Author: Justin Lewis

Northwest Indian War

Justin Lewis
August 15, 2020

Also known as Little Turtle's War and by other names, was a war between the United States and a confederation of numerous Native tribes for control of the Northwest Territory.

Henderson and frontiersmen thought the outbreak of the Revolution superseded the judgments of the royal governors. The Transylvania Company began recruiting settlers for the region they had “purchased”. As tensions rose, the Loyalist John Stuart, British Superintendent of Indian Affairs,…

The Sugar and Stamp Acts

Justin Lewis
August 15, 2020

During the period from 1763 to 1775, in the twelve years after the French and Indian War and before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, colonial distrust of Britain grew markedly, and the emerging united national identity in America became more prominent.

The Revolution Begins

Justin Lewis
August 15, 2020

In 1772, Samuel Adams of Boston created the first Committee Of Correspondence, which was primarily an exchange of ideas in letters and pamphlets among members. Within a few years, this one committee led to dozens of similar discussion groups in towns throughout the colonies.

The French and Indian War

Justin Lewis
August 15, 2020

Unlike the previous wars between European powers in the 1700s, the French And Indian War was begun in North America—in the heartland of the Ohio Valley, where both France and Britain held claims to land and trading rights.

The Declaration of Independence

Justin Lewis
August 15, 2020

At a meeting of the Second Continental Congress in the summer of 1776, Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, proposed that the American colonies should declare their independence from Britain

The Boston Massacre and Tea Party

Justin Lewis
August 15, 2020

Parliament wasted little time invoking its right to “bind” the colonies under the Declaratory Act. The very next year, in 1767, it passed the Townshend Acts

The Revolutionary War

Justin Lewis
August 15, 2020

When war erupted in 1775, it seemed clear that Britain would win. It had a large, well-organized land army, and the Royal Navy was unmatched on the sea. Many of the British troops in the Revolutionary War were veterans who had fought in the French and Indian War.

American Society in Revolt

Justin Lewis
August 15, 2020

Training the Continental Army As the colonies prepared themselves for war, new militias were formed throughout America, primarily to defend local communities from British aggression. Other units, however, rushed to join their comrades in Boston as soon as every man…

Benedict Arnold’s issued commands to “the captain of liberty”

Justin Lewis
August 14, 2020

Just weeks after war broke out at Lexington and Concord, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, working in grudging consort,captured Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, as well as the settlement of Skenesborough (now Whitehall) at the southern end of the lake.…

General Washington’s Council of War

Justin Lewis
August 14, 2020

A.H. Ritchie’s 1856 engraving entitled “Washington and His Generals” is a creative, imaginary scene, as the dozens of generals shown assembled never congregated in such numbers in one place. For some odd reason, Ritchie depicted Maj. Gen. Charles Lee standing closest at…

Benjamin’s Rush: Early American Science

Justin Lewis
August 14, 2020

The basic ground rules of this spirit of inquiry are encapsulated in the title of Benjamin Franklin’s ground-breaking work Experiments and Observations on Electricity (London, 1751; shelfmark: 538.l.5.(6)) just as they are in Medical Inquiries and Observations (4 Vols., Philadelphia, 1805; shelfmark MFR/3019…