Archive for the ‘Independence’ Category

“the troops paraded thro’ the streets with great pomp”

In her diary SARAH LOGAN FISHER continued to record her activities throughout the winter, spring and into the summer of 1777: knitting, having tea with friends, and visiting her grandmother. She was elated by reports of skirmishes in what was called “the Jersies” in which the British were victorious, and reports that General “Johnny” Burgoyne had taken Fort Ticonderoga. Meanwhile Patriots in Philadelphia were preparing for an attack by the British.

April 13. 1777— …. An order came out today from the Board of War [Patriot group in Philadelphia] for men to go round the city & examine what salt provisions, rum, sugar, molasses, coffee &c each family had, & whatever they had more than sufficient for two or three weeks’ use was to be taken from them & applied to the use of the army, as they apprehended some of the inhabitants had stored up provisions for the use of Lord Howe. This arbitrary stretch of power needs no comments; the cruelty of it will sufficiently speak for itself.

Sarah reported on April 16 that martial law had been declared in Philadelphia. She complained as the requisitioning of stores continued.

April 21, 1777— This infernal scheme of robbing people of their private property is, they say, to prevent General Howe’s army being suppled by us. But the real reason is that the inhabitants may be distressed in such a manner as to be obliged to leave the city.

A reminder that an army was dependent on horses for transport and battle, Sarah learned that the British would not be able to move because forage was so scarce. “[T]hey must wait till the grass is a little grown that their horses may have something to feed on.” Sarah impatiently awaited the arrival of the British.

May 3, 1777— ….How often have we expected them to come to our deliverance, this & the other week, & yet still the time is prolonged … let me endeavor patiently to bear that part of the trial that is allotted to me ….

When the War Office demanded 1000 blankets from the Friends they said their “scruples of conscience” prevented them from assisting in the carrying on of war. Personal tragedy struck on June 1 when Sarah’s grandmother died.

June 1, 1777— This afternoon … dear Grandmother departed this life…. She fell like a shock of wheat, fully ripe, having lived to the age of 86 with great reputation, & had the satisfaction of looking back on her past life with pleasure, knowing it to be well spent.

In the entries for the next few days, Sarah speaks of meeting with her family to divide up her grandmother’s linen and china. She continues:

June 23, 1777— Morning at home cutting out 4 shirts for my Tommy….

July 4, 1777— This being the anniversary of the declaration of independence, at 12 o’clock the vessels were all hauled up & fired, & about 4 the firing of cannon began which was terrible to hear, and about 6 the troops paraded thro’ the streets with great pomp, tho’ many of them were barefoot & looked very unhealthy, & in the evening were illuminations, & those people’s windows were broken who put no candles in. We had 15 broken….and all this for joy of having gained our liberty.

Congress authorized a display of fireworks in Philadelphia in 1777 that concluded with thirteen rockets being fired on the commons.

Wainwright, Nicholas B., and Sarah Logan Fisher. “”A Diary of Trifling Occurrences”: Philadelphia, 1776-1778.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 82, no. 4 (1958), 432-435. Article from the Virginia Gazette dated 20 July 1777.

posted October 2nd, 2018 by Janet, Comments Off on “the troops paraded thro’ the streets with great pomp”, CATEGORIES: Fisher, Sarah Logan,Fourth of July celebration,Independence,Philadelphia,Quakers

“we celebrated the Anniversary of our Independance”

John Jay and his wife Sarah Livingston Jay were in Paris in July of 1783 where John as a Peace Commissioner had been influential in drafting the Preliminary Articles of Peace in 1782 which were awaiting the official signing. Sarah wrote a long letter to her sister Kitty in Elizabeth Town, New Jersey, including a passage describing how they had celebrated the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Passy l6th July 1783
My dr. sister,
On the 4th of July we celebrated the Anniversary of our Independance here at Passey, but the next I hope to celebrate in yr. company, & I’m sure that our pleasure will not be less animated even tho’ we shou’d substitute butter-milk in lieu of champagne to commemorate the illustrious event. I’ll inclose you a copy of the toasts Mr. Jay prepar’d for the occasion. . . . How nearly my dear Kitty! does extreme felicity approach a painful sensation. I’ve more than once experienc’d it; nor were my feelings divested of that kind of sensibility on the 4th of July, for I found it difficult to suppress the tears that where ready to flow to ye memory of those who in struggling to procure that happiness for their country which we were then celebrating had fallen in the glorious attempt. . . .

