by Tammy Ditmore | Jun 18, 2026 | Countdown to Semiquincentennial
As usual, Congress began with notice of receiving and reading several letters (those from generals were then sent to the board of war and ordinance). Gunning Bedford, Esq., was “promoted to the rank of muster-master general” (basically the person in charge of the...
by Tammy Ditmore | Jun 17, 2026 | Countdown to Semiquincentennial
Congress’s closing business on on Saturday, June 15, 1776, came out of another committee of the whole, in response to a group of reports dealing with the botched Canadian campaign and its aftermath. In closing for the day, Congress appointed “a committee of four … to...
by Tammy Ditmore | Jun 16, 2026 | Countdown to Semiquincentennial
June 16, 1776 was another Sunday hiatus for Congress. John Adams sat down and wrote a long letter of reply to two letters from his wife Abigail, from May 27 and June 3. If you’ve never read any of the correspondence between Abigail and John, you really should. Much of...
by Tammy Ditmore | Jun 15, 2026 | Countdown to Semiquincentennial
More correspondence and reports; appointments for commanders of frigates, and a memorial from four privateer owners in Philadelphia; compensations reported by the claims committee; what to do with officers without soldiers (their enlistments having ended); the...
by Tammy Ditmore | Jun 14, 2026 | Countdown to Semiquincentennial
Focusing attention solely on Congress’s journals, of course, can result in sanitized tunnel vision – yet reading them in order also affords us an opportunity to consider events as they unfolded in something like real time, and perhaps even give some idea of what...
by Tammy Ditmore | Jun 13, 2026 | Countdown to Semiquincentennial
Thursday, June 13, 1776, was a crowded but not especially dramatic day in the Second Continental Congress. In the previous post, we established that Jefferson had been appointed – either by Adams or by the committee – to draft the Declaration. When and how did he...
