Quantcast
Channel: 1700s American Women in War & Democracy
Viewing all 1026 articles
Browse latest View live
↧

18C Delicate Women in the Almshouse

March 10, 2018, 1:00 am
$
0
0
A Woman Shopkeeper of the 1790s, by an Unknown Artist.

A 1751 petition to Philadelphia's Overseers of the Poor conveyed the request of Mary Marrot and her daughter for more refined fare in the almshouse. Although they appreciated the plentiful food, they "were both brought up in a delicate way" and therefore required something more dainty and "pretty." The petitioners hoped that the overseers would resolve this "Important Affair" in the Marrots' favor and grant the pair "Tea, Coffee, Chocolate or any thing else . . .more agreeable to their palates."Petition signed by William Plumsted and Edward Shippen, March 29, 1751, Overseers of the Poor, 1750-1767, Soc. Misc. Coll., HSP
The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, (July 1995), 181-202.
↧
Search

First Lady Abigail Adams hung the wash in the unfinished East Room

July 1, 2018, 1:00 am
$
0
0
Abigail Adams Supervises the Hanging of the Laundry in the Unfinished East Room of the White House, painting by Gordon Phillips sometime around 1950.

When the 2nd US President John Adams family moved into the White House, First Lady Abigail Adams hung the wash in the unfinished East Room, as imagined in this painting.

See: The White House Historical Association 
↧
↧

Thomas Jefferson, Art Collector, seemed to collect little art about Women

June 26, 2018, 1:00 am
$
0
0
John Trumbull (American painter, 1756-1843) Thomas Jefferson 1788

Thomas Jefferson was acutely conscious of the importance of historical icons in the formation of a national identity, like Indian artifacts and mastodon bones.  In 1803, a list of the artworks at Monticello showed 126 items, including "17 in the entrance hall, 49 in the parlor, 10 in the dining room, and 36 in the tearoom (most of the works in this small room were miniatures)." Jefferson was also known to have a "large portfolio of unframed prints and drawings."

When he was making plans for building the first Monticello, he included in his "Construction Notebook" a "wish list" of 19 works of sculpture and painting.  His primary interest was sculpture, for the same classical education that turned him to Rome for architectural inspiration directed him to statuary, the representational art form most directly linked to classical antiquity. Here, at the head of his list were the definitely feminine Medici Venus and also the Apollo Belvedere. 
Copies of the Medici Venus were popular with "learned" gentlemen in the 17C & 18C.  The Venus de' Medici or Medici Venus is a Hellenistic marble sculpture depicting the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite.  The goddess is depicted in a fugitive, momentary pose, as if surprised in the act of emerging from the sea, to which the dolphin at her feet alludes.  Visitors to Rome like John Evelyn   (1620-1706, English writer, gardener & diarist) found it "a miracle of art."  
One of  John Zoffany's (1733-1810) most complicated conversation pieces is his 1772 painting The Tribuna of the Uffizi (now in the Royal Collection), showing the Venus (right) on show in the Tribuna, surrounded by English and Italian "art connoisseurs."

Copies of the works at the top of Jefferson's wish list "were most likely intended for two niches in the parlor of the original house."Jefferson never acquired them, but during a lifetime of collecting, he managed to amass a sizeable number of sculptural busts, and enough paintings, prints, and maps to fill the available wall space of the public rooms of Monticello.

Jefferson acquired much of his collection randomly, buying some items in Paris at auction, commissioning copies of others, and receiving some as presentation copies. The one artist whose work he owned was Jean-Antoine Houdon, whom he became acquainted with in Paris.  He brought to Monticello a total of 7 busts by Houdon, mostly of American patriots, including the famous Houdon likeness of Jefferson himself.  Jefferson’s painting collection included a number of copies of old masters, including Raphael, Leonardo, and Rubens. Copies of famous paintings, particularly if done by a competent hand, were considered in good taste in the 18C.

In addition, the walls of Monticello were decorated with geographical and historical scenes of America, as well as portraits of its male luminaries. He acquired likenesses of such gentlemen explorers of the Americas as Columbus, Cortez, Magellan, and Vespucci, and of the colonizer of Virginia, Sir Walter Raleigh. To these were added a gallery of paintings or prints of American male patriots, including Washington, Adams, Franklin, Lafayette, and Paine. He displayed in the lower tier of works hung in the parlor a set of ten medals of officers who had distinguished themselves during the Revolution.

There were also portraits of his private European male heroes, "the three greatest men the world had ever produced," Bacon, Newton, and Locke, for their contributions to the intellectual foundations of the nation.  Jefferson encouraged John Trumbull to paint scenes of the Revolutionary War, and acquired a print of the most famous of these, "The Declaration of Independence." It was added to a wide collection of Americana, including scenes of Harper's Ferry, Niagara Falls, the Natural Bridge, New Orleans, Mount Vernon, and an elevation of Monticello by Robert Mills.

Jefferson's Monticello collection of art works, natural history specimens, and American Indian artifacts, many from the Lewis and Clark expedition, has become emblematic of his remarkable intellect and his dedication to the gentlemen of country that he helped found.

(excerpts from McLaughlin, Jack. Jefferson and Monticello: The biography of a builder. New York : H. Holt, c1988, p.360-3)

For further information about the art collection of Thomas Jefferson, see:

Adams, William Howard. Jefferson and the arts: An extended view. Washington : National Gallery of Art, 1976.

Berman, Eleanor Davidson. Jefferson among the arts; An essay in early American esthetics. New York, Philosophical Library [1947].

McLaughlin, Jack. Jefferson and Monticello: The biography of a builder. New York : H. Holt, c1988.

Stein, Susan R. The Worlds of Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. New York : H.N. Abrams, in association with the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Inc., 1993.
↧

Martha Washington's Supervision of the Philly President's House Food & of Her Slave Chef's Ultimate Freedom

June 29, 2018, 1:00 am
$
0
0
1793 John Trumbull (1756-1843). Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (1731-1802)  (Daniel Parke Custis) (George Washington)


Hercules: Master of Cuisine, Slave of Washington
The Philadelphia Inquier  February 21 & 22, 2010 
by Craig LaBan, Restaurant Critic 

"In kitchen togs or fancy duds, Hercules left his mark in the President’s House & on the town in 1790s Philadelphia. He was one of the first great chefs of Philadelphia - in fact, of the young nation. The chief cook in President George Washington's home here in 1790 had only one name: Hercules.

"In the mansion's open-hearth kitchen, where elaborate banquets were prepared, where spitted meats sizzled & "fricaseys" simmered in cast-iron pans over hickory fires, underlings scurried to execute the orders of Hercules, "the great master-spirit,"according to one account, who seemed to be everywhere at once...To Washington, however, Hercules was what he called that "species of property" - a slave. And though his talents would earn Hercules extraordinary privileges, including an income, fine clothes, & freedom to roam the city, Washington also went to great lengths to maintain the bondage of his prized cook ...eventually, an attempt to stash him at Mount Vernon...But contemporary historians such as Mary V. Thompson of Mount Vernon, Anna Coxe Toogood of Independence National Historical Park, David R. Hoth of the Washington Papers at the University of Virginia, & Edward Lawler Jr. of the Independence Hall Association have gone beyond Custis' memories to tease the outlines of Hercules' narrative from household account books, correspondences, & Mount Vernon farm reports...

"George Washington was no gourmet. Unlike his political rival Thomas Jefferson, forever a foodie after his diplomatic years in France, Washington was steeped in the ritual of simple tastes. He ate hoecakes for breakfast at 7, the white corn-mush patties swimming in butter & honey (to soften them for his famously sore teeth), with 3 cups of black tea. For his informal Saturday evenings, the fish-loving Washington regularly ate a humble hash of boiled beets, potatoes, onions, & salt fish (conveniently supplied by New England's congressional delegation) covered with fried pork scraps & buttery egg sauce. But the president could also host in capital style, with regular feasts for 30 or more guests: senators, foreign dignitaries, Indian chiefs. And he needed a kitchen that could carry it off.

"Hercules, the...father of four, was the Washington's choice. Little is known about his early life; Washington is believed to have purchased him in 1767, when Hercules was a 13-year-old ferryman. But Hercules clearly learned his kitchen craft well at Mount Vernon from Martha Washington's longtime slave cook, Old Doll. By the time Hercules was about 36, the president tapped him to come north to Philadelphia...Washington was keenly aware of the political importance of dining room ceremony, & his regular Thursday dinners with members of Congress would set an impressive standard for the nation's first power meals...With Congress drawing to a close & talk of avoiding another war with Britain likely swirling around the table, May 1794 brought forth a presidential gush of banquets. During the week of May 19, for instance, the kitchen prepared 293 pounds of beef, 111 pounds of veal, 54 pounds of mutton, 129 pounds of lamb, 16 pounds of pork, calves' feet (for sweet colonial Jell-O), 44 chickens, 22 pigeons, 2 ducks, 10 lobsters, 98 pounds of butter, 32 dozen eggs, myriad fruits & vegetables, 3 half-barrels of beer, 20 bottles of porter, 9 bottles of "cyder," 2 bottles of Sauternes, 22 bottles of Madeira, 4 bottles of claret, 10 bottles of Champagne, & 1 twenty-eight-pound cheese...

"And contrary to the Washington's grandson) Custis' image of him, he may not have always been in charge, either. The steward oversaw all the marketing, inspected each morning by Martha Washington after breakfast... 

"But while the hired cooks & stewards came & went, Hercules was the mainstay in the kitchen. And the Washingtons rewarded him with tokens of their approval. There were tickets to see a play at the Southwark Theater (The Beaux' Stratagem) & the spectacular riding acrobatics at Ricketts' Circus (America's 1st), according to account books. There were bottles of rum to mourn the death of his wife, Lame Alice, an enslaved Mount Vernon seamstress. A reluctant Washington also granted Hercules the favor of bringing his 13-year-old son, Richmond, to Philadelphia as a kitchen scullion & chimney sweep. Most telling, though, was allowing Hercules the right to sell the kitchen "slops" - the remaining animal skins, used tea leaves, & rendered tallow that would have been compost on the plantation...For Hercules, that meant annual earnings of up to $200, if Custis is accurate, as much as the Washingtons paid hired chefs...

"Pennsylvania had already become the first government in the New World to begin the abolition of slavery with its Gradual Abolition Act of 1780. And with the Quaker-backed Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery & Free African Society working on their behalf, there were 1,805 free blacks in the city in 1790, while only 273 remained enslaved, according to the federal census as noted in (Gary) Nash's book. By 1800, the slave number had dropped to 55 among a black population of 6,436, about 10 percent of the city's population. To circumvent the Gradual Abolition Act, which allowed citizens of other states to hold slaves only 6 months before the slaves could claim their freedom, the Washingtons regularly & illegally shuttled their slaves across state lines before the deadline expired, thus resetting their residency at zero. And Washington wanted to keep it secret at all costs - even if it meant a lie.

"I wish to have it accomplished under the pretext that may deceive both them & the public," he wrote to Lear. "...This advise may be known to none but yourself & Mrs. Washington." It wasn't long before the slaves figured out why they were being shuffled back & forth between Philadelphia & Virginia by stagecoach & boat, but Hercules, Lear wrote Washington in 1791, was "mortified to the last degree to think that a suspicion could be entertained of his fidelity or attachment to you..." Martha Washington showed her trust by allowing Hercules to stay, at least once, beyond the 6 months. But the president clearly never relaxed.

"Washington signed the Fugitive Slave Act that Congress had overwhelmingly approved in 1793, which allowed slave owners to retrieve their runaways anywhere, even if captured in non-slavery states...The once-trusted chef, also noted for the fine silk clothes...suddenly found himself that November in the coarse linens & woolens of a field slave. Hercules was relegated to hard labor alongside others, digging clay for 100,000 bricks, spreading dung, grubbing bushes, & smashing stones into sand to coat the houses on the property, according to farm reports & a November memo from Washington to his farm manager. "That will Keep them," he wrote, "out of idleness & mischief." When Hercules' son (13 year old) Richmond was then caught stealing money from an employee's saddlebags, Washington made his suspicions of a planned father-son escape clear in a letter:"This will make a watch, without its being suspected by, or intimated to them..." 

"By February, after several days of working in the damp chill, Hercules had had enough. Before dawn on Feb. 22, 1797, he launched his quest for freedom. The discovery by Mount Vernon historian Mary V. Thompson of this key detail in the weekly farm report from Feb. 25, 1797 - "Herculus absconded 4 [days ago]" - ...By the time Hercules fled in 1797, the 3 children he'd raised since his wife died 10 years earlier ranged from in age from 11 to 20. A 4th child, a daughter of 6, seemed to have understood her father's need to leave. A Mount Vernon visitor asked whether she was "deeply upset that she would never see her father again." She replied, according to the future French king Louis-Philippe, in his Diary of My Travels in America: "Oh! sir, I am very glad, because he is free now..."

"Hercules resurfaced at least once more in the United States. He was spotted in late 1801, by Col. Richard Varick, Washington's former recording secretary, who was then mayor of New York. In responding to his alert, Martha Washington wrote "to decline taking Hercules back again..."On Jan. 1, 1801, according to biographer Patricia Brady, Martha Washington had decided to free all 123 of her late husband's slaves, despite his wish that they would not be freed until both he & his wife were dead."
↧

Women in the Whiskey Rebellion, America's 1st Civil War

June 23, 2018, 1:00 am
$
0
0
Initially, US soldiers & local militias maintain the union in the Early Republic.  Washington Reviewing the Western Army, at Fort Cumberland, Maryland, after 1795, attributed to Frederick Kemmelmeyer (German-born American artist, c.1755-1821)

Not long after the United States was created, it faced one of its first domestic tests -- and booze was at the heart of it.  In 1791, America was drowning in war debt, so President Washington reluctantly levied a tax on whiskey to help repay the country's creditors. Unfortunately, corn whiskey was much more valuable than raw corn, so many farmers focused their production on booze, rather than grain. Some laborers were even paid in whiskey.

During the American Revolution, individual states had incurred significant debt. In 1790, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton pushed for the federal government to take over that debt. He also suggested an excise tax on whiskey to prevent further financial difficulty.  At first, President George Washington was opposed to Hamilton’s suggestion of a whiskey tax.  In 1791, Washington journeyed through Virginia & Pennsylvania to speak with citizens about their views.  The idea was enthusiastically supported by citzens & local government officials alike, & Washington took this assurance back to Congress, which passed the bill.  But protests against the new tax began immediately, arguing that the tax was unfair to small producers, and they were right.  Under the new law, large producers paid the tax annually at a rate of 6 cents per gallon, & the more they produced, the further the tax breaks.  Small producers, however, were stuck with a 9 cents per gallon rate. Farmers took further issue because only cash would be accepted for tax payment.

The resulting Whiskey Rebellion was a 1794 uprising of farmers and distillers in Western Pennsylvania in protest of a whiskey tax enacted by the federal government. Following years of aggression with tax collectors, the region finally exploded in a confrontation that had President Washington respond by sending troops to quell what some feared could become a full-blown 2nd revolution. 

1791 Local violence by men disguised as women...

The law was immediately a failure, since refusals to pay the taxes were as common as intimidation against officials hired to collect them.  Excise officers sent to collect the tax were met with defiance & threats of violence. Some producers refused to pay the tax.  Perhaps inevitably, violence broke out. On September 11, 1791, excise officer Robert Johnson was riding through his collection route in Western Pennsylvania.  Johnson was surrounded by 11 men dressed as women, who stripped him naked & then tarred & feathered him before stealing his horse & abandoning him in the forest.  Johnson recognized two men in the mob. He made a complaint & warrants were issued for their arrest.  A cattle drover named John Connor was sent with the warrants, & he suffered the same fate as Johnson, & was tied to a tree in the woods for five hours before being found. In response, Johnson resigned his post, fearing further violence.  Incidents escalated over the next few years. 

1793 A local tax collector's wife & children are assaulted

In 1793, the home of Pennsylvania excise officer Benjamin Wells was broken into twice. The first time, a mob of people forced their way in & assaulted Wells’ wife & children.  The second incident involved six men, in disguises, while Wells was home. The intruders demanded Wells’ account books at gunpoint & insisted he resign his position.
Frederick Kemmelmeyer (American artist, c.1755-1821) President George Washington reviewing the Western army at Fort Cumberland October 18, 1794, the day before they arrived in Bedord, Pennsylvania

In the summer of 1794, Federal Marshall David Lenox began the process of serving writs to 60 distillers in Western Pennsylvania who had not paid the tax.  On July 14, Lenox accepted the services of tax collector & wealthy landowner John Neville as guide through Allegheny County.    On July 15, they approached the home of William Miller, who refused to accept his summons.  An argument ensued, & when Lenox & Neville rode off, they were face-to-face with an angry mob, armed with pitchforks & muskets—some were believed to be drunk.  Someone had told the mob that federal agents were dragging people away, but Lenox & Neville were allowed to pass, once that was understood to be untrue.  Nonetheless, a shot was fired as the 2 men rode away.  On the morning of July 16, Neville was asleep in his home, Bower Hill, when he was awakened by a crowd of angry men—some of whom had been served summons the previous day.  The men claimed that Lenox needed to come with them, because there was a threat to his life.  Neville didn’t believe the men & ordered them off his property.  When the mob refused to move, Neville grabbed a gun & shot at the crowd, striking & killing Oliver Miller.  In retaliation, the mob shot back at the house.  Neville made it inside the house & sounded a signal horn he had devised for just such an occurance, after which he heard the sound of his slaves attacking the crowd with firearms.  Six of mob were wounded, before they fled with Miller’s body.  By evening, the mob had reconvened for a meeting with a group of other people, who declared revenge on Neville.
General Wayne Obtains a Complete Victory Over the Miami Indians, August 20th, 1794 by Frederick Kemmelmeyer (German-born American artist, c.1755-1821)

July 1794 Mob allows women to flee before burning house down

On July 17, 1794, as many as 700 men marched to drums & gathered at Neville’s home. They demanded his surrender, but Major James Kirkpatrick, one of 10 soldiers who had come to the property to help defend it, answered that Neville was not there.  In fact, Kirkpatrick had helped Neville escape the house & hide in a ravine.  The mob demanded that the soldiers surrender.  When that request was refused, they set fire to a barn & slave dwellings.  The Neville women were allowed to flee to safety, after which the mob opened fire on the house. Following an hour of gunfighting, the mob’s leader, James McFarlane, was killed.  In a rage, the mob set fire to other buildings & the soldiers soon surrendered as the Bower Hill estate burned to the ground.

