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Browsing named entities in a specific section of George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 8. Search the whole document.

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St. George, W. Va. (West Virginia, United States) (search for this): chapter 16
nd grief; I hope, said he, this, and the threatened devastation of other places, will unite the whole country in one indissoluble band against a nation, which seems lost to every sense of virtue and those feelings which distinguish a civilized people from the most barbarous savages. On the first day of January, 1776, the tri-colored American banner, not yet spangled with stars, but showing thirteen stripes of alternate red and white in the field, and the united red and white crosses of Saint George and Saint Andrew on a blue ground in the corner, was unfurled over the new continental army round Boston, which, at that moment of its greatest weakness, consisted of but nine thousand six hundred and fifty men. On that day free negroes stood in the ranks by the side of white men. In the beginning of the war they had entered the provincial army: the first general order, which was issued by Ward, had required a return, among other things, of the complexion of the soldiers; and black men
France (France) (search for this): chapter 16
ome. Chap. LVI.} 1776. Jan. She did not protect us from our enemies on our account, but from her enemies on her own account. America would have flourished as much, and probably more, had no European power had any thing to do with governing her. France and Spain never were, nor perhaps ever will be, our enemies as Americans, but as the subjects of Great Britain. Britain is the parent country, say some; then the more shame upon her conduct. But Europe, and not England, is the parent country nt in America be legally and authoritatively occupied, where will be our freedom? where our property? Nothing can settle our affairs so expeditiously as an open and determined declaration for independence. It is unreasonable to suppose that France or Chap. LVI.} 1776. Jan. Spain will give us assistance, if we mean only to use that assistance for the purpose of repairing the breach. While we profess ourselves the subjects of Britain, we must in the eyes of foreign nations be considered as
Rhode Island (Rhode Island, United States) (search for this): chapter 16
North communicated his proposition as the ultimatum of British justice, he would have had it received as such and would have acted accordingly; on the echo from England of the battle of Bunker Hill, he saw that every hope of accommodation was delusive: the new year brought the king's speech to parliament in November, and Washington no longer held back his opinion that independence should be declared. Those around him shared his resolution; Greene wrote to his friend Ward, a delegate from Rhode Island to the general congress: The interests of mankind hang upon that body of which you are a member: you stand the representative not of America only, but of the friends of liberty and the supporters of the rights of human nature in the whole world; permit me from the sincerity of my heart, ready at all times to bleed in my country's cause, to recommend a declaration of independence, and call upon the world and the great God who governs it, to witness the necessity, propriety, and rectitude t
West Indies (search for this): chapter 16
ary stores would permit; they had moreover, with few exceptions, suspended alike importations and exportations, so that New England, for example, could not export fish to Spain, even to exchange it for powder; the impulse for a world-wide commerce came from Virginia. On Saturday, the twentieth of January, on motion of Archibald Cary, her convention gave its opinion in favor of opening the ports of the colonies to all persons willing to trade with them, Great Britain, Ireland, and the British West Indies excepted, and instructed her delegates in the general congress to use their endeavors to have such a measure adopted, so soon as exportation from North America should be permitted. That this recommendation should have been left after ten months of war to be proposed by a provincial convention, is another evidence of the all but invincible attachment of the colonies to England. Thus the progress of the war necessarily brought to America independence in all but the name; she had her
South Carolina (South Carolina, United States) (search for this): chapter 16
for protection, and forbade their delegates in congress to assent to any proposition for independence, foreign alliance, or confederation. Moreover Lord Drummond, who represented a large proprietary interest in New Jersey, came to Philadelphia, and exhibited a paper which, as he pretended, had been approved by each of the ministers, and which promised freedom to America in point of taxation and internal police, and the restoration of the charter of Massachusetts. Lynch, a delegate of South Carolina, who had written to the north that John Adams should be watched because his intentions might be wicked, was duped by his arts, and thought even of recommending his proposals to the consideration of congress. Besides, it was expected by many, that agents, selected from among the friends of America, would be sent from England with full powers to grant every reasonable measure of redress. It was time for Franklin to speak out, for he best Chap. LVI.} 1776. Jan. knew the folly of expect
