250 and Counting

Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, was France’s Foreign Minister from 1774 to 1787 during Louis XVI’s reign. France was still salty about having lost the Seven Years’ War. On this side of the pond we refer to it as the French and Indian War, but this was a global affair that took place mostly in […]

The post America Benefits From French Politics–May 12, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Ugh. Before I tell you any more about The Grove, I have to take care of a couple of corrections. If you’ve listened to the episode already, you might be a little confused about Mike telling you that you’d be in Nova Scotia. Obviously he got his Halifaxes crossed. Second, after I’d completed today’s episode […]

The post Cornwallis Arrives In Halifax, NC–May 11, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

You may remember a couple of the Colonies chose to endorse independence without necessarily declaring it. This suggested that a formal declaration from the Colonies as a whole was likely imminent. You may also remember that motions by the Second Continental Congress needed to be voted on unanimously in order to pass, so they could […]

The post Change Comes From Within–May 10, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Artemas Ward was the man left in charge of things when Washington made his trek to New York, so you know that this was a man that Washington trusted. As a result they corresponded with one another frequently. So it only makes sense that once in a while, the two would write to one another […]

The post Words From Ward–May 9, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The HMS Roebuck was a ship that tangled with the Americans numerous times. One advantage that she had over other British ships was a relatively shallow draught (vertical distance between keel and waterline), which proved helpful when it came to navigating some of the shallower waters off the American coast. The HMS Roebuck had already […]

The post Thwarted On The Delaware–May 8, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Abigail Adams had some thoughts when it came to arbitrary power, and how fragile it is. But you get all that from the episode itself. Instead, here in the show notes, I’m going to point out that I’m the one who took the photo used for today’s cover art. The painting hangs at the Massachusetts […]

The post Abigail, On Power–May 7, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

The advantage of having a large military force, as the British did, is that they were able to concentrate on multiple places at once with experienced soldiers. So while they had one group getting ready to move in on New York, they had others preparing to take on the southern states. Enter Sir Peter Parker […]

The post Two Men To The Carolinas–May, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

Given the fact that Valentine Efner (sometimes spelled “Effner”) skipped so many roll call votes in Congress, it’s a wonder he ran for Representative in the first place. We have to think that Efner was an informal kind of representative, and being in the rarefied air of Congress had him missing the farm life, to […]

The post Valentine Efner–May 5, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

May 4th is Rhode Island Independence Day, marking the date that one of our smallest states became the first of the Original Thirteen Colonies to declare its independence from Great Britain. Almost. Here—as the late, great Paul Harvey would say—is the rest of the story. All of the colonies were required to sign oaths of […]

The post Rhode Island Goes First–May 4, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.

George Washington was good at what he did because he’d studied military discipline, among other things. He read a lot about tactics and famous battles, and the importance of a well-trained army, and then he would meet with veterans and engage with them to learn what they thought. During the Seven Years’ War he asked […]

The post Washington Cracks Down–May 3, 1776 appeared first on 250 and Counting.