Artist: Gilbert Stuart (American, North Kingston, Rhode Island 1755–1828 Boston, Massachusetts). Date: 1798. Culture: American. Medium: Oil on canvas. Dim...

“When it reeled in the fight, who more bravely sustained it than Erin’s generous sons?”

John Blair is based in Midlothian, near Edinburgh, and has many Scottish landscapes including Edinburgh and the Highlands. Also is always keen to recruit more models for portrait and glamour photography.

Statesman. He was the chief foreign policy advisor of Catherine the Great in the first half of her reign. His idea of Northern Alliance against Austria did not, however, work out.

Every American schoolchild learns the same facts about the American Revolution that their parents and grandparents learned, but teachers can’t tell their students everything. Some of the most interesting stories to come out of the Revolution are the ones that don't have a definite ending---and some probably never will. 10 Jane McCrea Born in 1751

On This Date In History: The US Postal Service was founded on this date in 1775 with Ben Franklin as the first Postmaster General. Franklin was the best choice since he had experience. See, he was …

MOUNT VERNON, Va. -- After a nearly 200-year hiatus, George Washington's still is bubbling again, churning out the same sort of rye whiskey

The legacy of the Irish in America runs deeper than one might expect.

Today we mark another dark anniversary in the history of France with the story of the first drownings at Nantes (Noyades de Nantes) on 16th November 1793. One of the bleakest episodes of the Terror, the drownings were a method of mass execution used to remove those who did not agree with the revolution or were suspected of sympathising with the royalists. They were also used as a ruthlessly efficient means of executing Catholic priests and nuns and eventually resulted in the loss of approximately 4000 lives. We have already heard tell of the 22 Prairial that Robespierre pushed into existence, a move that was to prove fatally misjudged. The new law was aimed at those suspected of being counter-revolutionaries; with the passing of the 22 Prairial such suspects could be executed without due process. Citizens were appalled not only at what the law allowed but also at what they saw as Robespierre's gross misuse of his powers. The 22 Prairial had been passed without discussion in the Committee of General Security and this only solidified suspicions that Robespierre was out of control, making sweeping and dictatorial decisions without proper consultation. However, the people of Nantes had more to worry about than falling foul of Robespierre. The city was overwhelmed by casualties being brought in from the war in the Vendée and the people lived in constant fear of starvation and disease. Prisoners of war and of the revolution were dying at an alarming rate in prison and the National Convention entrusted the region to the care of Jean-Baptiste Carrier, naming him as republican representative to Nantes. In fact, Carrier took something of a scorched earth approach to the area, declaring that he would leave not one enemy of the revolution alive, a policy that attracted the full support of the Committee of Public Safety. As night fell on 16th November 1793 Carrier requested that almost 200 Catholic priests who were being held on the prison barge, La Gloire, be assembled on the dock. Here a customised barge waited for them and 90 of the priests were bound and herded onto the vessel. With the prisoners packed tight and helpless, the craft was piloted out into the Loire where it was scuppered. All but three of the prisoners on board suffered a terrifying death by drowning and for the trio that tried to swim for safety, respite was short-lived. Picked up by a naval ship that had heard the screams of the dying men, the escapees were soon tracked down and returned to custody to be killed in the second wave of executions on the following evening. Jean-Baptiste Carrier by François Séraphin Delpech, 1830 This was just the first of a series of executions by that would go on until February 1794 in which men, women and children were drowned without mercy or appeal as Carrier's regime crushed all those seen as resisting the ideals of the Revolution. Judges in the region approved mass lists of names for execution and these terrified unfortunates all perished beneath the dark waters of the Loire. Carrier's soldiers laid waste to large areas of the district in a ceaseless search for the perceived enemies, with a modified barge eventually being engineered that made use of special hatches that allowed the executions to be as efficient as possible. As his reign continued, Carrier found the people of Nantes turning against him. They watched with increasing fear as their neighbours and friends went to their deaths, towns and farms set ablaze in the tireless search for insurgents, with some of those arrested and drowned as young as five years old. Eventually though Carrier's reign came to a shuddering end when reports of his behaviour were looked at more closely and on 3rd September 1794, Carrier was arrested. He claimed to have no knowledge of the drownings, explaining that his role had been mainly one intended to stabilise the economy and manage the troops. His defence convinced no one and he was executed by guillotine on 16th December 1794. On the anniversary of that first terrible night it is hard to imagine the terror of those who went out on the barge to their death, yet they were the first of thousands to die in the Loire. They were persecuted on account of faith, suspicion and paranoia at the order of a politician who, as so many did, eventually fell victim to his own ambition and cruelty.

MOUNT VERNON, Va. -- After a nearly 200-year hiatus, George Washington's still is bubbling again, churning out the same sort of rye whiskey

Story Is the Constitution in Danger? Constitution Day 2022 On September 17, 2022, as part of its month-long commemoration of Constitution Month, Montpelier hosted an in-person and virtual panel titled “Is the Constitution in Danger?” The lively discussion, peppered with questions from both the on-site audience and Zoom participants, encompassed the current political crisis, America’s […]

From the museum press release (1 November 2013) . . . A rare, early portrait of a Scottish folk musician, the celebrated eighteenth-century fiddler Patie (or Peter) Birnie, has recently been acquir…

Ann Bates was a loyalist spy who worked for Sir Henry Clinton during the Revolutionary War. Click for even more facts and information.

They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid. Micah 4:4 Out at Flushing Landing on Long Island in late 1769, until at least 1779 (apparently little affected by the intervening British invasion of 1776), William Prince advertised for sale “many Thousands of a nice […]

Rufus King, the first child of Richard King and Isabella Bragdon, was born in Scarborough in 1755. He graduated from Harvard College in 1777. In 1778 he served in the Continental Army, in 1780 he was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts. In 1784 he was elected to represent Massachusetts at the Continental Congress. He was a member of the convention that framed the Constitution of the United States in 1787, In 1788 he moved to New York City after marrying Mary Alsop of New York in 1786. While in New York he served in the United States Senate. While serving in the Senate he worked on the Missouri Compromise. Rufus King was a "Orator, Statesman, and Patriot". He died in 1827 in New York.

Thanks to Pierre-Henri Biger for noting this upcoming fan exhibition in Paris. From the press release: Les Trésors du Musée de l’Éventail L’Atelier Hoguet Musée de l’Éventail, Par…

Thomas McKean was born on March 19, 1734 in New London Township, Chester County in Pennsylvania, the son of William McKean and Letitia Finney. His parents w ...

Jefferson’s positions as minister to France and secretary of state required that some of his communications be secret. But Jefferson also had a fascination with ciphers. Letters to William Short, his protégé, bear the plaintext of Short’s decipherment, letting our eyes read them. You can read the complete letter at hdl.handle.net/10288/15307. Thomas Jefferson Papers, Mss. 39.1 J35 Gift of Mary Churchill Short To vote, please like, favorite, or repin your one favorite item for that category. While comments are encouraged and appreciated, only a like, favorite, or repin will count as a vote. Voting for this category will end at 8am on Monday, October 8.

Desi Dumnezeu considera ca fiind necesara o tristete adanca fata de pacat in cazul mantuirii, totusi natura mantuirii implica in mod necesar bucurie. Pocainta, de pacat, este o tristete care rasare…