Less than a week later, the mob met with local dignitaries who warned that Washington would send a militia to strike them down & they had to strike first. Wealthy landowner David Bradford, along with several other men, attacked a mail carrier & discovered three letters from Pittsburgh expressing disapproval of the attack on Neville’s property.  Bradford used these letters as an excuse to encourage an attack on Pittsburgh, inciting 7,000 men to show up at Braddock’s Field, east of the city.  The city of Pittsburgh, fearing violence, sent a delegation to announce that the 3 letter writers had been expelled from the city & to offer a gift of several barrels of whiskey.  As the day ended, the crowd had drunk deeply from the barrels & weren’t inspired to descend on Pittsburgh with any fury, instead gaining permission to march through Pittsburgh peacefully.
Jonathan Welch Edes (American artist, 1750-c 1793-1803) Overmantel showing Militia in a Field, 1790, Massachusetts

With signs that the rebels were hoping to reignite the conflict & believing it was linked to unrest in other parts of the country, Alexander Hamilton wanted to send troops to Pennsylvania, but George Washington opted for a peace envoy instead.  The peace envoy failed, & state militia—consisting of more than 12,000 men from Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland & New Jersey—followed.  Led by George Washington, it marked the first & last time a sitting president led armed troops.  Washington met first with the rebels, who assured him the militia was not needed & that order had been restored.  Washington opted to retain the military option until proof of submission was apparent.  The large & well-armed militia marched into Western Pennsylvania & was met with angry citizens but little violence. When a rebel army didn’t appear, the militia rounded up suspected rebels instead.  However, the rebellion’s instigators had already fled, & the militia’s prisoners weren’t involved in the rebellion. They were marched to Philadelphia to stand trial regardless.  Only 2 men were found guilty of treason, & both were pardoned by Washington.  The federal response to the Whiskey Rebellion was widely believed to be a critical test of federal authority, one that Washington’s fledgling government met with success.  The whiskey tax that inspired the rebellion remained in effect until 1802. Under the leadership of President Thomas Jefferson & the Republican Party (which, like many citizens, opposed Hamilton’s Federalist tax policies), the tax was repealed after continuing to be almost impossible to collect.
 A Militia Meeting. Satirical English print 1773

Opposition to the whiskey tax & the rebellion itself built support for the Republicans, which overtook Washington’s Federalist Party for power in 1802.  But, of course, women could not vote in The United States of America until 1920.

See
The Whiskey Rebellion: Frontier Epilogue to the American Revolution. Thomas P. Slaughter.
Failures of the Presidents. Thomas J. Craughwell.
Whiskey Rebellion. National Park Service.
↧
↧

Abigail Smith Adams (1744-1818), Coffee Houses, Business Women, & the American Revolution

June 25, 2018, 1:00 am
$
0
0
Alvan Fisher (1792-1863) Coffee Clap

The gentle "ladies" of Boston, staged a "Coffee Party" in 1777, reminiscent of the earlier Boston Tea Party of 1773. The town's women confronted a profiteering hoarder of foodstuffs confiscating some of his stock of coffee, according to a letter from Abigail Adams to her husband, who would become the 2nd president of the United States.
Abigail Adams by Benjamin Blyth (American artist, 1740-1787) 1766.

Writing from Boston, on July 31, 1777, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John, away attending the Continental Congress in Philadelphia,
"There is a great scarcity of sugar and coffee, articles which the female part of the state is very loath to give up, especially whilst they consider the great scarcity occasioned by the merchants having secreted a large quantity. It is rumored that an eminent stingy merchant, who is a bachelor, had a hogshead of coffee in his store, which he refused to sell under 6 shillings per pound.

"A number of females—some say a hundred, some say more—assembled with a cart and trunk, marched down to the warehouse, and demanded the keys.

"Upon his finding no quarter, he delivered the keys, and they then opened the warehouse, hoisted out the coffee themselves, put it into a trunk, and drove off. A large concourse of men stood amazed, silent spectators of the whole transaction."

1674 London Coffee House

It seems that the first to bring a knowledge of coffee to the settlers of colonial British North America was Captain John Smith, who founded the Colony of Virginia at Jamestown in 1607. Captain Smith became familiar with coffee in his travels in Turkey.

Early Coffee Houses in Philadelphia

William Penn is generally credited with the introduction of coffee into the Quaker colony which he founded on the Delaware in 1682.  The first public house designated as a coffee house was built about 1700 by Samuel Carpenter, on the east side of Front Street, probably above Walnut Street, and was referred to as Ye Coffee House at Walnut & Chestnut Streets.  Ye Coffee House also did duty as the post-office for a time. 

Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette, in an issue published in 1734, has this advertisement:  All persons who are indebted to Henry Flower, late postmaster of Pennsylvania, for Postage of Letters or otherwise, are desir'd to pay the same to him at the old Coffee House in Philadelphia.  Franklin also seems to have been in the coffee business, for in several issues of the Pennsylvania Gazette around the year 1740 he advertised: "Very good coffee sold by the Printer."
Unknown artist of the English School. The Coffee House Politicians

Opened about 1702, the 1st London Coffee House was the gathering place of the followers of Penn and the Proprietary party, while their opponents, the political cohorts of Colonel Quarry, frequented Ye Coffee House.  The first London Coffee House resembled a fashionable club house in its later years, suitable for the "genteel" entertainments of the well-to-do Philadelphians. Ye Coffee House was more of a commercial or public exchange. Evidence of the gentility of the London is given by John William Wallace: The appointments of the London Coffee House, if we may infer what they were from the will of Mrs. Shubert [Shewbert] dated November 27, 1751, were genteel. By that instrument she makes bequest of two silver quart tankards; a silver cup; a silver porringer; a silver pepper pot; two sets of silver castors; a silver soup spoon; a silver sauce spoon, and numerous silver tablespoons and tea spoons, with a silver tea-pot.

Widow Roberts' Coffee House stood in Front Street near the first London house believed to have come into existence about 1740. There was a sale at auction is advertised in the year 1742, as "to take place at Mrs. Roberts' Coffee House," which was in Front street below Blackhorse alley, west side—indicating that, while she kept her house there, a Mr. James was keeping another coffee house at Walnut street.  There she certainly continued until the year 1754, when the house was converted into a store.  As early as the year 1725, there was notice of a theft, in which the person escaped from "the Coffee House in Front street by the back gate opening out on Chestnut street;" which may have been the same widow Roberts' house, or some house still nearer to Chestnut street. In 1744, a British army officer recruiting troops for service in Jamaica advertised, that he could be seen at the Widow Roberts' Coffee House. During the French & Indian War, when Philadelphia was in grave danger of attack by French & Spanish privateers, the citizens felt so great relief when the British ship Otter came to the rescue, that they proposed a public banquet in honor of the Otter's captain to be held at Roberts' Coffee House. Widow Roberts seems to have retired in 1754.

Contemporary with Roberts' Coffee House was the resort run first by Widow James, and later by her son, James James. The Gazettes of 1744 and 1749, speak of incidents at James' Coffee House. The James Coffee House was established in 1744, occupying a large wooden building on the northwest corner of Front and Walnut Streets. The James Coffee House was patronized by Governor Thomas & many of his political followers.  
The London Coffee House, Philadelphia

The 2nd London Coffee House, on the southwest corner of Second and Market Streets, was opened in 1754, by William Bradford printer of the Pennsylvania Journal. It quickly was more frequented than any other tavern in the Quaker city and was famous throughout the colonies.  It was "Having been advised to keep a Coffee House for the benefit of merchants and traders, and as some people may at times be desirous to be furnished with other liquors besides coffee, your petitioner apprehends it is necessary to have the Governor's license."
The London Coffee House, Philadelphia

The London Coffee House was "the pulsating heart of excitement, enterprise, and patriotism" of the early city. The most active citizens congregated there—merchants, shipmasters, travelers from other colonies and countries, crown and provincial officers. The governor and persons of equal note went there at certain hours "to sip their coffee from the hissing urn, and some of those stately visitors had their own stalls." It had also the character of a mercantile exchange—carriages, horses, foodstuffs, and the like being sold there at auction. It is further related that the early slave-holding Philadelphians sold negro men, women, and children at vendue, exhibiting the slaves on a platform set up in the street before the coffee house.
The London Coffee House, Philadelphia

The London Coffee House building was a three-story wooden structure, with an attic that some historians count as the fourth story. There was a wooden awning one-story high extending out to cover the sidewalk before the coffee house. The entrance was on Market (then known as High) Street. Bradford gave up the coffee house when he joined the newly formed Revolutionary army as major, later becoming a colonel. When the British entered the city in September, 1777, the officers resorted to the London Coffee House, which was much frequented by Tory sympathizers.

The last of the celebrated coffee houses in Philadelphia was built in 1773 under the name of the City Tavern , which later became known as the Merchants coffee house, possibly after the house of the same name that was then famous in New York. It stood in Second Street near Walnut Street.  The City Tavern was patterned after the best London coffee houses; and when opened, it was looked upon as the finest and largest of its kind in America. City Tavern was 3 stories high, built of brick, and had several large club rooms, two of which were connected by a wide doorway that, when open, made a large dining room 50 feet long.

The gentlefolk of the city resorted to the City Tavern  after the Revolution as they had to Bradford's coffee house before. However, before reaching this high estate, it once was near destruction at the hands of the Tories, who threatened to tear it down. That was when it was proposed to hold a banquet there in honor of Mrs. George Washington, who had stopped in the city in 1776 while on the way to meet her distinguished husband, then at Cambridge in Massachusetts, taking over command of the American army. Trouble was averted by Mrs. Washington tactfully declining to appear at the tavern.  After peace came, the City Tavern was the scene of many of the fashionable entertainments of the period.

New York's First Coffee House

Although the Dutch also had early knowledge of coffee, there is no written evidence that the Dutch West India Company brought any of it to the first permanent settlement on Manhattan Island (1624). Nor is there any record of coffee in the cargo of the Mayflower (1620), although it included a wooden mortar & pestle, later used to make "coffee powder."
Depiction of a 1600s London coffee house with women at the table

The earliest reference to coffee in America is 1668, at which time a beverage made from the roasted beans, & flavored with sugar or honey, & cinnamon, was being drunk in New York.  Coffee first appears in the official records of the New England colony in 1670. In 1683, the year following William Penn's settlement on the Delaware, he is buying supplies of coffee in the New York market & paying for them at the rate of 18 shillings & 9 pence per pound.

Some researchers of New York's early days are confident that the 1st coffee house in America was opened in New York; but the earliest authenticated record they have presented is that on November 1, 1696, John Hutchins bought a lot on Broadway, between Trinity churchyard & what is now Cedar Street, & there built a house he used as a coffee house, which would come to be called King's Arms.

Later dubbed The King's Arms, this house was built of wood, & had a front of yellow brick, said to have been brought from Holland. The King's Arms building was two stories high, & on the roof was an "observatory," arranged with seats, & commanding a fine view of the bay, the river, & the city. Here the King's Arms coffee-house visitors frequently sat in the afternoons.  It stood for many years on Broadway, opposite Bowling Green, in the old De Lancey House, becoming known in 1763 as the King's Arms, & later the Atlantic Garden House.
17C London Coffee House

The sides of the main room on the lower floor were lined with booths, which, for the sake of greater privacy, were screened with green curtains. There a patron could sip his coffee, or a more stimulating drink, meet with others to discuss news, or just relax & read his mail.  The rooms on the second floor were used for special meetings of merchants, colonial magistrates & overseers, or similar public & private business.  These meeting rooms seem to have been one of the chief features distinguishing a coffee house from a tavern. Although both types of houses had rooms for guests, & served meals, the coffee house was used for business purposes by permanent customers, while the tavern was patronized more by transients. Men met at the coffee house daily to carry on business, & went to the tavern for convivial purposes or lodgings. Before the front door hung the sign of "the lion & the unicorn fighting for the crown."

For many years the King's Arms seems to have been the only coffee house in New York City; or at least no other seems of sufficient importance to have been mentioned in colonial records. For this reason it was frequently designated as "the" coffee house.

Coffee Houses in 18C New York

On September 22, 1709, the Journal of the General Assembly of the Colony of New York refers to a conference held in the "New Coffee House." About this date the business section of the city had begun to drift eastward from Broadway to the waterfront; & from this fact it is assumed that the name "New Coffee House" indicates that the King's Arms may have been superseded in popularity by a newer coffee house. The Journal does not give the location of the "New" coffee house. Whatever the case may be, the name of the King's Arms does not again appear in the records until 1763, & then it had more the character of a tavern, or roadhouse.

The Exchange Coffee House is thought to have been located at the foot of Broad Street, abutting the sea-wall & near the Long Bridge of that day. At that time this section was the business center of the city, & here was a trading exchange.  The Exchange Coffee House may have been the only one of its kind in New York at the time.  In 1732,  an announcement of a meeting of the conference committee of the Council & Assembly "at the Coffee House."  And an advertisement in 1733 in the New York Gazette requesting the return of "lost sleeve buttons to Mr. Todd, next door to the Coffee House."  Robert Todd kept the famous Black Horse tavern which was located in this part of the city.

Daniel Bloom, a mariner, in 1737 bought the Jamaica Pilot Boat tavern from John Dunks & named it the Merchants Coffee House. The building was situated on the northwest corner of the present Wall Street & Water (then Queen) Street; & Bloom was its landlord until his death, soon after the year 1750. He was succeeded by Captain James Ackland, who shortly sold it to Luke Roome. The latter disposed of the building in 1758 to Dr. Charles Arding.

The doctor leased it to Mrs. Mary Ferrari, who continued as its proprietor until she moved, in 1772, to the newer building diagonally across the street on the southeast corner of Wall & Water Streets. Mrs. Ferrari took with her the patronage & the name of the Merchants Coffee House, & the old building was not used again as a coffee house.  The original coffee house which was opened on the northwest corner of Wall & Water Streets about 1737, moved to the southeast corner in 1772.

The building housing the original Merchants Coffee House was a two-story structure, with a balcony on the roof, which was typical of the middle 18C architecture in New York. On the first floor were the coffee bar & booths described in connection with the King's Arms coffee house. The 2nd floor had the typical long room for public assembly.   During Bloom's proprietorship the Merchants Coffee House had a long, hard struggle to win the patronage away from the Exchange Coffee House, which was flourishing at that time. But, being located near the Meal Market, where the merchants were wont to gather for trading purposes, it gradually became the meeting place of the city, at the expense of the Exchange coffee house, farther down the waterfront.
Merchants Coffee House at Wall and Water Sts NYC 1804

Widow Ferrari presided over the original Merchants Coffee House for 14 years, until she moved across the street. She was a keen business woman. Just before she was ready to open the new coffee house she announced to her old patrons that she would give a house-warming, at which arrack, punch, wine, cold ham, tongue, & other delicacies of the day would be served. The event was duly noted in the newspapers, one stating that "the agreeable situation & the elegance of the new house had occasioned a great resort of company to it."

Mrs. Ferrari continued in charge until May 1, 1776, when Cornelius Bradford became proprietor & sought to build up the patronage, which had dwindled somewhat during the stirring days immediately preceding the Revolution. In his announcement of the change of ownership, he said, "Interesting intelligence will be carefully collected & the greatest attention will be given to the arrival of vessels, when trade & navigation shall resume their former channels." He referred to the complete embargo of trade to Europe which the colonists were enduring. When the American troops withdrew from the city during the Revolution, Bradford went also, to Rhinebeck on the Hudson.

During the British occupation, the Merchants Coffee House was a place of great activity. As before, it was the center of trading, & under the British régime it became also the place where the prize ships were sold. The Chamber of Commerce resumed its sessions in the upper long room in 1779, having been suspended since 1775. The Chamber paid fifty pounds rent per annum for the use of the room to Mrs. Smith, the landlady at the time.

In 1781, John Stachan, then proprietor of the Queen's Head tavern, became landlord of the Merchants Coffee House, & he promised in a public announcement "to pay attention not only as a Coffee House, but as a tavern, in the truest; & to distinguish the same as the City Tavern & Coffee House, with constant & best attendance. Breakfast from seven to eleven; soups & relishes from eleven to half-past one. Tea, coffee, etc., in the afternoon, as in England." But when he began charging sixpence for receiving & dispatching letters by man-o'-war to England, he brought a storm about his ears, & was forced to give up the practise. He continued in charge until peace came, & Cornelius Bradford came with it to resume proprietorship of the Merchants Coffee House.

Bradford attempted to change the name to the New York Coffee House, but the public continued to call it by its original name, & the landlord soon gave in. He kept a marine list, giving the names of vessels arriving & departing, recording their ports of sailing. He also opened a register of returning citizens, "where any gentleman now resident in the city," his advertisement stated, "may insert their names & place of residence." This seems to have been the first attempt at a city directory. By his energy Bradford soon made the Merchants Coffee House again the business center of the city. When he died, in 1786, he was mourned as one of the leading citizens. His funeral was held at the coffee house over which he had presided so well.

The Merchants Coffee House continued to be the principal public gathering place until it was destroyed by fire in 1804. During its existence it had figured prominently in many of the local & national historic events:  the reading of the order to the citizens, in 1765, warning them to stop rioting against the Stamp Act; the debates on the subject of not accepting consignments of goods from Great Britain; the general meeting of citizens on May 19, 1774, suggesting a congress of deputies from the colonies & calling for a "virtuous & spirited Union;" the mass meeting of citizens following the battles at Concord & Lexington in Massachusetts; & the forming of the Committee of One Hundred to administer the public business.  The Merchants coffee house was the site 1784, where the Bank of New York was formed, the first financial institution in the city.  In 1790, the 1st public sale of stocks by sworn brokers was held there.

When the American Army held the city in 1776, the Merchants Coffee House became the resort of army & navy officers. On April 23, 1789, when Washington, the recently elected first president of the United States, was officially greeted at the coffee house by the governor of the State, the mayor of the city, & the lesser municipal officers.

The Whitehall Coffee House, was opened briefly by 2 gentlemen, named Rogers & Humphreys,  in 1762, with the announcement that"a correspondence is settled in London & Bristol to remit by every opportunity all the public prints & pamphlets as soon as published; & there will be a weekly supply of New York, Boston & other American newspapers."

The early records of the city occasionally mention the "Burns coffee house," sometimes calling it a tavern. It is likely that the place was more an inn & tavern than a coffee house. It was kept for a number of years by George Burns, near the Battery, & was located in the historic old De Lancey house, which afterward became the City hotel.  Burns remained the proprietor until 1762, when it was taken over by a Mrs. Steele. Edward Barden became the landlord in 1768. In later years it became known as the Atlantic Garden House. Traitor Benedict Arnold is said to have lodged in the old tavern after deserting to the enemy.

