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American Revolution
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Creating new state constitutions
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Creating new state constitutions
Following the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775, the Patriots had control of Massachusetts outside Boston's city limits, and the Loyalists suddenly found themselves on the defensive with no protection from the British army. In each of the Thirteen Colonies, American patriots overthrew their existing governments, closed courts, and drove out British colonial officials. They held elected conventions and established their own legislatures, which existed outside any legal parameters established by the British. New constitutions were drawn up in each state to supersede royal charters. They proclaimed that they were now states, no longer colonies.Nevins (1927); Greene and Pole (1991) chapter 29
On January 5, 1776, New Hampshire ratified the first state constitution. In May 1776, Congress voted to suppress all forms of crown authority, to be replaced by locally created authority. New Jersey, South Carolina, and Virginia created their constitutions before July 4. Rhode Island and Connecticut simply took their existing royal charters and deleted all references to the crown.Nevins (1927) The new states were all committed to republicanism, with no inherited offices. On May 26, 1776, John Adams wrote James Sullivan from Philadelphia warning against extending the franchise too far:
The resulting constitutions in states, including those of Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia featured:
Property qualifications for voting and even more substantial requirements for elected positions (though New York and Maryland lowered property qualifications)
Bicameral legislatures, with the upper house as a check on the lower
Strong governors with veto power over the legislature and substantial appointment authority
Few or no restraints on individuals holding multiple positions in government
The continuation of state-established religion
In Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New Hampshire, the resulting constitutions embodied:
universal manhood suffrage, or minimal property requirements for voting or holding office (New Jersey enfranchised some property-owning widows, a step that it retracted 25 years later)
strong, unicameral legislatures
relatively weak governors without veto powers, and with little appointing authority
prohibition against individuals holding multiple government posts
The radical provisions of Pennsylvania's constitution lasted 14 years. In 1790, conservatives gained power in the state legislature, called a new constitutional convention, and rewrote the constitution. The new constitution substantially reduced universal male suffrage, gave the governor veto power and patronage appointment authority, and added an upper house with substantial wealth qualifications to the unicameral legislature. Thomas Paine called it a constitution unworthy of America.Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1992)
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American Revolution
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Second Continental Congress
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Second Continental Congress
thumb|350px|Pulling Down the Statue of King George III, N.Y.C., depicting American patriots tearing down a statue of King George III in New York City on July 9, 1776, five days after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
In April 1776, the North Carolina Provincial Congress issued the Halifax Resolves explicitly authorizing its delegates to vote for independence.Jensen, The Founding of a Nation (1968) pp. 678–679 By June, nine Provincial Congresses supported independence from Britain, and Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and New York followed. Richard Henry Lee was instructed by the Virginia legislature to propose independence, and he did so on June 7, 1776.
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American Revolution
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Declaration of Independence
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Declaration of Independence
Gathered at Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall, in Philadelphia, 56 of the nation's Founding Fathers, representing America's Thirteen Colonies, unanimously adopted and issued to King George III the Declaration of Independence, which was drafted largely by Thomas Jefferson and presented by the Committee of Five, which was charged with authoring it. The Congress struck several provisions of Jefferson's draft, and then adopted it unanimously on July 4.Maier, American Scripture (1997) pp. 41–46 The Declaration embodied the political philosophies of liberalism and republicanism, rejected monarchy and aristocracy, and famously proclaimed that "all men are created equal". With the issuance of the Declaration of Independence, each colony began operating as independent and sovereign states. The next step was to form a union to facilitate international relations and alliances.Armitage, David. The Declaration of Independence: A Global History. Harvard University Press, London. 2007. "The Articles of Confederation safeguarded it for each of the thirteen states in Article II ("Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence"), but confined its international expression to Congress alone."Tesesis, Alexander. Self-Government and the Declaration of Independence. Cornell Law Review, Volume 97 Issue 4. May 2012. (applying the Declaration in the context of state sovereignty while dealing with personal liberty laws, noting that "after the declaration of independence in 1776, each state, at least before the confederation, was a sovereign, independent body").
On November 5, 1777, the Congress approved the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union and sent it to each state for ratification. The Congress immediately began operating under the Articles' terms, providing a structure of shared sovereignty during prosecution of the Revolutionary War and facilitating international relations and alliances. The Articles were fully ratified on March 1, 1781. At that point, the Continental Congress was dissolved and a new government of the United States in Congress Assembled took its place the following day, on March 2, 1782, with Samuel Huntington leading the Congress as presiding officer.Greene and Pole (1991) chapter 30Klos, President Who? Forgotten Founders (2004)
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American Revolution
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Defending the revolution
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Defending the revolution
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American Revolution
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British return: 1776–1777
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British return: 1776–1777
left|thumb|The British fleet amassed off Staten Island in New York Harbor in the summer of 1776, as depicted in Harper's Magazine in 1876
According to British historian Jeremy Black, the British had significant advantages, including a highly trained army, the world's largest navy, and an efficient system of public finance that could easily fund the war. However, they seriously misunderstood the depth of support for the American Patriot position, misinterpreting the situation as merely a large-scale riot. The British government believed that they could overawe the Americans by sending a large military and naval force:
In the Siege of Boston, Washington forced the British out of the city in the spring of 1776, and neither the British nor the Loyalists controlled any significant areas. The British, however, were amassing forces at their naval base at Halifax, Nova Scotia. They returned in force in July 1776, landing in New York and defeating Washington's Continental Army in August at the Battle of Brooklyn. This gave the British control of New York City and its strategic harbor. Following that victory, they requested a meeting with representatives from Congress to negotiate an end to hostilities.Schecter, Barnet. The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution. (2002)McCullough, 1776 (2005)
A delegation including John Adams and Benjamin Franklin met British admiral Richard Howe on Staten Island in New York Harbor on September 11 in what became known as the Staten Island Peace Conference. Howe demanded that the Americans retract the Declaration of Independence, which they refused to do, and negotiations ended. The British then seized New York City and nearly captured Washington's army. They made the city their main political and military base of operations, holding it until November 1783. The city became the destination for Loyalist refugees and a focal point of Washington's intelligence network.
thumb|Washington crossing the Delaware on December 25–26, 1776, depicted in Emanuel Leutze's 1851 painting
The British also took New Jersey, pushing the Continental Army into Pennsylvania. Washington crossed the Delaware River back into New Jersey in a surprise attack in late December 1776 and defeated the Hessian and British armies at Trenton and Princeton, thereby regaining control of most of New Jersey. The victories gave an important boost to Patriots at a time when morale was flagging, and they have become iconic events of the war.
In September 1777, in anticipation of a coordinated attack by the British Army on the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia, the Continental Congress was forced to depart Philadelphia temporarily for Baltimore, where they continued deliberations.
In 1777, the British sent Burgoyne's invasion force from Canada south to New York to seal off New England. Their aim was to isolate New England, which the British perceived as the primary source of agitation. Rather than move north to support Burgoyne, the British army in New York City went to Philadelphia in a major case of mis-coordination, capturing it from Washington. The invasion army under Burgoyne was much too slow and became trapped in northern New York state. It surrendered after the Battles of Saratoga in October 1777. From early October 1777 until November 15, a siege distracted British troops at Fort Mifflin, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and allowed Washington time to preserve the Continental Army by safely leading his troops to harsh winter quarters at Valley Forge.
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American Revolution
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Prisoners
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Prisoners
On August 23, 1775, George III declared Americans to be traitors to the Crown if they took up arms against royal authority. There were thousands of British and Hessian soldiers in American hands following their surrender at the Battles of Saratoga. Lord Germain took a hard line, but the British generals on American soil never held treason trials, and instead treated captured American soldiers as prisoners of war.Alan Valentine, Lord George Germain (1962) pp. 309–310 The dilemma was that tens of thousands of Loyalists were under American control and American retaliation would have been easy. The British built much of their strategy around using these Loyalists.Larry G. Bowman, Captive Americans: Prisoners During the American Revolution (1976) The British maltreated the prisoners whom they held, resulting in more deaths to American prisoners of war than from combat operations. At the end of the war, both sides released their surviving prisoners.John C. Miller, Triumph of Freedom, 1775–1783 (1948) p. 166.
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American Revolution
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American alliances after 1778
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American alliances after 1778
thumb|Hessian troops hired out to the British by their German sovereigns
The capture of a British army at Saratoga encouraged the French to formally enter the war in support of Congress, and Benjamin Franklin negotiated a permanent military alliance in early 1778; France thus became the first foreign nation to officially recognize the Declaration of Independence. On February 6, 1778, the United States and France signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance.Hamilton, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton (1974) p. 28 William Pitt spoke out in Parliament urging Britain to make peace in America and to unite with America against France, while British politicians who had sympathized with colonial grievances now turned against the Americans for allying with Britain's rival and enemy.Stanley Weintraub, Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire, 1775–1783 (2005) p. 151
The Spanish and the Dutch became allies of the French in 1779 and 1780 respectively, forcing the British to fight a global war without major allies, and requiring it to slip through a combined blockade of the Atlantic. Britain began to view the American war for independence as merely one front in a wider war,Mackesy, The War for America (1993) p. 568 and the British chose to withdraw troops from America to reinforce the British colonies in the Caribbean, which were under threat of Spanish or French invasion. British commander Sir Henry Clinton evacuated Philadelphia and returned to New York City. Washington intercepted him in the Battle of Monmouth Court House, the last major battle fought in the north. After an inconclusive engagement, the British retreated to New York City. The northern war subsequently became a stalemate, as the focus of attention shifted to the smaller southern theater.Higginbotham, The War of American Independence (1983) p. 83
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American Revolution
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1778–1783: the British move south
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1778–1783: the British move south
The British Royal Navy blockaded ports and held New York City for the duration of the war, and other cities for brief periods, but failed in their effort to destroy Washington's forces. The British strategy now concentrated on a campaign in the southern states. With fewer regular troops at their disposal, the British commanders saw the "southern strategy" as a more viable plan, as they perceived the south as strongly Loyalist with a large population of recent immigrants and large numbers of slaves who might be tempted to run away from their masters to join the British and gain their freedom.Crow and Tise, The Southern Experience in the American Revolution (1978) pp. 157–159
Beginning in late December 1778, the British captured Savannah and controlled the Georgia coastline. In 1780, they launched a fresh invasion and took Charleston. A significant victory at the Battle of Camden meant that royal forces soon controlled most of Georgia and South Carolina. The British set up a network of forts inland, hoping that the Loyalists would rally to the flag.Henry Lumpkin, From Savannah to Yorktown: The American Revolution in the South (2000) Not enough Loyalists turned out, however, and the British had to fight their way north into North Carolina and Virginia with a severely weakened army. Behind them, much of the territory that they had already captured dissolved into a chaotic guerrilla war, fought predominantly between bands of Loyalists and American militia, which negated many of the gains that the British had previously made.
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American Revolution
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Surrender at Yorktown (1781)
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Surrender at Yorktown (1781)
thumb|The 1781 siege of Yorktown ended with the surrender of a second British army, marking effective British defeat.
The British army under Cornwallis marched to Yorktown, Virginia, where they expected to be rescued by a British fleet.Brendan Morrissey, Yorktown 1781: The World Turned Upside Down (1997) The fleet did arrive, but so did a larger French fleet. The French were victorious in the Battle of the Chesapeake, and the British fleet returned to New York for reinforcements, leaving Cornwallis trapped. In October 1781, the British surrendered their second invading army of the war under a siege by the combined French and Continental armies commanded by Washington.Harvey pp. 493–515
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American Revolution
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End of the war
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End of the war
Washington did not know if or when the British might reopen hostilities after Yorktown. They still had 26,000 troops occupying New York City, Charleston, and Savannah, together with a powerful fleet. The French army and navy departed, so the Americans were on their own in 1782–83.Jonathan R. Dull, The French Navy and American Independence (1975) p. 248 The American treasury was empty, and the unpaid soldiers were growing restive, almost to the point of mutiny or possible coup d'etat. Washington dispelled the unrest among officers of the Newburgh Conspiracy in 1783, and Congress subsequently created the promise of a five years bonus for all officers.Richard H. Kohn, Eagle and Sword: The Federalists and the Creation of the Military Establishment in America, 1783–1802 (1975) pp. 17–39
Historians continue to debate whether the odds were long or short for American victory. John E. Ferling says that the odds were so long that the American victory was "almost a miracle".John Ferling, Almost A Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence (2009) On the other hand, Joseph Ellis says that the odds favored the Americans, and asks whether there ever was any realistic chance for the British to win. He argues that this opportunity came only once, in the summer of 1776, and Admiral Howe and his brother General Howe "missed several opportunities to destroy the Continental Army .... Chance, luck, and even the vagaries of the weather played crucial roles." Ellis's point is that the strategic and tactical decisions of the Howes were fatally flawed because they underestimated the challenges posed by the Patriots. Ellis concludes that, once the Howe brothers failed, the opportunity "would never come again" for a British victory.
Support for the conflict had never been strong in Britain, where many sympathized with the Americans, but now it reached a new low.Harvey p. 528 King George wanted to fight on, but his supporters lost control of Parliament and they launched no further offensives in America on the eastern seaboard.
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American Revolution
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Paris peace treaty
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Paris peace treaty
thumb|left|Treaty of Paris by Benjamin West portrays the American delegation about to sign the 1783 Treaty of Paris (John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens, W.T. Franklin). The British delegation refused to pose and the painting was never completed.
During negotiations in Paris, the American delegation discovered that France supported American independence but no territorial gains, hoping to confine the new nation to the area east of the Appalachian Mountains. The Americans opened direct secret negotiations with London, cutting out the French. British Prime Minister Lord Shelburne was in charge of the British negotiations, and he saw a chance to make the United States a valuable economic partner, facilitating trade and investment opportunities.Charles R. Ritcheson, "The Earl of Shelbourne and Peace with America, 1782–1783: Vision and Reality". International History Review 5#3 (1983): 322–345. The US obtained all the land east of the Mississippi River, including southern Canada, but Spain took control of Florida from the British. It gained fishing rights off Canadian coasts, and agreed to allow British merchants and Loyalists to recover their property. Prime Minister Shelburne foresaw highly profitable two-way trade between Britain and the rapidly growing United States, which did come to pass. The blockade was lifted and American merchants were free to trade with any nation anywhere in the world.
The British largely abandoned their Indigenous allies, who were not a party to this treaty and did not recognize it until they were defeated militarily by the United States. However, the British did sell them munitions and maintain forts in American territory until the Jay Treaty of 1795.
