The Real People Who Fought the American Revolution

Very recommendable!

Colonial America: The French and Indian War | PragerU

Very recommendable!

George Washington and the 46th President

Why is George Washington one of the greatest US Presidents of all time? There are more than one answer to this question, but one answer stands out: He voluntarily relinquished power with the end of his second term and thus set an example for the ages and for the world (see his Farewell Address). 

All subsequent US Presidents followed this example except for one, which triggered the 22. Amendment to the US Constitution that was passed in 1951!

Now take the 46th President! Maybe his greatest and most unique opportunity to become famous and not a seriously failed senile, demented and corrupt US president was to resign early on in his term for health and mental reasons! He blew his best chance to be remembered on Mount Rushmore. I bet, you can also blame his longtime accomplice and wife Jill Biden for that.

The 46th President was probably the worst president since President Nixon (of Watergate Scandal fame) or even worse!

Last, but not least: Why has the US Congress never passed a constitutional amendment to limit the terms of representatives and senators like the president? This would be an urgent and crucial reform of the Democracy in America (Alexis de Tocqueville)!
My suggestion would be maximal 20 years irrespective of the chamber.
Had these kind of term limits been passed, Joseph Biden may have never become the president of the US.

A printing of George Washington's Farewell Address in the Virginia Herald on 9/23/1796

What did Washington do after becoming President?

Recommendable!

The first Black battalion of the American Revolution | Encyclopaedia Britannica

Poorly done by Encyclopedia Britannica! What exactly happened to those slaves who fought for the American Revolution? Was it really only one Rhode Island unit? Video failed to mention that in his will George Washington asked all slaves to be released upon the death of his wife and that many of his slaves were acquired by his marriage. Plus, George Washington was not a brutal slave owner, au contraire!

George Washington's final years

Recommendable! However, the video omitted to mention that George Washington freed all his slaves in his will conditioned upon the death of his wife!

George Washington: America’s Most Indispensable Veteran

Very recommendable! Who knew that George Washington was also a gifted speaker! The article contains some excerpts of his wisdom.

George Washington: America’s Most Indispensable Veteran - Foundation for Economic Education

George Washington and Cato

An example, why George Washington (together with his wife Martha) was called the indispensable man!

"In May 1778, Colonel William Bradford, Jr. wrote to his sister from Valley Forge: "The Camp could now afford you some entertainment: ... the Theatre is opened—Last Monday Cato was performed before a very numerous & splendid audience." At the end of the hard winter at Valley Forge, General George Washington defied a congressional ban on theatrical productions and entertained his men with a production of Joseph Addison's 1713 tragedy Cato.
Addison's play is a dramatization of the last days of the Roman Senator Marcus Porcius Cato (95-46 BCE), who for Addison served as an exemplar of republican virtue and opposition to tyranny. In the Roman Civil War that followed Caesar's famous crossing of the Rubicon in 49 BCE, the patrician Cato joined the senatorial opposition to Caesar's tyranny. After the defeat of Pompey in the Battle of Pharsalus (48 BCE), Cato continued to hold out against Caesar at Utica in northern Africa, where he found an ally in the Numidian King Juba I. After a decisive defeat in the Battle of Thapsus (46 BCE), Cato committed suicide, as was considered proper for an adherent of Stoic philosophy...."

Was George Washington's wife even present at this theatrical performance since she frequently visited him at his Winter encampments for extended periods. "... As the wife of the Commander-in-Chief, Martha Washington had more responsibility than the other wives. She was the General’s sounding board and closest confidant. She acted as his secretary and representative, copying letters and representing him at official functions. She comforted sick or wounded soldiers and sponsored social activities that brightened the darkness of the long winter days. Her presence not only fortified her husband but helped boost the morale of the entire camp. ..."

Cato · George Washington's Mount Vernon

Phillis Wheatley's Ode to Washington During American Revolution

Recommendable! 

The story of slavery in the United States is not black and white, it is complicated as the story of Phillis Wheatley is a testament of. Unfortunately, Ms. Wheatley died very young at 31!

"... On a 1773 trip to London with her master's son, seeking publication of her work, Wheatley met prominent people who became patrons. The publication in London of her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral on September 1, 1773, brought her fame both in England and the American colonies. Figures such as George Washington praised her work. ...
She was sold by a local chief [an West African] to a visiting trader, who took her to Boston in the British Colony of Massachusetts, on July 11, 1761,[8] on a slave ship called The Phillis."

