250 and Counting

José Antonio de la Garza was born in what we now call San Antonio. They may have called it that back then as well, but the area was called San Antonio de Béjar at the time, and was a mission around which the eventual city grew. Texas was still a territory belonging to Mexico (i.e., […]

The post José Antonio de la Garza–May 31, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Ben Franklin in Canada isn’t completely unreasonable, even though he was already the oldest delegate to the Continental Congress at 70. He was America’s first diplomat and a very skilled one at that, with oodles of charm. But Franklin in Canada was also a bad idea, because his health was bad and it’s not like […]

The post Back From Canada–May 30, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

While the Second Continental Congress always had a lot going on, not creating “an animated address” to make the Independence movement appearent to everyone seems like an odd failure. But sure enough, when it was recommended that such an address be created, this specific committee came up with nothing. Other committees appear to have presented […]

The post The Address That Didn’t Happen–May 29, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

There’s a cool thing about Joseph Lee Smith that Mike doesn’t cover in his story today, probably because he is SO JEALOUS OF ME. Nah, I’m kidding. But the fact is, Joseph Lee Smith is tied up a little bit in my distant family history. I mentioned once before that my family can trace back […]

The post Joseph Lee Smith–May 28, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Justice John Johnson had a brief career in the Indiana Supreme Court, but this shouldn’t be the legacy he leaves behind, especially inasmuch as there were no important decisions handed down during the six-ish months in which he was part of that bench. It would be his earlier efforts as an Indiana politician that you […]

The post Justice John Johnson–May 27, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The Battle of the Cedars was actually a series of skirmishes that took place near the end of the American invasion of Quebec, which started in September 1775. The Cedars was an area just under 30 miles west of Quebec, and in April, Benedict Arnold had placed a detachment of troops in that area, because […]

The post The Battle Of The Cedars Ends–May 26, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The Continental Congress knew that good relationship with the Native Americans was the smart thing to do, but it took them months to put together the Committee for Indian Affairs, even when their first attempt to bring the natives in failed miserably. In that first try, they came to the upstate New York and framed […]

The post Making A Play For The Natives–May 25, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The idea of George Washington in Philadelphia sounds kind of like a no-brainer, but with dealing with a war against the greatest army in the world, plus having to put up with ill-trained troops to fight that war, he was a busy guy and didn’t get out there much. Later on, after the war, of […]

The post Mr. Washington Goes To Philadelphia–May 24, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Once the preamble to Congress’ resolution had been written and unanimously approved back on May 15, it really was just a matter of when, rather than whether, America was going to formally declare itself as a separate state from England. The hardest part was getting all the ducks in a row, as the expression goes. […]

The post Delegates Start Getting Their Orders–May 23, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

When the Third NY Provincial Congress convened on this day, chances are that nobody really got their hopes up. By this point, that body had already met a few times, so it was generally known where they stood when it came to the Independence Question. And sure enough, when they sent delegates to the Continental […]

The post The Third NY Provincial Congress–May 22, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.