Losing the war and the Thirteen Colonies was a shock to Britain. The war revealed the limitations of Britain's fiscal-military state when they discovered that they suddenly faced powerful enemies with no allies, and they were dependent on extended and vulnerable transatlantic lines of communication. The defeat heightened dissension and escalated political antagonism to the King's ministers. The King went so far as to draft letters of abdication, although they were never delivered. Inside Parliament, the primary concern changed from fears of an over-mighty monarch to the issues of representation, parliamentary reform, and government retrenchment. Reformers sought to destroy what they saw as widespread institutional corruption, and the result was a crisis from 1776 to 1783. The crisis ended after 1784 confidence in the British constitution was restored during the administration of Prime Minister William Pitt.William Hague, William Pitt the Younger (2004)Jeremy Black, George III: America's Last King(2006)
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American Revolution
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Finance
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Finance
thumb|Robert Morris statue honoring Founding Father and financier Robert Morris at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia
alt=A five-dollar banknote issued by the Second Continental Congress in 1775.|thumb|A five dollar banknote issued by the Second Continental Congress in 1775
Britain's war against the Americans, the French, and the Spanish cost about £100 million. The Treasury borrowed 40 percent of the money that it needed.Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (1987) pp. 81, 119 Britain had a sophisticated financial system based on the wealth of thousands of landowners who supported the government, together with banks and financiers in London. In London the British had relatively little difficulty financing their war, keeping their suppliers and soldiers paid, and hiring tens of thousands of German soldiers.John Brewer, The sinews of power: war, money, and the English state, 1688–1783 (1990) p. 91
In sharp contrast, Congress and the American states had no end of difficulty financing the war.Curtis P. Nettels, The Emergence of a National Economy, 1775–1815 (1962) pp. 23–44 In 1775, there was at most 12 million dollars in gold in the colonies, not nearly enough to cover current transactions, let alone finance a major war. The British made the situation much worse by imposing a tight blockade on every American port, which cut off almost all trade. One partial solution was to rely on volunteer support from militiamen and donations from patriotic citizens.Charles Rappleye, Robert Morris: Financier of the American Revolution (2010) pp. 225–252Edwin J. Perkins, American public finance and financial services, 1700–1815 (1994) pp. 85–106. Complete text line free Another was to delay actual payments, pay soldiers and suppliers in depreciated currency, and promise that it would be made good after the war. Indeed, the soldiers and officers were given land grants in 1783 to cover the wages that they had earned but had not been paid during the war. The national government did not have a strong leader in financial matters until 1781, when Robert Morris was named Superintendent of Finance of the United States. Morris used a French loan in 1782 to set up the private Bank of North America to finance the war. He reduced the civil list, saved money by using competitive bidding for contracts, tightened accounting procedures, and demanded the national government's full share of money and supplies from the individual states.
Congress used four main methods to cover the cost of the war, which cost about 66 million dollars in specie (gold and silver).Oliver Harry Chitwood, A History of Colonial America (1961) pp. 586–589 Congress made issues of paper money, known colloquially as "Continental Dollars", in 1775–1780 and in 1780–1781. The first issue amounted to 242 million dollars. This paper money would supposedly be redeemed for state taxes, but the holders were eventually paid off in 1791 at the rate of one cent on the dollar. By 1780, the paper money was so devalued that the phrase "not worth a Continental" became synonymous with worthlessness. The skyrocketing inflation was a hardship on the few people who had fixed incomes, but 90 percent of the people were farmers and were not directly affected by it. Debtors benefited by paying off their debts with depreciated paper. The greatest burden was borne by the soldiers of the Continental Army whose wages were usually paid late and declined in value every month, weakening their morale and adding to the hardships of their families.
Beginning in 1777, Congress repeatedly asked the states to provide money, but the states had no system of taxation and were of little help. By 1780, Congress was making requisitions for specific supplies of corn, beef, pork, and other necessities, an inefficient system which barely kept the army alive.Erna Risch, Supplying Washington's Army (1982)E. Wayne Carp, To Starve the Army at Pleasure: Continental Army Administration and American Political Culture, 1775–1783 (1990) Starting in 1776, the Congress sought to raise money by loans from wealthy individuals, promising to redeem the bonds after the war. The bonds were redeemed in 1791 at face value, but the scheme raised little money because Americans had little specie, and many of the rich merchants were supporters of the Crown. The French secretly supplied the Americans with money, gunpowder, and munitions to weaken Great Britain; the subsidies continued when France entered the war in 1778, and the French government and Paris bankers lent large sums to the American war effort. The Americans struggled to pay off the loans; they ceased making interest payments to France in 1785 and defaulted on installments due in 1787. In 1790, however, they resumed regular payments on their debts to the French,E. James Ferguson, The power of the purse: A history of American public finance, 1776–1790 (1961) and settled their accounts with the French government in 1795 when James Swan, an American banker, assumed responsibility for the balance of the debt in exchange for the right to refinance it at a profit.
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American Revolution
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Concluding the revolution
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Concluding the revolution
thumb|The September 17, 1787 signing of the United States Constitution at Independence Hall in Philadelphia depicted in Howard Chandler Christy's 1940 painting, Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States
The war ended in 1783 and was followed by a period of prosperity. The national government was still operating under the Articles of Confederation and settled the issue of the western territories, which the states ceded to Congress. American settlers moved rapidly into those areas, with Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee becoming states in the 1790s.Greene and Pole, eds. Companion to the American Revolution, pp. 557–624
However, the national government had no money either to pay the war debts owed to European nations and the private banks, or to pay Americans who had been given millions of dollars of promissory notes for supplies during the war. Nationalists led by Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and other veterans feared that the new nation was too fragile to withstand an international war, or even the repetition of internal revolts such as the Shays's Rebellion of 1786 in Massachusetts. They convinced Congress to call the Philadelphia Convention in 1787.Richard B. Morris, The Forging of the Union: 1781–1789 (1987) pp. 245–266 The Convention adopted a new Constitution which provided for a republic with a much stronger national government in a federal framework, including an effective executive in a check-and-balance system with the judiciary and legislature.Morris, The Forging of the Union: 1781–1789 pp. 300–313 The Constitution was ratified in 1788, after a fierce debate in the states over the proposed new government. The new administration under President George Washington took office in New York in March 1789.Morris, The Forging of the Union, 1781–1789 pp. 300–322 James Madison spearheaded Congressional legislation proposing amendments to the Constitution as assurances to those cautious about federal power, guaranteeing many of the inalienable rights that formed a foundation for the revolution. Rhode Island was the final state to ratify the Constitution in 1790, the first ten amendments were ratified in 1791 and became known as the United States Bill of Rights.
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American Revolution
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National debt
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National debt
thumb|Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury during the Presidency of George Washington
The national debt fell into three categories after the American Revolution. The first was the $12 million owed to foreigners, mostly money borrowed from France. There was general agreement to pay the foreign debts at full value. The national government owed $40 million and state governments owed $25 million to Americans who had sold food, horses, and supplies to the Patriot forces. There were also other debts which consisted of promissory notes issued during the war to soldiers, merchants, and farmers who accepted these payments on the premise that the new Constitution would create a government that would pay these debts eventually.
The war expenses of the individual states added up to $114 million, compared to $37 million by the central government.Jensen, The New Nation (1950) p. 379 In 1790, Congress combined the remaining state debts with the foreign and domestic debts into one national debt totaling $80 million at the recommendation of first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. Everyone received face value for wartime certificates, so that the national honor would be sustained and the national credit established.Joseph J. Ellis, His Excellency: George Washington (2004) p. 204
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American Revolution
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Ideology and factions
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Ideology and factions
The population of the Thirteen States was not homogeneous in political views and attitudes. Loyalties and allegiances varied widely within regions and communities and even within families, and sometimes shifted during the Revolution.
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American Revolution
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Ideology behind the revolution
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Ideology behind the revolution
The American Enlightenment was a critical precursor of the American Revolution. Chief among the ideas of the American Enlightenment were the concepts of natural law, natural rights, consent of the governed, individualism, property rights, self-ownership, self-determination, liberalism, republicanism, and defense against corruption. A growing number of American colonists embraced these views and fostered an intellectual environment which led to a new sense of political and social identity.Robert A. Ferguson, The American Enlightenment, 1750–1820 (1997).
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American Revolution
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Liberalism
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Liberalism
thumb|Samuel Adams points at the Massachusetts Charter, which he viewed as a constitution that protected the people's rights, in this portrait by John Singleton Copley.Alexander, Revolutionary Politician, 103, 136; Maier, Old Revolutionaries, 41–42.
John Locke is often referred to as "the philosopher of the American Revolution" due to his work in the Social Contract and Natural Rights theories that underpinned the Revolution's political ideology. Locke's Two Treatises of Government published in 1689 was especially influential. He argued that all humans were created equally free, and governments therefore needed the "consent of the governed". In late eighteenth-century America, belief was still widespread in "equality by creation" and "rights by creation".Thomas S. Kidd (2010): God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution, New York, pp. 6–7 Locke's ideas on liberty influenced the political thinking of English writers such as John Trenchard, Thomas Gordon, and Benjamin Hoadly, whose political ideas in turn also had a strong influence on the American Patriots.Middlekauff (2005), pp. 136–138 His work also inspired symbols used in the American Revolution such as the "Appeal to Heaven" found on the Pine Tree Flag, which alludes to Locke's concept of the right of revolution.
The theory of the social contract influenced the belief among many of the Founders that the right of the people to overthrow their leaders, should those leaders betray the historic rights of Englishmen, was one of the "natural rights" of man.Charles W. Toth, Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite: The American Revolution and the European Response. (1989) p. 26.Philosophical Tales, by Martin Cohen, (Blackwell 2008), p. 101 The Americans heavily relied on Montesquieu's analysis of the wisdom of the "balanced" British Constitution (mixed government) in writing the state and national constitutions.
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American Revolution
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Republicanism
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Republicanism
The American interpretation of republicanism was inspired by the Whig party in Great Britain which openly criticized the corruption within the British government.Stanley Weintraub, Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire, 1775–1783 (2005) chapter 1 Americans were increasingly embracing republican values, seeing Britain as corrupt and hostile to American interests.Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1992) pp. 125–137 The colonists associated political corruption with ostentatious luxury and inherited aristocracy.Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1992) pp. 35, 174–175
The Founding Fathers were strong advocates of republican values, particularly Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, George Washington, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton,Shalhope, Toward a Republican Synthesis (1972) pp. 49–80 which required men to put civic duty ahead of their personal desires. Men were honor bound by civic obligation to be prepared and willing to fight for the rights and liberties of their countrymen. John Adams wrote to Mercy Otis Warren in 1776, agreeing with some classical Greek and Roman thinkers: "Public Virtue cannot exist without private, and public Virtue is the only Foundation of Republics." He continued:
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American Revolution
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Protestant dissenters and the Great Awakening
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Protestant dissenters and the Great Awakening
Protestant churches that had separated from the Church of England, called "dissenters", were the "school of democracy", in the words of historian Patricia Bonomi.Bonomi, p. 186, Chapter 7 "Religion and the American Revolution" Before the Revolution, the Southern Colonies and three of the New England Colonies had official established churches: Congregational in Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, and the Church of England in Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations had no officially established churches. Church membership statistics from the period are unreliable and scarce, but what little data exists indicates that the Church of England was not in the majority, not even in the colonies where it was the established church, and they probably did not comprise even 30 percent of the population in most localities (with the possible exception of Virginia).
John Witherspoon, who was considered a "new light" Presbyterian, wrote widely circulated sermons linking the American Revolution to the teachings of the Bible. Throughout the colonies, dissenting Protestant ministers from the Congregational, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches preached Revolutionary themes in their sermons while most Church of England clergymen preached loyalty to the king, the titular head of the English state church.William H. Nelson, The American Tory (1961) p. 186 Religious motivation for fighting tyranny transcended socioeconomic lines. The Declaration of Independence also referred to the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" as justification for the Americans' separation from the British monarchy: the signers of the Declaration professed their "firm reliance on the Protection of divine Providence", and they appealed to "the Supreme Judge for the rectitude of our intentions".Kidd (2010), p. 141
Historian Bernard Bailyn argues that the evangelicalism of the era challenged traditional notions of natural hierarchy by preaching that the Bible teaches that all men are equal, so that the true value of a man lies in his moral behavior, not in his class.Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1992) p. 303 Kidd argues that religious disestablishment, belief in God as the source of human rights, and shared convictions about sin, virtue, and divine providence worked together to unite rationalists and evangelicals and thus encouraged a large proportion of Americans to fight for independence from the Empire. Bailyn, on the other hand, denies that religion played such a critical role.Thomas S. Kidd, God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution (2010) Alan Heimert argues that New Light anti-authoritarianism was essential to furthering democracy in colonial American society, and set the stage for a confrontation with British monarchical and aristocratic rule.Alan Heimert, Religion and the American Mind: From the Great Awakening to the Revolution. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967.
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American Revolution
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Class and psychology of the factions
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Class and psychology of the factions
thumb|Patriots tarring and feathering Loyalist John Malcolm depicted in a 1774 painting
John Adams concluded in 1818:
In the mid-20th century, historian Leonard Woods Labaree identified eight characteristics of the Loyalists that made them essentially conservative, opposite to the characteristics of the Patriots.Labaree, Conservatism in Early American History (1948) pp. 164–165 Loyalists tended to feel that resistance to the Crown was morally wrong, while the Patriots thought that morality was on their side.Hull et al., Choosing Sides (1978) pp. 344–366Burrows and Wallace, The American Revolution (1972) pp. 167–305 Loyalists were alienated when the Patriots resorted to violence, such as burning houses and tarring and feathering. Loyalists wanted to take a centrist position and resisted the Patriots' demand to declare their opposition to the Crown. Many Loyalists had maintained strong and long-standing relations with Britain, especially merchants in port cities such as New York and Boston. Many Loyalists felt that independence was bound to come eventually, but they were fearful that revolution might lead to anarchy, tyranny, or mob rule. In contrast, the prevailing attitude among Patriots was a desire to seize the initiative. Labaree also wrote that Loyalists were pessimists who lacked the confidence in the future displayed by the Patriots.
Historians in the early 20th century such as J. Franklin Jameson examined the class composition of the Patriot cause, looking for evidence of a class war inside the revolution.J. Franklin Jameson, The American Revolution Considered as a Social Movement (1926); other historians pursuing the same line of thought included Charles A. Beard, Carl Becker, and Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. More recent historians have largely abandoned that interpretation, emphasizing instead the high level of ideological unity.Wood, Rhetoric and Reality in the American Revolution (1966) pp. 3–32 Both Loyalists and Patriots were a "mixed lot",Nash (2005)Resch (2006) but ideological demands always came first. The Patriots viewed independence as a means to gain freedom from British oppression and to reassert their basic rights. Most yeomen farmers, craftsmen, and small merchants joined the Patriot cause to demand more political equality. They were especially successful in Pennsylvania but less so in New England, where John Adams attacked Thomas Paine's Common Sense for the "absurd democratical notions" that it proposed.
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American Revolution
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King George III
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King George III
thumb|King George III depicted in a 1781 portrait
The revolution became a personal issue for the king, fueled by his growing belief that British leniency would be taken as weakness by the Americans. He also sincerely believed that he was defending Britain's constitution against usurpers, rather than opposing patriots fighting for their natural rights.Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy, "'If Others Will Not Be Active, I must Drive': George III and the American Revolution". Early American Studies 2004 2(1): pp. 1–46. P. D. G. Thomas, "George III and the American Revolution". History 1985 70(228)
King George III is often accused of obstinately trying to keep Great Britain at war with the revolutionaries in America, despite the opinions of his own ministers.O'Shaughnessy, ch 1. In the words of the British historian George Otto Trevelyan, the King was determined "never to acknowledge the independence of the Americans, and to punish their contumacy by the indefinite prolongation of a war which promised to be eternal."Trevelyan, vol. 1 p. 4. The king wanted to "keep the rebels harassed, anxious, and poor, until the day when, by a natural and inevitable process, discontent and disappointment were converted into penitence and remorse".Trevelyan, vol. 1 p. 5. Later historians defend George by saying in the context of the times no king would willingly surrender such a large territory,Cannon and Griffiths, pp. 510–511. and his conduct was far less ruthless than contemporary monarchs in Europe.Brooke, p. 183. After the surrender of a British army at Saratoga, both Parliament and the British people were largely in favor of the war; recruitment ran at high levels and although political opponents were vocal, they remained a small minority.Brooke, pp. 180–182, 192, 223.
