies in declaring them free and independent states, in framing such farther confederation between them, in making foreign alliances, and in adopting such other measures as shall be judged necessary for the preservation of their liberties . . . . We have also thought proper to call a new convention, for the purpose of establishing a government in this colony. . . . To maintain inviolate our liberties, and to transmit them unimpared to posterity, was our duty and first wish; our next, to continue connected with, and dependent on Great Britain. For the truth of these assertions, we appeal to that Almighty Being who is emphatically styled the searcher of hearts, and from whose omniscience nothing is concealed. Relying on his divine protection and affiance, and trusting to the justice of our cause, we exort and conjure every virtuous citizen to join cordially in defence of our common rights, and in maintainance of the freedom of this and her sister colonies.
The Maryland Convention had presumably received word of the Continental Congress’s passage of the resolution for independence on July 2, but apparently had not yet received a copy of the Declaration of Independence.
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, Irish immigrant John Dunlap completed printing of the first 200 or so copies of the Declaration of Independence. These first copies were in the form of a broadside — essentially a poster to be tacked or pasted onto a wall for the public to read. These initial copies do not include the signatures of the Signers that we are familiar with today as they would not begin signing until the next month. The only names on the Declaration at this point were the printed names of John Hancock as President of the Continental Congress, Charles Thomson as Secretary of the Congress, and John Dunlap the Printer. Hancock and other members of the Congress immediately began distributing copies to each of the state conventions, the Continental Army and others.
As almost all Americans know, on this day 250 years ago at what is now called Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. I have been thinking about the Declaration all day today, as well as in the past few days, and over the past year. I want to use this blog today to share a few of my thoughts on the Declaration of Independence.
As we also know, the Declaration sets forth the principles that the United States of America was founded on. Today, July 4, 2026, Americans and others across the United States and around the world have read or listened to the stirring words of the Declaration. The full text is easy to find and I do not need to repeat it all here, but I want to focus on two passages of the Declaration that I feel are especially important to reiterate today.
Some historians claim this as the greatest sentence ever written, and I am not inclined to argue:
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.
In the Declaration of Independence our Founding Fathers did not cite as the basis for the creation of our nation English laws such as the Magna Carta, their national heritage as Englishmen (although most were of English ancestry), their European ethnicity (though all were descended from Europeans), or the Bible or the Christian religion (although all were nominally Christian even if some were privately Deist). Some of the Founding Fathers certainly cited these attributes in their arguments for American Liberty, but our Founding document — the Declaration — does not. Instead the Declaration of Independence indicates our rights are derived from the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” that are “self-evident.” The Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence “by Authority of the good People of these Colonies,” and the American people needed no other authority to create a new nation.
Some point to the reference to “Nature’s God” and other sentences in the Declaration that invoke the authority of a monotheistic God. But they simply reflect that the American colonists who worshipped God believed in a monotheistic God. After all Americans in 1776 were overwhelmingly Christian with only a smattering of Jews and Deists, and all of them were Monotheists. Even if some slaves carried to America from Africa or Native Americans may have retained polytheistic beliefs, the Founding Fathers sadly did not consider them to be citizens of the new United States. So the references to “Nature’s God” and the “Creator” in the Declaration cannot possibly be cited as authority for the proposition that the United States was founded as a Christian nation or on the authority of the Bible. Some may argue that the Declaration indicates that belief in a single God is a founding principle of our nation, yet the Founding Fathers cited Roman and Greek sources as frequently as they did the Bible in arguing for Independence, notwithstanding that they were fully aware that the Greeks and Romans worshipped multiple gods. So you cannot conclude from the Declaration that the Founding Fathers wanted a nation that welcomes only people of monotheistic faiths, such as Christians and Jews, and excludes people of polytheistic faiths.
The Declaration of Independence only indicates that the Founding Fathers believed that the universal tenets shared by all religions — “self-evident truths” — are founding principles for our nation. Nothing in the Declaration supports claims that the United States of America was intended to be the homeland of those of European heritage or Judeo-Christian faith, or that other faiths or heritage can be excluded from the United States because they do not belong here.
