Discover the Adventure!

“When we want a man to change his condition, we describe it as miserable, wretched, and despised, and draw a pleasing picture of that which we would have him assume. And when we wish the contrary, we reverse our descriptions.” Federal Farmer*, Letter 1, October 8, 1787 *Federal Farmer is attributed to Richard Henry Lee

Ford and the Quadricycle In 1776, before departing Philadelphia for New York, Washington writes to Burwell Bassett, his brother-in-law, that Martha has undergone smallpox inoculation and is doing well: Her fever has passed, and only “about a dozen” pustules have appeared on the 13th day. In 1776, in a letter to his brother, John Augustine Washington, Washington welcomes Virginia’s move toward independence and dismisses hopes of British peace commissioners as deception. He ur

“Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor....” Abraham Lincoln, The Perpetuation o

Charles Richard Drew In 1539, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto claimed Florida for Spain. In 1754, during the Seven Years’ War, a 22-year-old lieutenant colonel in the Virginia militia named George Washington began construction of a makeshift Fort Necessity. In 1776, in Philadelphia, Congress finalized military measures developed in consultation with Washington. It authorizes militia reinforcements, approves defensive naval preparations for New York Harbor, and organizes wha

“I have shown myself as I was; contemptible and vile when I was so; good, generous, sublime when I was so; I have unveiled my interior, such as Thou hast seen it, Eternal Father! Collect about me the innumerable swarm of my fellows; let them hear my confessions; let them groan at my unworthiness; let them blush at my meannesses! Let each of them discover his heart in his turn at the foot of Thy throne with the same sincerity; and then let any one of them tell Thee if he dares

Cleveland Wedding In 1763, Pontiac’s Rebellion: At what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison’s attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort. In 1774, the British Parliament renewed the Quartering Act as part of what Americans called the Intolerable Acts. Under the original Quartering Act of 1765, the colonies had to provide barracks for soldiers. The revised law granted military commanders aut