With the setbacks in America, Lord North asked to transfer power to Lord Chatham, whom he thought more capable, but George refused to do so; he suggested instead that Chatham serve as a subordinate minister in North's administration, but Chatham refused. He died later in the same year. Lord North was allied to the "King's Friends" in Parliament and believed George III had the right to exercise powers.Willcox & Arnstein, p. 157. In early 1778, Britain's chief rival France signed a treaty of alliance with the United States, and the confrontation soon escalated from a "rebellion" to something that has been characterized as "world war".Willcox & Arnstein, pp. 161, 165. The French fleet was able to outrun the British naval blockade of the Mediterranean and sailed to North America. The conflict now affected North America, Europe and India. The United States and France were joined by Spain in 1779 and the Dutch Republic, while Britain had no major allies of its own, except for the Loyalist minority in America and German auxiliaries (i.e. Hessians). Lord Gower and Lord Weymouth both resigned from the government. Lord North again requested that he also be allowed to resign, but he stayed in office at George III's insistence. Opposition to the costly war was increasing, and in June 1780 contributed to disturbances in London known as the Gordon riots.
As late as the Siege of Charleston in 1780, Loyalists could still believe in their eventual victory, as British troops inflicted defeats on the Continental forces at the Battle of Camden and the Battle of Guilford Court House.The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Army (1994) p. 129. In late 1781, the news of Cornwallis's surrender at the siege of Yorktown reached London; Lord North's parliamentary support ebbed away and he resigned the following year. The king drafted an abdication notice, which was never delivered,Brooke, p. 221. finally accepted the defeat in North America, and authorized peace negotiations. The Treaties of Paris, by which Britain recognized the independence of the United States and returned Florida to Spain, were signed in 1782 and 1783 respectively.U.S. Department of State, Treaty of Paris, 1783. Retrieved July 5, 2013. In early 1783, George III privately conceded "America is lost!" He reflected that the Northern colonies had developed into Britain's "successful rivals" in commercial trade and fishing.Bullion, George III on Empire, 1783, p. 306.
When John Adams was appointed American Minister to London in 1785, George had become resigned to the new relationship between his country and the former colonies. He told Adams, "I was the last to consent to the separation; but the separation having been made and having become inevitable, I have always said, as I say now, that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power.", quoted in Ayling, p. 323 and Hibbert, p. 165.
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American Revolution
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Patriots
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Patriots
Those who fought for independence were called "Revolutionaries", "Continentals", "Rebels", "Patriots", "Whigs", "Congress-men", or "Americans" during and after the war. They included a full range of social and economic classes but were unanimous regarding the need to defend the rights of Americans and uphold the principles of republicanism in rejecting monarchy and aristocracy, while emphasizing civic virtue by citizens. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were mostly—with definite exceptions—well-educated, of British stock, and of the Protestant faith.Caroline Robbins, "Decision in '76: Reflections on the 56 Signers". Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Vol. 89 pp. 72–87, quote at p. 86.See also Richard D. Brown, "The Founding Fathers of 1776 and 1787: A collective view". William and Mary Quarterly (1976) 33#3: 465–480. online Newspapers were strongholds of patriotism (although there were a few Loyalist papers) and printed many pamphlets, announcements, patriotic letters, and pronouncements.Carol Sue Humphrey, The American Revolution and the Press: The Promise of Independence (Northwestern University Press; 2013)
According to historian Robert Calhoon, 40 to 45 percent of the white population in the Thirteen Colonies supported the Patriots' cause, 15 to 20 percent supported the Loyalists, and the remainder were neutral or kept a low profile.Robert M. Calhoon, "Loyalism and neutrality" in Mark Lender concludes that ordinary people became insurgents against the British because they held a sense of rights which the British were violating, rights that stressed local autonomy, fair dealing, and government by consent. They were highly sensitive to the issue of tyranny, which they saw manifested in the British response to the Boston Tea Party. The arrival in Boston of the British Army heightened their sense of violated rights, leading to rage and demands for revenge. They had faith that God was on their side.Mark Edward Lender, review of American Insurgents, American Patriots: The Revolution of the People (2010) by T. H. Breen, in The Journal of Military History (2012) 76#1 pp. 233–234
Thomas Paine published his pamphlet Common Sense in January 1776, after the Revolution had started. It was widely distributed and often read aloud in taverns, contributing significantly to concurrently spreading the ideas of republicanism and liberalism, bolstering enthusiasm for separation from Great Britain and encouraging recruitment for the Continental Army.Ferguson, The Commonalities of Common Sense (2000) pp. 465–504 Paine presented the Revolution as the solution for Americans alarmed by the threat of tyranny.
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American Revolution
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Loyalists
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Loyalists
The consensus of scholars is that about 15 to 20 percent of the white population remained loyal to the British Crown.Calhoon, "Loyalism and neutrality" in Greene and Pole, eds. A Companion to the American Revolution (1980) at p. 235 Those who actively supported the king were known at the time as "Loyalists", "Tories", or "King's men". The Loyalists never controlled territory unless the British Army occupied it. They were typically older, less willing to break with old loyalties, and often connected to the Church of England; they included many established merchants with strong business connections throughout the Empire, as well as royal officials such as Thomas Hutchinson of Boston.Calhoon, "Loyalism and neutrality" in Greene and Pole, eds. A Companion to the American Revolution (1980) pp. 235–247,
There were 500 to 1,000 Black Loyalists, enslaved African Americans who escaped to British lines and supported Britain's cause via several means. Many of them died from disease, but the survivors were evacuated by the British to their remaining colonies in North America.Mary BethNorton, "The fate of some Black Loyalists of the American Revolution". Journal of Negro History 58.4 (1973): 402–426 online.
The revolution could divide families, such as William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin and royal governor of the Province of New Jersey who remained loyal to the Crown throughout the war. He and his father never spoke again.Sheila L. Skemp, Benjamin and William Franklin: Father and Son, Patriot and Loyalist (1994) Recent immigrants who had not been fully Americanized were also inclined to support the King.
After the war, the great majority of the half-million Loyalists remained in America and resumed normal lives. Some became prominent American leaders, such as Samuel Seabury. Approximately 46,000 Loyalists relocated to Canada; others moved to Britain (7,000), Florida, or the West Indies (9,000). The exiles represented approximately two percent of the total population of the colonies.Greene and Pole (1994) chapters 20–22 Nearly all Black Loyalists left for Nova Scotia, Florida, or England, where they could remain free. Loyalists who left the South in 1783 took thousands of their slaves with them as they fled to the British West Indies.
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American Revolution
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Neutrals
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Neutrals
A minority of uncertain size tried to stay neutral in the war. Most kept a low profile, but the Quakers were the most important group to speak out for neutrality, especially in Pennsylvania. The Quakers continued to do business with the British even after the war began, and they were accused of supporting British rule, "contrivers and authors of seditious publications" critical of the revolutionary cause.Gottlieb (2005) Most Quakers remained neutral, although a sizeable number participated to some degree.
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American Revolution
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Role of women
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Role of women
thumb|Mercy Otis Warren published poems and plays that attacked royal authority and urged colonists to resist British rule.
Women contributed to the American Revolution in many ways and were involved on both sides. Formal politics did not include women, but ordinary domestic behaviors became charged with political significance as Patriot women confronted a war which permeated all aspects of political, civil, and domestic life. They participated by boycotting British goods, spying on the British, following armies as they marched, washing, cooking, and mending for soldiers, delivering secret messages, and even fighting disguised as men in a few cases, such as Deborah Samson. Mercy Otis Warren held meetings in her house and cleverly attacked Loyalists with her creative plays and histories. Many women also acted as nurses and helpers, tending to the soldiers' wounds and buying and selling goods for them. Some of these camp followers even participated in combat, such as Madam John Turchin who led her husband's regiment into battle. Above all, women continued the agricultural work at home to feed their families and the armies. They maintained their families during their husbands' absences and sometimes after their deaths.Berkin, Revolutionary Mothers (2006) pp. 59–60
American women were integral to the success of the boycott of British goods,Greene and Pole (1994) chapter 41 as the boycotted items were largely household articles such as tea and cloth. Women had to return to knitting goods and to spinning and weaving their own cloth—skills that had fallen into disuse. In 1769, the women of Boston produced 40,000 skeins of yarn, and 180 women in Middletown, Massachusetts wove of cloth. Many women gathered food, money, clothes, and other supplies during the war to help the soldiers. A woman's loyalty to her husband could become an open political act, especially for women in America committed to men who remained loyal to the King. Legal divorce, usually rare, was granted to Patriot women whose husbands supported the King.Kerber, Women of the Republic (1997) chapters 4 and 6Mary Beth Norton, Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women (1980)
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American Revolution
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Other participants
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Other participants
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American Revolution
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France and Spain
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France and Spain
thumb|upright|Louis XVI, King of France and Navarre
In early 1776, France set up a major program of aid to the Americans, and the Spanish secretly added funds. Each country spent one million "livres tournaises" to buy munitions. A dummy corporation run by Pierre Beaumarchais concealed their activities. American Patriots obtained some munitions from the Dutch Republic as well, through the French and Spanish ports in the West Indies.Jonathan Dull, A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution (1985) pp. 57–65 Heavy expenditures and a weak taxation system pushed France toward bankruptcy.David Patrick Geggus, "The effects of the American Revolution on France and its empire". in A Companion to the American Revolution, ed. Jack P. Greene and J.R. Pole (Blackwell, 2000) pp: 523–530.
In 1777, Charles François Adrien le Paulmier, Chevalier d'Annemours, acting as a secret agent for France, made sure General George Washington was privy to his mission. He followed Congress around for the next two years, reporting what he observed back to France. The Treaty of Alliance between the French and the Americans followed in 1778, which led to more French money, matériel and troops being sent to the United States.
Spain did not officially recognize the United States, but it was a French ally and it separately declared war on Britain on June 21, 1779. Bernardo de Gálvez, general of the Spanish forces in New Spain, also served as governor of Louisiana. He led an expedition of colonial troops to capture Florida from the British and to keep open a vital conduit for supplies going to the Americans.Thompson, Buchanan Parker, Spain: Forgotten Ally of the American Revolution North Quincy, Mass.: Christopher Publishing House, 1976.
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American Revolution
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Germans
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Germans
right|thumb|Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben was a former Prussian Army officer who served as inspector general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He is credited with teaching the Continental Army the essentials of military drill and discipline beginning at Valley Forge in 1778, considered a turning point for the Americans.
Ethnic Germans served on both sides of the American Revolutionary War. As George III was also the Elector of Hanover, many supported the Loyalist cause and served as allies of the Kingdom of Great Britain; most notably rented auxiliary troops from German states such as the Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel.
American Patriots tended to represent such troops as mercenaries in propaganda against the British Crown. Even American historians followed suit, in spite of Colonial-era jurists drawing a distinction between auxiliaries and mercenaries, with auxiliaries serving their prince when sent to the aid of another prince, and mercenaries serving a foreign prince as individuals. By this distinction the troops which served in the American Revolution were auxiliaries.
Other German individuals came to assist the American revolutionaries, most notably Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, who served as a general in the Continental Army and is credited with professionalizing that force, but most Germans who served were already colonists. Von Steuben's native Prussia joined the League of Armed Neutrality, and King Frederick II of Prussia was well appreciated in the United States for his support early in the war. He expressed interest in opening trade with the United States and bypassing English ports, and allowed an American agent to buy arms in Prussia. Frederick predicted American success, and promised to recognize the United States and American diplomats once France did the same. Prussia also interfered in the recruiting efforts of Russia and neighboring German states when they raised armies to send to the Americas, and Frederick II forbade enlistment for the American war within Prussia. All Prussian roads were denied to troops from Anhalt-Zerbst, which delayed reinforcements that Howe had hoped to receive during the winter of 1777–1778.
However, when the War of the Bavarian Succession (1778–1779) erupted, Frederick II became much more cautious with Prussian/British relations. U.S. ships were denied access to Prussian ports, and Frederick refused to officially recognize the United States until they had signed the Treaty of Paris. Even after the war, Frederick II predicted that the United States was too large to operate as a republic, and that it would soon rejoin the British Empire with representatives in Parliament.
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American Revolution
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Native Americans
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Native Americans
thumb|Thayendanegea, a Mohawk military and political leader, was the most prominent indigenous leader opposing the Patriot forces.
Most Indigenous people rejected pleas that they remain neutral and instead supported the British Crown. The great majority of the 200,000 Indigenous people east of the Mississippi distrusted the Americans and supported the British cause, hoping to forestall continued expansion of settlement into their territories.Greene and Pole (2004) chapters 19, 46 and 51 Those tribes closely involved in trade tended to side with the Patriots, although political factors were important as well. Some tried to remain neutral, seeing little value in joining what they perceived to be a "white man's war", and fearing reprisals from whichever side they opposed.
The great majority of Indigenous people did not participate directly in the war, with the notable exceptions of warriors and bands associated with four of the Iroquois tribes in New York and Pennsylvania which allied with the British, and the Oneida and Tuscarora tribes among the Iroquois of central and western New York who supported the American cause.Joseph T. Glatthaar and James Kirby Martin, Forgotten Allies: The Oneida Indians and the American Revolution (2007) The British did have other allies, particularly in the regions of southwest Quebec on the Patriot's frontier. The British provided arms to Indigenous people who were led by Loyalists in war parties to raid frontier settlements from the Carolinas to New York. These war parties managed to kill many settlers on the frontier, especially in Pennsylvania and New York's Mohawk Valley.Karim M. Tiro, "A 'Civil' War? Rethinking Iroquois Participation in the American Revolution". Explorations in Early American Culture 4 (2000): 148–165.
In 1776, Cherokee war parties attacked American Colonists all along the southern Quebec frontier of the uplands throughout the Washington District, North Carolina (now Tennessee) and the Kentucky wilderness area.Tom Hatley, The Dividing Paths: Cherokees and South Carolinians through the Era of Revolution (1993); James H. O'Donnell, III, Southern Indians in the American Revolution (1973) The Chickamauga Cherokee under Dragging Canoe allied themselves closely with the British, and fought on for an additional decade after the Treaty of Paris was signed. They launched raids with roughly 200 warriors, as seen in the Cherokee–American wars; they could not mobilize enough forces to invade settler areas without the help of allies, most often the Creek.
Joseph Brant (also Thayendanegea) of the powerful Mohawk tribe in New York was the most prominent Indigenous leader against the Patriot forces. In 1778 and 1780, he led 300 Iroquois warriors and 100 white Loyalists in multiple attacks on small frontier settlements in New York and Pennsylvania, killing many settlers and destroying villages, crops, and stores.
