Washington Crossing the Delaware is an iconic moment in American history that took place during the American Revolutionary War on the night of December 25-26, 1776. Leading the Continental Army, General George Washington orchestrated a daring and strategic crossing of the ice-filled Delaware River…
Read More
One day near the end of the Revolutionary War, the King of England and his royal painter, Benjamin West, born in Pennsylvania, were discussing what was happening in America. The King asked West what George Washington would do were America to be declared independent.…
Read More
On December 19, 1776, Thomas Paine published the first of his series of pamphlets titled “The American Crisis” in The Pennsylvania Journal. This work marked a pivotal moment in the American Revolution. Beginning with the now-iconic line, “These are the times that try men’s…
Read More
During the winter of 1775-1776, General George Washington faced a dire need for artillery to break the British siege of Boston. That’s when Brigadier General Henry Knox, Washington’s Chief of Artillery, proposed a daring plan to transported “the guns of Ticonderoga” to Beantown, covering…
Read More
On December 3, 1775—six months after Lexington and Concord, and amid the halting, improvisational birth of a Continental Navy—the newly commissioned USS Alfred unfurled a banner no American warship had ever carried. It was not yet the “Stars and Stripes,” nor anything immediately recognizable…
Read More
The United States became independent on July 4, 1776, but it did not become free from the British until November 30, 1782. The Treaty of Paris, preliminarily signed on that date and sent to both countries for final approval, marked the official end of…
Read More
The Articles of Confederation, adopted by the Continental Congress on November 15, 1777, and submitted to the states for ratification two days later on November 17, marked a crucial step in the formation of the United States. As the first framework for a unified…
Read More
The creation of the United States Marine Corps on November 10, 1775, at Philadelphia’s Tun Tavern stands as one of the most durable institutional legacies of the American Revolution. Conceived in the early weeks of the war—when the Continental Congress urgently sought to build…
Read More
Lord Dunmore’s bold proclamation in 1775 threw the American colonies into turmoil, forcing them to confront the deep contradictions between their ideals of freedom and their reliance on slavery. John Murray, better known as Lord Dunmore and the last Royal Governor of Virginia, issued…
Read More
When King George III strode into the House of Lords on October 27, 1775, the ornate chamber was heavy with ceremony, but also with the weight of war. Three months earlier, British troops had fought colonial militiamen at Lexington and Concord. Now, the King’s…
Read More