Because the following toasts Sarah enclosed are in her hand it has been thought that she gave them on the occasion of the signing of the Treaty of Paris. However, upon close reading, it is clear that they are more appropriate for an Independence Day celebration and were most likely given by John Jay on July 4, 1783.

1. The United States of America, may they be perpetual.
2. The Congress.
3. The King & Nation of France.
4. General Washington & the American Army.
5. The United Netherlands & all other free States in the world.
6. His Catholic Majesty & all other Princes & Powers who have manifested
Friendship to America.
7. The Memory of the Patriots who have fallen for their Country. May kindness
be shown to their widows & children.
8. The French Officers & Army who served in America.
9. Gratitude to our Friends & Moderation to our Enemies.
10. May all our Citizens be soldiers, & all our soldiers Citizens.
11. Concord, Wisdom & Firmness to all American Councils.
12. May our Country be always prepared for War, but disposed to Peace.
13. Liberty & Happiness to all Mankind.

posted July 3rd, 2014 by Janet, Comments Off on “we celebrated the Anniversary of our Independance”, CATEGORIES: France,Independence,Paris

” I went … to hear the proclamation for independance read”

Dear readers; you and I need a break from the sad story of Nancy Shippen Livingston. As it is the Fourth of July, some words related to the Declaration of Independence are in order.

John Adams was a member of the committee of the Continental Congress whose task was to draw up a such a declaration. In a letter written on July 3, 1776 to his wife Abigail, he claimed “the greatest Question was decided, which ever was debated in America, and a greater perhaps, never was or will be decided among Men.” The committee had written “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. …” He added: “I am apt to believe that [July 2] 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.”

In a letter of July 21 Abigail described to her husband how Boston had received the Declaration.

Last Thursday after hearing a very Good Sermon I went with the Multitude into Kings Street to hear HGH the proclamation for independance read and proclamed. Some Field peices with the Train were brought there, the troops appeard under Arms and all the inhabitants assembled there (the small pox prevented many thousand from the Country). When Col. Crafts read from the Belcona of the State House the Proclamation, great attention was given to every word. As soon as he ended, the cry from the Belcona, was God Save our American States and then 3 cheers which rended the air, the Bells rang, the privateers fired, the forts and Batteries, the cannon were discharged, the platoons followed and every face appeard joyfull. … After dinner the kings arms were taken down from the State House and every vestage of him from every place in which it appeard and burnt in King Street. Thus ends royall Authority in this State, and all the people shall say Amen.

To clarify, Congress adopted a resolution for independence on July 2, and after two days of debate adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4.

Letters from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 2 and 3 July 1776; letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 13 – 14 July 1776, Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. They can be found at the Massachusetts Historical Society. The engraving (1782) of the first public reading of the Declaration is by Edward Barnard; it is at the Library Company of Philadelphia.

Britain to America: a satiric puzzle

In the Book Division of the Clements Library of the University of Michigan is a mock letter written from mother Britain to her daughter America. Published in 1778 by Matthew Darly, Britain asks America to put aside her recent French alliance: “So be a good girl, discharge your soldiers and ships of war and do not rebel against your mother. Rely upon me and do not consort to what that French rascal shall tell you.” The letter was written as a rebus, a puzzle in which pictures are used to represent words or parts of words. See what you can make of it. Reading “toe” as “to” and “eye” as “i” helps.

If you are stumped, here is a transcription provided by the book Rebellion and Reconciliation: Satirical Prints on the Revolution at Williamsburg.