In 1779, the Continental Army forced the hostile Indigenous people out of upstate New York when Washington sent an army under John Sullivan which destroyed 40 evacuated Iroquois villages in central and western New York. The Battle of Newtown proved decisive, as the Patriots had an advantage of three-to-one, and it ended significant resistance; there was little combat otherwise. Facing starvation and homeless for the winter, the Iroquois fled to Canada.Joseph R. Fischer, A Well-Executed Failure: The Sullivan Campaign against the Iroquois, July–September 1779 (1997).
At the peace conference following the war, the British ceded lands which they did not really control, without consultation with their Indigenous allies. They transferred control to the United States of all the land south of the Great Lakes east of the Mississippi and north of Florida. Calloway concludes:
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American Revolution
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Black Americans
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Black Americans
thumb|Crispus Attucks, a () portrait by Herschel Levit depicts Attucks, who is considered to be the first American to die for the cause of independence in the Revolution.
thumb|An African American soldier (left) of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, widely regarded as the first Black battalion in U.S. military history
Free Blacks in the New England Colonies and Middle Colonies in the North as well as Southern Colonies fought on both sides of the War, but the majority fought for the Patriots. Gary Nash reports that there were about 9,000 Black veteran Patriots, counting the Continental Army and Navy, state militia units, privateers, wagoneers in the Army, servants to officers, and spies.Gary B. Nash, "The African Americans Revolution", in Oxford Handbook of the American Revolution (2012) edited by Edward G Gray and Jane Kamensky pp. 250–270, at p. 254 Ray Raphael notes that thousands did join the Loyalist cause, but "a far larger number, free as well as slave, tried to further their interests by siding with the patriots."Ray Raphael, A People's History of the American Revolution (2001) p. 281 Crispus Attucks was one of the five people killed in the Boston Massacre in 1770 and is considered the first American casualty for the cause of independence.
The effects of the war were more dramatic in the South. Tens of thousands of slaves escaped to British lines throughout the South, causing dramatic losses to slaveholders and disrupting cultivation and harvesting of crops. For instance, South Carolina was estimated to have lost about 25,000 slaves to flight, migration, or death which amounted to a third of its slave population.Peter Kolchin, American Slavery: 1619–1877, New York: Hill and Wang, 1993, p. 73
During the war, the British commanders attempted to weaken the Patriots by issuing proclamations of freedom to their slaves.Revolutionary War: The Home Front, Library of Congress In the November 1775 document known as Dunmore's Proclamation Virginia royal governor, Lord Dunmore recruited Black men into the British forces with the promise of freedom, protection for their families, and land grants. Some men responded and briefly formed the British Ethiopian Regiment. Historian David Brion Davis explains the difficulties with a policy of wholesale arming of the slaves:
Davis underscores the British dilemma: "Britain, when confronted by the rebellious American colonists, hoped to exploit their fear of slave revolts while also reassuring the large number of slave-holding Loyalists and wealthy Caribbean planters and merchants that their slave property would be secure".Davis p. 149 The Americans, however, accused the British of encouraging slave revolts, with the issue becoming one of the 27 colonial grievances.Schama pp. 28–30, 78–90
The existence of slavery in the American colonies had attracted criticism from both sides of the Atlantic as many could not reconcile the existence of the institution with the egalitarian ideals espoused by leaders of the Revolution. British writer Samuel Johnson wrote "how is it we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of the Negroes?" in a text opposing the grievances of the colonists.Stanley Weintraub, Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire, 1775–1783 (2005) p. 7 Referring to this contradiction, English abolitionist Thomas Day wrote in a 1776 letter that Thomas Jefferson unsuccessfully attempted to include a section in the Declaration of Independence which asserted that King George III had "forced" the slave trade onto the colonies.Maier, American Scripture, 146–150. Despite the turmoil of the period, African-Americans contributed to the foundation of an American national identity during the Revolution. Phyllis Wheatley, an African-American poet, popularized the image of Columbia to represent America.Hochschild pp. 50–51
The 1779 Philipsburg Proclamation expanded the promise of freedom for Black men who enlisted in the British military to all the colonies in rebellion. British forces gave transportation to 10,000 slaves when they evacuated Savannah and Charleston, carrying through on their promise.Kolchin, American Slavery, p. 73 They evacuated and resettled more than 3,000 Black Loyalists from New York to Nova Scotia, Upper Canada, and Lower Canada. Others sailed with the British to England or were resettled as freedmen in the West Indies of the Caribbean. But slaves carried to the Caribbean under control of Loyalist masters generally remained slaves until British abolition of slavery in its colonies in 1833–1838. More than 1,200 of the Black Loyalists of Nova Scotia later resettled in the British colony of Sierra Leone, where they became leaders of the Krio ethnic group of Freetown and the later national government. Many of their descendants still live in Sierra Leone, as well as other African countries.Hill (2007), see also blackloyalist.com
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American Revolution
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Effects of the revolution
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Effects of the revolution
After the Revolution, genuinely democratic politics became possible in the former American colonies.Gordon Wood. The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1992) pp. 278–279 The rights of the people were incorporated into state constitutions. Concepts of liberty, individual rights, equality among men and hostility toward corruption became incorporated as core values of liberal republicanism. The new United States government was empowered to undertake its own project of territorial expansion and settler colonialism. The greatest challenge to the old order in Europe was the challenge to inherited political power and the democratic idea that government rests on the consent of the governed. The example of the first successful revolution against a European empire, and the first successful establishment of a republican form of democratically elected government, provided a model for many other colonial peoples who realized that they too could break away and become self-governing nations with directly elected representative government.Palmer, (1959)
thumb|left|The U.S. motto Novus ordo seclorum, meaning "A New Age Now Begins", is paraphrased from Thomas Paine's Common Sense, published January 10, 1776. "We have it in our power to begin the world over again," Paine wrote. The American Revolution ended an age—an age of monarchy. And, it began a new age—an age of freedom. As a result of the growing wave started by the Revolution, there are now more people around the world living in freedom than ever before, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the world's population.McDonald, Forrest. Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution, pp. 6–7, Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1985. .Smith, Duane E., general editor. We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution, pp. 204–207, Center for Civic Education, Calabasas, California, 1995. .van Loon, Hendrik. The Story of Mankind, p. 333, Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1921.
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American Revolution
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Interpretations
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Interpretations
Interpretations vary concerning the effect of the Revolution. Historians such as Bernard Bailyn, Gordon Wood, and Edmund Morgan view it as a unique and radical event which produced deep changes and had a profound effect on world affairs, such as an increasing belief in the principles of the Enlightenment. These were demonstrated by a leadership and government that espoused protection of natural rights, and a system of laws chosen by the people.Wood, The American Revolution: A History (2003) John Murrin, by contrast, argues that the definition of "the people" at that time was mostly restricted to free men who passed a property qualification.
Gordon Wood states:
The American Revolution was integral to the changes occurring in American society, politics and culture .... These changes were radical, and they were extensive .... The Revolution not only radically changed the personal and social relationships of people, including the position of women, but also destroyed aristocracy as it'd been understood in the Western world for at least two millennia.Gordon Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1993) pp. 7–8.
Edmund Morgan has argued that, in terms of long-term impact on American society and values:
The Revolution did revolutionize social relations. It did displace the deference, the patronage, the social divisions that had determined the way people viewed one another for centuries and still view one another in much of the world. It did give to ordinary people a pride and power, not to say an arrogance, that have continued to shock visitors from less favored lands. It may have left standing a host of inequalities that have troubled us ever since. But it generated the egalitarian view of human society that makes them troubling and makes our world so different from the one in which the revolutionists had grown up.
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American Revolution
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Inspiring other independence movements and revolutions
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Inspiring other independence movements and revolutions
thumb|The American Revolution was part of the first wave of the Atlantic Revolutions, an 18th and 19th century revolutionary wave in the Atlantic World.
The first shot of the American Revolution at the Battle of Lexington and Concord is referred to as the "shot heard 'round the world". The Revolutionary War victory not only established the United States as the first modern constitutional republic, but marked the transition from an age of monarchy to a new age of freedom by inspiring similar movements worldwide.Bailyn, Bernard. To Begin the World Anew: The Genius and Ambiguities of the American Founders, pp. 35, 134–149, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2003. . The American Revolution was the first of the "Atlantic Revolutions": followed most notably by the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and the Latin American wars of independence. Aftershocks contributed to rebellions in Ireland, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Netherlands.Greene and Pole (1994) ch. 53–55Wim Klooster, Revolutions in the Atlantic World: A Comparative History (2009)
The U.S. Constitution, drafted shortly after independence, remains the world's oldest written constitution, and has been emulated by other countries, in some cases verbatim. Some historians and scholars argue that the subsequent wave of independence and revolutionary movements has contributed to the continued expansion of democratic government; 144 countries, representing two-third of the world's population, are full or partially democracies of same form.Smith, Duane E., general editor. We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution, pp. 204–207, Center for Civic Education, Calabasas, California, 1995. .Wells, H. G. The Outline of History, pp. 840–842, Garden City Publishing Co., Inc., Garden City, NY, 1920.
The Dutch Republic, also at war with Britain, was the next country after France to sign a treaty with the United States, on October 8, 1782. On April 3, 1783, Ambassador Extraordinary Gustaf Philip Creutz, representing King Gustav III of Sweden, and Benjamin Franklin, signed a Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the U.S.
The Revolution had a strong, immediate influence in Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, and France. Many British and Irish Whigs in Parliament spoke glowingly in favor of the American cause. In Ireland, the Protestant minority who controlled Ireland demanded self-rule. Under the leadership of Henry Grattan, the Irish Patriot Party forced the reversal of mercantilist prohibitions against trade with other British colonies. The King and his cabinet in London could not risk another rebellion, and so made a series of concessions to the Patriot faction in Dublin. Armed volunteer units of the Protestant Ascendancy were set up ostensibly to protect against an invasion from France. As had been in colonial America, so too in Ireland now the King no longer had a monopoly of lethal force.R. B. McDowell, Ireland in the Age of Imperialism and Revolution, 1760–1801 (1979)Bailyn, Bernard. To Begin the World Anew: The Genius and Ambiguities of the American Founders, pp. 134–137, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2003. .
For many Europeans, such as the Marquis de Lafayette, who later were active during the era of the French Revolution, the American case along with the Dutch Revolt (end of the 16th century) and the 17th century English Civil War, was among the examples of overthrowing an old regime. The American Declaration of Independence influenced the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789.Palmer, (1959); Greene and Pole (1994) chapters 49–52Center for History and New Media, Liberty, equality, fraternity (2010) The spirit of the Declaration of Independence led to laws ending slavery in all the Northern states and the Northwest Territory, with New Jersey the last in 1804. States such as New Jersey and New York adopted gradual emancipation, which kept some people as slaves for more than two decades longer.Greene and Pole pp. 409, 453–454Bailyn, Bernard. To Begin the World Anew: The Genius and Ambiguities of the American Founders, pp. 134–137, 141–142, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2003. .
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American Revolution
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Status of African Americans
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Status of African Americans
thumb|A Lexington, Massachusetts memorial to Prince Estabrook, who was wounded in the Battle of Lexington and Concord and was the first Black casualty of the Revolutionary War
thumb|A postage stamp, created at the time of the bicentennial, honors Salem Poor, who was an enslaved African American man who purchased his freedom, became a soldier, and rose to fame as a war hero during the Battle of Bunker Hill.Hubbard, Robert Ernest. Major General Israel Putnam: Hero of the American Revolution, p. 98, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina, 2017. .
During the revolution, the contradiction between the Patriots' professed ideals of liberty and the institution of slavery generated increased scrutiny of the latter. As early as 1764, the Boston Patriot leader James Otis, Jr. declared that all men, "white or black", were "by the law of nature" born free. Anti-slavery calls became more common in the early 1770s. In 1773, Benjamin Rush, the future signer of the Declaration of Independence, called on "advocates for American liberty" to oppose slavery. Slavery became an issue that had to be addressed. As historian Christopher L. Brown put it, slavery "had never been on the agenda in a serious way before," but the Revolution "forced it to be a public question from there forward."Brown, Christopher. PBS Video "Liberty! The American Revolution," Episode 6, "Are We to be a Nation?," Twin Cities Television, Inc. 1997.Brown, Christopher Leslie. Moral Capital: Foundations of British Abolitionism, pp. 105–106. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2006. 978-0-8078-3034-5.
In the late 1760s and early 1770s, several colonies, including Massachusetts and Virginia, attempted to restrict the slave trade, but were prevented from doing so by royally appointed governors. In 1774, as part of a broader non-importation movement aimed at Britain, the Continental Congress called on all the colonies to ban the importation of slaves, and the colonies passed acts doing so.
In the first two decades after the American Revolution, state legislatures and individuals took actions to free slaves, in part based on revolutionary ideals. Northern states passed new constitutions that contained language about equal rights or specifically abolished slavery; some states, such as New York and New Jersey, where slavery was more widespread, passed laws by the end of the 18th century to abolish slavery by a gradual method. By 1804, all the northern states had passed laws outlawing slavery, either immediately or over time.Arthur Zilversmit, The First Emancipation: The Abolition of Slavery in the North (1967) pp. 201-230
No southern state abolished slavery. However, individual owners could free their slaves by personal decision. Numerous slaveholders who freed their slaves cited revolutionary ideals in their documents; others freed slaves as a reward for service. Records also suggest that some slaveholders were freeing their own mixed-race children, born into slavery to slave mothers. The number of free Blacks as a proportion of the Black population in the upper South increased from less than 1 percent to nearly 10 percent between 1790 and 1810 as a result of these actions.Ketcham, Ralph. James Madison: A Biography, pp. 625–626, American Political Biography Press, Newtown, Connecticut, 1971. .Wood, Gordon S. Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, pp. 19, 132, 348, 416, Penguin Press, New York, 2017. .Wood, Gordon S. The Radicalism of the American Revolution, pp. 3–8, 186–187, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1992. .Bailyn, Bernard. Faces of Revolution: Personalities and Themes in the Struggle for American Independence, pp. 221–224, Vintage Books, New York, 1992. . Nevertheless, slavery continued in the South, where it became a "peculiar institution", setting the stage for future sectional conflict between North and South over the issue.
Thousands of free Blacks in the northern states fought in the state militias and Continental Army. In the south, both sides offered freedom to slaves who would perform military service. Roughly 20,000 slaves fought in the American Revolution.Hubbard, Robert Ernest. Major General Israel Putnam: Hero of the American Revolution, p. 98, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC, 2017. ; Hoock, Holger. Scars of Independence: America's Violent Birth, pp. 95, 300–303, 305, 308–310, Crown Publishing Group, New York, 2017. ; O'Reilly, Bill and Dugard, Martin. Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence, pp. 96, 308, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2017. ; ;
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American Revolution
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Status of American women
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Status of American women
The status of women during the Revolutionary War can be illustrated by the interchange of gender, sexuality, citizenship, and class. While women were entering a period in which they found themselves gaining more identity within society, it was clear that they were still very much considered under men as their role in society remained being a good wife and mother. Their clothes, the way they responded to their husband, and listened to their husband, was incredibly important in the social sphere. Having a woman who was dressed well for her role as a good wife and mother as well as fitting the social role, was a symbol of not only status, but a family devoted to the republic. As they continued to nurture social and political partnerships, their role in enabling the success of the revolution emphasized their changing role in society – leading to the post-revolutionary reconstruction of gender ideology.