The Declaration declares that the founding principles of the United States are “self-evident” and include “unalienable rights”. The Continental Congress left it to Americans to decide if they agreed that these truths are self-evident and if they wanted to defend their unalienable rights. Some did not — many Americans in 1776 refused to recognize these truths are self-evident, or could not accept the consequences of claiming their unalienable rights, and became Loyalists to the King. But we won the Revolutionary War, not just with the force of arms, but also with the force of the ideas and ideals of these self-evident truths and unalienable rights. Our Nation was dedicated to these self-evident truths and unalienable rights and patriotic Americans should fight for them today, even if some Americans are willing to abandon them.
The Declaration also makes clear that the founding principles of the United States are not defined by statutes or laws or other documents written by kings or parliaments — or by the Founding Fathers themselves. They are “self-evident”. Our “unalienable rights” were not created by the Continental Congress, or the Constitutional Convention, and they cannot be taken away — they cannot be alienated — by a President, or a Congress, or a Supreme Court. Our “unalienable rights” were not given to us by anybody; they were claimed by Americans 250 years ago in a Revolution, and we should preserve them today.
The most important of the unalienable rights is that Governments must derive their “powers from the consent of the governed.” The “consent of the governed” is fundamentally expressed through periodic free elections. When the President, or legislators, or the courts impose or enforce restrictions on who can vote, or how people can vote, or whose votes get counted to secure the outcome they prefer in elections, they are not deriving their “powers from the consent of the governed.”
We should also remember if our present “Government becomes destructive of” of our unalienable rights or of “Life, Liberty, or pursuit of Happiness, . . . it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.” Furthermore, as the Declaration asserts in a later paragraph, when a Government “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.” Our Founders had to fight a Revolution to abolish the government that became destructive of their unalienable rights, but I hope Americans today will be able to alter ours through peaceful the means of protests, litigation and elections.
Finally, I want to focus on one of the abuses of the King of Great Britain that Thomas Jefferson listed as a justification for throwing off British government, specifically that the King was
obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither
It is ironic and tragic that 250 years later our President and his Administration are obstructing the laws for the Naturalization of Foreigners and refusing to allow immigrants who came to this country lawfully to remain in the United States, and that our Supreme Court ruled only this past week that the President can do so. American citizens have an unalienable right as part of their “pursuit of Happiness” to have their friends and families and neighbors who entered into this country lawfully, and abide by our laws, remain in this country. The President and the Court do not have the authority to take that unalienable right away, and it angers and saddens me that they are doing so.
In counterpoint and on a happier note today, July 4, 2026, I was at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Virginia to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, and the Naturalization ceremony for 75 immigrants who became American citizens today. It gladdens me and gives me hope to see new Americans pledging their loyalty and commitment to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America, and to be with hundreds if not a thousand Americans who joined me in celebrating their new citizenship today.
You can see photos from Monticello at my Facebook page here:
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress debated the draft of the Declaration of Independence that had been prepared by Thomas Jefferson and edited and approved by the other members of the committee (John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston), but
not having finished . . . Resolved, That this Congress will, to morrow . . . take into their farther consideration, the Declaration.
Also on that day in Philadelphia, John Adams wrote two letters to his wife Abigail. One letter has been widely quoted by historians and is worth considering today:
Had a Declaration of Independency been made seven Months ago, it would have been attended with many great and glorious Effects. . . .
But . . . the Delay of this Declaration to this Time, has many great Advantages attending it.—The Hopes of Reconciliation, which were fondly entertained by Multitudes of honest and well meaning tho weak and mistaken People, have been gradually and at last totally extinguished.—Time has been given for the whole People, maturely to consider the great Question of Independence and to ripen their Judgments, dissipate their Fears, and allure their Hopes, by discussing it in News Papers and Pamphletts, by debating it, in Assemblies, Conventions, Committees of Safety and Inspection, in Town and County Meetings, as well as in private Conversations, so that the whole People in every Colony of the 13, have now adopted it, as their own Act.—This will cement the Union, and avoid those Heats and perhaps Convulsions which might have been occasioned, by such a Declaration Six Months ago.
But the Day is past. The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.—I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.
You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not.—I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States.—Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.
In his first letter to Abigail on that same day John Adams wrote this memorable paragraph:
Yesterday the greatest Question was decided, which ever was debated in America, and a greater perhaps, never was or will be decided among Men. A Resolution was passed without one dissenting Colony “that these united Colonies, are, and of right ought to be free and independent States, and as such, they have, and of Right ought to have full Power to make War, conclude Peace, establish Commerce, and to do all the other Acts and Things, which other States may rightfully do.” You will see in a few days a Declaration setting forth the Causes, which have impell’d Us to this mighty Revolution, and the Reasons which will justify it, in the Sight of God and Man. A Plan of Confederation will be taken up in a few days.
