“The year 1776 is celebrated, says a correspondent, for a revolution in favour of liberty. The year 1787, it is expected will be celebrated with equal joy, for a revolution in favour of government. The impatience with which all classes of people wait to receive the new federal constitution, can only be equalled by their zealous determination to support it.” Sept. 8, 1787.

This fascinating extensive run of the Pennsylvania Herald gives a sense of the anticipation over the results of the closed-door U.S. Constitutional Convention, which deliberated from May through September in Philadelphia. It follows with in-depth coverage of the debates in the Pennsylvania Ratification Convention in November and December, also in Philadelphia.

“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of [personal]rights and rights of property, between former masters and slaves and the connection heretofore existing between them, becomes that between employer and free laborer.”

According to historian Henry Louis Gates, Juneteenth, first celebrated in 1866, initially was an “occasion for gathering lost family members” and “measuring progress against freedom.”[1] In 1980, Juneteenth became aholiday in Texas, the first emancipation celebration granted official state recognition, through the efforts of legislator Al Edwards. Juneteenth is now aholiday in the District of Columbia and forty-seven states—all but Hawaii, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

“there are serious, very serious, choices of policy to be made, and made immediately, which it was neither right nor constitutionally permissible that I should assume the responsibility of making.”

President Woodrow Wilson signed this typed copy of the fourteen points in his proposal for peace to follow World War I. The first five points dealt with general principles, such as foreign policy ideals of free trade, open agreements, democracy, and self-determination. The next eight dealt with individual countries or areas, including Russia, Belgium, France, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Turkey, and Poland. The final point looked forward to the League of Nations.

On October 3-4, 1918, Prince Maximilian of Baden, the German imperial chancellor, sent a note, via Switzerland, to President Wilson, requesting an immediate armistice and the opening of peace negotiations on the basis of the Fourteen Points. Germans would later argue a “betrayal,” when they faced the harsher terms of the Armistice and the Treaty of Versailles, which fed resentments that led to World War II twenty years later.

By 1820, the original Declaration of Independence, now housed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., already showed signs of age and wear from handling. John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State, commissioned William J. Stone to engrave a facsimile–an exact copy–on a copper plate.

“In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.”

While a guest at Douglass’s home in Rochester, New York in February 1858, John Brown authored a constitution as he was planning his raid on Harper’s Ferry. It was adopted at a convention Brown held in Canada on May 8-10, 1858. Twenty months later, Brown led a small raiding party to seize the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in an attempt to initiate a slave revolt in the area. U.S. Marines killed ten of the raiders, and another seven, including Brown, were tried and executed, while five escaped.

Responding to a query in 1874, Douglass wrote that Brown’s Constitution “is not for sale.”

“Yes, we’ll rally round the flag boys! we’ll rally once again, Shouting the Battle-cry of Freedom!… The Union forever! Hurrah boys, Hurrah! Down with the traitor, up with the star! While we Rally round the flag boys, rally once again, Shouting the Battle-cry of Freedom!”

Before its publication, only a third of American colonists favored separation from Britain. Over the next six months, this pamphlet swayed as many as another third. Before dealing with the issue of independence, Paine first took on the nature and purpose of government using arguments that are still compelling.

In the musical HAMILTON, King George III warns the Patriots, “I will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love.” Lin Manuel Miranda thus captured a reality of thousands of years of human history: governments existed for the sake of the rulers. This Thanksgiving Proclamation shows that America was meant to be different.

“to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.... for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness... for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge....”

This often-overlooked founding document set forth a statement of values and purpose for the new republic with “wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed....”

Charles Thomson of Pennsylvania served as Secretary of the Continental and Confederation Congresses throughout their entire fifteen-year existence, from 1774 to 1789. In that position, he signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4^th. With a very small executive department, the role was much more than clerical; especially when Congress was not in session, he essentially acted as the prime minister of the pre-Constitutional United States.

This letter to the governor of Georgia transmitted printed copies of the Proclamation of the Treaty of Paris and Congressional Resolution (both no longer present), written by Thomas Jefferson, recommending that the states restore the confiscated property of all British subjects who had “not borne arms against the...United States” in a “spirit of conciliation.” The recipient, John Houstoun, had taken office as governor of Georgia one week earlier.

“Congress shall make no law establishing articles of faith, or a mode of worship, or prohibiting the free exercise of religion,or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition to the government for a redress of grievances.”

After the House of Representatives proposed seventeen amendments (“Articles”), the Senate took up the debate and reduced the number to twelve. Even after the reduction, the House and Senate continued wrangling over language, especially in the third article (which would become the First Amendment) and the eighth article regarding trials (the Sixth Amendment).

The Proceedings of Congress report in this issue is dated September 23, but the Journals of the House and Senate don’t show action that day. This could provide new information on the timing of the debates, but at the least this reflects the House’s agreement on September 21 to ten points proposed earlier by the Senate. They then established a conference to resolve sixteen other points of disagreement.