In addition, the democratic ideals of the Revolution inspired changes in the roles of women. Patriot women married to Loyalists who left the state could get a divorce and obtain control of the ex-husband's property.Mary Beth Norton, Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750–1800 (3rd ed. 1996) Abigail Adams expressed to her husband, the president, the desire of women to have a place in the new republic:
As discussions rose regarding the rights of man post Revolutionary war, women began pushing a debate for the rights of women as well. One particular woman, Mary Wallstonecraft, would pioneer the discussion regarding women’s rights, and push those like Abigail Adams to begin expressing the desire to want a larger place in society. Wollstonecraft was an English writer, philosopher, and advocate for women’s rights, and would publish the Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) – challenging the idea that rights should only be granted to men. As one of the first major advocates and foundational figures for women’s rights and gender equality in a time where women were considered inferior to men, Wollstonecraft focused on equal education and social opportunities for women – believing that if women were educated the same as men, they would gain autonomy over their own lives and better contribute to society. Her radical ideas would give ground to the conversation in allowing women to be bearers of rights alongside men – that while the rights of man were taking on a new meaning post-revolutionary America, it was time for the rights of women too. Inspired by the radical feminism in her work, women in the early republic would change their views on marriage, education, participation in public life, and autonomy – pushing them to lay the groundwork for the later women’s suffrage movement, education opportunities, property rights, and more.
However, this new sense of independence and dignity did not come with ease, as a gender hierarchy would continue to bind what it meant for women to have rights during the post-revolutionary era. Women in the early republic had many limitations – they could not vote, hold political office, earn fair wages, lacked opportunities for higher education and certain professions, and most importantly, own property independently of their husbands. In addition, they held little legal powers in subjects such as divorce, property rights, and child custody. A central legal concept that reinforced these restrictions was coverture, a central legal doctrine that limited women’s lives in all aspects – making a woman’s legal identity a part of their husband’s and essentially making them subordinates. The denial of things like property rights to women through coverture would play an important role in why they were denied many other rights, as property was a symbol of individual liberty and empowerment during the post-revolutionary era.
So while women would eventually begin gaining new rights such as increased access to education and limited property and voting rights – much of their lives still depended on men. This stark contrast of men’s versus women’s rights comes from the deeply established gender roles from philosophical theories like the Scottish Theory – stating that the rights of women were simply benefits in life. The emphasis of women’s rights was on duty and obligation, instead of liberty and choice – confining women to the traditional role of wife and mother. On the other hand, men’s rights were heavily inspired by Locke, as it emphasized equality, individual autonomy, and the expansion of personal freedoms. This is evident in their rights to property, participation in government, and autonomy. So while women were becoming bearers of rights, the foundation and philosophy of those given rights differed vastly and continued to stay limited.
The early national period of America would continue to struggle with the concept of rights and equality, as women also faced the notion that women should be under the dominance of men – carried by a resurgence of Christian beliefs. Women were blamed for the “Fall of Man”, in reference to Eve and Adam in the Bible. So while women were beginning to bear rights, the type of language that was being used when talking about the rights of women was done with care and hesitance. This Christian worldview has viewed women as inferior to men long before the early republic, however it is important to note the influence it would continue to place onto their rights as they began to oppose traditional gender roles.
It is also important to note that for more than thirty years, however, the 1776 New Jersey State Constitution gave the vote to "all inhabitants" who had a certain level of wealth, including unmarried women and blacks (not married women because they could not own property separately from their husbands), until in 1807, when that state legislature passed a bill interpreting the constitution to mean universal white male suffrage, excluding paupers.Klinghoffer and Elkis ("The Petticoat Electors: W omen's Suffrage in New Jersey, 1776–1807", Journal of the Early Republic 12, no. 2 (1992): 159–193.)
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American Revolution
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Loyalist expatriation
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Loyalist expatriation
thumb|British Loyalists fleeing to British Canada as depicted in this early 20th century drawing
Tens of thousands of Loyalists left the United States following the war; Philip Ranlet estimates 20,000, while Maya Jasanoff estimates as many as 70,000.Maya Jasanoff, Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World (2011). Philip Ranlet, however, estimates that only 20,000 adult white Loyalists went to Canada. "How Many American Loyalists Left the United States?." Historian 76.2 (2014): 278–307. Some migrated to Britain, but the great majority received land and subsidies for resettlement in British colonies in North America, especially Quebec (concentrating in the Eastern Townships), Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia.W. Stewart Wallace, The United Empire Loyalists: A Chronicle of the Great Migration (Toronto, 1914) online edition Britain created the colonies of Upper Canada (Ontario) and New Brunswick expressly for their benefit, and the Crown awarded land to Loyalists as compensation for losses in the United States. Nevertheless, approximately eighty-five percent of the Loyalists stayed in the United States as American citizens, and some of the exiles later returned to the U.S.Van Tine, American Loyalists (1902) p. 307 Patrick Henry spoke of the issue of allowing Loyalists to return as such: "Shall we, who have laid the proud British lion at our feet, be frightened of its whelps?" His actions helped secure return of the Loyalists to American soil.
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American Revolution
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Commemorations
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Commemorations
The American Revolution has a central place in the American memoryMichael Kammen, A Season of Youth: The American Revolution and the Historical Imagination (1978); Kammen, Mystic Chords of Memory: The Transformation of Tradition in American Culture (1991) as the story of the nation's founding. It is covered in the schools, memorialized by two national holidays, Washington's Birthday in February and Independence Day in July, and commemorated in innumerable monuments. George Washington's estate at Mount Vernon was one of the first national pilgrimages for tourists and attracted 10,000 visitors a year by the 1850s.
The Revolution became a matter of contention in the 1850s in the debates leading to the American Civil War (1861–1865), as spokesmen of both the Northern United States and the Southern United States claimed that their region was the true custodian of the legacy of 1776.Jonathan B. Crider, "De Bow's Revolution: The Memory of the American Revolution in the Politics of the Sectional Crisis, 1850–1861," American Nineteenth Century History (2009) 10#3 pp. 317–332 The United States Bicentennial in 1976 came a year after the American withdrawal from the Vietnam War, and speakers stressed the themes of renewal and rebirth based on a restoration of traditional values.David Ryan, "Re-enacting Independence through Nostalgia – The 1976 US Bicentennial after the Vietnam War", Forum for Inter-American Research (2012) 5#3 pp. 26–48.
Today, more than 100 battlefields and historic sites of the American Revolution are protected and maintained by the government. The National Park Service alone manages and maintains more than 50 battlefield parks and many other sites such as Independence Hall that are related to the Revolution.National Park Service Revolutionary War Sites. Accessed January 4, 2018. The private American Battlefield Trust uses government grants and other funds to preserve almost 700 acres of battlefield land in six states, and the ambitious private recreation/restoration/preservation/interpretation of over 300 acres of pre-1790 Colonial Williamsburg was created in the first half of the 20th century for public visitation. American Battlefield Trust "Saved Land" webpage. Accessed May 30, 2018.
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American Revolution
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See also
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See also
International relations (1648–1814)
List of George Washington articles
List of films about the American Revolution
List of plays and musicals about the American Revolution
List of television series and miniseries about the American Revolution
Museum of the American Revolution
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American Revolution
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Notes
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Notes
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American Revolution
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References
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References
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American Revolution
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Sources
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Sources
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American Revolution
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Further reading
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Further reading
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American Revolution
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Reference works
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Reference works
Barnes, Ian, and Charles Royster. The Historical Atlas of the American Revolution (2000), maps and commentary excerpt and text search
Herrera, Ricardo A. "American War of Independence" Oxford Bibliographies (2017) annotated guide to major scholarly books and articles online
Kennedy, Frances H. The American Revolution: A Historical Guidebook (2014) A guide to 150 famous historical sites.
Purcell, L. Edward. Who Was Who in the American Revolution (1993); 1500 short biographies
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American Revolution
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Surveys of the era
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Surveys of the era
Alden, John R. A history of the American Revolution (1966) 644 pp online, A scholarly general survey
Allison, Robert. The American Revolution: A Concise History (2011) 128 pp excerpt and text search
Atkinson, Rick. The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775–1777 (2019) (vol 1 of his 'The Revolution Trilogy'); called, "one of the best books written on the American War for Independence," [Journal of Military History Jan 2020 p. 268]; the maps are online here
, British perspective
Brown, Richard D., and Thomas Paterson, eds. Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, 1760–1791: Documents and Essays (2nd ed. 1999)
Bunker, Nick. An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America. New York 2014.
, British perspective'
Cogliano, Francis D. Revolutionary America, 1763–1815; A Political History (2nd ed. 2008), British textbook
Ellis, Joseph J. American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies in the Founding of the Republic (2008) excerpt and text search
Higginbotham, Don. The War of American Independence: Military Attitudes, Policies, and Practice, 1763–1789 (1983) Online in ACLS Humanities E-book Project; comprehensive coverage of military and domestic aspects of the war.
Mackesy, Piers. The War for America: 1775–1783 (1992), British military study
Rakove, Jack N. Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America (2010) interpretation by leading scholar excerpt and text search
Taylor, Alan. American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750–1804 (2016) 704 pp; recent survey by leading scholar
Weintraub, Stanley. Iron Tears: Rebellion in America 1775–83 (2005) excerpt and text search, popular
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American Revolution
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Specialized studies
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Specialized studies
Baer, Friederike. Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War (Oxford University Press, 2022). Publisher's website.
Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. (Harvard University Press, 1967).
Becker, Frank: The American Revolution as a European Media Event, European History Online, Mainz: Institute of European History, 2011, retrieved: October 25, 2011.
Carté, Katerine. Religion and the American Revolution: An Imperial History. Chapel Hill: Omohondro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the University of North Carolina Press 2021.
Fischer, David Hackett. Washington's Crossing (2004). 1776 campaigns; Pulitzer prize.
Gilbert, Alan. Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipstuob in the War for Independence. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 2012.
Horne, Gerald. The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America. (New York University Press, 2014).
Langley, Lester D. The Long American Revolution and Its Legacy(U of Georgia Press, 2019) online review emphasis on long-term global impact.
McCullough, David. 1776 (2005). ; popular narrative of the year 1776
Maier, Pauline. American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence (1998) excerpt and text search
Nash, Gary B. The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America. (2005).
Nevins, Allan; The American States during and after the Revolution, 1775–1789 1927. online edition
Norton, Mary Beth. 1774: The Long Year of Revolution (2020) online review by Gordon S. Wood
Palmer, Robert R. The Age of the Democratic Revolution: A Political History of Europe and America, 1760–1800. vol 1 (1959)
Rothbard, Murray, Conceived in Liberty (2011), Volume III: Advance to Revolution, 1760–1775 and Volume IV: The Revolutionary War, 1775–1784. , libertarian perspective
Van Tyne, Claude Halstead. American Loyalists: The Loyalists in the American Revolution (1902) online edition
Volo, James M. and Dorothy Denneen Volo. Daily Life during the American Revolution (2003)
Wahlke, John C. ed. The Causes of the American Revolution (1967) primary and secondary readings online
Wood, Gordon S. American Revolution (2005) [excerpt and text search] 208 pp excerpt and text search
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American Revolution
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Historiography
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Historiography
Allison, David, and Larrie D. Ferreiro, eds. The American Revolution: A World War (Smithsonian, 2018) excerpt
Breen, Timothy H. "Ideology and nationalism on the eve of the American Revolution: Revisions once more in need of revising." Journal of American History (1997): 13–39. in JSTOR
Burnard, Trevor. Writing Early America: From Empire to Revolution. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press 2023. Analysis of 400 scholarly journal articles.
Countrymen, Edward. "Historiography" in Harold E. Selesky, ed., Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Gale, 2006) pp. 501–508.
Gibson, Alan. Interpreting the Founding: Guide to the Enduring Debates over the Origins and Foundations of the American Republic (2006).
Hattem, Michael D. "The Historiography of the American Revolution" Journal of the American Revolution (2013) online outlines ten different scholarly approaches
Morgan, Gwenda. The Debate on the American Revolution (2007). Manchester University Press.
Schocket, Andrew M. Fighting over the Founders: How We Remember the American Revolution (2014). . How politicians, screenwriters, activists, biographers, museum professionals, and re-enactors portray the American Revolution. excerpt
Shalhope, Robert E. "Toward a republican synthesis: the emergence of an understanding of republicanism in American historiography." William and Mary Quarterly (1972): 49–80. in JSTOR
Waldstreicher, David. "The Revolutions of Revolution Historiography: Cold War Contradance, Neo-Imperial Waltz, or Jazz Standard?" Reviews in American History 42.1 (2014): 23–35. online
Wood, Gordon S. "Rhetoric and Reality in the American Revolution." William and Mary Quarterly (1966): 4–32. in JSTOR
Young, Alfred F. and Gregory H. Nobles. Whose American Revolution Was It? Historians Interpret the Founding (2011). NYU Press.
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American Revolution
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Primary sources
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Primary sources
The American Revolution: Writings from the War of Independence (2001), Library of America
Dann, John C., ed. The Revolution Remembered: Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence (1999). . excerpt and text search, recollections by ordinary soldiers
Humphrey, Carol Sue, ed. The Revolutionary Era: Primary Documents on Events from 1776 to 1800 (2003), Greenwood Press. , Newspaper accounts excerpt and text search
Jensen, Merill, ed. Tracts of the American Revolution, 1763–1776 (1967). American pamphlets
Jensen, Merill, ed. English Historical Documents: American Colonial Documents to 1776: Volume 9 (1955), 890 pp; major collection of important documents
Morison, Samuel E. ed. Sources and Documents Illustrating the American Revolution, 1764–1788, and the Formation of the Federal Constitution (1923). .
Murdoch, David H. ed. Rebellion in America: A Contemporary British Viewpoint, 1769–1783 (1979), 900+ pp of annotated excerpts from Annual Registeronline
Martin Kallich and Andrew MacLeish, eds. The American Revolution through British eyes (1962) primary documents
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American Revolution
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External links
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External links
American Revolution, US National Park Service website portal
American Independence Teaching with Historic Places uses historic places in National Parks and the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places to enliven history, social studies, geography, civics, and other subjects
Ben Franklin's World, podcast on early America, sponsored by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. <www.benfranklinsworld.com>
Library of Congress Guide to the American Revolution
"Hessians:" German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War. Academic blog with original German sources, English translations, and commentary.
Museum of the American Revolution
Revolution! The Atlantic World Reborn, explores the transformations in the world's politics from 1763 to 1815, with particular attention to three revolutions in America, France, and Haiti. Linking the attack on monarchism and aristocracy to the struggle against slavery, it at how freedom, equality, and sovereignty of the people became universal goals. New-York Historical Society
132 historic photographs dealing with the personalities, monuments, weapons and locations of the American Revolution; these are pre-1923 and out of copyright.
Pictures of the Revolutionary War: Select Audiovisual Records, National Archives and Records Administration images, including non-military events and portraits
The Democratic Revolution of the Enlightenment. Legacy of the struggle for independence and democracy.