In 1791, 50 merchants organized the Tontine Coffee House. This enterprise was based on the plan introduced into France in 1653 by Lorenzo Tonti, with slight variations. According to the New York Tontine plan, each holder's share reverted automatically to the surviving shareholders in the association, instead of to his heirs. There were 157 original shareholders, & 203 shares of stock valued at £200 each. The directors bought the house & lot on the northwest corner of Wall & Water Streets, where the original Merchants Coffee House stood. The cornerstone of the new Tontine Coffee House was laid June 5, 1792; & a year later to the day, 120 gentlemen sat down to a banquet in the completed coffee house to celebrate the event of the year before.  The Tontine Coffee House had cost $43,000.

A contemporary account of the Tontine Coffee House in 1794 is supplied by an Englishman visiting New York at the time: "The Tontine tavern & coffee house is a handsome large brick building; you ascend six or eight steps under a portico, into a large public room, which is the Stock Exchange of New York, where all bargains are made. Here are two books kept, as at Lloyd's [in London] of every ship's arrival & clearance. This house was built for the accommodation of the merchants by Tontine shares of two hundred pounds each. It is kept by Mr. Hyde, formerly a woolen draper in London. You can lodge & board there at a common table, & you pay ten shillings currency a day, whether you dine out or not."

 Coffee Houses in Early Boston

Coffee had been popular in Boston for over a century, when the Revolutionary women of the town became patriotically incensed. Many women owned coffee houses, which traditionally had been frequented by men.  Dorothy Jones had been issued a license to sell coffee in Boston in 1670. “Mrs. Dorothy Jones, the wife of Mr. Morgan Jones, is approved of to keepe a house of publique Entertainment for the selling of Coffee & Chochaletto.” The last renewal of Mrs. Jones's license was in April 1674, at which time she was accorded the additional privilege of selling "cider & wine." Her husband Morgan Jones was a minister & schoolmaster who moved from colony to colony frequently, leaving Dorothy Jones to make her own way financially for herself and their family.
Ned Ward, The Coffee House Mob, frontispiece to Part IV of Vulgus Britannicus, or the British Hudibras (London, 1710)

After the Welsh gentlewoman Dorothy Jones opened her 1670 Boston coffee & chocolate establishment, the next colonial coffee house may have been in Maryland. In St. Mary's City, Maryland, the 1698 will of Garrett Van Sweringen, bequeaths to his son, Joseph, "ye Council Rooms and Coffee House and land thereto belonging," which Van Sweringen had opened in 1677.

Coffee houses patterned after English & Continental prototypes were established in the colonies, quickly becoming centers of social, political & business interactions. Among the earlist were London Coffee House in Boston, in 1689; the King's Arms in New York in 1696; and Coffee House in Philadelphia in 1700.
1664 wood cut of English coffee house

The name coffee house did not come into use in New England, until late in the 17C . The London Coffee House and the Gutteridge Coffee House were among the first opened in Boston. The latter stood on the north side of State Street, between Exchange and Washington Streets, and was named after Robert Gutteridge, who took out an innkeeper's license in 1691. Twenty-seven years later, his widow, Mary Gutteridge, petitioned the town for a renewal of her late husband's permit to keep a public coffee house.

Boston's British Coffee House, whose named changed during the pre-Revolutionary period, also appeared about the time Gutteridge took out his license. It stood on the site that is now 66 State Street, and became one of the most widely known coffee houses in colonial New England.

The Crown Coffee House opened in 1711 and burned down in 1780. There were inns and taverns in existence in Boston long before coffee & coffee houses. Many of these taverns added coffee for patrons who did not care for the stronger spirits.

In the last quarter of the 17C , quite a number of taverns and inns sprang up in Boston. Among the most notable were the King's Head (1691), at the corner of Fleet and North Streets; the Indian Queen (1673), on a passageway leading from Washington Street to Hawley Street; the Sun (1690-1902), in Faneuil Hall Square; and the Green Dragon, which became one of the most celebrated coffee house & taverns, serving ale, beer, coffee, tea, and more ardent spirits. In the colonies, there was not always a clear distinction between a coffee house and a tavern.
Boston's Green Dragon

The Green Dragon stood on Union Street, in the heart of the town's business center, for 135 years, from 1697 to 1832, and figured in practically all important local and national events during its long career. In the words of Daniel Webster (1782-1852), this famous coffee-house tavern was dubbed the "headquarters of the Revolution." John Adams, James Otis, and Paul Revere met there to discuss securing freedom for the American colonies. The old tavern was a two-storied brick structure with a sharply pitched roof. Over its entrance hung a sign bearing the figure of a green dragon.

The Bunch of Grapes, that Francis Holmes presided over as early as 1712, was another hot-bed of politicians. This coffee house became the center of a rowsing celebration in 1776, when a delegate from Philadelphia read the Declaration of Independence from the balcony of the inn to the crowd assembled below. In the excitement that followed, the inn was nearly destroyed, when one celebrant built a bonfire too close to its walls.

By the beginning of the 18C , the title of coffee house was applied to a number of new establishments in Boston. One of these was the Crown, which was opened in the "first house on Long Wharf" in 1711 by Jonathan Belcher, who later became governor of Massachusetts, and then New Jersey. The first landlord of the Crown was Thomas Selby, who also used it as an auction room. The Crown stood until 1780, when it was destroyed in a fire that swept the Long Wharf.

Another early Boston coffee house on State Street was the Royal Exchange. It occupied a two-story building, and was kept in 1711, by Benjamin Johns. This coffee house became the starting place for stage coaches running between Boston and New York, in 1772. In the Columbian Centinel of January 1, 1800, appeared an advertisement in which it was said: "New York and Providence Mail Stage leaves Major Hatches' Royal Exchange Coffee House in State Street every morning at 8 o'clock."

In the latter half of the 18C, the North-End coffee house in a 3 storey 1740 brick mansion, stood on the west side of North Street, between Sun Court and Fleet Street. One contemporary noted that it had forty-five windows and was valued at $4,500. During the Revolution, it featured "dinners and suppers—small and retired rooms for small company—oyster suppers in the nicest manner."

See William Harrison Ukers (1873-1945) All About Coffee published by The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal Company, 1922
↧

Martha Washington - Not thrilled to be First Lady

June 13, 2018, 1:00 am
$
0
0
1796 James Sharples (1751-1811). Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (1731-1802)  (m Daniel Parke Custis) (m George Washington)

The White House Historical Association tells us that Martha Washington said, "I think I am more like a state prisoner than anything else, there is certain bounds set for me which I must not depart from..."So did Martha Washington confide that she did not entirely enjoy her role as first of first ladies. She said that though "many younger and gayer women would be extremely pleased," she would "much rather be at home."

But when George Washington assumed the new duties of president of the United States on April 30, 1789, his wife brought to their position a tact and discretion developed over 58 years of life in Tidewater Virginia society. Martha Dandridge was born June 2, 1731, on a plantation near Williamsburg. Typical for a girl in an 18th-century family, her education was negligible except in domestic and social skills, but she learned the arts of a well-ordered household. At age 18, she married the wealthy Daniel Parke Custis. Two babies died, and two others were barely past infancy when Daniel Custis died in 1757.

From the day Martha married George Washington in 1759, her great concern was the comfort and happiness of her new husband and her surviving children. She and George had no children of their own. Her love of private life equaled her husband's, but when his career led him to the battlegrounds of the Revolutionary War and finally to the presidency, she followed him bravely.

At the President's House in the temporary capitals of first New York then Philadelphia, Martha's warm hospitality made her guests feel at ease. She took little satisfaction in "formal compliments and empty ceremonies," and declared that "I am fond only of what comes from the heart." Abigail Adams, who sat at her right during parties and receptions, praised her as "one of those unassuming characters which create Love & Esteem."

In 1797, the Washingtons said farewell to public life and returned to their beloved Mount Vernon to live surrounded by kinfolk, friends, and a constant stream of guests eager to pay their respects to the celebrated couple. Her husband died the following year.
↧

1716 Boston Lighthouse's 1st Keeper, his Wife, & Daughter met a Tragic End

June 15, 2018, 1:00 am
$
0
0
Engraving of original Boston Lighthose situate at the Entrance of Boston Harbour

As early at 1675, settlers lit bonfires on a hill overlooking Boston Harbor as an aid to navigation, but it wasn’t until 1715 that the Colony of Massachusetts Bay spent almost 2,400 pounds to construct a light tower, the first in the New World. When on September 14, 1716, the beacon from Little Brewster Island pierced the night sky overlooking Boston Harbor for the first time, there were only 70 lighthouses in existence in the whole world.

However, both the tower & its first 2 keepers met violent ends. The first keeper, George Worthylake, lived on Little Brewster Island with his wife & two daughters, Ruth & Ann, & their slave Shadwell. On Nov. 3, 1718, Worthylake & his wife & daughter Ruth were returning from an excursion to Boston. Accompanied by a friend, John Edge, they anchored their sloop near Little Brewster, & Shadwell paddled out in a canoe to bring the party to shore.

Worthylake’s younger daughter, Ana, & her friend were watching their progress from the island, when suddenly the overloaded canoe capsized & the members of the party were left struggling in the water. The 2 girls watched, horrified, as one by one each person sank beneath the water & drowned. The tragedy shook the people of Boston. A young Benjamin Franklin wrote a poem about it entitled “The Lighthouse Tragedy” & sold copies of it on the streets. Soon a new keeper, Robert Sanders, took over, but he also drowned only a few days after accepting the position.

Fortunately the next keeper, John Hayes, survived long enough to make significant improvements: he requested a gallery be built around the tower’s lantern room so he could keep the glass free of ice & snow, & he requested some sort of a gun “to answer Ships in a Fogg”.  In 1719, America’s first fog signal— a cannon—was installed.

By the 1770’s, Boston Light had successfully guided thousands of ships into the Boston wharves. The prosperity that resulted from the trade was part of the prosperity the British felt should be funneled to the Mother Country via taxation. The penny-a-pound tax on tea was the final straw for the colonial businessmen, who responded by hosting an invitation-only costume party at the harbor.

On December 16, 1773, members of the Sons of Liberty, dressed rather unconvincingly as Mohawk Indians, boarded the vessels of the East Indian Company & dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor. The British responded by blockading the harbor. Boston Light, which had previously been maintained by taxes levied on British ships, now was being maintained by British troops.

Not about to take the blockade lying down, early in July 1775 the Minutemen dispatched a small group to Little Brewster Island, where they removed the lantern & oil & set fire to the wooden parts of the tower. An observer on the mainland described “flames of the lighthouse ascending up to Heaven, like grateful incense.” Confused & distracted by the flames, the British gunners tried to blast the Minuteman out of the water but ended up wasting their powder.

The damage to the lighthouse, though a grand gesture, was not a permanent or even very severe one, & the British soon sent repairmen. General Washington knew that the colonials could not allow the British to relight the tower, so he sent a 2nd raiding party, this time 300 soldiers under the command of Major Benjamin Tupper. Arriving in the middle of the night on July 31, the Americans had the element of surprise & the aid of darkness. They quickly defeated the unprepared redcoats, destroyed all the work that had been completed by British carpenters, & set fire to everything that would burn.

The raid would have been an unqualified success except that by then the tide had gone out, leaving the whaleboats they had used for transportation stranded on the beach. Major Tupper knew they had no time to waste before British reinforcements arrived, & ordered his men to push the boats with all their might back into the water. By the time they were again afloat, the British fleet had descended & would have defeated them had not an American artillery piece on nearby Nantasket Head opened fire. The Minutemen lost only one member of their company, while the British suffered heavy casualties. General Washington praised the men as “gallant & soldier-like.”
  
Although the colonials had removed the light from the harbor, they had not removed the British. Enraged by the continued British occupation of the harbor, Samuel Adams devised a scheme to drive away the blockaders. On June 13, 1776, American troops armed with cannons headed for Nantasket Head & other strategic islands in the harbor. The next morning the British fleet awoke to a fiery assault that soon drove them back to the high seas.

However, before abandoning Boston Harbor, one of the ships put a small party ashore on Little Brewster Island, where they attached a slow-burning fuse to a keg of gunpowder. The blast destroyed the remains of the lighthouse.

In 1780, Massachusetts Governor John Hancock asked the legislature to fund a new tower. By 1783 the new 75-foot tower, designed “to be nearly of the same dimensions of the former lighthouse” was lit, & Little Brewster Island once again served as an aid to the many ships entering & leaving the harbor.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts ceded the lighthouse to the newly formed federal government in 1789. The tower remains virtually unchanged in appearance, but the changes in illumination mirror the development of lighting devices over the years. Initially the tower housed oil lamps; sixteen lamps were in place in 1789 when the Federal Government took possession. In 1811, the more effective Argand lamps, mounted on a rotating case, replaced the old oil lamps.

See Lighthouse Friends here for more intriguing lighthouse tales.
↧
Search

Excessive Heat & Gay Women - Charleston, South Carolina - Before the Revolution

June 17, 2018, 1:00 am
$
0
0
1776 Print of Charles-Town, South Carolina.  Early views of Charleston do not portray the genteel town of our imaginations.

Charles-town 1769.
Black and white all mix’d together,
Inconstant, strange, unhealthful weather
Burning heat and chilling cold
Dangerous both to young and old
Boisterous winds and heavy rains
Fevers and rheumatic pains
Agues plenty without doubt
Sores, boils, the prickling heat and gout
Musquitos on the skin make blotches
Centipedes and large cock-roaches
Frightful creatures in the waters
Porpoises, sharks and alligators
Houses built on barren land
No lamps or lights, but streets of sand
Pleasant walks, if you can find ’em
Scandalous tongues, if any mind ’em
The markets dear and little money
Large potatoes, sweet as honey
Water bad, past all drinking
Men and women without thinking
Every thing at a high price
But rum, hominy and rice
Many a widow not unwilling
Many a beau not worth a shilling
Many a bargain, if you strike it,
This is Charles-town, how do you like it.

This poem was written by a Captain Martin, captain of a British warship, a Man of War.

It is certainly true that several other pre-Revolution chroniclers wrote of Charleston's trendy and affluent high society and of her pesky crawling critters.

English plant hunter and naturalist John Lawson (1674-1711) wrote in 1709, "The Town has very regular and fair Streets, in which are good Buildings of Brick and Wood...This Colony was at first planted by a genteel Sort of People that were well acquainted with Trade, and had either Money or Parts to make good Use of the Advantages that offer’d, as most of them have done by raising themselves to great Estates...and...considerable Fortunes...They have a considerable Trade both to Europe and the West Indies, whereby they become rich and are supply’d with all Things necessary for Trade and genteel Living."  John Lawson was an explorer, plant collector, surveyor, and author of A New Voyage to Carolina (London, 1709). A London botanist and apothecary, James Petiver (1658-1718), was seeking someone to collect American specimens for him, and Lawson volunteered to do this without charge. Thirty of the South Carolina plant specimens that he sent still survive in the Sloane collection at the British Museum. Hans Sloane (1660-1753) was a friend of Petiver. Sloane amassed a huge collection of plants, animals, and objects which became the founding core of the British Museum and Natural History Museum in London.

Agriculturalist & gardener Eliza Lucus Pinckney (1722-1793) wrote to her brother Thomas in England in 1742, "The people in general hospitable and honest, and the better sort add to these a polite gentile behaviour...4 months in the year is extremely disagreeable, excessive hot, much thunder and lightning, and muskatoes and sand flies in abundance. Charles Town, the Metropolis, is a neat pretty place. The inhabitants polite and live in a very gentile manner; the streets and houses regularly built; the ladies and gentlemen gay in their dress."

Rev. Johann Martin Bolzius (1703-1765), leader of the German Lutheran settlement of Ebenezer, Georgia, wrote of Charleston in 1750, "It is expensive and costly to live in Charlestown...The splendor, lust, and opulence there has grown almost to the limit...Its European clothes it would have to change according to the often changing Charlestown fashion. Otherwise there would be much humiliation and mockery."  In Georgia, Bolzius was also intensely interested in gardening & agriculture. He urged the adoption of new agricultural technology and helped the struggling community to construct a gristmill, a rice mill, and a sawmill to supplement their funds. He encouraged his wife to experiment with the cultivation of black and white mulberry trees to help the women of Ebenezer develop a small-scale silk production.

Philadelphia merchant, Pelatiah Webster (1725-1795), wrote of his business trip to the city in 1765,"The laborious business is here chiefly done by black slaves of which there are great multitudes...Dined with Mr. Liston, passed the afternoon agreeably at his summer house till 5 o’clock P. M. then went up into the steeple of St. Michael’s, the highest in town & which commands a fine prospect of the town, harbour, river, forts, sea, &c...The heats are much too severe, the water bad, the soil sandy, the timber too much evergreen; but with all these disadvantages, ’tis a flourishing place, capable of vast improvement."  Pelatiah Webster was the author of a number of thoughtful and accurate pamphlets on the potential finances and government of the United States, most of which he reprinted in his “Political Essays” in Philadelphia in 1791. He was such an ardent supporter of the patriot cause, that the British imprisoned him for 4 months in Philadelphia; before they were dispatched back to the beautiful emerald isle.
↧
↧

1798 No Women in Congress...Some Things Change, Some Things Don't...Congressmen behaving badly...

June 19, 2018, 1:00 am
$
0
0
"Congressional Pugilists" 1798 published in Philadelphia

This cartoon of "Congressional Pugilists" depicts a heated partisan debate in the interior of Congress Hall in 1798. A fight on the floor of Congress between Vermont Representative Matthew Lyon (1749-1822), a Jeffersonian Republican, and Roger Griswold (1762-1812) of Connecticut, a Federalist.

Griswold had accused Lyon of cowardice during the American Revolution and Lyon responded by spitting tobacco juice in Griswold's face.  Griswold, armed with a cane, kicks Lyon, who grasps his arm and raises a pair of fireplace tongs to strike him. 

Of course, there were no women in Congress in 1798.  Women did not even get to vote until 1920. The 1st woman elected to the United States was Jeannette Pickering Rankin (1880-1973) from Montana in 1916, and again in 1940. After being elected in 1916, she said, "I may be the first woman member of Congress but I won’t be the last."