Craig Shirley Corrects the Record on George Washington's Mother

Very recommendable! Great attempt to approach the biography of George Washington through the story of his mother! The author's book featured in this interview is supposedly "the first definitive biography ever written of George Washington’s mother. ". She was apparently a very impressive lady for her time. Unfortunately, the author of her biography is not giving away too much about Mary Ball Washington in this interview. :-)

"A pivotal moment in world history occurred when Mary Ball Washington forbade her eldest son from joining the British navy as a cabin boy—one-third of whom died at sea. ... She was a woman of faith. Her faith was very strong, and unlike most women in the 1700s, she was a reader.
She used to go to Meditation Rock there in Fredericksburg, it’s a big outcropping of rocks there, and read her Bible. Sometimes she would take her grandchildren there and read them the Bible. ... Then he did become a surveyor. She wanted him to become a surveyor and he became a surveyor."

Craig Shirley Corrects the Record on George Washington's Mother

How To Make 18th Century Ice Cream

George Washington and his wife were lovers of ice cream!

The Women Who Saved Mount Vernon

Very recommendable! What a story! Civil society at its best!

Best Quotes Of George Washington

Posted: 1/25/2015

Trigger

I believe it quite possible that the writings and speeches of this man are not taught properly in the public schools of the U.S. Vraiment très dommage! It is high time to privatize the education of our children.

I personally do not particularly like to read George Washington’s writings, because his language is so verbose.

Best Quotes

I added emphasis and comment. This is a work in progress.

1. “It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism.” (Farewell Address of 1796)
   [Washington clearly warned of the danger of democracy to deteriorate over time into centralisation of power at the top level of government and concomitant, progressive loss of individual liberty.]

Have You Ever Heard Of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act?

Today (2/18/2013), we celebrated Presidents’ Day! Which President? Any President? So why did Abraham Lincoln not get his own holiday?

The Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1971 is one of those Big Government monstrosities that replaced Washington’s Birthday with a third Monday of January holiday. The Soviet Union could not have done it any better.

Manumission Of Slaves

The Many Shades Of Gray

Slavery as so many other subjects in human history is neither white nor black. There are many shades of gray to the topic of slavery as well.

Manumission is the act of a slave owner freeing his slaves. Different approaches developed, each specific to the time and place of a society's slave system.

Laws of manumission varied widely from society to society and within societies across time. They are often viewed as the litmus test of a particular society’s views of the slave, that is, of the capacities the slave was likely to exhibit as a free human being.

The Augustan Manumission Laws

There were apparently three different laws attempting to limit manumission during the reign of Augustus:

Lex Aelia Sentia of 4 AD

Lex Fufia Caninia of 2 BC

Lex Iunia Norbana, 17 BC/19BC

The rate of manumission did not necessarily correspond to the legal ease of manumission. It should be noted, however, that in Rome manumission was relatively easy and was widely practiced, even though there was a 5% tax on manumission in the Republic, and the Lex Fufia Caninia of 2 BC forbade manumission by testament of more than a fifth to a half of one's slaves, depending on the number owned.

“The Lex Aelia Sentia took away the automatic right to full citizenship on manumission from a large number of slaves.” (Source).

“The Lex Fufia Caninia was designed to regulate the proportion of an owner’s slaves that they could free at death.” (Source).

“Lex Iunia Norbana … stated that slaves who were emancipated without the proper formalities and rituals being observed were not recognized as freedmen by the state, essentially illegalizing all such circumstances. This was passed to ensure that the jurists were always aware of all manumissions, and hence keep tabs on the exact numbers of slaves in the Empire.” (Source)

Were the Romans concerned that manumission could undermine their system of slavery? Quite possibly. It is astounding to say the least that during Augustus’s reign alone three respective laws dealing with manumission were passed.

Manumission In The United States

This is not an exhaustive history of manumission in the US, but just a few pointers.

The first President, George Washington, did manumission at death.

The third President, Thomas Jefferson, released some of his slaves upon death.

Benjamin Franklin freed his slaves.

Manumission was forbidden in South Carolina in 1820, Mississippi in 1822, Arkansas in 1858, and Maryland and Alabama in 1860. Here it is again big government’s role in upholding something as appalling as slavery and imposing its dim witted views on everybody.