PBS Television Series Liberty
Chickasaws Conflicted by the American Revolution – Chickasaw.TV
Smithsonian study unit on Revolutionary Money
Black Loyalist Heritage Society
Spanish and Latin American contribution to the American Revolution
American Archives: Documents of the American Revolution at Northern Illinois University Libraries
"Counter-Revolution of 1776": Was U.S. Independence War a Conservative Revolt in Favor of Slavery? Democracy Now! June 27, 2014.
Wikiversity:The Great American Paradox
Category:1760s conflicts
Category:1770s conflicts
Category:1780s conflicts
Category:1770s in the United States
Category:1780s in the United States
Category:18th-century rebellions
Category:18th-century revolutions
Category:Age of Enlightenment
Category:Legal history of the United States
Category:Coups d'état and coup attempts in the United States
Category:Democratization
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American Revolution
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Table of Content
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Short description, Origins, 1651–1763: Early seeds, 1764–1766: Taxes imposed and withdrawn, 1767–1773: Townshend Acts and the Tea Act, 1774–1775: Intolerable Acts, Military hostilities begin, Creating new state constitutions, Second Continental Congress, Declaration of Independence, Defending the revolution, British return: 1776–1777, Prisoners, American alliances after 1778, 1778–1783: the British move south, Surrender at Yorktown (1781), End of the war, Paris peace treaty, Finance, Concluding the revolution, National debt, Ideology and factions, Ideology behind the revolution, Liberalism, Republicanism, Protestant dissenters and the Great Awakening, Class and psychology of the factions, King George III, Patriots, Loyalists, Neutrals, Role of women, Other participants, France and Spain, Germans, Native Americans, Black Americans, Effects of the revolution, Interpretations, Inspiring other independence movements and revolutions, Status of African Americans, Status of American women, Loyalist expatriation, Commemorations, See also, Notes, References, Sources, Further reading, Reference works, Surveys of the era, Specialized studies, Historiography, Primary sources, External links
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April 17
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pp-pc1
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April 17
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Events
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Events
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April 17
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Pre-1600
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Pre-1600
1080 – Harald III of Denmark dies and is succeeded by Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be canonized.
1349 – The rule of the Bavand dynasty in Mazandaran is brought to an end by the murder of Hasan II.
1362 – Kaunas Castle falls to the Teutonic Order after a month-long siege.
1492 – Spain and Christopher Columbus sign the Capitulations of Santa Fe for his voyage to Asia to acquire spices.
1521 – Trial of Martin Luther over his teachings begins during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. Initially intimidated, he asks for time to reflect before answering and is given a stay of one day.
1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches New York harbor.
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April 17
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1601–1900
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1601–1900
1783 – American Revolutionary War: Colbert's Raid: A Spanish garrison under Captain Jacobo du Breuil defeat British irregulars at Arkansas Post.
1797 – Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico, in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in the Americas.
1797 – Citizens of Verona begin an unsuccessful eight-day rebellion against the French occupying forces.
1861 – The state of Virginia's secession convention votes to secede from the United States; Virginia later becomes the eighth state to join the Confederate States of America.
1863 – American Civil War: Grierson's Raid begins: Troops under Union Army Colonel Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.
1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Plymouth begins: Confederate forces attack Plymouth, North Carolina.
1869 – Morelos is admitted as the 27th state of Mexico.
1876 – Catalpa rescue: The rescue of six Fenian prisoners from Fremantle Prison in Western Australia.
1895 – The Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan is signed. This marks the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtian province, Taiwan and the Penghu to Japan.
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April 17
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1901–present
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1901–present
1905 – The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York, which holds that the "right to free contract" is implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1907 – The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.
1912 – Russian troops open fire on striking goldfield workers in northeast Siberia, killing at least 150.
1925 – The Communist Party of Korea (CPK) was founded in Japanese-ruled Korea (Chōsen) in Keijō (now Seoul) by Kim Yong-bom and Pak Hon-yong.
1931 – After negotiations between Catalan and Spanish provisional governments, the Catalan Republic proclaimed in April 14 becomes the Generalitat de Catalunya, the autonomous government of Catalonia within the Spanish Republic.
1941 – World War II: The Axis powers invasion of Yugoslavia is completed when it signs an armistice with Germany and Italy.
1942 – French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Königstein Fortress.
1944 – Forces of the Communist-controlled Greek People's Liberation Army attack the smaller National and Social Liberation resistance group, which surrenders. Its leader Dimitrios Psarros is murdered.
1945 – World War II: Montese, Italy, is liberated from Nazi forces.
1945 – Historian Tran Trong Kim is appointed the Prime Minister of the Empire of Vietnam.
1946 – The last French troops are withdrawn from Syria.
1951 – The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park.
1961 – Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
1964 – Jerrie Mock completes the first around-the-world airplane flight by a woman. Her solo flight in the Spirit of Columbus, which took 29 1/2 days, took off and landed at the Port Columbus International Airport in Ohio.
1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.
1969 – Communist Party of Czechoslovakia chairman Alexander Dubček is deposed.
1970 – Apollo program: The damaged Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.
1971 – The Provisional Government of Bangladesh is formed.
1975 – The Cambodian Civil War ends. The Khmer Rouge captures the capital Phnom Penh and Cambodian government forces surrender.
1978 – Mir Akbar Khyber is assassinated, provoking the Saur Revolution in Afghanistan.
1982 – Constitution Act, 1982 Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.
1986 – An alleged state of war lasting 335 years between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly declared peace bringing an end to any hypothetical war that may have been legally considered to exist.
1992 – The Katina P is deliberately run aground off Maputo, Mozambique, and 60,000 tons of crude oil spill into the ocean.
1998 – Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-90, the final Spacelab mission.
2003 – Anneli Jäätteenmäki takes office as the first female prime minister of Finland.
2006 – A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates an explosive device in a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing 11 people and injuring 70.
2013 – An explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West, Texas, kills 15 people and injures 160 others.
2014 – NASA's Kepler space telescope confirms the discovery of the first Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of another star.
2021 – The funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
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April 17
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Births
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Births
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April 17
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Pre-1600
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Pre-1600
1277 – Michael IX Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1320)
1455 – Andrea Gritti, Doge of Venice (d. 1538)
1497 – Pedro de Valdivia, Spanish conquistador, conquered northern Chile (d. 1553)
1573 – Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria (d. 1651)
1586 – John Ford, English poet and playwright (d. 1639)
1598 – Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Italian priest and astronomer (d. 1671)
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April 17
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1601–1900
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1601–1900
1620 – Marguerite Bourgeoys, French-Canadian nun and saint, founded the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal (d. 1700)
1635 – Edward Stillingfleet, British theologian and scholar (d. 1699)
1683 – Johann David Heinichen, German composer and theorist (d. 1729)
1710 – Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan, Scottish politician (d. 1767)
1734 – Taksin, King of Thailand (d. 1782)
1741 – Samuel Chase, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1811)
1750 – François de Neufchâteau, French academic and politician, French Minister of the Interior (d. 1828)
1756 – Dheeran Chinnamalai, Indian commander (d. 1805)
1766 – Collin McKinney, American surveyor, merchant, and politician (d. 1861)
1794 – Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist and explorer (d. 1868)
1798 – Étienne Bobillier, French mathematician and academic (d. 1840)
1799 – Eliza Acton, English food writer and poet (d. 1859)
1814 – Josif Pančić, Serbian botanist and academic (d. 1888)
1816 – Thomas Hazlehurst, English architect and philanthropist (d. 1876)
1820 – Alexander Cartwright, American firefighter and (disputed) inventor of baseball (d. 1892)
1833 – Jean-Baptiste Accolay, Belgian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1900)
1837 – J. P. Morgan, American banker and financier, founded J.P. Morgan & Co. (d. 1913)
1842 – Maurice Rouvier, French businessman and politician, 53rd Prime Minister of France (d. 1911)
1849 – William R. Day, American jurist and politician, 36th United States Secretary of State (d. 1923)
1852 – Cap Anson, American baseball player and manager (d. 1922)
1863 – Augustus Edward Hough Love, English mathematician and theorist (d. 1940)
1865 – Ursula Ledóchowska, Polish-Austrian nun and saint, founded the Congregation of the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus (d. 1939)
1866 – Ernest Starling, English physiologist and academic (d. 1927)
1875 – Aleksander Tõnisson, Estonian general and politician, 5th Estonian Minister of War (d. 1941)
1877 – Matsudaira Tsuneo, Japanese diplomat (d. 1949)
1878 – Emil Fuchs, German-American lawyer and businessman (d. 1961)
1878 – Demetrios Petrokokkinos, Greek tennis player (d. 1942)
1879 – Henri Tauzin, French hurdler (d. 1918)
1882 – Artur Schnabel, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1951)
1888 – Herms Niel, German soldier, trombonist, and composer (d. 1954)
1891 – George Adamski, Polish-American ufologist and author (d. 1965)
1895 – Robert Dean Frisbie, American soldier and author (d. 1948)
1896 – Señor Wences, Spanish-American ventriloquist (d. 1999)
1897 – Nisargadatta Maharaj, Indian philosopher and educator (d. 1981)
1897 – Thornton Wilder, American novelist and playwright (d. 1975)
1897 – Edouard Wyss-Dunant, Swiss physician and mountaineer (d. 1983)
1899 – Aleksander Klumberg, Estonian decathlete and coach (d. 1958)
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April 17
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1901–present
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1901–present
1903 – Nicolas Nabokov, Russian-American composer and educator (d. 1978)
1903 – Gregor Piatigorsky, Ukrainian-American cellist and educator (d. 1976)
1903 – Morgan Taylor, American hurdler and coach (d. 1975)
1905 – Louis Jean Heydt, American journalist and actor (d. 1960)
1905 – Arthur Lake, American actor (d. 1987)
1906 – Sidney Garfield, American physician, co-founded Kaiser Permanente (d. 1984)
1909 – Alain Poher, French politician, President of France (d. 1996)
1910 – Evangelos Averoff, Greek historian and politician, Greek Minister of Defence (d. 1990)
1910 – Ivan Goff, Australian screenwriter and producer (d. 1999)
1910 – Helenio Herrera, French footballer and manager (d. 1997)
1911 – Hervé Bazin, French author and poet (d. 1996)
1911 – Lester Rodney, American soldier and journalist (d. 2009)
1912 – Marta Eggerth, Hungarian-American actress and singer (d. 2013)
1914 – George Davis, American art director (d. 1984)
1914 – Mac Raboy, American illustrator (d. 1967)
1915 – Martin Clemens, Scottish soldier (d. 2009)
1915 – Joe Foss, American general and politician, 20th Governor of South Dakota (d. 2003)
1915 – Regina Ghazaryan, Armenian painter (d. 1999)
1916 – Win Maung, 3rd President of Union of Myanmar (d. 1989)
1916 – A. Thiagarajah, Sri Lankan educator and politician (d. 1981)
1916 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, world's first female prime minister (d. 2000)
1918 – William Holden, American actor (d. 1981)
1919 – Gilles Lamontagne, Canadian lieutenant and politician, 24th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2016)
1919 – Chavela Vargas, Costa Rican-Mexican singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2012)
1920 – Edmonde Charles-Roux, French journalist and author (d. 2016)
1923 – Lindsay Anderson, English actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1994)
1923 – Solly Hemus, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2017)
1923 – Neville McNamara, Australian air marshal (d. 2014)
1923 – Gianni Raimondi, Italian lyric tenor (d. 2008)
1923 – Harry Reasoner, American soldier and journalist (d. 1991)
1924 – Kenneth Norman Jones, Australian public servant (d. 2022)
1924 – Donald Richie, American-Japanese author and critic (d. 2013)
1925 – René Moawad, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 13th President of Lebanon (d. 1989)
1926 – Joan Lorring, British actress (d. 2014)
1926 – Gerry McNeil, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 2004)
1927 – Margot Honecker, East German politician and First Lady (d. 2016)
1928 – Victor Lownes, American businessman (d. 2017)
1928 – Cynthia Ozick, American short story writer, novelist, and essayist
1928 – Heinz Putzl, Austrian fencer
1928 – Fabien Roy, Canadian accountant and politician (d. 2023)
1929 – James Last, German-American bassist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2015)
1930 – Chris Barber, English trombonist and bandleader (d. 2021)
1931 – John Barrett, English tennis player and sportscaster
1931 – Malcolm Browne, American journalist and photographer (d. 2012)
1934 – Don Kirshner, American songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
1934 – Peter Morris, Australian-English surgeon and academic (d. 2022)
1935 – Bud Paxson, American broadcaster, founded Home Shopping Network and Pax TV (d. 2015)
1936 – Urs Wild, Swiss chemist (d. 2022)
1937 – Ronald Hamowy, Canadian historian and academic (d. 2012)
1937 – Ferdinand Piëch, Austrian-German engineer and businessman (d. 2019)
1938 – Ben Barnes, American businessman and politician, 36th Lieutenant Governor of Texas
1938 – Doug Lewis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 41st Canadian Minister of Justice
1938 – Ronald H. Miller, American theologian, author, and academic (d. 2011)
1938 – Kerry Wendell Thornley, American theorist and author (d. 1988)
1939 – Robert Miller, American art dealer (d. 2011)
1940 – Eric Dancer, English businessman and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Devon
1940 – Billy Fury, English singer-songwriter (d. 1983)
1940 – John McCririck, English journalist (d. 2019)
1940 – Chuck Menville, American animator and screenwriter (d. 1992)
1940 – Anja Silja, German soprano and actress
1940 – Agostino Vallini, Italian cardinal and vicar general of Rome
1941 – Lagle Parek, Estonian architect and politician, Estonian Minister of the Interior
1942 – Buster Williams, American jazz bassist
1942 – Dnyaneshwar Agashe, Indian businessman and cricketer (d. 2009)*
1943 – Richard Allen Epstein, American lawyer, author, and academic
1946 – Clare Francis, English sailor and author
1947 – Nigel Emslie, Lord Emslie, Scottish lawyer and judge
1947 – Richard Field, English lawyer and judge
1947 – Sherrie Levine, American photographer
1947 – Tsutomu Wakamatsu, Japanese baseball player, coach, and manager
1948 – Jan Hammer, Czech pianist, composer, and producer
