Two hundred and fifty years ago, the British colonies held conventions to decide whether to join the new nation that would eventually become the United States.
Exactly 250 years ago today, on June 24, 1776, the Second Continental Congress was in session in Philadelphia finalizing measures for the impending American Revolution. Delegates resolved to imprison William Franklin, the Royal Governor of New Jersey and son of Benjamin Franklin, in Connecticut due to his staunch Loyalist activities.
At the same time, the Revolutionary War escalated on several fronts.
The most powerful men who gave their all for the creation of a Constitutional Republic were George Mason, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Samuel Adams, and James Madison.
Virginian George Mason drafted the first Declaration of Rights, which is our Bill of Rights. Another Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, was the primary author behind the Declaration of Independence, along with James Madison of Massachusetts. John Adams was a leading legal mind who actually helped defend British troops after the Boston Massacre. His ideas shaped the concepts of the separation of powers and due process.
Samuel Adams (his family makes great beer in Boston), John’s cousin, also played a major role in New England. He organized a patriot group called Sons of Liberty.
A descendant of the Green Mountain Boys used to write for the Sentinel, but then he passed. The Green Mountain boys organized in the 1760s. They defended settlers’ land rights in what is now Vermont against New York authorities. Led by Ethan Allen and Seth Warner, they pivoted into the American Revolution, famously capturing Fort Ticonderoga in 1775.
The winter before his state’s convention, his posse threw hundreds of pounds of British tea into Boston Harbor.
John Jay emphasized the different authorities given to New York’s chief executive, called the Governor, and to the Assembly in Albany.
Benjamin Franklin advocated for independence in Pennsylvania. He was later deployed to Paris, where he secured military and financial aid from the French to fight the British.
We would not have won without the French, the money from the monarchy, and Marquis de Lafayette. The spending cost King Louis XVI his head. Louis XVI provided critical military, financial, and naval support to the American colonies, which proved vital in their victory over the British. This vital alliance was solidified in the 1778 Treaty of Alliance.
After each colony’s convention decided to split from Great Britain, delegates were dispatched to Philadelphia that summer. They gathered at the Pennsylvania State House, beginning in early July. Fifty-six men signed their names to the Declaration of Independence. That document was eventually sent to King George the Third in London. Enraged. The monarch convened a special session of Parliament. King George said, “No people ever enjoyed more happiness or lived under a milder government than our American colonists.”
Eight years later, in 1783, Great Britain surrendered, only to come back for a short stint in 1812.
