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On this day 250 years ago at Long Bluff (present day Society Hill in Darlington County), South Carolina, Judge William Henry Drayton delivered the following charge to the Grand Jury of the Cheraws District: By as much as you prefer freedom to slavery, by so much ought you to prefer a generous death to servitude…..Hence,…
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On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet published this eloquent paean by an anonymous (and still unknown) author to American democracy: The history of kings is nothing but the history of the folly and depravity of human nature.. . . We read now and then, it is true, of a good…
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On this day 250 years ago at Mount Vernon, Virginia, George Washington met with Thomas Blackburn, Philip Richard Francis Lee and Philip Richard. These three men met with Washington to ask him to take command of the Independent Company of Cadets of Prince William County. Washington agreed and thus became commander of both the Fairfax…
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On this day 250 years ago in Baltimore, Maryland, a Committee of Observation for Baltimore County was formed to enforce the boycott of trade with the British issued by the Continental Congress. There were 67 men named to the Committee of Observation. https://digital.lib.niu.edu/islandora/object/niu-amarch%3A100489 I only recognized two names on the list of the 67 men…
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On this day 250 years ago in Dumfries, Virginia, the Prince William County Independent Company commanded by Captain William Grayson adopted the following resolutions: Resolved that the Motto of this Company shall be, Aut liber, aut nullus. Resolved unanimously that Thomas Blackburn, Richard Graham and Philip Richard Francis Lee Gentlemen, do wait upon Collonel George…
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On this day 250 years ago in Williamsburg, Virginia, Thomas Nelson, President of the Virginia Governor’s Council, postponed the meeting of the Council scheduled for this date to a later date. The Governor’s Council was eventually prorogued until February 1775. In contrast to the Virginia House of Burgesses, the members of the Governor’s Council were…
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On this day 250 years ago, in Williamsburg, Virginia, several hundred (estimates range from 200 to 500) merchants “voluntarily and generally signed” the Continental Association. The Continental Association had been issued by the Continental Congress in the previous month. It provided that the signers would not import from, export to or consume products of Britain.…
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Josiah Quincy Jr. lands at Falmouth, England on his secret mission from Samuel Adams and the Boston Committee of Correspondence to meet with supporters of the Patriots in London and to gauge support for the Colonies. https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/1449#ch05
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On this day 250 years ago in Yorktown, Virginia, THE Inhabitants of York having been informed that the Virginia, commanded by Howard Esten, had on Board two Half Chests of Tea, shipped by John Norton, Esq; and Sons, Merchants in London, by Order of Mess. Prentis and Company, Merchants in Williamsburg, assembled at 10 o’Clock…
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On this day 250 years ago in Camden, South Carolina, a Grand Jury of 22 men elected by the people of Camden District responded to a speech on the “Rights of Man under the Law” delivered to them on the previous day, November 5, 1774, by Justice William Henry Drayton on the Rights of Man…