Below are the verses printed under the cartoon:
"He in a trice struck Lyon thrice
Upon his head, enrag'd sir,
Who seiz'd the tongs to ease his wrongs,
And Griswold thus engag'd, sir."
↧

Women, Their Children, Their Servants & Pet Deer & Deer Parks in 18C America

June 21, 2018, 1:00 am
$
0
0
1712 Justus Englehardt Kuhn (fl in Maryland 1708-1717). Charles Carroll of Annapolis (1702 - 1782).

In colonial British America, the sons of gentry were painted with deer pets, while their elders often built reserves to protect & nurture deer. A deer park was a large enclosed natural area of wood & field on the pleasure grounds near a dwelling. It served as a refuge in which to keep & preserve natural & imported deer. A park is nature bounded, preserved, and protected for a wide range of uses & values.

Initially, deer were kept to be eaten. As economic stability increased & the industrial revolution began making inroads on rural life, the focus of the deer park changed from keeping deer for food and the pleasure of the hunt to keeping deer nearby in a natural setting to inspire & renew the owner's family & guests' social & psychological well-being.

Venison & buckskin became staples of the British American colonial economy with the first landings at Jamestown, & Plymouth. Deer were hunted by both the settlers & the native Americans. Once the natives learned that a venison haunch was worth a yard of fabric or a trade axe; they trapped, snared, & killed deer with impunity. By 1630, many coastal tribes had access to European firearms; and one Indian hunter with a gun could kill 5 or 6 deer in a day.

Deer declined rapidly along the Atlantic seaboard throughout the 17C. As early as 1639, authorities in Newport, Rhode Island recognized the danger of deer depletion and established the first closed season on deer hunting in the colonies. In 1646, the town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, followed suit ordering a closed season on deer hunting “from the first of May till the first of November; and if any shall shoot a deere within that time he shall forfeit five pounds …” The ordinance set a pattern for laws adopted by most of the colonies by 1720.
c. 1730-1735 Gerardus Duyckinck (American artist, 1695-1746). De Peyster Boy with a deer.

The preamble of the Connecticut law reflected concern over the future of native deer,"The killing of deer at unseasonable times of the year hath been found very much to the prediudice of the Colonie, great numbers of them having been hunted and destroyed in deep snowes when they are very poor and big with young, the flesh and skins of very little value, and the increase greatly hindered."

In 1705, the General Assembly at Newport, Rhode Island, noted that it, "hath been informed that great quantities of deer hath been destroyed in this Collony out of season … and may prove much to the damage of this Collony for the future, and … to the whole country, if not prevented." And in 1705, New York passed a law to protect deer.

In 1727, Virginia's Governor William Gooch decided that he could turn the large deer park at the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg "to better use I think than Deer."

Deer laws varied from colony to colony, calling for closed seasons, sometimes terms of years, to the prohibition of using hounds; killing does; export & sale of deer skins; hunting with fire at night; & hunting on Sundays. The goal of these laws was to protect the food resource represented by deer.

Laws protecting deer were loosely enforced. There were only scattered convictions; and by 1750, there were relatively few deer left to protect near towns & larger rural communities. Frontier settlers still lived off the land and killed for venison & hides, when they needed them. Along the edges of the retreating American wilderness, natives & European market hunters still combed the thickets for game in all seasons, far from the reach of any local “deer reeve” or "deer warden." (In New England, these were the mid 18th-century government officers appointed to track down poachers.)

Poachers were dealt with much less seriously in the British American colonies than they were in mother England. In fact, Pennsylvania & Vermont allowed fishing & hunting on all open lands in their colonies. The 1696 Frame of Government of Pennsylvania stated, "That the inhabitants of this province and territories thereof, shall have liberty to fish and hunt, upon the lands they hold, or all other lands therein, not inclosed, and to fish in all waters in the said lands."
1730s Gerardus Duyckinck (American artist, 1695-1746) Boy with a Deer - John Van Cortlandt (1718-1747) Note: The Brooklyn Museum, which owns this painting, relates that the artists (for this painting & the image above) employed a popular British mezzotint portrait print as the source for this composition & for details such as the fawn, the tree, the masonry wall, & the pilaster, as well as the curved stone step before the figure.

Peter Kalm, the Swedish-Finnish explorer and naturalist who traveled through North America from 1748 - 1751, published an account of his travels in a journal entitled En Resa til Norra America, which was translated into German, Dutch, French, and English.  Kalm noted that “The American deer can likewise be tamed. A farmer in New Jersey had one in his possession, which he caught when it was very young; at present, it is so tame that in the daytime it runs into the woods for its food, and towards night returns home, frequently bringing a wild deer out of the woods, giving its master an opportunity to hunt at his very door.”

Deer parks certainly existed in the New York area during this period.  Rev Andrew Burnaby described a deer park in New Jersey in 1760, "I went down two miles further to the park and gardens of...Peter Schuyler...in the park I saw several American and English deer, and three or four elks or moose-deer."

In 1764, the commandant at Fort Pitt near Pittsburg, Capt. Simeon Ecuyer, was in the midst of fencing the fort's gardens, when he commented on the fort's,  "deer park, the little garden and the bowling green, I am just now making into one garding, it will be extremely pretty and very useful to this garrison, the King's Garden will be put in proper order in due time we want seeds very much and we have no potatoes at all."

About 17 miles from Annapolis, Bel-Air, the estate of Marylander Benjamin Tasker, was advertised for sale in the 1761 Pennsylvania Gazette. The 2,200 acres contained a 100 acre deer park "well inclosed and stocked with English Deer."

In 1774, at the late John Smith estate in New Jersey, 5 miles from Burlington on the Anococus River, there was a deer park containg 375 acres in which there were 30-40 deer. The area was surrounded by 20,000 cedar rails in different fences according to the Pennsylvania Gazette.

Many gentry families did not worry about hunting meat for their tables. They simply raised their own supply. Edward Lloyd IV (1744–1796) was a planter from Talbot County, Maryland. He rebuilt the family home called Wye House in the 1780s. The house was then surrounded by 12,000 acres & tended by over 300 slaves.

English agricultural writer Richard Parkinson visited Wye House and wrote, "I then was introduced to Ed. Lloyd, Esq. at Why-House, a man of very extensive possessions...His house and gardens are what may be termed elegant: and the land appeared the best I ever saw in any one spot in America. He had a deer-park, which is a very rare thing there: I saw but two in the country; this, and another belonging to Colonel Mercer. These parks are but small—not above fifty acres each. I could scarcely tell what the deer lived on. There were only some of those small rushes growing in this park which bear the name of grass, and leaves of trees." When Lloyd died in 1796, his deer park contained 61 deer.

Parkinson was probably refering to Virginia-born John Francis Mercer (1759-1821) as the other gentleman who had a deer park. In 1785, he married Sophia Sprigg, the daughter of Richard & Margaret Sprigg of Maryland, following which he took up residence at "Cedar Park" on West River not far from Annapolis, the estate inherited by his wife from her father. He was elected Governor of Maryland in 1801, and was buried in the graveyard at the foot of the garden on his grounds. He left an estate valued at $16,978.75, including 73 slaves. Reportedly the English-style deer park was in a virgin stand of trees, including cedars, from which the estate took its name.

George Washington wrote in 1792, "I have about a dozen deer (some of which are the common sort) which are no longer confined in the Paddock which was made for them but range in all my woods and often pass my exterior fence"Washington received gifts of deer from friends & well wishers, as he did rare plants.

Early deer parks included those at the Waltham, Massachusettes estate of Theodore Lyman and at the Robinson Estate, built in 1750, opposite the present West Point Academy on the Hudson River. Deer in the landscape made the pleasure grounds surrounding these seats seem more "natural."
1745 Artist Frederick Tellschaw. Reproduction Thomas Lodge with deer.

Historian Gary S Dunbar surveyed South Carolina records for mentions of tame deer. Here are a few of his findings from newspaper advertisements from Charleston,
(1732) “Stray’d out of Mr. Saxby’s Pasture up the Path, two tame Deer about a Year old."

(1751) “Wanted, some Doe Fawns, or young Does, for breeders.”

(1760) “Jumped over from on board the Samuel & Robert, a young deer, with a piece of red cloth round his neck…three pounds reward.”

(1761) “The Owner of a strayed Deer may hear where there is one, applying to the Printer hereof, and paying for this Advertisement.”

(1767) “Two tame Deer, a Buck and a Doe, to be sold by Francis Nicholson, in King-street.”

(1768) “Josiah Smith, junior…is in immediate want of …a couple of Tame Deer.”

(1770) “Stolen or Strayed out of my Yard this Morning, a Young Deer, his Horns just coming out, and is stiff in his hind legs, by being crampt in the Waggen which brought him to Town…Charles Crouch.”

(1772) “Wanted to Purchase. Four Deer, each about Three Years old.”

(1772) “Wanted immediately…Two Tame Deer.”

(1781) “A Tame Deer, Came to my garden about twelve days ago. The owner, on proving his property, and paying charges, shall have it again, by applying to Elizabeth Lamb, Near the Saluting Battery.”

By the late 18C, it seems that deer-keeping was in decline in Charleston. A visitor remarked in 1782, that “the deer formerly ran about the streets, with collars round their necks, like dogs, but at this latter visit, I do not remember to have seen one.”

Jedidiah Morse wrote in his 1789 Geography of the deer at Mount Vernon, Virginia, "A small park on the margin of the river, where the English fallow-deer, and American wild-deer are seen through the thickets."

Isaac Weld also commented in 1794, of the deer park at Mount Vernon, "The ground in the rear of the house is also laid out in a lawn, and the declivity of the Mount, towards the water, in a deer park."
Detail 1792 Artist Edward Savage (1761-1817). East Front of Mount Vernon (with Deer.)

George Mason's (1725-1792) son General John Mason (1766-1849) described the deer park at 18C Gunston Hall, Virginia, which sat on the Potomac River near Mount Vernon. "On this plain adjoining the margin of the hill, opposite to and in full view from the garden, was a deer park, studded with trees, kept well fenced and stocked with native deer domesticated."

In a description borrowing from Morse's 1789 depiction of George Washington's Mount Vernon in the Pennsylvania Gazette shortly after his death, his deer park was described. "A small park on the margin of the river, where the English fallow deer and the American wild deer are seen through the thickets alternately, with the vessels as they are sailing along, add a romantic and picturesque appearance to the whole scenery."
Anonymous, Hunting Scene, c 1800 at Winterthur

One noted deer owner of the period was Revolutionary War veteran Dr. Benjamin Jones. Born in Virginia in 1752, Jones eventually purchased a large tract of land in Henry County, where he built a park and “kept over a hundred deer to amuse his children and grandchildren. A little bell he used on a pet deer is owned by one of his descendants.”

The number of deer parks dwindled in the Early Republic. Many pleasure gardeners were not convinced of the romantic & picturesque aesthetic potential of deer in the new republic and became exasperated with the local destructive deer population.

Rosalie Steir Calvert (1778–1821) wrote from her home Riversdale just outside of Washington DC in Prince George's County, Maryland, "I haven’t been able to enjoy the tulips because the deer come and eat them every night. We have eleven of these beautiful animals, so tame that they come all around the house...However, they do a lot of damage to the young fruit trees, and I am afraid we shall have to kill all of them this fall."

I could find no portraits of people attending deer, until I saw this wonderful image.
1775 Agostino Brunias (1728 - 1796) (Italian, active in Britain (1758-1770; 1777-1780s) Servants Washing a Deer

It has been nearly impossible to find American paintings of deer with women.  I do have one mid-18C needlework depicting a women & 3 deer.
Mehitable Starkey (b 1739) Embroidered in Boston c 1758 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art NYC. The top scene shows 3 people harvesting grain; a woman at the center holds a sickle aloft, while a man at her right cuts the wheat & a man at her left bundles it. The lower scene depicts a landscape with 2 reclining deer flanking a leaping deer. 

Early paintings in Europe & Britain do have portraits of women & families with accompanying deer.  Here are a few.
Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (1561–1636) Woman with a Deer

Attributed to Claude Deruet (c 1588-1660) Marie de Rohan, Duchess of Chevreuse 1600-1679 as Diana the Huntress

Jan van Balen (1611–1654) Allegory of Hearing

John Michael Wright (British artist, 1617–1694) Unknown Lady in a Red Mantle with a Deer

Nicolaes Maes, (Dutch painter, 1634-1693) A Girl with a Deer

Circle of Joseph Highmore (English artist, 1692-1780) Daughters of Crisp Molineaux, Elizabeth.

1789 Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (1751-1829) Lady Charlotte Campbell

See
Dunbar, Gary S.. “Deer-Keeping in Early South Carolina,”Agricultural History, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Apr., 1962)
↧

Hemp - Cannabis "well known to every good housewife in the country" 17-18C British America

July 2, 2018, 1:00 am
$
0
0
Cannabis generalis E.H.L.Krause 1796 Figure 37 from Deutschlands Flora in Abbildungen

Extant Chinese pottery bearing impressions from hemp rope suggest its systematic, persistent cultivation 5-10,000 years ago due to hemp's many uses: thread, heavy woven cords, cloth, paper, food & intoxication.  Ancient herbals refer to people partaking in ritualistic & recreational intoxication from hemp at least 2,600 years ago.  As the books below indicate, people also ingested hemp as a painkiller & to treat the symptoms of many ailments.  Beside sturdy fibers, cannabis has separate male & rather remarkable female organs on different plants, & the unfertilized flowers of hemp's female plants contain a resin for marijuana.  The resin can also be collected & formed into cakes known as hashish. Smoking or eating marijuana or hashish induces a hallucinogenic state.  From the books listed below, we know that the hallucinogenic properties were well known by the 18C in Britain & her American colonies.

Sir Walter Raleigh (c 1552-1618) became especially excited at the prospect of harvesting hemp in the American colonies as early as 1585, after Thomas Heriot (1560-1621) told him that he had seen a hemp-like plant growing wild in what was to become Virginia. Heriot's hemp, however, was probably "Indian Hemp"a plant which also yields a fiber suitable for weaving, but one that is far inferior in strength to cannabis.  This indigenous species known to Native Americans was called Indian Hemp (Apocynum cannabinum), but the cannabis most often cultivated in the colonies was an introduced species, Cannabis sativa. Though the hallucinogenic properties were well known by the 18C, there's no written evidence to suggest that colonial Americans were getting high on hemp. Of course, many were just a little high most of the time anyway from the vast amount of alcohol consumed.  The extreme use of alcohol was often blamed on tainted water.

In 1611, formal orders to raise hemp were finally received in the Virginia colony. Speaking to a gathering at Jamestown, the new governor, Sir Thomas Dale (1588-1619) informed the colonists that the king expected them to grow hemp. By 1616, colonist John Rolfe (1585-1622) boasted, that the inhabitants of Jamestown had raised hemp "none better in England or Holland."  But faced with a choice between raising tobacco & becoming rich or complying with the distant Crown's wishes that they grow hemp, the colonists planted tobacco in the Jamestown settlement.  To correct this, in 1619 the Virginia Company directed every colonist in Jamestown to "set 100 [hemp] plants & the governor to set 5,000,"& it allotted 100 pounds to a gentleman named Gabriel Wisher to hire skilled hemp dressers from Sweden & Poland at 10 pounds, 10 shillings per man, if they would emigrate to the new colony.

The Virginia Assembly in 1632, ordered “that every planter as soone as he may, provide seede of flaxe & hempe & sowe the same.”  In 1662 the British Parliament offered sizable inducements to grow hemp down south. Virginia Governor William Berkeley (1605-1677) was empowered to offer each colonist 2 pounds of tobacco for every pound of hemp delivered to market. Similar bounties for hemp production were also offered in Maryland in 1671, 1682, 1688, & 1698.  In 1682, Virginia tried to encourage hemp production by making hemp legal tender for as much as one-fourth of a farmer's debts. Similar laws were enacted by Maryland in 1683 & by Pennsylvania in 1706.

Farther north, cannabis was among the 1st crops to be introduced into the cooler climate of the Massachusetts Colony. The General Court of Massachusetts was particularly interested in urging hemp production to make clothing. [It] "desired & expected that all masters of families should see that their children & servants should bee industriously implied, so as the mornings & evenings & other seasons may not bee lost, as formerly they have beene, but that the honest & profitable custome of England may be practiced amongst us; so as all hands may be implied for the working of hemp & flaxe & other needful things for clothing, without abridging any such servants of their dewe times for foode & rest & other needful refreshings."  Despite the exhortations of the Massachusetts court, production fell far short of expectations; & in 1639, the court passed a law requiring every householder to plant hemp seed.  In 1640, the General Assembly of Connecticut also urged its colonists to sow hemp "that we might in time have supply of linen cloth among ourselves."

Colonial Women make clothes from the hemp

Before the Revolution, hemp cloth covered the backs of farmers & their entire families & hemp towels were used to wipe their hands due to the enterprising women of the colonies, who transformed the raw fibers from the farm fields into cloth & fine linen. After her husband brought her the broken hemp fiber, the farmer's wife placed it across the top of a "swingling" block, a strong wooden board 3 to 4 feet high mounted on a sturdy wooden frame. She & her daughters now began to pound the fibers as hard as they could with wooden paddles until it was beaten free of woody particles. The long fibers that survived this beating were then drawn through a hatchel, a wooden comb that removed remaining short fibers. Hatcheling was done several times, each time with a comb with teeth set more closely together than the previous one.  After the final combing, the fine soft pliable threads, the women spun into cloth. The short fibers removed during the preliminary hatchelings were called tow, which the women made into heavy thread for burlap & cord.  Spinning involved twisting loose fibers together to make a single strand.  A woman at a spinning wheel pulled a few strands of hemp from a rod or spindle & twisted these onto a bobbin. The bobbin was then set revolving as the woman began pressing down on a foot treadle. As the bobbin turned, it caused the thread to be wound. After she had produced a number of full bobbins, she wound the thread onto skeins on a hand-turned reel.  After "reeling," she bleached the yarn in order to give it color.  First, she submerged the yarn in running water. Then, the women covered it  with piles of ashes & hot water, rewashed, pounded again, & washed once more. Now it was ready for bleaching. To give the yarn a white color, the women soaked it in flaked lime & buttermilk. Walnut bark gave a brown tinge; oak & maple gave purple; hickory bark produced a yellowish color; sumac berries produced pinks & reds; blueberries gave blue.  Once dyed, the yarn was ready for weaving. Now the women would pass a horizontal or "weft" thread over & under alternating vertical or "warp" threads. A loom allowed the woman weaver to hook the weft thread over & behind warp threads faster than could possibly be done by hand.