Sources: “John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-02-02-0016. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 2, June 1776 – March 1778, ed. L. H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963, pp. 29–33.]; “John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-02-02-0015. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 2, June 1776 – March 1778, ed. L. H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963, pp. 27–29.]
On this day 250 years ago in New York, additional Royal Navy ships arrived bringing the total to 130 British ships in the Bay of New York. More British troops also landed on Staten Island that day.
Sources: American Battlefield Trust at 36; “Elizabethtown Committee of Safety to George Washington, 3 July 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-05-02-0125. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 5, 16 June 1776 – 12 August 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993, pp. 189–190.]
Also on that day, Col. Hugh Stephenson and Lt. Abraham Shepherd left New York City to return to Virginia to recruit a new regiment of riflemen. Stephenson died in August 1776 while home recruiting.
And on this day 250 years ago in Annapolis, the Maryland Convention resolved that a new convention be elected to prepare a constitution for the State that did not refer to parliament or the king, but would be a government “…of the people only.”
On this day 250 years ago at the Statehouse (now Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress again voted on the Resolution for Independence introduced by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. The Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Delaware delegations all changed their votes to support Independence, so the Congress by the unanimous vote of all delegations voting, and New York still abstaining, adopted the Resolution for Independence. July 2, 1776 is actually the birthdate of the United States although we for good reasons celebrate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence two days later.
Although the United States of America that day resolved that it was independent of Britain, readers of this blog will know that each of the thirteen American states had already ejected the British from control of their states. On July 2, 1776, each state had ejected its royal governor from the capitol (or in the case of Connecticut, the royal governor joined the Patriots) and had replaced the governor and Crown officials with a new albeit interim governing body. British troops had been forced from each state except for tiny toeholds on Long Island (now Isle of Palms) in South Carolina (where Generals Clinton and Cornwallis were waiting to evacuate their troops after the defeat at Fort Sullivan), Gwynn’s Island, Virginia (where Governor Lord Dunmore’s small army of British troops and Loyalists were under siege by Virginia forces and dying of smallpox), Staten Island in New York where General William Howe began unloading troops 250 years ago today, and three British outposts in northern New York on the border with Canada — at Fort Niagara, Oswego and Oswegatchie. The British controlled nothing else. America had made itself independent before the Congress declared America Independent.
Sources: Hogeland, Declaration at 172-73 and lots of others.
On this day 250 years ago in Burlington, the New Jersey Convention adopted a Constitution for the state. Some of the provisions of the New Jersey Constitution adopted that day are:
WHEREAS all the constitutional authority ever possessed by the kings of Great Britain over these colonies, or their other dominions, was, by compact, derived from the people, and held of them, for the common interest of the whole society; allegiance and protection are, in the nature of things, reciprocal ties; each equally depending upon the other, and liable to be dissolved by the others being refused or withdrawn. And whereas George the Third, king of Great Britain, has refused protection to the good people of these colonies; and, by assenting to sundry acts of the British parliament, attempted to subject them to the absolute dominion of that body; and has also made war upon them, in the most cruel and unnatural manner, for no other cause, than asserting their just rights-all civil authority under him is necessarily at an end, and a dissolution of government in each colony has consequently taken place.
And whereas, In the present deplorable situation of these colonies, exposed to the fury of a cruel and relentless enemy, some form of government is absolutely necessary, not only for the preservation of good order, but also the more effectually to unite the people, and enable them to exert their whole force in their own necessary defence: and as the honorable the continental congress, the supreme council of the American colonies, has advised such of the colonies as have not yet gone into measures, to adopt for themselves, respectively, such government as shall best conduce to their own happiness and safety, and the well-being of America in general:-We, the representatives of the colony of New Jersey, having been elected by all the counties, in the freest manner, and in congress assembled, have, after mature deliberations, agreed upon a set of charter rights and the form of a Constitution, in manner following, viz.
. . .
IV. That all inhabitants of this Colony, of full age, who are worth fifty pounds proclamation money, clear estate in the same, and have resided within the county in which they claim a vote for twelve months immediately preceding the election, shall be entitled to vote for Representatives in Council and Assembly; and also for all other public officers, that shall be elected by the people of the county at large.
