John Hancock marries Dorothy Quincy

On This Day in History, October 28, 1775, John Hancock married Dorothy Quincy in Fairfield, Connecticut where they were staying while was Boston was blockaded by the British. He was presiding over the Continental Congress at the time and would soon sign the Declaration of Independence and be the first governor of Massachusetts.

Hancock and Quincy were engaged while they were in Boston and when the unrest started rising, Dorothy went to live with Hancock and his aunt Lydia at their Beacon Hill home. When colonists learned of British plans to capture patriot leaders, Hancock fled the city with his aunt and Dorothy in tow to Lexington where they stayed with the Reverend Jonas Clarke in Hancock’s boyhood home.

John Hancock and Samuel Adams were warned by Paul Revere that the British were coming for them and they fled the city. Hancock and the two women eventually ended up staying at the home of Thaddeus Burr, uncle of Aaron Burr, the future Vice President and killer of Alexander Hamilton, in Fairfield. Lydia did all she could to keep Dorothy away from young Aaron because she suspected Dorothy had a crush on him, but John and Dorothy married anyway.

Lydia passed away in Fairfield in April, 1776 and the Burr home was destroyed by the British when they invaded Fairfield in 1779. John Hancock offered to pay for all the windows of a new home if Thaddeus would build an exact replica of Hancock’s Beacon Hill home back in Boston, an offer which Mr. Burr took him up on.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com

Jack Manning

Treasurer General

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org   

“History affords us many instances of the ruin of states, by the prosecution of measures ill suited to the temper and genius of their people. The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy.” —Benjamin Franklin (1774)

Benjamin Franklin sets sail for France

On this day in history, October 26, 1776, Benjamin Franklin sets sail for France as ambassador from the Continental Congress. The new United States was formed on July 4th only a few months before. One of the nation's primary goals was to obtain foreign alliances. France was considered to be the best possibility for an alliance, due to France's continual feud with Great Britain dating back centuries.

When Ben Franklin arrived in France, he was already a well-known celebrity. In the 1750s, Franklin's discoveries with electricity had made him a household name in Europe after his letters about the subject were published. Upon his arrival in France, Franklin's fame was so great that he found his likeness on portraits, snuff boxes and busts. His celebrity status gave him exactly what he needed in Paris, status and open doors to the highest society and government officials.

Franklin's chief mission in France was to secure a financial and military alliance. All of the high society citizens wanted to know the famous American and Franklin quickly became part of their inner circle. The only problem was that the French government was reluctant to publicly make an  alliance with the upstart Americans. Secretly, however, France was willing to send aid in the form of military supplies.

In the fall of 1777, the big break came when British general, John Burgoyne surrendered more than 6,000 men to the Americans at the Battle of Saratoga. This victory convinced France that the Americans could indeed handle a war against England. France decided to join the war and Franklin helped negotiate a treaty of alliance the next spring. Tons of military supplies, fleets of French ships and some of France's best soldiers went to America. Franklin encouraged such soldiers as the Marquis de Lafayette, Thaddeus Kosciuszko and Casimir Pulaski to go to America and join the fight.

France's involvement in the American Revolution turned out to be one of the keys to the eventual American victory. France's involvement, along with Spain, which joined the war as well, made the American Revolution a world war. Fighting erupted between France and England all over the globe, in such disparate places as the Mediterranean, Africa, India and the West Indies. England was forced to spread its resources to these far flung places and even remove troops from America to defend its interests elsewhere. England couldn't sustain such a vast war and was eventually forced to capitulate in the American colonies where the war began.

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Jack Manning

Treasurer General

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org   

"The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale." 

Thomas Jefferson (1816)

John and Abigail Adams are married

On this day in history, October 25, 1764, John and Abigail Adams are married. They would become one of the most recognizable couples in American history, not only for their time in the White House when John was the 2nd President of the United States, but also because of the more than 1200 letters between them that have survived.