(Britannia) (toe) Amer(eye)ca.
My (deer) Daughter (eye) (can)(knot) (bee)hold w(eye)thout (grate) pa(eye)n (ewer) (head)strong (back)-(ward)ness (toe) ret(urn) (toe) (ewer) Duty in (knot) op(posy)ing (awl) the good (eye) long (eye)ntended for (ewer) (sole) Hap(pie)ness & (bee)ing told t(hat) (eye) have g(eye)v’n (ewer) (hand) (toe) a (base) & (double-faced) (Frenchman) (Eye) have sent (yew) 5 over/wise (men) the (grate)est of (awl) my (child)ren (toe) put (yew) (toe) r(eye)ghts & (hope) (yew) w(eye)[ll] l(eye)s(ten) (toe) them & m(eye)nd w(hat) they say (toe) (yew) they have (eye)nstr(yew)et(eye)ons [instructions] (toe) g(eye)ve (yew) t(hose) th(eye)ngs (yew) (form)erly required. so (bee a good (girl) d(eye)scharge (ewer) (soldiers) & (ships) of war & (doe) (knot) re(bell) aga(eye)nst (ewer) (moth)er rely upon me & (doe)(knot) (console)t [consort] to w(hat) t(hat) french R(ass)c(awl) sh(awl) tell (yew) IC he w(ants) (toe) b(ring) on an enm(eye)ty (toe) (awl) (union) (bee)tween (yew) & (eye) (but) l(eye)s(ten) (knot) (toe) h(eye)m (awl) the (world) takes (knot)(eye)ce [notice) of h(eye)[s] (doubleface). I’ll send h(eye)m such MessaGG [messages] from my (grate) (gun)s as s[h](awl) make h(eye)s (heart) repent & know t(hat) (one) good or (eye)ll t(urn) mer(eye)ts a (knot)her.
NB let (knot) (eighty) [hate] take (two) much hold of (ewer) (heart).
(Eye) am (ewer) fr(eye)end & (moth)er.

The Clements Library of the University of Michigan produces a blog called Clements Library Chronicles. The rebus can be found on the December 11, 2012 POST.

posted February 28th, 2013 by Janet, Comments Off on Britain to America: a satiric puzzle, CATEGORIES: France,Independence,Resistance to British

“This peace brings none to my heart”

Late in 1782, the Preliminary Articles of the peace treaty, which John Jay had helped negotiate, were agreed to in Paris. Sarah Jay wrote her father: “The dawn of peace seems to approach.” She congratulated him on the prospect. She also expressed her personal joy to her sister Kitty in Philadelphia anticipating, at long last, a reunion with her family. “Oh! Kitty perhaps the time draws near when we shall fold each other to our bosoms, and when our domestic felicity shall again be compleat.”
The Treaty of Paris, signed the next year, ended the Revolutionary War. There was great rejoicing in the new nation, but not everyone had cause to celebrate. Sarah Winslow, sister of loyalist Edward Winslow, wrote to her cousin Benjamin Marston in Canada of the family’s bitterness at their treatment by the Americans and what they considered betrayal by the British government.

April 10—1783, New YorkWhat is to become of us, God only can tel, in all our former sufferings we had hope to support us, being depriv’d of that, is too much, my mind, and strength, are unequal to my present, unexpected tryals—was their ever an instance my dear Cousin, can any history produce one where such a number of the best of human beings were deserted by the Government they have sacrific’d there all for.

The open enemys of Great Britain have gaind there point. … This peace brings none to my heart, my Brother . . . is now hasting away—may he meet you upon his arrival in Halifax. … You my Cousin I hope will be much with him. … Let compassion and friendship induce you to inform me always when you can, of his situation, and health, and do my friend as you value the peace of this fam-ily caution him to take care of himself. …

Here it thought best for us to continue for some months or until it is known what better we can do. Severe are the struggles I must now dayly have with myself. … I wish to retire entirely to my own family, and endeavour to remain unmolested, if possible, for which purpose my Brother is now seecking a house for us out of the City. …

This servant will make you a partaker of our sufferings … you are a Christian and Phylosopher, teach me so to be … your affectionate Cousin S

Sarah Jay’s remarks and the letter of Sarah Winslow are from In the Words of Women, pages 289-90.

posted December 3rd, 2012 by Janet, Comments Off on “This peace brings none to my heart”, CATEGORIES: Americans Abroad,Independence,Loyalists,Paris

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