Under Article IV, in New Jersey, in contrast to other states, Women, Blacks and White inhabitants inhabitants could vote, even if they did not own real property, provided that they were “worth fifty pounds proclamation money.”
XVIII. That no person shall ever, within this Colony, be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshipping Almighty God in a manner, agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; nor, under any presence whatever, be compelled to attend any place of worship, contrary to his own faith and judgment; nor shall any person, within this Colony, ever be obliged to pay tithes, taxes, or any other rates, for the purpose of building or repairing any other church or churches, place or places of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes to be right, or has deliberately or voluntarily engaged himself to perform.
XIX. That there shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this Province, in preference to another; and that no Protestant inhabitant of this Colony shall be denied the enjoyment of any civil right, merely on account of his religious principles; but that all persons, professing a belief in the faith of any Protestant sect, who shall demean themselves peaceably under the government, as hereby established, shall be capable of being elected into any office of profit or trust, or being a member of either branch of the Legislature, and shall fully and freely enjoy every privilege and immunity, enjoyed by others their fellow subjects.
On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress debated and held a preliminary vote on Richard Henry Lee’s proposed resolution for Independence. Nine states voted for Independence: Virginia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina and Georgia. The Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Delaware delegations were split, but the majority of the delegates from both Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted no, and the Delaware delegation had one delegate voting yes and one delegate voting no. The New York delegation was subject to instructions prohibiting them from the New York Convention from them from voting for independence so New York abstained. But the Congress agreed to continue the debate and vote again the next day.
On this day 250 years ago in South Carolina, Cherokees allied with the British were attacking White settlers. In what is now the town of Greer, in Greenville County, South Carolina, Cherokee raiders killed Jacob Hite and abducted his wife Frances Madison Hite (James Madison’s aunt) and daughters Eleanor and Susan Hite. Jacob Hite’s son James had been killed by Cherokees a few days earlier. Frances Hite’s body was recovered a few days later but Eleanor and Susan never returned from captivity and historians presume they were also killed.
Around the same day 250 years ago (some sources say it was on June 30 and other sources say July 1 or early July 1776) in what is now the town of Greer in Spartanburg County (Greer straddles the line between Spartanburg and Greenville Counties) South Carolina, a party of Cherokees and Loyalists approached the home of Anthony Hampton and were greeted by Hampton and his son Preston Hampton. Preston Hampton had just returned from negotiations with Cherokees for a treaty of peace between the Cherokee Nation and South Carolina and he and his father knew some of the Cherokees. Without warning the Cherokees killed both Anthony and Preston Hampton. They then killed Anthony Hampton’s wife Ann Elizabeth Preston Hampton and their infant grandson and abducted nine-year old grandson John Bynum. Two other grandsons (sons of Preston Hampton) were also murdered at Preston’s nearby home. John Bynum was later returned to his family and provided a first account of the massacre of his relatives.
Cherokee raiders also attacked and killed members of the Hannon family at their nearby home in South Carolina around this same time.
The surviving sons of Anthony Hampton would join with other South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia militia to exact a fearful revenge on the Cherokee Nation for these massacres.
On this day 250 years ago, the people of Maryland were reading the following declaration that had been adopted in Charles County earlier in the month:
We, the subscribers, freemen of Charles County, in the Province of Maryland, taking into our most serious consideration the present state of the unhappy dispute between Great Britain and the United Colonies, and the very great distress and hardships they have brought upon us thereby, think proper to deliver you our sentiments, and to instruct you in certain points relative to your conduct in the next Convention, as Representatives of this County. Reasons for the mode of voting, and determining questions, by a majority of Counties, have not appeared to us to exist since the last general election; therefore, we charge and instruct you to move for, and endeavour to obtain a regulation for voting individually, and determining questions by a majority of members, and not of Counties, in future. And as we know we have a right to hear, or be informed what is transacted in Convention, we instruct you to move for, and endeavour to obtain, a resolve for the doors of the House to be kept open in future, and that, on all questions proposed and seconded, the yeas and nays be taken, and, together with every other part of your proceedings, published, except such only as may relate to military operations, questions which ought to be debated with the doors shut, and the determinations thereon kept secret.
