1776 Collection
The Rag Linen 1776 collection begins with important news from Parliament in London at the end of 1775 and concludes with Washington’s victory letter from his headquarters just outside Trenton on December 26, 1776. Between, we make stops to read period reports of the Fortification of Dorchester Heights, the Siege of Quebec, the Declaration of ...
The Glorious Cause (Video)
SUPPLEMENTAL VIDEO (click the image above to play): “If we love the freedoms that we enjoy… free speech, freedom of religion and, most important of all, freedom to think for ourselves… then surely we ought to know how it came to be. Who was responsible? What did they do? How much did they contribute? How ...
Pennsylvania Evening Post – January 11, 1776
On October 27, 1775, King George III addressed both houses of the British Parliament and declared America in rebellion. Following the 20-minute speech, heated debates were held in the House of Lords and House of Commons. Despite some vocal support for America — more notably in the House of Commons — war was inevitable. According ...
Annual Register – 1776 (Dorchester Heights)
According to the Annual Register for the Year 1776, “Whilst the attention of the [British] army was occupied by the firing of houses and other mischiefs incident to this new attack, they beheld with inexpressible surprise, on the morning of the [March] 5th, some considerable works appear on the other side of town, upon the ...
Connecticut Journal – June 5, 1776
Just one month before declaring its independence, newspapers were packed with military news. The June 5, 1776 issue of the Connecticut Journal covers pro-American sentiments in London, Washington’s army in New York. ongoing military strategy and the “disgraceful retreat” from Quebec. According to page two, “the present plan is this, to have early in the ...
Annual Register and London Magazine – 1776 (Declaration of Independence)
After being passed by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, the Pennsylvania Evening Post was the first newspaper to print the Declaration of Independence in its July 6 edition — two days before John Dunlap printed it in his Pennsylvania Packet. By horse, the news traveled the coast and, according to Journals ...
Annual Register – 1776 (George III Statue)
According to Wikipedia, on August 21, 1770, the British government erected a 4,000 pound gilded lead equestrian statue of King George III in Bowling Green (New York City); the king was dressed in Roman garb in the style of the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius. With the rapid deterioration of relations with the mother country ...
Annual Register – 1776 (Battle of Long Island)
“General Washington passed over from New York during the engagement, and is said to have burst into a poignant exclamation of grief, when he beheld the inextricable destruction in which some of his best troops were involved. Nothing was now left, but to preserve the remainder of the army on Long Island… In the night ...
New-England Chronicle – August 29, 1776
In the August 29, 1776 issue of the New-England Chronicle a letter to the people of Massachusetts Bay quotes 47 words of the Declaration of Independence and prophetically states “You are upon the eve of an event, that will prove of the utmost consequence to the State. We congratulate ourselves upon the Declaration of Independency: ...
Pennsylvania Evening Post – September 28, 1776
At the instruction of the Second Continental Congress and in response to the Declaration of Independence, each of the 13 colonies began forming new governments. While the new state constitutions shared many similarities, there were also key differences such as Pennsylvania’s Constitution of 1776, which was the only one not to embrace a two-chamber legislature. ...
Annual Register and London Magazine – 1776 (Articles of Confederation)
On June 11, 1776, the Second Continental Congress appointed a committee to draft what would become known as the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States of America. Early drafts were published in 1776 — as seen in this photo gallery containing versions from the February 1776 issue of the London Magazine ...
Gentleman’s Magazine – March 1777
“No single day in history was more decisive for the creation of the United States than Christmas 1776. On that night a ragged army of 2,400 colonials crossed the ice-choked Delaware River from Pennsylvania to New Jersey in the teeth of a nor’easter that lashed their boats and bodies with sleet and snow. After marching ...