1948 – Alice Harden, American educator and politician (d. 2012)
1948 – Pekka Vasala, Finnish runner
1951 – Olivia Hussey, Argentinian-English actress (d. 2024)
1951 – Börje Salming, Swedish ice hockey player and businessman (d. 2022)
1952 – Joe Alaskey, American voice actor (d. 2016)
1952 – Pierre Guité, Canadian ice hockey player
1952 – John McColl, English general and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Jersey
1952 – Željko Ražnatović, Serbian commander "Arkan" (d. 2000)
1952 – John Robertson, Scottish businessman and politician
1954 – Riccardo Patrese, Italian race car driver
1954 – Roddy Piper, Canadian professional wrestler and actor (d. 2015)
1954 – Michael Sembello, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1955 – Todd Lickliter, American basketball player and coach
1955 – Pete Shelley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
1955 – Mike Stroud, English physician and explorer
1956 – Colin Tyre, Lord Tyre, Scottish lawyer and judge
1957 – Teri Austin, Canadian actress
1957 – Afrika Bambaataa, American disc jockey
1957 – Dwane Casey, American basketball coach
1957 – Nick Hornby, English novelist, essayist, lyricist, and screenwriter
1957 – Julia Macur, English lawyer and judge
1957 – Frank McDonough, British historian
1958 – Laslo Babits, Canadian javelin thrower (d. 2013)
1959 – Sean Bean, English actor
1959 – Jimmy Mann, Canadian ice hockey player
1959 – Li Meisu, Chinese shot putter
1960 – Vladimir Polyakov, Russian pole vaulter
1961 – Norman Cowans, Jamaican-English cricketer
1961 – Boomer Esiason, American football player and sportscaster
1961 – Bella Freud, English fashion designer
1962 – Paul Nicholls, English jockey and trainer
1964 – Ken Daneyko, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1964 – Maynard James Keenan, American singer-songwriter and producer
1964 – Rachel Notley, Canadian politician
1964 – Lela Rochon, American actress
1966 – Vikram, Indian actor and singer
1967 – Henry Ian Cusick, Peruvian-Scottish actor
1967 – Kimberly Elise, American actress
1967 – Marquis Grissom, American baseball player and coach
1967 – Ian Jones, New Zealand rugby player
1967 – Barnaby Joyce, Australian politician, 17th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
1967 – Liz Phair, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1968 – Julie Fagerholt, Danish fashion designer
1968 – Phil Henderson, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
1968 – Eric Lamaze, Canadian jockey
1968 – Roger Twose, New Zealand cricketer
1968 – Richie Woodhall, English boxer and trainer
1970 – Redman, American rapper, producer, and actor
1971 – Claire Sweeney, English actress
1972 – Gary Bennett, American baseball player
1972 – Tony Boselli, American football player and sportscaster
1972 – Jennifer Garner, American actress
1972 – Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lankan cricketer
1972 – Yuichi Nishimura, Japanese footballer and referee
1972 – Terran Sandwith, Canadian ice hockey player
1973 – Katrin Koov, Estonian architect
1973 – Brett Maher, Australian basketball player and sportscaster
1973 – Theo Ratliff, American basketball player
1974 – Mikael Åkerfeldt, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1974 – Victoria Beckham, English singer and fashion designer
1975 – Heidi Alexander, English politician
1975 – Travis Roy, American ice hockey player (d. 2020)
1976 – Maurice Wignall, Jamaican hurdler and long jumper
1977 – Chad Hedrick, American speed skater
1977 – Frederik Magle, Danish composer, organist, and pianist
1978 – Monika Bergmann-Schmuderer, German skier
1978 – Lindsay Hartley, American actress
1978 – Jason White, Scottish rugby player
1979 – Eric Brewer, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 – Marija Šestak, Serbian-Slovenian triple jumper
1980 – Fabián Vargas, Colombian footballer
1980 – Curtis Woodhouse, English footballer, boxer, and manager
1981 – Jenny Meadows, English runner
1981 – Hanna Pakarinen, Finnish singer-songwriter
1981 – Ryan Raburn, American baseball player
1981 – Chris Thompson, English runner
1981 – Zhang Yaokun, Chinese footballer
1982 – Brad Boyes, Canadian ice hockey player
1982 – Chuck Kobasew, Canadian ice hockey player
1982 – Tyron Woodley, American mixed martial artist
1983 – Stanislav Chistov, Russian ice hockey player
1983 – Roberto Jiménez, Peruvian footballer
1983 – Andrea Marcato, Italian rugby player
1984 – Pablo Sebastián Álvarez, Argentinian footballer
1984 – Jed Lowrie, American baseball player
1984 – Raffaele Palladino, Italian footballer
1985 – Rooney Mara, American actress
1985 – Luke Mitchell, Australian actor and model
1985 – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, French tennis player
1986 – Romain Grosjean, French race car driver
1988 – Takahiro Moriuchi, Japanese singer-songwriter
1989 – Paraskevi Papachristou, Greek triple jumper
1989 – Avi Kaplan, singer and songwriter
1990 – Jonathan Brown, Welsh footballer
1992 – Lachlan Maranta, Australian rugby league footballer
1992 – Jo Jinho, South Korean singer
1994 – Alanna Goldie, Canadian fencer
1994 – Yang Hongseok, South Korean singer and actor
1995 – Jung Wheein, South Korean singer
1996 – Lorna Fitzgerald, British actress
1996 – Caitlin Parker, Australian boxer
1996 – Helene Spilling, Norwegian dancer
1998 – Suppapong Udomkaewkanjana (Saint), Thai actor and singer
2001 – Shin Ryujin, South Korean rapper, singer and dancer
2005 – Antonio Nusa, Norwegian footballer
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April 17
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Deaths
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Deaths
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April 17
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Pre-1600
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Pre-1600
485 – Proclus, Greek mathematician and philosopher (b. 412)
617 – Donnán of Eigg, Irish priest and saint
648 – Xiao, empress of the Sui dynasty
744 – Al-Walid II, Umayyad caliph (b. 706)
818 – Bernard of Italy, Frankish king (b. 797)
858 – Benedict III, pope of the Catholic Church
1071 – Manuel Komnenos, Byzantine military commander (b. c. 1045)
1080 – Harald III of Denmark (b. 1041)
1111 – Robert of Molesme, Christian saint and abbot (b. 1027)
1298 – Árni Þorláksson, Icelandic bishop (b. 1237)
1321 – Infanta Branca of Portugal, daughter of King Afonso III of Portugal (b. 1259)
1331 – Robert de Vere, 6th Earl of Oxford, English nobleman (b. 1257)
1344 – Constantine II, King of Armenia
1355 – Marin Falier, Doge of Venice (b. 1285)
1427 – John IV, Duke of Brabant (b. 1403)
1539 – George, Duke of Saxony (b. 1471)
1574 – Joachim Camerarius, German scholar and translator (b. 1500)
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April 17
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1601–1900
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1601–1900
1669 – Antonio Bertali, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1605)
1680 – Kateri Tekakwitha, Mohawk-born Native American saint (b. 1656)
1695 – Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican poet and scholar (b. 1651)
1696 – Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French author (b. 1626)
1711 – Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1678)
1713 – David Hollatz, Polish pastor and theologian (b. 1648)
1764 – Johann Mattheson, German lexicographer and composer (b. 1681)
1790 – Benjamin Franklin, American inventor, publisher, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (b. 1706)
1799 – Richard Jupp, English surveyor and architect (b. 1728)
1840 – Hannah Webster Foster, American journalist and author (b. 1758)
1843 – Samuel Morey, American engineer (b. 1762)
1882 – George Jennings, English engineer and plumber, invented the flush toilet (b. 1810)
1888 – E. G. Squier, American archaeologist and journalist (b. 1821)
1892 – Alexander Mackenzie, Scottish-Canadian politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1822)
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April 17
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1901–present
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1901–present
1919 – Svetozar Ćorović, Serbian novelist (b. 1875)Svetozar Corovic (in Serbian). Serbian Forum. Retrieved on 2 August 2014.
1921 – Manwel Dimech, Maltese journalist, author, and philosopher (b. 1860)
1923 – Laurence Ginnell, Irish lawyer and politician (b. 1852)
1930 – Alexander Golovin, Russian painter and stage designer (b. 1863)
1933 – Kote Marjanishvili, Georgian director and playwright (b. 1872)
1936 – Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck, Dutch lawyer and politician, 28th Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1873)
1942 – Jean Baptiste Perrin, French-American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)
1944 – J. T. Hearne, English cricketer and coach (b. 1867)
1944 – Dimitrios Psarros, Greek lieutenant, founded the National and Social Liberation (b. 1893)
1946 – Juan Bautista Sacasa, Nicaraguan medical doctor, politician and 20th President of Nicaragua (b. 1874)
1948 – Kantarō Suzuki, Japanese admiral and politician, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1868)
1954 – Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, Romanian lawyer and politician, Romanian Minister of Justice (b. 1900)
1960 – Eddie Cochran, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1938)
1961 – Elda Anderson, American physicist and health researcher (b. 1899)
1967 – Red Allen, American singer and trumpet player (b. 1908)
1975 – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher and politician, 2nd President of India (b. 1888)
1976 – Henrik Dam, Danish biochemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
1977 – William Conway, Irish cardinal (b. 1913)
1983 – Felix Pappalardi, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (b. 1939)
1984 – Claude Provost, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1933)
1986 – Marcel Dassault, French businessman, founded Dassault Aviation (b. 1892)
1987 – Cecil Harmsworth King, English publisher (b. 1901)
1987 – Dick Shawn, American actor (b. 1923)
1988 – Louise Nevelson, Ukrainian-American sculptor and educator (b. 1900)
1990 – Ralph Abernathy, American minister and activist (b. 1936)
1993 – Turgut Özal, Turkish engineer and politician, 8th president of Turkey (b. 1927)
1993 – Gamal Hamdan, Egyptian scholar and geographer (b. 1928)
1994 – Roger Wolcott Sperry, American psychologist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
1995 – Frank E. Resnik, American sergeant and businessman (b. 1928)
1996 – Piet Hein, Danish poet and mathematician (b. 1905)
1997 – Chaim Herzog, Israeli general, lawyer, and politician, 6th President of Israel (b. 1918)
1998 – Linda McCartney, American photographer, activist, and musician (b. 1941)
2003 – Robert Atkins, American physician and cardiologist, created the Atkins diet (b. 1930)
2003 – H. B. Bailey, American race car driver (b. 1936)
2003 – John Paul Getty, Jr., American-English philanthropist (b. 1932)
2003 – Earl King, American blues singer, guitarist and songwriter (b. 1934)
2003 – Yiannis Latsis, Greek businessman (b. 1910)
2004 – Edmond Pidoux, Swiss author and poet (b. 1908)
2006 – Jean Bernard, French physician and haematologist (b. 1907)
2006 – Scott Brazil, American director and producer (b. 1955)
2006 – Henderson Forsythe, American actor (b. 1917)
2007 – Kitty Carlisle, American actress, singer, socialite and game show panelist (b. 1910)
2008 – Aimé Césaire, Caribbean-French poet and politician (b. 1913)
2008 – Danny Federici, American organist and accordion player (b. 1950)
2011 – Eric Gross, Austrian-Australian pianist and composer (b. 1926)
2011 – Michael Sarrazin, Canadian actor (b. 1940)
2011 – Robert Vickrey, American artist and author (b. 1926)
2012 – Leila Berg, English journalist and author (b. 1917)
2012 – J. Quinn Brisben, American educator and politician (b. 1934)
2012 – Dimitris Mitropanos, Greek singer (b. 1948)
2012 – Nityananda Mohapatra, Indian journalist, poet, and politician (b. 1912)
2012 – Jonathan V. Plaut, American rabbi and author (b. 1942)
2012 – Stanley Rogers Resor, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 9th United States Secretary of the Army (b. 1917)
2013 – Carlos Graça, São Toméan politician, Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe (b. 1931)
2013 – Bi Kidude, Tanzanian Taarab singer (b. ≈1910)
2013 – Yngve Moe, Norwegian bass player and songwriter (b. 1957)
2013 – V. S. Ramadevi, Indian politician, 13th Governor of Karnataka (b. 1934)
2014 – Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1927)
2014 – Bernat Klein, Serbian-Scottish fashion designer and painter (b. 1922)
2014 – Wojciech Leśnikowski, Polish–American architect and academic (b. 1938)
2014 – Karpal Singh, Malaysian lawyer and politician (b. 1940)
2015 – Robert P. Griffin, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1923)
2015 – Scotty Probasco, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1928)
2015 – Jeremiah J. Rodell, American general (b. 1921)
2015 – A. Alfred Taubman, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1924)
2016 – Chyna, American wrestler (b. 1969)
2016 – Doris Roberts, American actress (b. 1925)
2018 – Barbara Bush, American political matriarch and literacy advocate, First Lady of the United States (1989–1993), and Second Lady of the United States (1981–1989) (b. 1925)
2018 – Carl Kasell, American radio personality (b. 1934)
2019 – Alan García, Peruvian lawyer and politician, 61st and 64th President of Peru (b. 1949)
2022 – Radu Lupu, Romanian pianist (b. 1945)
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April 17
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Holidays and observances
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Holidays and observances
Christian feast day:
Donnán of Eigg
Henry Heath
Kateri Tekakwitha (Canada)
Robert of Molesme
Shemon bar Sabbae
April 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Evacuation Day (Syria), celebrates the recognition of the independence of Syria from France in 1946.
FAO Day (Iraq)
Flag Day (American Samoa)
Malbec World Day
Women's Day (Gabon)
World Hemophilia Day
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April 17
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References
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References
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April 17
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External links
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External links
BBC: On This Day
Historical Events on April 17
Category:Days of April
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April 17
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Table of Content
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pp-pc1, Events, Pre-1600, 1601–1900, 1901–present, Births, Pre-1600, 1601–1900, 1901–present, Deaths, Pre-1600, 1601–1900, 1901–present, Holidays and observances, References, External links
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Alan Ayckbourn
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short description
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Sir Alan Ayckbourn (born 12 April 1939) is a prolific British playwright and director. As of 2025, he has written and produced 90 full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their first performance. More than 40 have subsequently been produced in the West End, at the Royal National Theatre or by the Royal Shakespeare Company since his first hit Relatively Speaking opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1967.
Major successes include Absurd Person Singular (1975), The Norman Conquests trilogy (1973), Bedroom Farce (1975), Just Between Ourselves (1976), A Chorus of Disapproval (1984), Woman in Mind (1985), A Small Family Business (1987), Man of the Moment (1988), House & Garden (1999) and Private Fears in Public Places (2004). His plays have won numerous awards, including seven London Evening Standard Awards. They have been translated into over 35 languages and are performed on stage and television throughout the world. Ten of his plays have been staged on Broadway, attracting two Tony nominations, and one Tony award.
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Alan Ayckbourn
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Life
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Life
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Alan Ayckbourn
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Childhood
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Childhood
Ayckbourn was born in Hampstead, London.P. Allen, 2001, p. 9Biography on the official Alan Ayckbourn website accessed 17 April 2019 His mother, Irene Worley ("Lolly") (1906–1998), was a writer of short stories who published under the name "Mary James".P. Allen, 2001, p. 10 His father, Horace Ayckbourn (1904–1965), was an orchestral violinist and was the lead violinist at the London Symphony Orchestra.P. Allen, 2001, p. 6 His parents, who separated shortly after World War II, never married, and Ayckbourn's mother divorced her first husband to marry again in 1948.