The growth of the New England shipbuilding industry was creating yet another demand for hemp - rope.  Without rope, shipbuilders could not make rigging to hoist sails, & without sails, ships were useless. Although rigging could be made from a other raw materials, the preferred crop was hemp because of its strength & durability.  In 1635, the first ropewalk - a factory for making rope from hemp - was established in Salem.  Astute businessmen in Boston soon recognized the advantage of having a local ropemaker, so they invited John Harrison to come to Boston from England & set up shop. Harrison arrived in 1642 .

Exasperated at the colonies growing need for hemp & England's incessant demands that the colonies send more hemp across the Atlantic, in Pennsylvania Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) railed at Parliament's ignoring the shortages of hemp in America: "Did ever any North American bring his hemp to England for this bounty. We have not yet enough for our own consumption. We began to make our own cordage. You want to suppress that manufacture, & would do it by getting the raw material from us. You want to be supplied with hemp for your manufactures, & Russia demands money."

In Virginia, Col. William Byrd II (1674-1744) called its cultivation “the Darling of all my Projects.” In the spring of 1729, Byrd sowed 90 bushels of hemp seed. That was enough for 36 acres or more. Most Tidewater planters grew a fraction of that, keeping much of their acreage in the more profitable (at that time) tobacco & other cash crops.  Robert Beverley ( c 1667-1722) of Virginia, predicted the plant “will be of the greatest consequence to us.”  Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) wrote that “an acre of the best ground” at his Poplar Forest estate be kept for to grow hemp.  He wrote that hemp“is abundantly productive & will grow forever on the same spot,” unlike tobacco, which depleted soil nutrients.  After the Revolution & during his presidency, George Washington wrote, in a note to his gardener at Mount Vernon in 1794, "Make the most of the Indian hemp seed, & sow it everywhere!” (The Writings of Washington, Volume 33, Page 270. Library of Congress).

Hemp became even important in the colonies as trade with the "mother country"cooled.  The Virginia Gazette in April 1767 printed front-page instructions for growing hemp. The colonists of Henrico County, Va., were among the chorus of voices who resolved in 1774, “that the raising of Sheep, Hemp, & Flax ought to be encouraged,”& “that to be clothed in Manufactures fabricated in the Colony ought to be considered as a Badge of Distinction & Respect, & true Patriotism.”

With the onset of fighting in 1775, Americans' need for hemp became urgent.  While hemp products were useful for clothing ground troops, 11 state naval fleets & the Continental Navy would be paralyzed without ropes made of hemp.  Most hemp in colonial & early America, was said to be used for clothing & naval purposes & much was imported.  During the first 6 months of 1770, the colonies imported over 400 tons of hemp from Great Britain.  After the Revolution, the New Republic imported 3,400 tons in 1800; & about 5,000 tons were imported each year between 1820 & 1840. Known domestic production in the 1800's was usually in the 5,000-10,000 ton range, except in the 1840s & 1850s when 30,000-plus tons of hemp were annually produced in the United States.

Women & Men use hemp plants for medicinal purposes

Books Mentioning Cannabis

The earliest known reference to cannabis is in Assyrian tablets of the 7th BC.  In Western medicine, it appeared in the Herbal of Dioscorides of about 60 AD. The 16C saw a detailed interest in cannabis, with reports of it and its usages being sent back by many travelers to the East, and the number of possible uses listed in the herbals increased. In England, the Herbal of John Gerard (1597) recommended it as it "consumeth wind and drieth up seed [semen]," and quoted Dioscorides as recommending it for easing the pain of earache and for the treatment of jaundice. Nicholas Culpeper, in his Herbal (1653), gave the same indications for the use of cannabis seeds, and also recommended the decoction of the roots, as this "allayeth inflammations, easeth the pain of gout, tumours or knots of joints, pain of hips." 

12C The Physica by St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
XI. HEMP 
“Hemp [hauff] is warm and grows where the air is neither very hot nor very cold, just as its nature is. Its seed is sound, and it is healthy for healthy people to eat it. It is openly gentle and useful in their stomach since it somewhat takes away the mucus. It is able to be digested easily; it diminishes the bad humors and makes the good humors strong. But nevertheless, whoever is weak in the head and has a vacant mind, if that person will have eaten hemp, it easily makes the person suffer pain somewhat in his or her head. However, whoever is sound in the head and has a full mind, it does not harm. Whoever is seriously ill, it also makes that person suffer pain somewhat in the stomach. However, whoever is only moderately ill, it does not cause pain when eaten. 
However, let whoever has a cold stomach cook hemp in water, squeeze out the water, wrap it in a cloth, and then place the hot cloth often over the stomach. This comforts the person and restores that place. Also, whoever has a vacant mind, if the person will have eaten hemp, it causes pain somewhat in the head; but it does not cause pain in a sound head and full brain. Also, the cloth made from the hemp heals ulcers and weeping wounds because the heat in the hemp has been tempered.” 

1277 "A Treasury of Health by Pope John XXI" The treasury of healthe conteynyng many profitable medycines gathered out of Hypocrates, Galen and Auycen, by one Petrus Hyspanus [and] translated into Englysh by Humfre Lloyde who hath added therunto the causes and sygnes of euery dysease, wyth the Aphorismes of Hypocrates, and Iacobus de Partybus redacted to a certayne order according to the membres of mans body, and a compendiouse table conteynyng the purginge and confortatyue medycynes, wyth the exposicyo[n] of certayne names [and] weyghtes in this boke contayned wyth an epystle of Diocles vnto kyng Antigonus. [English] Publication Date: 1553 Pope John XXI (era 1277)
Remedies - Agaynst a Carbuncle Capi. LIX 
. . . The ioyce of Hempe, afore the fyt taketh away the feuer. 
Remedies - Agaynst the scabe and french pokes cap. LXII 
. . . Take of red colewortes, fengreke Percely, sothernewod, tansey, strawbery leaues, and suet, brere leaues, plantayn leaues, hempe, redmadder smallage, cransebill, Alam, nuttes, before al thynges let them be sodde~ together in pure whyte wyne, & put therto a lytle hony, giue it vnto the pacient early & late, and anoynte ye wound wtout when he hath dronke of ye sayd potion, & lay theron a lefe of red colewortes & keape the same co~tynually ouer it, it openeth it and hath ben often prouyd. 

1561 A Most Excellent and Perfect Apothecary. A most excellent and perfecte homish apothecarye or homely physik booke, for all the grefes and diseases of the bodye. Translated out the Almaine speche into English by Ihon Hollybush 1561 By Hieronymus Brunschwig
To heale all maner disease of the eares.
If a man haue a sounding or piping in his eares / the same cometh somtyme of a hote slymy fylthynesse / or of a hote slymy moystnesse. He that is so diseased / ought to take pilles de iera picra / & then put oyle of Hempsede warme into his eares / mixt wt a litle vinegre / after yt let him leape vpon hys one legge / vpon that syde / where the disease is / than let hym bowe doune ye eare of that syde / if happely any moysture or fylth would issue out. --- pg 8 
Of suppuration or matteringe in the breste.
HE that hath a mattering in ye brest caused of cold . . . . A syrop of Violettes were good for him: but if ye haue not that syrop / tha~ make a milk of Hempsede / of water and hempsede / or els in stede therof take creme / and eat that / thesame cooleth and softeneth the harte wythoute hurte or daunger. After meate ought he to walke a litle / hauinge alwaye a warme cloth before hys mouth / that the ayer do not hurte him: for of the walkinge doth the corruption louse. -- pgs 14,15 
But when a man dyd cough / and were strayght aboute the brest and harte / and had heate therewyth / so that it were taken for an apostemacion.
Take~ a dishe full of Hempe sede / put thereto a litle warm water / braye it well / and strayne it wyth warme water / so that it become as a thyn parage. After that when it is colde / geue the patient therof to drinke so muche as he listeth wythout hurte: the same doth mollifye & coole very well / slaketh thyrste / and maketh large aboute the harte. And it is hood to seth that hempsede milke wyth butter / suppe there of wyth a spoune as hote as ye can suffre it / and in thre dayes ye shalbe whole without hurte or payne. It is good also for stich about the hart. --- pg 18 
Another drinke for the cough / that cooleth and mollifieth very well / and speciallye apostemes. 
Take Hempsede well beaten / mixte wyth water / and strayned through a cloth / so that it waxe euen as milk / drinke therof in the nyght and toward night when ye are thyrstye. . . . This is good also for horsenesse. --- pg 20 
Of all diseases of the bellye / and hys partes annexed. 
If any person / ether man or woman had a grepinge in hys guttes / specially the frettinge in the great guttes / and he or she were poore: let him take a litle waxe candle / and make therof a crosse vpright / vpon a pece of papir / the bignes of a groate / festened or clyued vpon the belly / and lightened / and a litle glasse set thereon: thesame draweth the payne to it. Or els take a bondel of rawe hempe threde / and seth it in water where are manye ashes / and laye it so warme vpon the belly. 
If ye haue no hempe threde / then do as I did when I was called by a woman / that was at the poynt of trauaylinge / and had so greate payne in her bellye / that the chylde lept vp and doune / so that all they that were aboute her / were astonnyed / nether durst anye man minister oughte to her: I bande both her legges aboue the kne hard and faste wyth a bande / and let it so alwaye an Aue Maria / and then losed it agayne a litle space / and band it agayne so oft / tyll the payne was holy taken awaye. -- pg 31

1569 A verye excellent and profitable booke conteining sixe hundred foure score and odde experienced medicines apperteyning unto phisick and surgerie, long tyme practysed of the expert and Reuerend Mayster Alexis, which he termeth the fourth and finall booke of his secretes ... Translated out of Italian into Englishe by Richard Androse. 1569 Girolamo Ruscelli
An excellent preseruatiue against the Pestilence and Dropsey.
Take one ounce of the iuyce of gréene nuttes, of the iuyce of Agrimony halfe an ounce, of the iuice of Rew thrée drams, of the iuice of Isope thrée ounces, of the iuice of Hempe foure ounces, meddle them togither, then take of the saide mixture halfe an ounce, of Mumia halfe a dramme, of Sugar Candy halfe an ounce, of Sugar Rosate one dramme, make a lectuarie, of the which, dissolue in good wine the quantitie of a Chestnut, or else in Buglosse water, or of the flowers of Marygolds, and many nights when you go to bed, vse to drinke therof. 
To stop the bloud of the Matrix, and of the vrine, and of wounds, and to heale the blacke pimples or wheales in the legs.
IN the midst of Maye distill through a Limbecke the leaues of an Oke: and of the water giue sixe ounces vnto the sicke to drinke, and he shall be healed of the sayde griefes, and if in the said water you wet the Tow of Hempe, or peeces of linnen, and wash the pimples or red legges inflamed, the medicine wil be effectuous. 
To kyll wormes in the eares.
Take of the séedes and gréene leaues of Hempe, & taking out the iuice, put thereof warme into the eares, and you shall sée the effect. Or else, take the Gawle of a Bull, of clarified Hony, of eche lyke quantitie, and boyling it in an earthen vessell, meddle it well togither, and reserue it in a Viall of Glasse, and when néede requireth, being a little warme, put thereof with wooll into the eare, first cleansing the eare from filthe. 

1580 Approved medicines and cordiall receiptes with the natures, qualities, and operations of sundry samples. Very commodious and expedient for all that are studious of such knowledge. 1580 Thomas Newton 
Canabis, Hempe. 
Hempe seede co~sumeth & dryeth somuch, that if it bee eaten in great quantity, it dryeth seede of Generation: it is hard to be disgested, and maketh ye head ache. --- pg 29

1596 A rich store-house or treasury for the diseased Wherein, are many approued medicines for diuers and sundry diseases, which haue been long hidden, and not come to light before this time. Now set foorth for the great benefit and comfort of the poorer sort of people that are not of abilitie to go to the physitions. 1596 A.T. practitioner in physicke 
Cap. 70. A good Medicine for the Raines of a mans backe.  Take Aquauitae, & put therein, a litle Hempe-seede finely beate~, & let it soke in the Aqua-vitae 7 or 8 daies together, then straine it, & let y^ Patient drinke it, & it will help him. Yf you ca~not get Aqua-vitae, the~ take good white wine, or else stale Ale, any of these will serue. 
Cap. 87. A very good Medicine for one that is hard bounde in the Belly.  Take a good quantitie of Hempe-seede, and seeth it in faire running Water, and when it is well sodden straine it thorough a fine cloth, and let the Patient drinke a good draught thereof when he goeth to bedde, and this will make him Laxatiue, 

1633 The Herball or Generall Historie of Plants. Gathered by John Gerarde of London Master in Chirurgerie very much enlarged and amended by Thomas Iohnson citizen and apothecarye of London -1633 By John Gerard
CHAP. 238. OF HEMPE. 
1 Cannabis mas. Male or Steele Hempe. 
2 Cannabis foemina. Femeline, or Female Hempe. 
1 Hempe bringeth forth round stalkes, straight, hollow, fiue or six foot high, full of branches when it groweth wilde of it selfe; but when it is sowne in fields it hath very few or no branches at all. The leaues thereof be hard, tough, somewhat blacke, and if they be bruised they be of a ranke smell, made vp of diuers little leaues ioyned together, euery particular leafe whereof is narrow, long, sharpe pointed, and nicked in the edges: the seeds come forth from the bottomes of the wings and leaues, being round, somewhat hard, full of white substance. The roots haue many strings. 
2 There is another, being the female Hempe, yet barren and without seed, contrarie vnto the 709 nature of that sex; which is very like to the other being the male, and one must be gathered before the other be ripe, else it will wither away, and come to no good purpose. 
The Temperature and Vertues. 
The seed of Hempe, as Galen writeth in his bookes of the faculties of simple medicines, is hard of digestion, hurtfull to the stomacke and head, and containeth in it an ill iuyce: notwithstanding some do vse to eate the same [...], cum alijs tragematis, with other junkets. 
It consumeth winde, as the said Author saith in his booke of the faculties of medicines, and is so great a drier, as that it drieth vp the seed if too much be eaten of it. 
Dioscorides saith, That the iuyce of the herbe dropped into the eares asswageth the paine thereof proceeding (as I take it) of obstruction or stopping, as Galen addeth. 
The inner substance or pulpe of the seed pressed out in some kinde of liquor, is giuen to those that haue the yellow jaundice, when the disease first appeares, and oftentimes with good successe, if the disease come of obstruction without an ague; for it openeth the passage of the gall, and disperseth and concocteth the choler through the whole body. 
Matthiolus saith, that the seed giuen to hens causeth them to lay egges more plentifully. 

1651 The surgions directorie, for young practitioners, in anatomie, wounds, and cures, etc. shewing, the excellencie of divers secrets belonging to that noble art and mysterie. Very usefull in these times upon any sodaine accidents. And may well serve, as a noble exercise for gentle-women, and others; who desire science in medicine and surgery, for a generall good. Divided into X. parts. (Whose contents follow in the next page.)  T. Vicary, Esquire, chyrurgion to Hen 8. Edw. 6. Q. Mary. Q. Eliz. 1651 Thomas Vicary  
For a vehement Cough in young Children.

Take the Juyce of Parcely, powder of Commin, Womens milke, and mixe them together; then give the Child to drinke thereof, and afterward make this Oyntment following: Take the seed of Hempe or Flaxe, and Fennycrick, and seethe them in common water, then presse out with your hands the substance of the Hearbs, which you shall mingle with Butter, and so annoynt the Childes brest with it as hot as may be. - page 310 

1652 The Complete Herbal by Nicolas Culpeper (1616-1654)
HEMP.
THIS is so well known to every good housewife in the country, that I shall not need to write any description of it.  
Time. It is sown in the very end of March, or beginning of April, and is ripe in August or September. 

Government and virtues.] It is a plant of Saturn, and good for something else, you see, than to make halters only. The seed of Hemp consumes wind, and by too much use therof disperses it so much that it dries up the natural seed for procreation; yet, being boiled in milk and taken, helps such as have a hot dry cough. The Dutch make an emulsion out of the seed, and give it with good success to those that have the jaundice, especially in the beginning of the disease, if there be no ague accomplanying it, for it opens obstructions of the gall, and causes digestion of choler. The emulsion or decoction of the seed stays lasks and continual fluxes, eases the cholic, and allays the troublesome humours in the bowels, and stays bleeding at the mouth, nose, or other places, some of the leaves being fried with the blood of them that bleed, and so given them to eat. It is held very good to kill the worms in men or beasts; and the juice dropped into the ears kills worms in them; and draws forth earwigs, or other living creatures gotten into them. The decoction of the root allays inflammations of the head, or any other parts; the herb itself, or the distilled water thereof doth the like. The decoction of the root eases the pains of the gout, the hard humours of knots in the joints, the pains and shrinking of the sinews, and the pains of the hips. The fresh juice mixed with a little oil and butter, is good for any place that hath been burnt with fire, being thereto applied.--Pg. 91

1653 Pharmacopoeia Londinensis, or, The London dispensatory further adorned by the studies and collections of the Fellows, now living of the said collede ..by Nicolas Culpeper 1653 Royal College of Physicians of London.
SEEDS barely mentioned by the Collede are Sorrel: Agnus Castus: Marshmallows: Bishops weed true and common: Amomus: Dill: Angellica: Annis: Rose-seeds: Smallage: Columbines: Sparagus: Arach: Oates: Orrenges: Burdocks: Bazil: Barberries: Cotton: : or Kneebolly: Hemp -- pg 47 
Syrupus de Agno Casto. Pag. 50. In the L. Book. O R Syrup of Agnus Castus. 