On September 24, the House dropped its objections to the sixteen points, insisting only on changes in the third and eighth articles which currently stood as printed in this rare newspaper issue. Agreement on these two areas established the final Congressional text of the Bill of Rights. The Senate concurred on September 25, and the House re-affirmed its approval on September 28^th when at least one engrossed copy was signed, marking the Bill of Rights’ last  legislative hurdle before being sent to the states for ratification. 

This bill of exchange on the French loan provided funds for George Washington to march his army to Yorktown in 1781 and keep the Continental Army in the field while peace negotiations were underway.

When Robert Morris became Superintendent of Finance in June 1781, public credit was on the verge of collapse and the Continental currency was “not worth a Continental.” Morris soon convinced Congress to establish the Bank of North America. to take deposits, make payments, borrow money, and issue government banknotes. In the meantime, Morris paid for supplies with “Morris notes,” and continued to back the bank with his own funds.

In August 1781, Morris had to tell General Washington and the Count de Rochambeau that Congress had no funds for their upcoming campaign. Washington requested that he send for Salomon, who, with the help of French loans, raised the needed money.

Robert Morris documents are common, but Haym Salomon’s are rare. Born into a Jewish family in Poland in 1740, Salomon learned Hebrew and several European languages, including Polish, English, French, Italian, and Russian, and much about trade and finance. He emigrated to New York City in 1775, supported the patriot cause, and became paymaster for the French forces in North America during the Revolution. As a broker, Salomon found purchasers for bills of exchange initiated by Robert Morris to procure supplies for the Continental Army. In 1781 and 1782, Salomon sold approximately $200,000 worth of bills of exchange, providing crucial funding for the American cause.

Also see the Alexander Hamilton Collection: The Story of the Revolution & Founding.

Following the punishing battles at Paoli and Germantown, which left Philadelphia vulnerable to British control for the winter, the Continental Army under Washington spent two weeks recovering at Whitpain, Pennsylvania.

Alexander Hamilton was then Washington’s chief staff aide, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, a position he would hold for four years. He played a crucial role in handling much of the General’s correspondence with Congress, state governors, and other military officers.

As president of the Supreme Executive Council (i.e., governor) of Pennsylvania, Franklin approves the sale of five lots at Market and 13th Streets in Philadelphia.

John Napier, who is also credited with inventing logarithms and pioneering the use of the decimal point, first published his rule in 1614. While spherical trigonometry was the foundation for many scientific pursuits including astronomy, celestial navigation, geodesy (the measurement and mathematical representation of the Earth), architecture, and other disciplines, Napier’s Theorum remained largely unknown in America because of its complexity. Since it was so important to his own scholarly pursuits, Jefferson, the Sage of Monticello, was the perfect person to school a professor friend on this important, but complicated mathematical formula.

For instance, a navigator’s distance and position can be determined by “solving” spherical triangles with latitude and longitude lines—essentially very large triangles laid out on a curved surface. Astronomers apply similar principles; stargazers imagine the sky to be a vast dome of stars, with triangles laid out on curved (in this case concave) surface. The distance of stars can be calculated by the viewer, who is considered to be standing at the center (the Earth) and looking up at stars and planets as if they were hung on the inside surface of the sphere. In architecture, spherical triangles fill the corner spaces between a dome that sits on foursquare arches—called a dome on pendentives.

Due to a shortage of paper,The Pennsylvania Magazine: or American Monthly Museum, edited by Thomas Paine, held the June issue past its normal publication date (which would have been July 3^rd), allowing time for the last-minute insertion of the actual resolution of Congress declaring independence. The Pennsylvania Evening Post is the only other contemporary publication of the resolution we have found, in their July 2 issue.

With “Business of much Importance to America” such as life, death, and money on the table, Congress thought it important to have full representation from all the states to make laws and reinforce the legitimacy of their decisions. A 1776 date less than three months after the Declaration of Independence and Hancock’s bold signature make this document especially desirable.

In his position as Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson conveyed copies of new federal laws to the governors of each of the states. This letter, signed by Jefferson, conveyed the First Patent Act, formally An Act to Promote the Progress of Useful Arts, to New York Governor George Clinton, who would later serve as Jefferson’s second vice president.

Also see the Alexander Hamilton Collection: The Story of the Revolution & Founding.

“There was also a prior Judgment against David Reynolds & his son James … but did not return the Execution nor sell till Wednesday the 2^d of November, when James Reynolds about 6 Months ago came forward to claim these lands in virtue of a deed from his father prior to Sands mortgage.”

In July 1783, James Reynolds married Maria Lewis. From mid-1791 to mid-1792, Alexander Hamilton and Maria Reynolds had an affair. In November 1792, James Reynolds was imprisoned for forgery in a scheme to purchase the pensions and pay claims of Revolutionary War soldiers. Ironically, in May 1793, Maria (represented by Aaron Burr) filed for divorce from James on the grounds of adultery; the court granted the divorce two years later. Here, after Hamilton’s affair was known to James Monroe and very few others, Hamilton was somehow involved in a legal case having to do with James Reynolds just months before news of the scandal exploded.