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Obituaries V – Notable Politicians
#/Name Death Age Cause Birth State Highest Office Benjamin Franklin April 17, 1790 84 Pleuritis Pennsylvania Governor Pa Gouverneur Morris Nov 6, 1816 64 Urinary infection after self surgery New York U.S. Senator DeWitt Clinton Feb 11, 1828 58 Heart failure New York Governor NY Charles Pinckney Oct 29, 1824 67 Dementia South Carolina Governor […]
Obituaries IV – Notable African-Americans
Below is a brief profile on the lives and deaths of 40 African-Americans who joined many others in playing prominent roles in American history in the years leading to the Civil War. It is followed by a discussion on the roles they played in rising from slavery to freedom and citizenship. Part A. The Profile […]
Obituaries III – Notable White Abolitionists
Below is a brief profile on the lives and deaths of some 41 prominent white men and women abolitionists, followed by an extensive review of the events between the 1607 advent of chattel slavery at Jamestown and the end of the institution in the 1865 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Part A. The Profile Obituaries: […]
Obituaries II – America’s First Seventeen Presidents
A total of seventeen men serve as Presidents between the first inauguration in 1789, the end of the Civil War, and the start of Reconstruction in 1865. Fourteen win elections, while three others (Tyler, Fillmore and Johnson) ascend after their predecessor’s deaths in office (Harrison, Taylor, Lincoln). Ten (or 59%) come from home states where […]
Obituaries I – Notable Founding Fathers
“Founding Fathers” include a wide spectrum of early Americans who contributed to the 1776 Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War, the 1787 Constitution and the early years of self-government. In the Chart below we look at some 60 Notable Founders, capturing for each their date of death, lifespan, cause of death and home states. Of […]
December 31, 1791: The Controversial First Bank of the United States is Chartered
You are there: As the new American government starts up in 1789 one of its most pressing problems lies in creating a stable and credible currency to allow the economy to function. This task falls to Washington’s Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton, who is an avid proponent of capitalism as formulated by the Scotch philosopher Adam […]
December 20, 1861: The Battle Of Dranesville
You are there: The Union gets its first good news of the war with a victory in a skirmish at Dranesville, Virginia. The hamlet of Dranesville originates in 1810 as a two-story hotel and saloon combination located along the Leesburg & Alexandria Pike and the Chain Bridge Road. Its founder is Washington James Drane who […]
December 14, 1799: The Death of George Washington.
You are there: Nearly ten years after completing his terms as the first U.S. President, George Washington dies on his Mt. Vernon estate. When Washington leaves the capital and arrives back home on March 15, 1797, he finds that the time and devotion he has put into the presidency has left Mt. Vernon in need […]
December 2, 1823: The Monroe Doctrine
You are there: Despite its impressive military victory over Britain in 1815, America continues to face threats to its borders in North America from Spain, Russia and Britain. The challenge to the south comes from King Ferdinand VII of Spain who regains his thrown in 1813 after Joseph Napoleon is exiled. Once back in power, […]
November 29, 1854: Pro-Slavery forces steal the first “popular sovereignty” election in the Kansas Territory.
You are there: Along with the cession of land after the Mexican War comes recognition that the 1820 Missouri Compromise demarcation line on slavery at 36’30” longitude does not extend to the new western territories. Southerners demand that slavery be sanctioned across the new territories, while Northerners argue that they be reserved exclusively for “free […]