John Adams and Abigail Smith were third cousins who knew one another from a young age. Both of them grew up in Christian households, John's father being a deacon and Abigail's a minister. John grew up on a farm and became a lawyer, while Abigail was educated at home, as was the custom for many women of the day. Abigail's education was far more extensive than most women of the day, however. She became quite versed in politics, philosophy, poetry and other subjects, due to access to the libraries of her father and grandfather.

When the two married in 1764, John was 28 and Abigail was 19. They lived at the farm John's father had left him in Quincy, Massachusetts, a few miles from Boston. Their first child, Abigail, also known as Nabby, was born in 1765. The Adams' had 5 more children over the years, one of whom, John Quincy, became the 6th President of the United States.

As John's law practice grew, the couple moved to Boston where they became intimately involved in revolutionary politics. John became involved in local politics and was eventually elected to attend the Continental Congress where he was a strong advocate of independence from Great Britain. During John's long absences to Congress, he and Abigail kept up a vigorous letter writing habit that has provided subsequent generations a unique window into typical family life during the Revolution. Abigail was forced to raise their youngest children on her own and manage the farm as well.

John and Abigail often discussed political matters in their letters and her views were always taken to heart by Adams. Both of them were strong advocates of American independence and the abolition of slaves. She was also a strong proponent of women's rights.

In the 1780s, John spent several years as the American ambassador to the Netherlands and Great Britain. In 1784, Abigail went to join him and the two spent several years in Paris and London. Neither of them particularly liked the social life of Europe. 

John Adams was elected Vice-President with George Washington and subsequently became the 2nd President of the United States. The Adams' came under great scrutiny and criticism while he was president and both had their feelings hurt from the criticisms and the lost election for a second term in the White House. After returning to Quincy from the capital, the two lived at their home called Peacefield. Abigail passed away in 1818 and John finished his memoirs. He passed away on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of American Independence.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com

Jack Manning

Treasurer General

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org   

“We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”

Winston Churchill

New Jersey patriot Elias Boudinot dies

On this day in history, October 24, 1821, New Jersey patriot Elias Boudinot dies. Boudinot would serve as President of the Continental Congress, director of the United States Mint and President of the American Bible Society.

Elias Boudinot was born in 1740 in Philadelphia. He attended college in Princeton at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton). He served as an apprentice with lawyer and future signer of the Declaration of Independence, Richard Stockton. Stockton married Boudinot’s older sister, Annis, while Boudinot married Stockton’s younger sister, Hannah. Elias started his own successful law practice in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and became involved in politics.

During the American Revolution, Boudinot served on New Jersey’s Committee of Safety and helped manage the activities of spies in the New York City area. George Washington asked Boudinot to become the Continental Army’s commissary general of prisoners in 1777, a position in which he had the responsibility of caring for British prisoners held by the Americans and for American prisoners held by the British.

In 1778, Boudinot was elected to Congress. From 1782-1783, he served as President of the Continental Congress, during which time he had the unique responsibility of signing the preliminary peace treaty with Britain in 1783. After the war, Boudinot was elected to the House of Representatives for the first 3 congresses of the new US government from New Jersey. Boudinot decided not to run again in 1794, but the following year, President Washington asked him to become the Director of the US Mint, a position he held until 1805.

Boudinot continued his successful law practice and was involved in numerous other civil duties. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the College of New Jersey for nearly 50 years. Boudinot was a devout Presbyterian and, in 1816, he was elected President of the American Bible Society. He also became an advocate for blacks and American Indians. One young Cherokee student whom Boudinot befriended took Boudinot’s name and became the publisher of the first newspaper in the Cherokee language. Boudinot passed away on October 24, 1821 at his home in Burlington, New Jersey.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com

Jack Manning

Treasurer General

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org   

“The greatest good we can do our country is to heal its party divisions and make them one people.”

Thomas Jefferson in a letter to John Dickinson, 1801