The Colledg. Take of the seeds of Rue, and Hemp, of each half a drachm; of Endive, Lettice, Purslain, Guords, Melones, of each two drachms; of Fleawort half an ounce, of Agnus Castus four ounces, the Flowers of Water-Lillies, the Leaves of Mints, of each half a handful; Decoction of seeds of Lentils, and Coriander seeds, of each half an ounce, three pound of the Decoction, boyl them all over a gentle fire til two pound be consumed, ad to the residue being strained, two ounces Juyce of Lemmons, a pound and an half of white Sugar, make it into a Syrup according to art., pg 102 

1663 Tes iatrikes kartos, or, A treatise de morborum capitis essentiis & pronosticis adorned with above three hundred choice and rare observations ...1663  Robert Bayfield  
XC. De Ulceribus aurium, & vermibus.
ULcera aurium, Ulcers of the ears, arise from those things that either pour forth pus or matter, or else such as by their acrimony and tartness are of a corroding nature. 
. . . Vermes, worms, discover themselves by the corroding pain, restlesness, and other such like conjectural Symptoms. 
Necantur unguento ex axungia capi, & oleo coryli, cum gr. ii. Mercurii dulcis misto: This medicine following is highly commended. Rx Olei amygdal. amar. succi apii, centaurii minor. ana, {ounce} ii. aceti, {dram} ii. Bulliant parum, deinde adde myrrhae, aloes, ana, {scruple} i. M. Instillentur in aurem. Also the decoction of Hemp dropt into the ear is very effectual for the killing of Worms. Hitherto of the diseases of the ears: Next follow the symptomes. --- pages 134,135 

1679 Select observations on English bodies of eminent persons in desperate diseases first written in Latin by Mr. John Hall ... ; after Englished by James Cook ... ; to which is now added, an hundred like counsels and advices, for several honourable persons, 1679 By John Hall   
XXV. Vlcers of the Bladder.
For her by another eminent Physician. Take Mastick wood {ounce}iii. Sarsaparilla {ounce}vi. Liquoris {ounce}ii. after rightly prepared, boyl them in four gallons of Wort till a gallon be wasted; then strain out the Ingredients, and add a gallon of fresh Wort to it. After ready, use it for ordinary drink. Take of the four greater cold Seeds, each {ounce}ss. Seeds of Plantain, Water-lillies, and Hemp, each {dram}iii. boyl them in Barly-water lb vi to lb iii. to which add Plantain water lb ss. Penidies, sufficient quantity to sweeten it; and make an Emulsion. Take Troches of Gordon {ounce}ii. make a Pouder. Take of the Emulsion first in the morning, also an hour before supper, and at night going to bed, half a pint or little less; and in the morning and night-draughts, put in as much of the Pouder as will lie on a shilling. --- pg 228 
LXVI. Mother.
For the Right Honourable, the Lady Katherine Brook, for Hysteric Vapours, which did much afflict the Head and Neck, by Dr. Bates, and others. Sept. 12. 1666. was prescribed what follows: . . . . Take Flowers of red Roses, Elder, each M i. Betony, Rosemary, Cowslips, each M ss. Hemp seed {ounce}i. Juniper berries {ounce}ii. Persia Nuts 12. ther, and besprinkle them with Rose-vinegar, and boyl them in Cream lb iss. to the wasting of the Serum; after strain them, and add Oil of Amber {dram}iss. and make an Ointment. The part of the Head pained being shaved, was anointed twice a day, by which she found much advantage. -- pages 284, 285 

1664 Enchiridion medicum, or, A manual of physick being a compendium of the whole art, in three parts ... : wherein is briefly shewed 1. the names, 2. the derivation, 3. the causes, 4. the signs, 5. the prognosticks, and 6. a rational method of cure ... by Robert Johnson, Med. professor. 
CHAP. XI. Of the Yellow Jaundice.
Take of Rhubarb, the Roots of Madder, Smallage, the greater Celandine, of each one ounce; the Flowers of Broom one handfull; Hemp-seed two ounces; the Seeds of Anise, Parsley and Columbines, of each half an ounce; Saffron two drachms; white Tartar three drachms; let them be cleansed, bruised and boiled in White-wine, and Fountain water, of each three pints, till the third part be boiled away, then strain it, and add the best Manna, Syrup of Succory with Rhubarb, of each three ounces; mix it. 
Let the sick take four spoonfulls of this three times a day, till the viscous phlegm and Choler be sufficiently evacuated, and the natural colour of the body restored. --- pg 205 
. . . . Take the Roots of Scorzonera, Juniper, of each two ounces; Roots of Master-wort, Sassaphras, of each half an ounce; Berries of Juniper and Bays, of each one ounce and half; Seeds of Nettles, Hemp and Columbines of each one ounce; shavings of Harts-horn three drachms; the tops of Carduus, Scordium, Scabious, the lesser Centaury, of each one handfull; let them be cleansed, bruised and boiled in two quarts of Fountain-water, till half of it be boiled away; then strain it, and add Syrup of the juice of Carduus four ounces; Treacle-water two ounces; Salt of Tartar vitriolated two drachms; mix it, and give four spoonfulls every two or three hours. -- pg 206 
Soap of any sort, conduceth to the cure of the Jaundice, upon a twofold account, both by reason of its fixt lixivial Salt, and also by reason of its fatness or oil; for the Lixivial Salt doth correct and diminish the over volatileness and spirituousness of the vitiated Choler, and the oil doth blunt the sharpness of the volatile and spirituous Salt ruling in Choler. -- pg 207 
The following mixture is very effectual. 
Take of Hemp-seed two ounces; Soap two drachms; bruise the seed, and boil it in half a pint of new Milk, till half of it be consumed; then strain it, and add Syrup of Saffron half an ounce; tincture of Saffron two drachms; Laudanum opiatum four grains; mix it, and give half of it in the morning fasting, and the remainder at night, going to bed. 
CHAP. XXII. Of Extraordinary Pissing, &c.
Take the Roots of China, Sarseparilla, Comfry, Plantain, red Sanders, of each two ounces; Liquorish, red Roses, Hemp-seed, of each one ounce; Raisins of the Sun stoned four ounces; let them be cleansed, bruised and boiled in a Gallon of Fountain-water, till half of it be boiled away, then strain it, and keep it for use. -- pg 271 

1687 Thesaurus chirurgiae : the chirurgical and anatomical works of Paul Barbette ... composed according to the doctrine of the circulation of the blood, and other new inventions of the moderns : together with a treatise of the plague, illustrated with observations / translated out of Low-Dutch into English ... ; to which is added the surgeon's chest, furnished both with instruments and medicines ... and to make it more compleat, is adjoyned a treatise of diseases that for the most part attend camps and fleets ; written in High-Dutch by Raymundus Minderius. 1687 Paul Barbette 
Medicines in Burning.
Roots of White Lillies, Liquoras; Leaves of Bete, Coleworts, Hemp, Onions, Garlick, Henbane, Tabacco, Leeks, St. John's-wort; Flowers of Camomile, Melilot, Elders; Seeds of Quinces, of Line; Camphire, Myrrhe, Olibanum, Soot, 
CHAP. VII. Of all sorts of Fluxes; as also the Tenasmus, or vain endeavour of going to stool; and the Haemorrhoid or Piles, and Marisca's or sore Fundaments.
. . . Yet must you not put in any greasie Fat, or any Oyl of Olives, because they hinder healing; and all Oyl, except that of Linseed, Poppies, Hemp and Almonds, is very sharp; and you will find, that if any drop of Oyl of Olives should chance to fall into your Eye, no Juyce of Oranges or Limons is so strong as to exceed the acrimony of that Oyl. But of this Oyl more will be said in the next Chapter, to which I therefore refer you. If you would have your Clyster yet milder and more sanative, you may beat a yolk or two of new-laid Eggs, and mix them with it; though I have contented my self with the Ingredients before mention'd, and found great benefit thereby. Else you may in this case use for a Clyster the Cremor hordei, mixt with yolks of Eggs beaten in it; which is also very good to wash out the bowels. -- page 76 
CHAP. IX. Of the Chirurgical means of staunching blood, of Wound-balsoms and plaisters, of Wound-drinks, and remedies for Burnings. 
Item, take Cumphrey well cleansed, cut it small, add to it one or two of the Vulnerary Herbs, such as you may meet with in the field, as Pyrola or Winter-green, Yarrow, Plantain, Fluellin, Orpin, Consound, Sanicle, Bugle, &c. Boil this in Linseed-oyl and a little Wine, until the Wine is boiled away; and this being strained, put to it some raw Honey and one or two well beaten yolks of Eggs, (according to the quantity you make) and a little Turpentine, and so thrust it, with some Hemp or Flax dip in it, into the wound. 

1689 "The Philosophical Experiments and Observations of the late Eminent Dr. Robert Hooke, London, 1726." "An Account of the Plant, call'd Bangue, before the Royal Society, Dec. 18. 1689. 
It is a certain Plant which grows very common in India...and the Use thereof (tho' the Effects are very strange, and at first hearing, frightful enough) is very general and frequent...'Tis call'd, by the Moors, Gange...The Dose of it is about as much as may fill a common Tobacco-Pipe, the Leaves and Seeds being diced first, and pretty finely powdered. This Powder being chewed and swallowed, or washed down, by a small Cup of Water, doth, in a short Time, quite take away the Memory & Understanding; so that the Patient understands not, nor remembereth any Thing that he seeth, heareth, or doth, in that Extasie, but becomes, as it were, a mere Natural, being unable to speak a Word of Sense; yet is he very merry, and laughs, and sings, and speaks Words without any Coherence, not knowing what he saith or doth; yet is he not giddy, or drunk, but walks and dances and sheweth many odd Tricks; after a little Time he falls asleep, and sleepeth very soundly and quietly; and when he wakes, he finds himself mightily refresh'd, and exceeding hungry...The Plant is so like to Hemp, in all its Parts, both Seed, Leaves, Stalk, and Flower, that it may be said to be Indian Hemp...." 

1693 Medicinal experiments, or, 'A collection of choice and safe remedies' for the most part simple and easily prepared, useful in families, and very serviceable to country people -- 1693 By Robert Boyle.
VII. For the Jaundice.
Take two or three Ounces of Semen Cannabis (Hempseed) and boil them till the Seeds (some of them) begin to burst, and a little longer, in a sufficient quantity of New Milk, to make one good Draught; which the Patient is to take warm, renewing it, if need be, for some days together. -- pg 644. 

1694 The Complete Herbal of Physical Plants By John Pechey, Of the College of Physicians, London. 1694
Hemp, in Latin Cannabis Sativa. -- The Seed of it boyl'd in Milk, is good for a Cough: And five or six Ounces of it taken, cures the Jaundice: An Emulsion of the Seeds does the same. The Juice of the Herb, and of the green Seed, cures Pains and Obstructions of the Ears. 'Tis suppos'd by some, that it extinguishes Venery; but the Persians use it now-a-days, fried, and mix'd with Salt, to provoke the same. The Oyl of the Seeds, mix'd with a little Wax, is excellent to take out the Pain and Fire in Burns. Galen reckons, that the Virtues of Hemlock and Hemp are much the same. -- Pg 100

1694 The Anatomy of Human Bodies, comprehending the most modern discoveries and curiosities in that art to which is added a particular treatise of the small-pox & measles : together with several practical observations and experienced cures ... / written in Latin by Ijsbrand de Diemerbroeck ... ; translated from the last and most correct and full edition of the same, by William Salmon 1694
    ". . .Pains of the Hips and the Gout. . . Galen, Aetius, and Paulus prefer a Cataplasm of wild Cresses, which raises Blisters; and is accounted a peculiar Remedy for these Distempers. Schenkeus tells us of a Sciatic, who when all other Remedies failed, of his own Head took Skins of Hemp macerated with Ashes, and having boiled them in strong Vinegar, laid them to the place affected, as hot as he could endure them: This raised several Blisters upon the Skin, out of which flowed a great quantity of greenish yellow Water, by which means his Pain left him. Tagaultius celebrates this Emplaister of Galen and Avicen, then which he says there can be none more effectual, or that gives such present ease." -- Page 148 
    "XV. In the mean time, the Hair being shaved off, let the Head be fomented for an hour or two in the Morning, with this Fomentation luke-warm. 
Rx. Herbs, Betony, Vervain, Marjoram, Plantain an. M j. Lettice M iiij. Flowers of Roses, Melilot, Dill, Camomil, an. M j. Hemp and Coriander-seed an. {ounce} s. Common-water q. s. 
After Fomentation keep the Head well covered from the cold Air. But this Fomentation will not be proper before the Body be well purged, and some Blood be taken away." --- Page 174 
    "XV. Outwardly apply this Cataplasm. 
Rx. Root of white Lillies {dram}j. s. Leaves of Beets, Mallows, Mercury, Althea, Flowers of Camomil, an. M. j. Pale Roses M. s. Fengreek Meal {ounce}j. s. The inner Part of one Swallows Nest powdered, Water q. s. Boil them into the Form of a Poultis; to which add Oyl of Camomil {ounce}ij. Mix them for a Cataplasm. 
If there be any likelihood of Maturation, add thereto. 

Fat Figs no vij. or viij. Meal of the Root of Althea, Hemp-seed, Pulp of Cassia, Oyl of Lillies an. {ounce}j." --- Page 220 

And finally for the Ladies...

1779 The Toilet of Flora; or A Collection of the Most Simple and Approved Methods of Preparing - Baths, Essences, Pomatums, Powders, Perfumes, Sweet-Scented Waters, and Opiates for preferving and whitening the Teeth, Etc. Etc. With recepipts for cosmetics of every kind, that can smooth and brighten the skin, give force to beauty, and take off the appearance of OLD AGE and Decay. For the use of the Ladies. Improved from the French by M. Buchoz, M.D. 1779 
,,,Receipt to thicken the Hair, and make it grow again on a bald part. Take roots of a maiden vine, roots of Hemp, and Cores of soft Cabbages, of each two handfuls; dry and burn them; afterwards make a lye with the athes. Before you wash your head with this lye, the part should be rubbed well with honey, and this method perfitted in for three days together. 
A Fluid to Make The Hair Grow 
Take the tops of Hemp as soon as that plant begins to appear abouve ground, and infuse, them four and twenty hours in water. Dip the teeth of the comb in this fluid, and it will certainly quicken the growth of the hair. 

Also See
Date 1630 “In Michaelis Joannis Paschalis methodum curandi scholia. Addita in extremo operis disputatio medica, an cannabis, et aqua, in qua mollitur, possint aërem inficere. Ed. novissima “ Author Pereda, Petrus Paulus Publisher sumpt. J. Cardonii

Marijuana - The First Twelve Thousand Years - Cannabis Comes to the New World

Hemp & Flax in Colonial America by Ben Swenson in The Colonial Williamsburg Journal Winter, 2015

Medical Cannabis A Short Graphical History The West
↧

America depicted as a Woman - The earliest Lady Liberties

July 4, 2018, 1:00 am
$
0
0
Early depictions of America as a woman appeared before the Revolutionary War.


Allegory of America - Theodor Galle (Flemish engraver, 1571-1633) after Johannes Stradanus (1523-1605) plate 2 from Nova Reperta New Discoveries c.1600 Artist Jan van der Straet, (1523-1605)

Paul Revere's logotype for the 1774 Royal American Magazine, depicts America as an Indian figure offering a calumet (a Native American peace pipe) to the genius of Knowledge.

By 1774, tempers were flaring, and the Boston Port Act & Paul Revere's famous ride were simmering just over the horizon. Taxes on tea were an infuriating issue, especially to women. In 1773, Britain had exported 738,083 pounds of tea to the colonies. In 1774, the figure dropped to 69,830. Imports of tea fell from 206,312 pounds to 30,161 in New England; from 208,385 to 1,304 pounds in New York; and from 208,191 pounds to nothing in Pennsylvania.
1774 Paul Revere's The Able Doctor or America Swallowing the Bitter Draught. Royal American Magazine. June 1774.In this depiction, wearing his wig & judicial costume Britain's Chief Justice William Murray--Lord Mansfield(1705-1793) holds classic lady America down; as English Prime Minister Frederick"Lord" North, (1732-1792) with the punitive BostonPort Actbulging out of his pocket, pours the vile tea down lady America's throat. A leacherous Lord Sandwich--John Montagu (1718-1792) peers under lady America's gown; as cocky John Stuart--Lord Bute(1713-1792) unsheaths his sword inscribed"Military Law."

In this engraving, Paul Revere (1735-1718) uses what appears to be an Indian woman to depict America being subjugated by British ministers, who are forcing her to drink vile tea for her own good. The engraving comes as close as it dare to depicting the rape of America. Here the lady portrayed as America is wearing a classic draped gown that has been torn away from her body.

The bystanders, Spain & France, are horrified & tempted, just tempted mind you, to come to the aid of the ravished American colonies. In the background, Revere depicts his beloved Boston's skyline with the label "cannonaded." A torn & shredded American petition of grievances is thrown to the ground.

Since the 1760s, the British American colonial painters & their subjects, who chose to adopt aspects of ancient looking costumes, were striving for a classic timelessness. Fine artists, thinkers, & artisans, such as Paul Revere, turned to what they understood to be the values of classical Greece & Rome, valuing order, harmony, virtue, balance, & tradition. Portrait painters John Singleton Copley & Henry Benbridge portrayed classical costumes on some of their clients before this depiction by Revere.

By 1772, Charles Willson Peale was painting virtuous mothers in classical gowns holding their innocent children. The props, costumes, and scenery of a portrait declared the values & the attributes by which the subject, and often the artist, wanted to be known.
1775 Paul Revere's America in Distress. Royal American Magazine. March, 1775.

Boston's Paul Revere once again draws America as an Indian woman clothed in a classical costume, with quiver of arrows, a bow, & a feather head dress resting beneath her near a petition declaring "Petition of all England. America against evil Physicians, corrupt Members, & wicked Councellors."Lord North procliams, "She is mad and must be chained!" Behind Lord North lurks a worried Lord Bute, saying:"Secure her now, or it is all over with Us!" A vindictive Lord Mansfield declares, "She must lose more blood. Petitions are rebellious." A compliant Thomas Hutchinson, royal governor of Massachusetts, agrees, "Right, my Lord. Penalties of that kind seem best adapted."

This anonymous engraving from the beginning of the Revolutionary War depicts "The Female Combatants," an oppulent English woman in an enormous hairdo & stylish clothing, fighting America, a natural Indian woman. The pious, en vogue English woman declares, "I'll force you to Obedience, you Rebellious Slut." Pure, definant America replies: "Liberty, Liberty forever, Mother, while I exist." English printmakers & editorial writers had been attacking the outlandish excesses of British fashions of the period by the time Paul Revere chose this image.
1779 Minerva, or Civic Virtue, W.D. Cooper America Trampling on Oppression from History of North America, E. Newberry. London, 1789, frontispiece.

This English frontispiece depicts a calmer, more controlled, classically dressed America during the middle of the American Revolution accompanied by medals of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington.
1782 America Triumphant and Britannia in Distress, Frontispiece, Weatherwise's Town and Country Almanack.
Below this image an "Explanation" reads:
I. America sitting on that quarter of the globe with the Flag of the United States displayed over her head; holding in one hand the Olive branch, inviting the ships of all nations to partake of her commerce; and in the other hand supporting the Cap of Liberty.
II. Fame proclaiming the joyful news to all the world.
III. Britannia weeping at the loss of the trade of America, attended with an evil genius.
IV. The British flag struck, on her strong Fortresses.
V. French, Spanish, Dutch &c shipping in the harbours of America.
VI. A view of New York wherein is exhibited the Trator Arnold, taken with remorse for selling his country and Judas like hanging himself.

