HISTORICAL DATA-1776:









 

  •  JANUARY

  •  FEBRUARY

  •  MARCH

  •  APRIL

  •  MAY

  •  JUNE:    On June 12 of this year the legislature in the English colony of Virginia in North America becomes the first such body to adopt a Bill of Rights.  (SOURCE:  ALMANAC feature, New York NEWSDAY, Friday, June 12, 1998, pg. Q   A2).

  •  JULY

  •  AUGUST:    On August 2 of this year in the British colony of Pennsylvania in North America members of the Continental Congress begin signing the Declaration of Independence from England.  (SOURCE:  ALMANAC feature, New York NEWSDAY, Friday, August 2, 1996, pg. Q   A2).

  •  SEPTEMBER

  •  OCTOBER:    On October 10 of this year James Nicholson of Chestertown in the former British colony of Maryland in North America is commissioned as a Captain in the new Continental Navy. He will go on to command the ships Defense, Trumbull, and Virginia. His brother, John, also enters the Continental Navy at some time during this month; he enters as a Lieutenant.  (SOURCE: USS Nicholson ((DD-442)) page at NavSource Naval History website: http://www.navsource.org./archives/05/442.htm    accessed 10/31/2013-GD).

  •  NOVEMBER:    At some time during this month John Nicholson of Chestertown in the former British colony of Maryland in North America is promoted to the rank of Captain in the new Continental Navy; he is given command of the sloop Hornet. (SOURCE:  USS Nicholson ((DD-442)) page at NavSource Naval History website: http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/442.htm  accessed 10/31/2013-GD).

  •  DECEMBER:    By the end of this year there is the first faint beginnings of opposition to the practice of slavery in the British colonies in North America. Some colonsts find the flat statements in the Declaration of Independence about liberty and equality  impossible to reconcile with slaveholding. The fact, also, that,  practically every important thinker of the European Enlightenment has criticized slavery on moral and  economic grounds also has an impact on educated opinion in the colonies.  (SOURCE:  The American Nation... to 1877-Volume I, Second Edition, John A. Garraty, page 165).

  • December:    By the end of this year all of the British colonies in North America except Georgia, New York and Canada have taken the decisive step of writing their new constitutions, using their colonial charters as a basis, but excluding submission to rule by Great Britain.  (SOURCE:  The American Nation...to 1877-Volume I, Second Edition, John A. Garraty, page 164).   

  • DECEMBER:    By the end of this year also, the new constitutions framed by the rebels in the British North American colonies call for a weak chief executive and a strong legislative assembly elected by the people. In fact, Pennsylvania goes so far as to eliminate the office of governor entirely, replacing it with a 12-man elected council. The suffrage is still limited to property owners, however.  (SOURCE:  The American Nation...to 1877-Volume I, Second Edition, John A. Garraty, page 164).             

  •  (NO SPECIFIC DATE)              

  • (FULL YEAR)   

                                                                                                                                                                                           EXIT:  WELCOME SCREEN