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 Independence, the pulling down of the equestrian statue of King George III in New York City, the Battle of Long Island and the Articles of Confederation. According to the synopsis for David McCullough’s 1776 book, “The darkest hours of that tumultuous year were as dark as any Americans have known. Especially in our own tumultuous time, 1776 is powerful testimony to how much is owed to a rare few in that brave founding epoch, and what a miracle it was that things turned out as they did.”

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 much did they suffer? We honor, we celebrate those great men who wrote and voted for the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, but none of what they said, none of what they committed themselves to — their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honors — none of those noble words about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, all men are created equal — none of that would have been worth any more than the paper it was written on had it not been for those who were fighting to make it happen. And we must remember them too. And they were in rags. They were in worse than rags. They had no winter clothing. The stories of our troops leaving bloody footprints in the snow because they were in bare feet, those stories are true.” -David McCullough, author of 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 to McCullough’s 1776, “In the House of Lords the opposition to the King’s address, and thus to all-out war in America, was defeated by a vote of more than two to one, 69 to 29. In the House of Commons the margin was even greater — 278 to 108.” News of the King’s address and the heated exchange in Parliament didn’t arrive on American shores until early 1776. In its January 11, 1776 edition, the Pennsylvania Evening Post published an extensive report that included several of the pro-American voices.

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 heigths [sic] of Dorchester Point, which had been erected in the preceding night and from whence a 24 pound, and a bomb battery, were soon after opened. General William Howe, British commander in chief, said “The rebels have done more in one night than my whole army could do in months.” As a result of this military success and the Siege of Boston, the British were forced to evacuate the town. As published in the Annual Register, “some kind of convention or agreement… was established between the commanders in chief on each side” to exchange safe passage out of Boston for preserving the condition of Boston.

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 spring, 20000 men in New England; 10000 at New York, and 10000 in Virginia and the Carolinas; with 10000 in Canada. Lord Cornwallis is sailled [sic] with 7 regiments from Cork already (about 3000 men) to Virginia, with Sir P. Parker in the Bristol a 50 gun ship… Burgoyne is to return with his regiment of light horse; and besides, 3000 horses are to sent over, to drawn the artillery and baggage waggons through the country. It is thought at present that General Howe is to command in chief by land, and Lord Howe at sea…”

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 and Journeymen (Brigham, 1950), was eventually printed by all 30 American newspapers being published in July 1776 before the end of the month.  The Declaration, written for the eyes of England from whom independence was being declared,  reached London in mid-August. The London Magazine published the text in its August issue and the first British printing in book form of the Declaration of Independence appeared in the Annual Register for the Year 1776.  Both the Annual Register and London Magazine versions are pictured, respectively, in the photo gallery above.

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 after 1770, the statue became a magnet for the Bowling Green protests. On July 9, 1776, after the Declaration of Independence was read to Washington’s troops, local Sons of Liberty rushed down Broadway to Bowling Green, where they toppled the statue. The event is one of the most enduring images in the city’s history. According to folklore, the statue was chopped up and shipped to a Connecticut foundry under the direction of Oliver Wolcott to be made into 42,088 patriot bullets. The Annual Register for the Year 1776 printed a paragraph about this “demonstration of joy”.

“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 of the [August] 29th, their troops were withdrawn from the camp and their different works, and with their baggage, stores, and part of their artillery, were conveyed to the water-side, embarked, and passed over a long ferry to New York, with such wonderful silence and order, that our army did not perceive the least motion, and were surprised in the morning at finding the lines abandoned, and seeing the last of the rear guard (or, as they say, a party which had returned to carry off some stores that were left behind) in their boats, and out of danger… this retreat should hold a high place among military transactions.” — Annual Register, 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: but the liberties of the present and future generations remain to be secured by a proper Form of Government”.  Printed in Boston two days  after the Battle of Long Island, the news of Washington’s defeat and retreat had not yet arrived. However, this issue of the New-England Chronicle also contains dramatic details of an American attempt to destroy British vessels in the river as well as the British landing on Long Island and being “under a necessity of attacking”.

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. The Pennsylvania Constitution was ratified on September 28, 1776 and the newly stated freedom of the press, as documented in the Constitution’s Declaration of Rights, was highlighted in the second paragraph of the September 28, 1776 issue of the Pennsylvania Evening Post.

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 the Annual Register for the Year 1776 (published in 1777).   As the Annual Register states, “These articles of Confederation, after having been long weighed and discussed, line by line, in the Congress, were at length resolved upon and signed by all the Delegates, the 4th of October, 1776, at Philadelphia, such as they are here set forth; and in consequence were immediately sent to the other states to be confirmed by them.”

“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 all night, they attacked and defeated a garrison of 1,500 Hessian soldiers at Trenton. A week later the Americans withstood a fierce British counterattack in Trenton and then stole away overnight to march fifteen miles by back roads to Princeton, where they defeated British reinforcements rushing to Trenton. These victories saved the American Revolution from collapse. Without them there would have been no United States, at least as we know it.” -Washington’s Crossing by David Hackett Fischer (2006). The March 1777 issue of the Gentleman’s Magazine (London), published General George Washington’s letter to the Continental Congress about his crossing the Delaware and victory at Trenton.