Here lady America is represented by another classical Minerva figure, seated beneath a dead tree, with a shield of a snake ringed with another snake. The new American flag boasts 13 stars; and the new American lady is evolving into a calmer, more self-assured representation of the new nation. Soon she will be the depiction of the new nation, Lady Liberty.
Adrien Collaert II Personification of America 1765-1775

Thomas Colley The Reconciliation between Britannia and Her Daughter America London 1782

Africa-America, One of a series on the Four Continents. London T. Hinton 1808
↧
↧

Patriotic Needlework - 18C American Women present Flags & Banners to soldiers on the 4th of July

July 4, 2018, 1:30 am
$
0
0
Presenting flags & banners to their local militia was a popular form of expression of patriotism by women in early America providing them the opportunity to express their sentiments regarding the importance of liberty & freedom. In an article titled “Spirit of the Ladies!”published by the editor of the Gazette in Portland, Maine, on 16 July 1798, 1, the role of women & their needlework as an inspiration to the men serving their country was expressed: "The American Fair, add much to the spirit of the times. In different parts of the Union they have presented the American standard to the Volunteer corps. This must have a charming influence to animate the breasts of our young soldiers."


On July 4, 1798, Sally Duane presented a standard & addressed Macpherson’s Blues in Philadelphia.  "To General Macpherson: Impelled by far more laudable considerations than a desire to distinguish myself, permit me, through you, to present to the corps, under your command, a standard, which I hope they will deem worthy their acceptance, from the motives inducing the tender, however imperfect may be the execution of the work...The art in which I am receiving instruction for amusement, cannot be employed to better purpose than in endeavours to decorate the ensigns devoted to merit and to patriotism. Happy shall we all be, if the art you are now learning be acquired merely as a necessary part of the education of free citizens, determined to defend their liberties and their laws...I confidently anticipate...the glory you and the rest of my fellow citizens will achieve, when before the foes of our beloved country, this banner shall be unfurled."
See: Claypoole’s Daily American Advertiser, 10 July 1798, 2; New York Gazette,12 July 1798, 3; Spectator, 14 July 1798, 4; Salem Gazette, 17 July 1798, 3; Newburyport Herald, 24 July 1798, 208; Connecticut Gazette, 8 August 1798, 1.


In the same year, the Newport, Rhode Island Companion and Commercial Gazette reported, "The following parade took place; a detachment was directed from Captain Reynold's Grenadiers, under the command of Lieutenant Ducan, to receive the standard of the 54th Regiment, from the hands of Miss Simons, who on presenting it, delivered the following address:  "Sir, having the honor of delivering to your hands this standard to-day, I am encouraged to hope and believe, that it will always be supported and protected in the sacred cause of freedom, by the patriotism and gallantry of the officer to whose charge it is assigned; and although the needle work will, in time, lose its brilliancy and fade, I cannot harbour the most distant thought, that this banner of 54th regiment of the Norfolk borough militia, will ever be tarnished in its military glory, or unfurl'd in any cause save that of the constituted liberties of the free Citizens of the United States of America."


Zilpah Wadsworth, the mother of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, presented a standard from the women of Portland, Maine, to the Portland Federal Volunteers, Capt. Joseph C. Boyd, commander, "who made their first public appearance in a very rich uniform." Zilpah Wadsworth declared:  "In the name of the young ladies of Portland, I have the honor to present this standard, to the first company of Federal Volunteers. Receive it as a testimony of the approbation with which we have beheld the patriotic spirit which has determined you to 'Defend the laws, of your country.' We cheerfully confide to your care this emblem of our independence. Let it ever recal to your minds the assurance that our best wishes are for your success. Long may you unfurl it; long may this towering eagle fly triumphant!"


To which Ensign Richard C. Wiggins of the Portland Federal Volunteers replied:  "Daughters of Columbia, in behalf of the first Company of Federal Volunteers, permit me to assure you, that we are happy in meriting this valuable present which I have the honour of receiving from your fair hands. Nothing could inspire us with more ambition to "defend the laws" of our country..."
See: Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser, 8 July 1799, 4.

For much, much more on July 4th celebrations, see:
The Fourth of July Encyclopedia by James R. Heintze (2007)
Music of the Fourth of July: A Year-by-year Chronicle of Performances and Works Composed for the Occasion, by James R. Heintze (2009)
↧

18C The earliest 4th July Celebrations 1776-1800

July 4, 2018, 2:00 am
$
0
0
On July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail, "The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more."
While John Adams may have chosen the wrong day, he certainly predicted how Americans would come to celebrate the day that the states of the union declared their independence from England. In fact, celebrations of the Declaration of Independence began soon after its signing and long before freedom had been secured.

Christopher Marshall wrote in his diary from Philadelphia on July 6, 1776, "the King's arms there are to be taken down by nine Associators, here appointed, who are to convey it to a pile of casks erected upon the commons, for the purpose of a bonfire, and the arms placed on the top."


On July 8, 1776, Marshall reported that he "went to State House Yard, where, in the presence of a great concourse of people, the Declaration of Independence was read by John Nixon. The company declared their approbation by three repeated huzzas. The King's Arms were taken down in the Court Room, State House same time...Fine starlight, pleasant evening. There were bonfires, ringing bells, with other great demonstrations of joy upon the unanimity and agreement of the declaration."

As the news spread throughout the colonies, other celebrations took place. The Virginia Gazette of July 26, 1776 which was published in Williamsburg reported that most of the townsfolk were joyful on July 25, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was read aloud for all to hear "at the Capitol, the Courthouse, and the Palace, amidst the acclamations of the people."Citizens in Williamsburg celebrated even further with a military parade and the firing of cannon and muskets.
The Gazette also reported that in July of 1776 in Trenton, New Jersey, at a gathering of the militia & citizens: "The declaration, and other proceedings, were received with loud acclamations"

In New York, the "Declaration of Independence was read at the head of each brigade of the continental army posted at and near New York, and every where received with loud huzzas and the utmost demonstrations of joy...the equestrian statue of George III" in New York City was torn down. The Virginia Gazette reported that the lead from the New York monument would be turned into bullets for upcoming battles.
In one short but bloody year, the 4th of July celebration in Philadelphia had grown considerably. A newpaper account described the 1777 event,  "Yesterday the 4th of July, being the Anniversary of the Independence of the United States of America, was celebrated in this city with demon stration of joy and festivity.  About noon all the armed ships and gallies in the river were drawn up before the city, dressed in the gayest manner, with the colours of the United States and streamers displayed. At one o'clock, the yards being properly manned, they began the celebration of the day by a discharge of thirteen cannon from each of the ships, and one from each of the thirteen gallies, in honour of the Thirteen United States.  In the afternoon an elegant dinner was prepared for Congress, to which were invited the President and Supreme Executive Council, and Speaker of the Assembly of this State, the General Officers and Colonels of the army, and strangers of eminence, and the members of the several Continental Boards in town.  The Hessian band of music taken in Trenton the 26th of December last, attended and heightened the festivity with some fine performances suited to the joyous occasion, while a corps of British deserters, taken into the service of the continent by the State of Georgia, being drawn up before the door, filled up the intervals with feux de joie.  After dinner a number of toasts were drank, all breaking independence, and a generous love of liberty, and commemorating the memories of those brave and worthy patriots who gallantly exposed their lives, and fell gloriously in defence of freedom and the righteous cause of their country.  Each toasts was followed by a discharge of artillery and small arms, and a suitable piece of music by the Hessian band. The glorious fourth of July was reiterated three times accompanied with triple discharges of cannon and small arms, and loud huzzas that resounded from street to street through the city.  Towards evening several troops of horse, a corps of artillery, and a brigade of North Carolina forces, which was in town on its way to join the grand army, were drawn up in Second street and reviewed by Congress and the General Officers. The evening was closed with the ringing of bells, and at night there was a grand exhibition of fireworks, which began and concluded with thirteen rockets on the commons, and the city was beautifully illuminated.  Every thing was conducted with the greatest order and decorum, and the face of joy and gladness was universal. Thus may the 4th of July, that glorious and ever memorable day, be celebrated through America, by the sons of freedom, from age to age till time shall be no more. Amen, and amen." (Virginia Gazette, 18 July 1777 Publish
ed in Williamsburg. )

A much less elaborate but heartfelt celebration took place a year later. In the midst of the Revolutionary War on July 4, 1778, at his headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey, General George Washington directed his army to put "green boughs" in their hats; issued them a double allowance of rum; and ordered a Fourth of July artillery salute.

Throughout the Revolution, men & women spontaneously celebrated the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, before it became an officially sanctioned holiday at the end of the war. In 1781, the Massachusettes Legislature resolved to have the 1st official state celebration of the Fourth.

Boston was the first municipality to designate July 4th as a holiday, in 1783.  In the same year, Alexander Martin of North Carolina was the first governor to issue a state order for celebrating the independence of the country on the Fourth of July.

Other proclamations by governors included Governor William Livingston of New Jersey who declared on July 4, 1787, that "the present day naturally recalls to our minds an event that ought never to be forgotten, and the revival of the military spirit amongst us, affords a happy argument of our determined resolution to maintain under the auspices of heaven, that glorious independence, the anniversary of which it has pleased God to preserve our lives this day to celebrate" (Pennsylvania Packet, and Daily Advertiser, 14 July 1787)

1776- The Pennsylvania Evening Post is the first newspaper to print the Declaration of Independence, on 6 July 1776;

the Pennsylvania Gazette publishes the Declaration on 10 July;

the Maryland Gazette publishes the Declaration on 11 July;

the first two public readings of this historic document include one given by John Nixon on 8 July at Independence Square, Philadelphia, and another on the same day in Trenton;

the first public reading in New York is given on 10 July;

the first public readings in Boston and Portsmouth, N.H., take place on 18 July;

three public readings take place on the same day (25 July) in Williamsburg;

a public reading in Baltimore takes place on 29 July;

in Annapolis on 17 August at a convening of the convention, "unanimous" support of the tenets of the Declaration are expressed

1777- At Portsmouth, N.H., Americans are invited by Captain Thompson to lunch on board a Continental frigate;

in Philadelphia, windows of Quakers' homes are broken because Quakers refuse to close their businesses on holidays that celebrate American military victories;

the first religious sermon about Independence Day is given by Rev. William Gordon in Boston before the General Court of Massachusetts

1778- From his headquarters in New Brunswick, N.J., General George Washington directs his army to put "green boughs" in their hats, issues them a double allowance of rum, and orders a Fourth of July artillery salute;

at Princeton, N.J., an artillery salute is fired from a cannon taken from Burgoyne's army;

in Philadelphia, guns and "sky rockets" are fired, but candles are not used for illuminations due to their scarcity;

at Passy, France, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin host a dinner for "the American Gentlemen and ladies, in and about Paris;"

the first Independence Day oration is given by David Ramsay in Charleston, S.C. before "a Publick Assembly of the Inhabitants;"

on Kaskaskia Island, Ill., George Rogers Clark rings a liberty bell as he and his Revolutionary troops occupy Kaskaskia (under British rule) without firing a shot;

at Mill Prison, near Plymouth, England, Charles Herbert (of Newburyport, Mass.) and other captured American prisoners of war celebrate the Fourth of July by attaching home-made American flags to their hats which they wear the entire day

1779- The Fourth falls for the first time on a Sunday and celebrations take place on the following day, initiating that tradition;

in Boston, continental ships fire a "grand salute" from their cannons;

in Philadelphia, although 14 members of the Continental Congress object to having a celebration, an elegant dinner at the City Tavern, followed by a display of fireworks, is given.

1781- The first official state celebration as recognized under resolve of a legislature occurs in Massachusetts;

at Newport, R.I., the militia hosts French officers at a celebration dinner

1782- At Saratoga, N.Y., the "officers of the Regement" of the Continental Army celebrate with toasts and a "volley of Musquets at the end of each"

1783- Alexander Martin of North Carolina is the first governor to issue a state order (18 June) for celebrating the Fourth and the Moravian community of Salem responds with a special service and Lovefeast;

Boston is the first municipality to designate (by vote on 25 March) July 4 as the official day of celebration;

the governor of South Carolina gives a dinner at the State House in Charleston and at the celebration there, 13 toasts are drank, the last one accompanied by artillery guns firing 13 times and the band playing a dirge lasting 13 minutes

1786- In Beaufort, N.C., the Court House burns down, the result of an errant artillery shell during a celebration there

1787- John Quincy Adams celebrates the Fourth in Boston where he hears an oration delivered at the old brick meeting house and watches no less than 6 independent military companies process

1788- Fourth celebrations first become political as factions fight over the adoption of the Federal Constitution; pro- and anti-Constitution factions clash at Albany, N.Y.;

in Providence, R.I., an unsuccessful attempt is made by 1,000 citizens headed by William Weston judge of the Superior Court, on July 4, to prevent the celebration of the proposed ratification of the Constitution;

in Philadelphia, a "Grand Federal Procession," the largest parade in the U.S. to date, occurs under the planning of Francis Hopkinson;

in Marietta, Ohio, James M. Varnum delivers the first Independence Day oration west of the Alleghany Mountains, in what was then known as the Northwestern territory

1791- The only Fourth of July address ever made by George Washington occurs at Lancaster, Pa.

1792- In Washington, a cornerstone for the "Federal Bridge" is laid by the Commissioners of the Federal Buildings

1794- Forty Revolutionary War soldiers celebrate near Nicholasville, in Jessamine County, Kentucky, at the home of Colonel William Price

1795- A mock battle engagement with infantry, cavalry and artillery units occurs in Alexandria, Va.;

in Boston, the cornerstone for the Massachusetts State House is laid by Paul Revere and Gov. Samuel Adams

1796- In Baltimore, the Republican Society meets at Mr. Evan's Tavern

1798- George Washington attends the celebration in Alexandria, Va., and dines with a large group of citizens and military officers of Fairfax County there;

in Portsmouth, N.H., the keel of the 20-gun sloop of war Portsmouth is laid

1799- The "musical drama," The Fourth of July or, Temple of American Independence (music by Victor Pelissier?), is premiered in New York;

George Washington celebrates in Alexandria, Va. by dining with a number of citizens at Kemps Tavern there.

For much, much more on July 4th celebrations, see:
The Fourth of July Encyclopedia by James R. Heintze (2007)
Music of the Fourth of July: A Year-by-year Chronicle of Performances and Works Composed for the Occasion, by James R. Heintze (2009)
↧
Search

Women, Tea Parties, & the American Revolution

July 4, 2018, 2:30 am
$
0
0
Philip Dawes, A Society of Patriotic Ladies at Edenton in North Carolina. Published in London in 1775.

The Boston tea party occurred in December 1773, when angry gentlemen of Boston, some costumed as Native Americans, destroyed property of the East India Tea Company on ships in the Boston harbor in protest of British taxation & trade policies.  There were other 18C colonial patriotic tea parties as well.

The livid English Parliament quickly passed a set of laws to punish the upstart colonials in Massachusetts, closing the Boston port & limiting all British American colonial rights to self-government. Many American colonists up & down the Atlantic called these the “Intolerable Acts”— the final proof that Great Britain intended to destroy their liberty.
W. D. Cooper.Boston Tea Party, The History of North America. London E. Newberry, 1789.

After the Boston tea party, gentlemen began meeting in local groups throughout the colonies to lend their support to the rising talk of revolution. (Mostly men were meeting, because women did not vote or hold office in the 18C Britain or her colonies.)

In July 1774, gentlemen of the Cape Fear region, led by transplanted Boston attorney William Hooper (1742-1790), met at Wilmington, North Carolina, calling for a provincial congress & for a congress of all the colonies to respond to Britain. One of the resolutions passed at this meeting stated, "That we will not use nor suffer East India Tea to be used in our Families after the tenth day of September next, and that we will consider all persons in this province not complying with this resolve to be enemies to their Country."

The Edenton Tea Party first became known throughout colonial British America from a London newspaper article reporting the event, which appeared in the Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser in January of 1775.  The newspaper reported that in North Carolina on October 25, 1774, 51 prominent women from the Edenton area gathered at the home of Elizabeth King, with Penelope Barker (1728-1796) presiding, to sign a petition supporting the American cause. It was extremely rare, if not unheard of, for British women, especially colonial women, who had no legal powers, to petition for political change.

At the meeting, Barker reportedly said, “Maybe it has only been men who have protested the king up to now. That only means we women have taken too long to let our voices be heard. We are signing our names to a document, not hiding ourselves behind costumes like the men in Boston did at their tea party. The British will know who we are.”

The Edenton petition doesn’t actually mention tea, but it supports the July Wilmington “resolves” against importing British products such as clothing & tea. Many angry colonists participated in the resistance to Britain through nonimportation, simply refusing to buy goods imported from Britain. Colonials did not have to pay taxes on goods they did not purchase, and the loss of income might persuade British merchants & shippers to support the colonial cause.

The text of the petition by the women gathered in Edenton, North Carolina, on October 25, 1774, reads: As we cannot be indifferent on any occasion that appears nearly to affect the peace and happiness of our country,
and as it has been thought necessary, for the public good, to enter into several political resolves by a meeting of Members deputed from the whole Province,
it is a duty which we owe, not only to our near and dear connections who have concurred in them, but to ourselves who are essentially interested in their welfare, to do every thing as far as lies in our power to testify our sincere adherence to the same;
and we do therefore accordingly subscribe this paper, as a witness of our fixed intention and solemn determination to do so.

Abagail Charlton, Mary Blount, F. Johnstone, Elizabeth Creacy, Margaret Cathcart, Elizabeth Patterson, Anne Johnstone, Jane Wellwood, Margaret Pearson, Mary Woolard, Penelope Dawson, Sarah Beasley, Jean Blair, Susannah Vail, Grace Clayton, Elizabeth Vail, Frances Hall, Elizabeth Vail, Mary Jones, Mary Creacy, Anne Hall, Mary Creacy, Rebecca Bondfield, Ruth Benbury, Sarah Littlejohn, Sarah Howcott, Penelope Barker, Sarah Hoskins, Elizabeth P. Ormond, Mary Littledle, M. Payne, Sarah Valentine, Elizabeth Johnston, Elizabeth Cricket, Mary Bonner, Elizabeth Green, Lydia Bonner, Mary Ramsay, Sarah Howe, Anne Horniblow, Lydia Bennet, Mary Hunter, Marion Wells, Tresia Cunningham, Anne Anderson, Elizabeth Roberts, Sarah Mathews, Elizabeth Roberts, Anne Haughton, Elizabeth Roberts, Elizabeth Beasly.

