David Ramsey Quotes
Within four months, from the very day on which the Boston Port Bill reached America, the deputies of eleven provinces had convened in Philadelphia, and in four days more there was a complete representation of twelve colonies, containing three millions of people.
This is a very interesting quotation. A contemporary historian tells us how rapidly the American colonists organized when Parliament passed the Tea Tax. Even with the Internet and social media it would be hard to organize representation from 13 states that fast today. The word of mouth and mail of the day was surprising to most of us. The passion on the issue and the public interest must have been extraordinary. Ramsay was the first major historian of the American Revolution.
David Ramsey, 1749–1815, Historian & Member of the Continental Congress (SC), History of the American Revolution, 1807
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This appears to be one of the first uses of the word "United" with respect to what was to become the United States.
The simplistic view that the American colonists were patriots and the British were the colonizers against whom the colonists revolted is not really accurate. The American colonists were polarized into patriots and loyalists. The Loyalist Americans ranged from many of those merchants whose business depended upon England, those whose family were still in England, those whose religion made them loyal to the Church of England, slaves who would be free under British law, Americans who had strong cultural and intellectual ties to England and those Americans who were great believers in monarchy and whose honor required that they fulfill the oath that they had taken to the King of England. Some of the worst atrocities of the American Revolution occurred in the battles of these Americans against each other. See {82105} for more on this point.
Today, most Americans know little of Samuel Adams but see John Adams as a much larger and more important figure. But for the American Patriots fighting the Revolution, it was Sam Adams who made the most outstanding contributions to the political strategy and leadership.
The crackdown on Boston which was intended to set an example and intimidate all of the other colonies backfired, and the British were told about it by their own officials in America. But they were so rigid and ideological about monarchy, that the stimulated rebellion rather than suppress them.
Fox was one of the opposition leaders who were opposed to the heavy handed policies that the British King and Government had used.
This resolution was the trigger that began the debate which became the Declaration of Independence.
This resolution of independence was voted upon a month before the Declaration of Independence. It was approved by 12 of the colonies but not by New York. The Congress appointed a committee to draft what became the Declaration of Independence and that was approved by all the colonies. The resolution was introduced by Richard Henry Lee on instructions from Virginia. The graphic is of Lee’s original notes.
He was acting as French Foreign Secretary at the time.
during and after the American Revolution
This quotation shows 1) that the American Colonists saw their country to be as including Canada. See Thomas Jefferson for more on that point: {636940}. 2) That the Continental Congress misread the situation in Quebec assuming that the cultural values of New England were those of Quebec. Given the strong French tradition in Quebec, and the dependence on trapping and trading, Quebec was quite different. Also, England had acted to secure Quebec militarily. See {636939}.
Mechanics was a general term for people who made things, or fixed things. Ramsay was the first major historian of the American Revolution.
Franklin was also an accomplished political cartoonist.
David Paul Ramsey is an American actor, director, and martial artist, best known for his roles in the CW series Arrow as John Diggle/Spartan, Anton Briggs on the Showtime TV series Dexter, and the film Mother and Child (2009) as Joseph.