The experience we have had of the cruelty and injustice of the British Government, under which we have too long borne oppression and wrongs, and notwithstanding every peaceable endeavour of the United Colonies to get redress of grievances, by decent, dutiful, and sincere petitions and representations to the King and Parliament, giving every assurance of our affection and loyalty, and praying for no more than peace, liberty and safety under the British Government, yet have we received nothing but an increase of insult and injury, by all the Colonies being declared in actual rebellion; savages hired to take up arms against us; slaves proclaimed free, enticed away, trained and armed against their lawful masters; our towns plundered, burnt, and destroyed; our vessels and property seized on the seas, made free plunder to the captors, and our seamen forced to take arms against ourselves; our friends and countrymen, when captivated, confined in dungeons, and, as if criminals, chained down to the earth; our estates confiscated, and our men, women and children robbed and murdered: and as at this time, instead of Commissioners to negotiate a peace, as we have been led to believe were coming out, a formidable fleet of British ships, with a numerous army of foreign soldiers, in British pay, are daily expected on our coast, to force us to yield the property we have honestly acquired, and fairly own, and drudge out the remainder of our days in misery and wretchedness, leaving us nothing better to bequeath to posterity than poverty and slavery:— we must, for these reasons, declare, that our affection for the people, and allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain, so readily and truly acknowledged till of late, is forfeited on their part. And as we are convinced that nothing virtuous, humane, generous, or just, can be expected from the British King or nation, and that they will exert themselves to reduce us to a state of slavery, by every effort and artifice in their power, we are of opinion that the time has fully arrived for the Colonies to adopt the last measure for our common good and safety, and that the sooner they declare themselves separate from, and independent of the Crown and Parliament of Great Britain, the sooner they will be able to make effectual opposition, and establish their liberties on a firm and permanent basis. We, therefore, most earnestly instruct and charge you to move for, without loss of time, and endeavour to obtain, positive instructions from the Convention of Maryland to their Delegates in Congress, immediately to join the other Colonies in declaring that the United Colonies no longer owe allegiance to, nor are they dependant upon, the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain, or any other power on earth, but are, for time to come, free and independent States; provided that the power of forming Government, and regulating the internal concerns of each Colony, be left to their respective Legislatures; and that said Delegates give the assent of this Province to any further confederation of the Colonies for the support of their union, and for forming such foreign commercial connections as may be requisite and necessary for our common good and safety. And as the present Government under the King cannot longer exist with safety to the freemen of this Province, we are of opinion a new form of Government, agreeable to the late recommendation of the honourable Continental Congress to all the United Colonies, ought immediately to be adopted.
On this day 250 years ago in Williamsburg, the Virginia Convention adopted a Constitution for the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Virginia Constitution also incorporated the Declaration of Rights that had been previously adopted by the Convention on June 12. Also on this day the Convention elected Patrick Henry as independent Virginia’s first governor.
On this day 250 years ago 45 ships of the British fleet rounded Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and dropped anchor within the Lower Bay of New York joining the 15 or so British ships already there. Private Daniel McCurtin of Maryland recorded in his diary that the bay was “resembling a wood of pine trees trimmed” and “I thought all London was afloat.” The British fleet in the Bay of New York would soon grow to about 200 ships.
On this day 250 years ago off Cape May, New Jersey, the 16-gun HMS Kingfisher and 32-gun HMS Orpheus chased the American brigantine Nancy into the Turtle Gut Inlet where the Nancy ran aground. The Nancy was armed with only six cannon and an 11-man crew but was carrying “three hundred and eighty-six barrels of gunpowder, fifty fire-locks, one hundred and one hogsheads of rum, and sixty-two hogsheads of sugar” from St. Thomas and St. Croix in the Caribbean to Philadelphia. Men from the USS Lexington, Wasp, and Reprisal, rowed to the Nancy in longboats and with the assistance of local militia from Cape May were able to remove most of the gunpowder and some of the other supplies under fire from the Kingfisher and Orpheus. As the British were approaching the Nancy in longboats, the Americans wrapped the remaining 100 barrels of gunpowder with a sail and lit it on fire to create a fuse. When the British were boarding the Nancy the gunpowder. The British records recorded only that the master’s mate and six men from the Kingfisher were killed in the explosion, but the Americans recorded that the British had between 12 and 36 casualties from the explosion and gunfire from the American sailors. In addition to the loss of the Nancy, the Americans lost only one man in the engagement, Lt. Richard Wickes of the Reprisal. Lt. Wickes was the first American casualty of the Revolution on New Jersey soil and is buried in what is now called the Veterans Field of Honor of the Cold Spring Presbyterian Church cemetery on Cape May.