From England, in January 1775, 16 year-old Arthur Iredell wrote to his older brother who was a judge based in Edenton, James Iredell (1751-1799), describing the British reaction to the Edenton Tea Party. According to Arthur Iredell, the incident was not taken seriously in England, because it was led by women.

British journalists & cartoonists depicted the women in a negative light, as bad mothers & loose women. In a satirical cartoon published in London in March of 1775, the North Carolina ladies were drawn as female versions of the much maligned macaroni characters of the period.

Arthur Iredell sarcastically wrote to his brother James, who would later become one of the first associates of the United States Supreme Court, back in North Carolina, I see by the newspapers the Edenton ladies have signalized themselves by their protest against tea-drinking. The name of Johnston [the maiden name of Mrs. James Iredell] I see among others; are any of my sisters relations patriotic heroines?
Is there a female congress at Edenton, too? I hope not, for we Englishmen are afraid of the male congress, but if the ladies, who have ever since the Amazonian era been esteemed the most formidable enemies: if they, I say, should attack us, the most fatal consequence is to be dreaded.
So dextrous in the handling of a dart, each wound they give is mortal: whilst we, so unhappily formed by nature, the more we strive to conquer them, the more we are conquered.
The Edenton ladies, conscious, I suppose, of this superiority on their side, by a former experience, are willing, I imagine, to crush us into atoms by their omnipotency: the only security on our side to prevent the impending ruin, that I can perceive, is the probability that there are but few places in America which possess so much female artillery as Edenton.

Perhaps because of her husband James Iredell's official position, Hannah Johnston Iredell refrained from signing resolutions supporting the First North Carolina Provincial Congress, which voted to boycott certain British products. However, Hannah's sisters & her sisters-in-law signed the petition.

Not about to be outdone by their neighbors & not at all deterred by the sarcastic English press, the patriotic ladies of Wilmington, North Carolina, held their own “party” in the spring of 1775, actually burning their tea.

Janet Schaw, a visitor from Scotland who had no sympathy for the colonial rebellion, reported the event in her journals, noting that not everyone in Wilmington approved of the protest: The Ladies have burnt their tea in a solemn procession, but they had delayed however till the sacrifice was not very considerable, as I do not think any one offered above a quarter of a pound. The people in town live decently, and tho’ their houses are not spacious, they are in general very commodious and well furnished.
All the Merchants of any note are British and Irish,and many of them very genteel people. They all disapprove of the present proceedings. Many of them intend quitting the country as fast as their affairs will permit them, but are yet uncertain what steps to take.

But the women patriots had just begun to fight. Purdie's Virginia Gazette reported on May 3, 1775, that women were giving their jewelery to support the Continental Congress like “Roman Females” before them and will “fearless take the field against the ememy” for their glorious cause if their services are needed.

Women began to write letters about the revolutionary cause to their local newspapers. One anonymous women wrote a letter urging her fellow women to sacrifice for the war in Dixon's Virginia Gazette of January 13, 1776. Anne Terrel of Bedford County, Virginia also wrote in the same newspaper to support of the Revolutionary War on September 21, 1776.

During the Revolution more than 20,000 women became army camp followers--cooking, laundering, mending, and acting as nurses for the soldiers. Camp followers received half the food ration, when there was food at all, and minimal compensation. When the British occupied a town, they sometimes brutalized colonial women & their children. Hundreds of women took up arms to serve as soldiers & others served as spies for the colonial army.

Even those women left at home to raise the family & manage the business or the farm helped as they could. One woman passing an evacuated house in Woodbridge, New Jersey, looked in the window & saw a drunken Hessian soldier. She went home, got an old firelock, returned to take the Hessian’s firearms & then walked him about a mile to the patrol guard of the New Jersey regiment to delivered her prisoner. The incident was reported in Dixon's Virginia Gazette on April 18, 1777.

As the war progressed, women began collecting & contributing funds to equip local troops, where their kinfolk & neighbors were serving. The light horsemen of General Nelson of the Virginia Cavalry received just such donations according to Purdie's Virginia Gazette of June 12, 1778.

After the successful war, most male landowners could vote in the new republic. Women were granted the right to vote in the United States of America in 1920.
↧

Depictions of Lady Liberty in the 18C Early Republic

July 4, 2018, 3:00 am
$
0
0
For the first 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Indpendence on the 4th of July, American women would present their appreciation of the nation's hard-won liberty as handiwork in the form of banners, flags, or standards to groups of soldiers of the United States military. These Independence Day presentation ceremony would allow the women to speak about what the new nation & its defenders meant to them, even though they would not be allowed to vote until 1920.  These female orators could be viewed as the embodiment of Lady Liberty herself.

Symbols, like those of Lady Liberty illustrated here, are visual shorthand. The English and the colonists had begun depicting America as a lady even before the American Revolution. Americans in the 18th & 19th centuries invented or adopted emblems (images accompanied by a motto either understood or written) and personifications (usually historical allegorical figures) to express their political needs & beliefs.

These symbols were propaganda tools to draw together the country's diverse peoples, who spoke many languages, in order to promote national political union & purpose. Lady Liberty evolved throughout the decades of the early republic to meet the propaganda needs of the current situation.
This 18C Early Republic Lady Liberty freeing a bird from its cage, giving political liberty to the new United States from Britain, while holding a liberty cap hung on a pole. Lady Liberty was almost always depicted in a classical costume. Before the Roman Empire, similar felt caps were worn by liberated slaves from Troy & Asia Minor to cover their previously shorn heads, until their hair grew back. Here the cap symbolized a more intimate emancipation from personal servitude as a subject of the British Empire rather than united, national liberty. The caps were sometimes referred in Latin as pilleus liberatis. In classical literature, the cap atop a pole was a symbol of freedom evolving from the period when Salturnius conquered Rome in 263 BC; and he raised the cap on a pikestaff to show that he would free the slaves who fought with him. The cap was such a popular symbol that it was also depicted on some early US coins.
Lady Liberty is holding a musket & powder horn, ready to fight for freedom. 1779 Broadside. New York Historical Society. SY1779 No. 2.

Venerate the Plough, 1786, etching Columbian Magazine

1790 Design on an American Coverlet Winterthur Museum

1792 Genius of Lady's Magazine kneels before Columbia (Lady Liberty) with a petition for the rights of women. Lady's Magazine. Library Company of Philadelphia

Edward Savage Liberty in the Form of the Goddess of Youth Giving Support to the Bald Eagle, 1796

Liberty in the Form of the Goddess inspired by Edward Savage's print in Embroidery by a young woman.

Abijah Canfield Liberty in the Form of the Goddess of Youth Giving Support to the Bald Eagle, a painting after Edward Savage. 1800

Enoch Gridley Pater Patriae Memorial for George Washington with Lady Liberty at the base holding a spear and a sword as she weeps. 1800

Lady Liberty 1800 Brown University
↧
↧

How 18C Presidents celebrated the 4th of July while in Office

July 4, 2018, 4:00 am
$
0
0
George Washington

1789- Washington is in New York and is ill but writes a letter to the New York State's Society of the Cinncinati letting that organization know that he received their congratulations.

1790- Washington is in New York on the Fourth attending services at Trinity Church. (Writings of George Washington, 31:67). However, the actual celebration occurs on the 5th. Together with members of Congress and other officials, Washington attends a celebration held at St. Paul's Chapel. On that day he also receives many guests.

1791- Washington is in Lancaster, Pa. giving an address, dining, and walking "about the town."

1793- Washington is home at Mount Vernon writing a letter to the Secretary of State; on that day he also attends a public celebration in Alexandria, VA

1795- Washington is in Philadelphia

1796- Washington is at Mount Vernon writing letters to the Secretaries of State and Treasury and he also attends a public celebration in Alexandria, VA
John Adams

1797- Adams is in Philadelphia where the Society of the Cincinnati and House of Representatives "and a great concorse of citizens" waited on him. "The volunteer corps pertook of a cold collation prepared for them in the President's garden, drank his health with three huzzas, and then filed off thro' the House."

1798- Adams is in Philadelphia reviewing a parade of military companies and later that afternoon receiving and entertaining guests

1799- President Adams is at the Old South Meeting House in Boston listening to an oration presented by John Lowell, Jr.

1800- the President is in Quincy, Massachusetts

For much, much more on July 4th celebrations, see:
The Fourth of July Encyclopedia by James R. Heintze (2007)
Music of the Fourth of July: A Year-by-year Chronicle of Performances and Works Composed for the Occasion, by James R. Heintze (2009)
↧

A Brief History of Tea in England & her Colonies leading to American "Tea Parties"

July 6, 2018, 1:00 am
$
0
0
Dirk Stoop (Dutch painter, c 1610-1685) Catherine of Braganza Wife of Charles II c 1661

The first recorded drinking of tea is in China, where the earliest records of tea consumption date back to the 10th century BC. It was a common drink during Qin Dynasty (around 200 BC) & became widely popular during Tang Dynasty, when it was spread to nearby Korea & Japan.
Charles II by Adriaen Hanneman (England, 1603-1671)

Tea, then called cha, was imported to Europe during the Portuguese expansion of the 16th century. Portuguese Catherine of Braganza, wife of England's Charles II, took the tea habit to the court of Great Britain around 1660.
Joseph Van Aken  (Antwerp-born British painter, c.1699‑1749) A Tea Party 1719-1721.

London coffee houses also were responsible for introducing tea to everyday England. One of the 1st coffee house merchants to offer tea was Thomas Garway, who owned an establishment in Exchange Alley in London. He sold both prepared & dry tea to the public as early as 1657.
Attributed to Johann Zoffany (German-born British painter, 1733-1810), A Family of Three at Tea, 1727

Three years later he issued a broadsheet advertising tea at £6 and £10 per pound touting its virtues at "making the body active and lusty" & "preserving perfect health until extreme old age."
 Charles Philips (British artist,  1703–1747) Tea Party at Lord Harrington's House, St James detail 1730

Tea was an expensive commodity, as were all the items related to its consumption: the tea table, silver, and porcelain. Tea was normally kept locked by the lady of the household. 
Charles Philips (British artist,  1703–1747) The Strong Family detail

Portraits of families at tea demonstrated their wealth, domesticity, and genteel informality.  Tea-drinking came to epitomise civilized behavior in the eighteenth century.
Man and Child Drinking Tea, circa 1720  Artist unknown, England

Tea gained popularity quickly in England's coffee houses, & by 1700, over 500 coffee houses sold it.
Charles Philips (British artist,  1703–1747) The Cromwell and Thornhill Families Taking Tea detail 1730

The rise in popularity of tea drinking distressed the British tavern owners, as tea cut their sales of ale & gin, & it was bad news for the government, who depended upon a steady stream of revenue from taxes on liquor sales.
Joseph Van Aken  (Antwerp-born British painter, c.1699‑1749) An English Family at Tea 1725

As the century progressed, the use of enslaved labor increased the production of tea and sugar to such an extent that it became available to all classes in society. 
Detail The Wollaston Family, William Hogarth, 1730

By 1750, tea had become the favored drink of Britain's lower classes, as well as the wealthy.
A British Family Served with Tea 1745 Unknown

Charles II tried to counter the loss of tax income from spirits arising from the growth of tea, with several acts forbidding its sale in private houses. This measure was designed to counter sedition; but it was so unpopular, that it was impossible to enforce.
Philip Reinagle (British painter, 1749-1833) A Lady and Two Gentlemen seated at a tea table

A 1676 act taxed tea & required coffee house operators to apply for a license.  Failing to curb the popularity of tea, the British government decided to profit from tea.
Gawen Hamilton (British artist, 1692-1737) An elegant family at tea

By the mid 18th-century, the duty on tea had reached an absurd 119%. This heavy taxation had the effect of creating a whole new industry - tea smuggling.
Unknown 18th-Century British Artist, A Tea Party

Ships from Holland & Scandinavia brought tea to the British coast, then stood offshore, while smugglers met them unloading their precious cargo in small vessels. The smugglers, often local fishermen, snuck the tea inland through underground passages & hidden paths to special hiding places. One of the favorite hiding places was in the local parish church.
Joseph Van Aken  (Antwerp-born British painter, c.1699‑1749) An English Family at Tea detail 1720

Even smuggled tea remained expensive for the common man; however, and therefore extremely profitable. Many smugglers began to adulterate the tea with other substances, such as willow, licorice, & sloe leaves. Used tea leaves were also redried & added to fresh leaves.
Jean-Etienne Liotard (Swiss artist, 1702-1789) Still Life Tea Set, 1781-83

During the 18th century, tea drinking was as popular in Britain’s American colonies as it was in Britain itself. Legally, all tea imported into America had to be shipped from Britain, & all tea imported into Britain had to be shipped in by the East India Company. However, for most of the 18th century, the East India Company was not allowed to export directly to America. But during the 1770s, the East India Company ran into financial problems: illegal tea smuggling into Britain was vastly reducing the amount of tea being bought from the Company.
Ladies Having Tea c 1740 Unknown British artist

Smuggling led to a downturn in its profits, as well as an increase in its stockpile of unsold tea. In an attempt to revive its flagging fortunes & avoid bankruptcy, the Company asked the British government for permission to export tea directly to America, a move that would enable it to get rid of its surplus stock of tea. The Company actually owed the government £1 million, so the government had no desire to let the Company go bankrupt.
Johann Zoffany (German-born painter, 1733-1810) John, Lord Willoughby de Broke, and his Family.  c 1766

Thus in 1773, the Tea Act was passed, granting the Company’s wish, and allowing a duty of 3d per lb to be levied on the exports to America. The Tea Act, passed by Parliament on May 10, 1773, would launch the final spark to the revolutionary movement in Boston. The act was not intended to raise revenue in the American colonies, & imposed no new taxes. It was designed to prop up the East India Company which was floundering financially & burdened with 18 million pounds of unsold tea. This tea was to be shipped directly to the colonies, and sold at a bargain price. The Townshend Duties were still in place, however, & the radical leaders in America found reason to believe that this act was a maneuver to buy popular support for the taxes already in force. The direct sale of tea, via British agents, would also have undercut the business of local merchants.The colonials were growing increasingly resentful of "taxation without representation."
Drinking tea in the British American colonies, the John Potter Overmantle at the Newport Historical Society in Rhode Island

The British government did not anticipate this being a problem for the colonials. By being exported directly to America, the cost of tea there would actually become cheaper, & 3d per lb was considerably less duty than was paid on tea destined for the British market. But it had underestimated the strength of the American resistance to being taxed at all by Britain. The issue of the taxation in America had been hotly debated for some years.
Drinking tea in the British American colonies, Gansevoort Limner, possibly Pieter Vanderlyn 1687-1778 Susanna Truax.

Many Americans objected on principle to being taxed by a Parliament which did not represent them. Instead, they wanted to raise taxes themselves to fund their own administration. But successive British governments reserved the right to tax the colonies, & various bungled attempts to impose taxation had hardened American opposition. In the later 1760s, opposition took the form of boycotts of taxed goods. As a replacement for them, the Americans either bought smuggled goods or attempted to find substitutes for tea made from native products.
Gawen Hamilton (British Painter, ca.1698-1737) The Sharpe Family Maryland State Archives

Colonists in Philadelphia & New York turned the tea ships back to Britain. In Charleston, the cargo was left to rot on the docks. In Boston the Royal Governor was stubborn & held the ships in port, where the colonists would not allow them to unload. Cargoes of tea filled the harbor, & the British ship's crews were stalled in Boston looking for work & often finding trouble. This situation lead to the Boston Tea Party.

Ordinarily conservative shippers & shopkeepers were directly impacted by the new law & were vocal in their opposition. Previously, American ships brought much of the tea from England, but that trade was now reserved for the East India Company. The shop owners objected to the new practice of using only selected merchants to sell the tea; many would be excluded from this trade in favor of a new monopoly.  The radical patriots found allies in the formerly conservative business community.

Ladies of the gentry class in colonial America did not have the opportunity to attend public meetings, debate, vote, or have a real voice in democracy. Some women, such as Mrs. Charles Carroll & Mrs. William Paca of Annapolis, supported the patriotic cause in other ways. During the years of the American Revolution, these women grew a variety of herbs that replaced English teas. These included varieties of mint, chamomile, rosemary, lemon balm, and valerian root.

Rather than pay tea taxes, even before the Revolution, colonials were looking for tea alternatives, An article in the November 21st, 1768 Boston Gazette advised,  "Tea made from a plant or shrub (Ceanothus americanus) grown in Pearsontown about 20 miles from Portland, Maine, was served to a circle of ladies and gentlemen in Newbury Port, who pronounced it nearly, if not quite, its equal in flavor to genuine Bohea [one of three Chinese black teas tossed overboard later in 1773]. So important a discovery claims attention, especially at this crisis. If we have the plant, nothing is wanted but the process of curing it into tea of our own manufacture."

In 1774, Manasseh Cutler wrote of the Liberty Tea called the New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus Americanus) "The leaves of this shrub have been much used by the common people, in some parts of the country, in the room of India tea; and is, perhaps, the best substitute the country affords. They immerse the fresh leaves in a boiling decoction of the leaves and branches of the same shrub, and then dry them with a gentle heat. The tea, when the leaves are cured in this way, has an agreeable taste, and leaves a roughness on the tongue somewhat resembling that of the bohea tea."

Finally at the end of the resulting war with America, in 1784, William Pitt the Younger introduced the Commutation Act, which dropped the tax on tea from 119% to 12.5%, effectively ending smuggling. And tea did return to the New Republic of the United States of America.
↧

Notes of President John Adams on the Slavery of Men & Women

July 8, 2018, 1:00 am
$
0
0
President John Adams

John Adams did not own slaves.

1776: John Adams discussed trade resolutions before the continental congress: "There is one Resolution I will not omit. Resolved that no Slaves be imported into any of the thirteen colonies."(Peabody, p 197)

1776: John Adams was delighted with Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence and its “flights of oratory... especially that concerning Negro slavery, which, though I knew his Southern brethren would never suffer to pass in Congress, I certainly would never oppose.” (Peabody, p 201)

1819: “Negro Slavery is an evil of colossal magnitude.” (Ellis, p 140)

1820: “I shudder when I think of the calamities which slavery is likely to produce in this country. You would think me mad if I were to describe my anticipations…If the gangrene is not stopped I can see nothing but insurrection of the blacks against the whites.”(Smith, p 138)

1821: “Slavery in this Country I have seen hanging over it like a black cloud for half a century…”(Ellis, p 138)
↧
Viewing all 1026 articles
Browse latest View live
Search