New Jersey (New Jersey, United States) (search for this): chapter 16
ss to assent to any proposition for independence, foreign alliance, or confederation. Moreover Lord Drummond, who represented a large proprietary interest in New Jersey, came to Philadelphia, and exhibited a paper which, as he pretended, had been approved by each of the ministers, and which promised freedom to America in point get a day fixed for its consideration; but he was opposed by Hooper and by Dickinson, and they carried the question against him. Four days later, the Quakers of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, at a meeting of their representatives in Philadelphia, published their testimony that the setting up and putting down of kings and governmentse year, were computed at ten millions of dollars; and at the same time the several colonies lavished away their treasure on special military preparations. In New Jersey the letters of the royal governor were intercepted; and their tenor was so malignant that Lord Stirling placed him under arrest. In Georgia the people were ela
Norfolk (Virginia, United States) (search for this): chapter 16
day that Chap. LVI.} 1776. Jan. ever broke on the women and children then in Norfolk. Warned of their danger by the commander of the squadron, there was for them no refuge. The King Fisher was stationed at the upper end of Norfolk; a little below her the Otter; Belew, in the Liverpool, anchored near the middle of the town; anturer, at that time a little under forty years of age; the son of a Quaker of Norfolk in England, brought up in the faith of George Fox and Penn, the only school inJan. portune; the day before, the general congress had heard of the burning of Norfolk; on the day itself the king's speech at the opening of parliament arrived. Th which had been in session from the first of December, heard of the burning of Norfolk, and considered that the naval power of England held dominion over the waters after assisting the inhabitants in removing with their effects, demolished in Norfolk and its suburbs all remaining houses which might be useful to their enemies, a
New England (United States) (search for this): chapter 16
s measure congress refused to warrant; and it was left to the government of Massachusetts, with the aid of the rest of New England, to keep up the numbers of the army while it remained on her soil. For that end five thousand of her militia were sumies could not be obtained. If none of the rest will join, said Samuel Adams to Franklin, I will endeavor to unite the New England colonies in confederating. I approve your proposal, said Franklin, and if you succeed, I will cast in my lot among you. But even in New England the actors who obeyed the living oracles of freedom wrought in darkness and in doubt; to them the formation of a new government was like passing through death to life. The town of Portsmouth in New Hampshire disavowed ry stores would permit; they had moreover, with few exceptions, suspended alike importations and exportations, so that New England, for example, could not export fish to Spain, even to exchange it for powder; the impulse for a world-wide commerce ca
Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania, United States) (search for this): chapter 16
merica, would be sent from England with full powers to grant every reasonable measure of redress. It was time for Franklin to speak out, for he best Chap. LVI.} 1776. Jan. knew the folly of expecting peace from British commissioners. On the sixteenth his plan of a confederacy was called up, and he endeavored to get a day fixed for its consideration; but he was opposed by Hooper and by Dickinson, and they carried the question against him. Four days later, the Quakers of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, at a meeting of their representatives in Philadelphia, published their testimony that the setting up and putting down of kings and governments is God's peculiar prerogative. Yet the votes of congress showed a fixed determination to continue the struggle; twenty seven battalions were ordered to be raised in addition to those with Washington; it was intended to send ten thousand men into Canada; Arnold, on the motion of Gadsden, was unanimously appointed a brigadier general; powder and sa
Chatham (United Kingdom) (search for this): chapter 16
ice of the harbinger, crying in the wilderness. The people had grown weary of atrophied institutions, and longed to fathom the mystery of the life of the public life. Instead of continuing a superstitious reverence for the sceptre and the throne, as the symbols of order, they yearned for a nearer converse with the eternal rules of right as the generative principles of social peace. The spirit of the people far outran conventions and congresses. Reid, among Scottish metaphysicians, and Chatham, the foremost of British statesmen, had discovered in common sense the criterion of morals and truth; the common sense of the people Chap. LVI.} 1776. Jan. now claimed its right to sit in judgment on the greatest question ever raised in the political world. But here as elsewhere, the decision rose out of the affections; all the colonies, as though they had been but one individual being, felt themselves wounded to the soul, when they heard and could no longer doubt, that George the Third
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