Ayckbourn wrote his first play at Wisborough Lodge (a preparatory school in the village of Wisborough Green) when he was about 10.P. Allen, 2001, p. 20 While he was at prep school as a boarder, his mother wrote to tell him she was marrying Cecil Pye, a bank manager. His new family consisted of his mother, his stepfather and Christopher, his stepfather's son by an earlier marriage. This relationship too, reportedly ran into difficulties early on.P. Allen, 2001, pp. 17–19
Ayckbourn attended Haileybury and Imperial Service College, in the village of Hertford Heath and, while there, he toured Europe and America with the school's Shakespeare company.P. Allen, 2001, pp. 30–33
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Alan Ayckbourn
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Adult life
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Adult life
After leaving school at 17, Ayckbourn took several temporary jobs in various places before starting a temporary position at the Scarborough Library Theatre, where he was introduced to the artistic director, Stephen Joseph.P. Allen, 2001, pp. 43–46 It is said that Joseph became both a mentor and father figure for Ayckbourn until his untimely death in 1967,P. Allen, 2001, pp. 118–119 and Ayckbourn has consistently spoken highly of him.Ayckbourn, Alan (2003). The Crafty Art of Playmaking, Faber,
Ayckbourn's career was briefly interrupted when he was called up for National Service. He was swiftly discharged, officially on medical grounds, but it is suggested that a doctor who noticed his reluctance to join the Armed Forces deliberately failed the medical as a favour.P. Allen, 2001, pp. 72–75 Although Ayckbourn continued to move wherever his career took him, he settled in Scarborough, eventually buying Longwestgate House, which had previously been owned by his mentor, Joseph.P. Allen, 2001, pp. 145–146
In 1957, Ayckbourn married Christine Roland, another member of the Library Theatre company.20 Facts about Alan Ayckbourn accessed 5 January 2009P. Allen, 2001, pp. 297–299P. Allen, 2001, pp. 65–67 Ayckbourn's first two plays were, in fact, written jointly with her under the pseudonym of "Roland Allen".P. Allen, 2001, pp. 67–72 They had two sons, Steven and Philip.P. Allen, 2001, pp. 69, 85 However, the marriage had difficulties, which eventually led to their separation in 1971. Ayckbourn said that his relationship with Roland became easy once they agreed their marriage was over. About this time, he shared a home with Heather Stoney,P. Allen, 2001, p. 132 an actress he had first met ten years earlier.P. Allen, 2001, p. 88 Like his mother, neither he nor Roland sought an immediate divorce and it was not until thirty years later, in 1997, that they were formally divorced and Ayckbourn married Stoney.P. Allen, 2001, pp. 297–298 One side effect of the timing is that, when Ayckbourn was awarded a knighthood a few months before the divorce,P. Allen, 2001, p. 295 both his first and second wives were entitled to take the title of Lady Ayckbourn.
In February 2006, he suffered a stroke in Scarborough, and stated: "I hope to be back on my feet, or should I say my left leg, as soon as possible, but I know it is going to take some time. In the meantime I am in excellent hands and so is the Stephen Joseph Theatre." He left hospital after eight weeks and returned to directing after six months. The following year, Ayckbourn announced he would step down as artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre. He continues, however, to write and direct his own work at the theatre.
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Alan Ayckbourn
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Influence on plays
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Influence on plays
Since the time Ayckbourn's plays became established in the West End, interviewers have raised the question of whether his work is autobiographical.P. Allen, 2001, p. 123 There is no clear answer to this question. There has been only one biography, written by Paul Allen, which primarily covers his career in the theatre.P. Allen, 2001, Ayckbourn has frequently said he sees aspects of himself in all of his characters. In Bedroom Farce (1975), for example, he admitted to being, in some respects, all four of the men in the play.P. Allen, 2001, p. 155 It has been suggested that, after Ayckbourn himself, the person who is used most often in his plays is his mother, particularly as Susan in Woman in MindP. Allen, 2001, p. 3 (1985).
What is less clear is the extent to which events in Ayckbourn's life have influenced his writing. It is true that the theme of marriages in difficulty was heavily present throughout his plays in the early seventies, at about the time his own marriage was coming to an end. However, by that time, he had also witnessed the failure of his parents' relationships and those of some of his friends. Which relationships, if any, he drew on for his plays, is unclear. In Paul Allen's biography, Ayckbourn is briefly compared with Dafydd and Guy in A Chorus of Disapproval (1984). Both characters feel themselves to be in trouble and there was speculation that Ayckbourn himself might have felt the same way. At the time, he had reportedly become seriously involved with another actress, which threatened his relationship with Stoney.P. Allen, 2001, pp. 209–210 It is unclear whether this had any effect on the writing; Paul Allen's view is that Ayckbourn did not use his personal experiences to write his plays.
It is possible that Ayckbourn wrote plays with himself and his own situation in mind but, as Ayckbourn is portrayed as a guarded and private man, it is hard to imagine him exposing his own life in his plays to any great degree. In the biography, Paul Allen writes, with regard to a suggestion in Cosmopolitan that Ayckbourn's plays were becoming autobiographical: "If we take that to mean that his plays tell his own life story, he still hasn't started."
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Alan Ayckbourn
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Career
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Career
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Alan Ayckbourn
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Early career and acting
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Early career and acting
On leaving school, Ayckbourn's theatrical career began immediately, when his French master introduced him to Sir Donald Wolfit.P. Allen, 2001, p. 32 Ayckbourn joined Wolfit on tour to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as an acting assistant stage manager (a role that involved both acting and stage management) for three weeks.P. Allen, 2001, pp. 36–38 His first experiences on the professional stage were various roles in The Strong are Lonely by Fritz Hochwälder. In the following year, Ayckbourn appeared in six other plays at the Connaught Theatre, WorthingP. Allen, 2001, pp. 38–40 and the Thorndike theatre, LeatherheadP. Allen, 2001, pp. 41–43 where Hazel Vincent Wallace employed him as both an actor and an assistant stage manager.
In 1957, Ayckbourn was employed by the director Stephen Joseph at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, the predecessor to the modern Stephen Joseph Theatre. Again, his role was initially as acting stage manager. This employment led to Ayckbourn's first professional script commission, in 1958. When he complained about the quality of a script he was performing, Joseph challenged him to write a better one. The result was The Square Cat, written under the pseudonym Roland Allen and first performed in 1959.P. Allen, 2001, p. 65 In this play, Ayckbourn himself played the character of Jerry Watiss.
In 1962, after thirty-four appearances in plays at the Library Theatre, including four of his own, Ayckbourn moved to Stoke-on-Trent to help set up the Victoria Theatre (now the New Vic),P. Allen, 2001, pp. 87–88 where he appeared in a further eighteen plays. His final appearance in one of his own plays was as the Crimson Gollywog in the disastrous children's play Christmas v Mastermind.P. Allen, 2001, p. 90 He left the Stoke company in 1964, officially to commit his time to the London production of Mr. Whatnot, but reportedly because was having trouble working with the artistic director, Peter Cheeseman.P. Allen, 2001, pp. 98–99 By now, his career as a writer was coming to fruition and his acting career was sidelined.
His final role on stage was as Jerry in Two for the Seesaw by William Gibson, at the Civic Theatre in Rotherham. He was left stranded on stage because Heather Stoney (his future wife) was unable to re-appear due to her props not being ready for use. This led to his conclusion that acting was more trouble than it was worth.P. Allen, 2001, pp. 99–100 The assistant stage manager on the production, Bill Kenwright, would go on to become one of the UK's most successful producers.
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Alan Ayckbourn
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Writing
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Writing
Ayckbourn's first play, The Square Cat, was sufficiently popular locally to secure further commissions, although neither this nor the following three plays had much impact beyond Scarborough.History of early plays on official Ayckbourn site After his transfer to Victoria Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent, Christmas v Mastermind, flopped; this play is now universally regarded as Ayckbourn's greatest disaster.Christmas v Mastermind history on official Ayckbourn site.P. Allen, 2001, pp. 89–90
Ayckbourn's fortunes revived in 1963 with Mr. Whatnot, which also premiered at the Victoria Theatre. This was the first play that Ayckbourn was sufficiently happy with to allow continued performances today, and the first play to receive a West End performance. However, the West End production flopped, in part due to misguided casting.P. Allen, 2001, pp. 96, 101–102Mr. Whatnot history on official Ayckbourn site. After this, Ayckbourn experimented by collaborating with comedians, first writing a monologue for Tommy Cooper, and later with Ronnie Barker, who played Lord Slingsby-Craddock in the London production of Mr Whatnot in 1964, on the scripts for LWT's Hark at Barker. Ayckbourn used the pseudonym Peter Caulfield because he was under exclusive contract to the BBC at the time.P. Allen, 2001, p. 108
In 1965, back at the Scarborough Library Theatre, Meet my Father was produced, and later retitled Relatively Speaking. This time, the play was a massive success, both in Scarborough and in the West End, earning Ayckbourn a congratulatory telegram from Noël Coward.P. Allen, 2001, pp. 109–113Relatively Speaking history on official Ayckbourn site This was not quite the end of Ayckbourn's hit-and-miss record. His next play, The Sparrow ran for only three weeks at Scarborough P. Allen, 2001, p. 119The Sparrow history on official Ayckbourn site but the following play, How the Other Half Loves, secured his runaway success as a playwright.P. Allen, 2001, pp. 122–123How the Other Half Loves history on official Ayckbourn site
The height of Ayckbourn's commercial success came with plays such as Absurd Person Singular (1975), The Norman Conquests trilogy (1973), Bedroom Farce (1975) and Just Between Ourselves (1976). These plays focused heavily on marriage in the British middle classes. The only failure during this period was a 1975 musical with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jeeves; even this did little to dent Ayckbourn's career.P. Allen, 2001, pp. 146–148Jeeves history on official Ayckbourn site
From the 1980s, Ayckbourn moved away from the recurring theme of marriage to explore other contemporary issues. One example was Woman in Mind, a play performed entirely from the perspective of a woman going through a nervous breakdown.P. Allen, 2001, pp. 213–217Woman in Mind history on official Ayckbourn site He also experimented with unconventional ways of writing plays: Intimate Exchanges, for example, has one beginning and sixteen possible endings, and in House & Garden, two plays take place simultaneously on two separate stages. He also diversified into children's theatre, such as Mr A's Amazing Maze Plays and musical plays, such as By Jeeves (a more successful rewrite of the original Jeeves).
With a résumé of over seventy plays, of which more than forty have played at the National Theatre or in the West End, Alan Ayckbourn is one of England's most successful living playwrights. Despite his success, honours and awards (which include a prestigious Laurence Olivier Award), Alan Ayckbourn remains a relatively anonymous figure, dedicated to regional theatre. Throughout his writing career, all but four of his plays premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough in its three different locations.
Ayckbourn received the CBE in 1987P. Allen, 2001, p. 220 and was knighted in the 1997 New Year Honours. It is frequently claimedSee, for example, (but not proved) that Alan Ayckbourn is the most performed living English playwright, and the second most performed of all time, after Shakespeare.
Although Ayckbourn's plays no longer dominate the theatrical scene on the scale of his earlier works, he continues to write. Among major success has been Private Fears in Public Places, which had a hugely successful Off-Broadway run at 59E59 Theaters and, in 2006, was made into a film, Cœurs, directed by Alain Resnais.Private Fears in Public Places history on official Ayckbourn site After Ayckbourn suffered a stroke, there was uncertainty as to whether he could continue to write. The play that premiered immediately after his stroke, If I Were You, had been written before his illness; the first play written afterwards, Life and Beth, premiered in the summer of 2008. Ayckbourn continues to write for the Stephen Joseph Theatre on the invitation of his successor as artistic director, Chris Monks. The first new play under this arrangement, My Wonderful Day, was performed in October 2009.News calendar on official Ayckbourn site.
Ayckbourn continues to experiment with theatrical form. The play Roundelay opened in September 2014; before each performance, members of the audience are invited to extract five coloured ping pong balls from a bag, leaving the order in which each of the five acts is played left to chance, and allowing 120 possible permutations. In Arrivals and Departures (2013), the first half of the play is told from the point of view of one character, only for the second half to dramatise the same events from the point of view of another.
Many of Ayckbourn's plays, including Private Fears in Public Places, Intimate Exchanges, My Wonderful Day and Neighbourhood Watch, have had their New York premiere at 59E59 Theaters as part of the annual Brits Off Broadway Festival.
In 2019, Ayckbourn had published his first novel, The Divide, which had previously been showcased during a reading at the Stephen Joseph Theatre.
As a consequence of the Covid lockdown, Ayckbourn's 2020 play, Anno Domino, was recorded as a radio production, with Ayckbourn and his wife Heather playing all the roles. Similarly, Ayckbourn's Covid-period 2021 play, The Girl Next Door, was streamed online and made available behind a paywall on the Stephen Joseph Theatre's website.
In 2022, the first Ayckbourn play in around 60 years premiered in a venue other than Scarborough: All Lies at the Old Laundry in Bowness-on-Windermere.
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Alan Ayckbourn
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Directing
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Directing
Although Ayckbourn is best known as a writer, it is said that he only spends 10% of his time writing plays. Most of the remaining time is spent directing.P. Allen, 2001, pp. 84–85
Ayckbourn began directing at the Scarborough Library Theatre in 1961, with a production of Gaslight by Patrick Hamilton. During that year and the next, he directed five other plays in Scarborough and, after transferring to the Victoria Theatre, in 1963 directed a further six plays. Between 1964 and 1967, much of his time was taken up by various productions of his early successes, Mr. Whatnot and Relatively Speaking and he directed only one play, The Sparrow, which he wrote and which was later withdrawn. In 1968, he resumed directing plays regularly, mostly at Scarborough. At this time he also worked as a radio drama producer for the BBC, based in Leeds.
At first, his directing career was kept separate from his writing career. It was not until 1963 that Ayckbourn directed a play of his own (a revival of Standing Room Only) and 1967 before he directed a premiere of his own (The Sparrow). The London premieres remained in the hands of other directors for longer; the first of his own plays to be directed by him in London was Bedroom Farce, in 1977.
After the death of Stephen Joseph in 1967, the Director of Productions was appointed on an annual basis. Ayckbourn was offered the position in 1969 and 1970, succeeding Rodney Wood, but he handed the position over to Caroline Smith in 1971, having spent most that year in the US with How the Other Half Loves. He became Director of Productions again in 1972 and, on 12 November of that year, he was made the permanent artistic director of the theatre.
In mid-1986, Ayckbourn accepted an invitation to work as a visiting director for two years at the National Theatre in London, to form his own company, and perform a play in each of the three auditoria, provided at least one was a new play of his own.P. Allen, 2001, p. 219 He used a stock company that included performers such as Michael Gambon, Polly Adams and Simon Cadell. The three plays became four: Tons of Money by Will Evans and Valentine, with adaptations by Ayckbourn (Lyttelton); Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge (Cottesloe); his own play A Small Family Business (Olivier) and John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (Olivier again).Production details for Tons of Money , A View From the Bridge , A Small Family Business and 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore During this time, Ayckbourn shared his role of artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre with Robin Herford and returned in 1987 to direct the premiere of Henceforward....
He announced in 1999 that he would step back from directing the work of other playwrights, to concentrate on his own plays, the last one being Rob Shearman's Knights in Plastic Armour in 1999; he made one exception in 2002, when he directed the world premiere of Tim Firth's The Safari Party.
In 2002, following a dispute over the Duchess Theatre's handling of Damsels in Distress, Ayckbourn sharply criticised both this and the West End's treatment of theatre in general and, in particular, their casting of celebrities. Although he did not explicitly say he would boycott the West End, he did not return to direct in there again until 2009, with a revival of Woman in Mind. He did, however, allow other West End producers to revive Absurd Person Singular in 2007 and The Norman Conquests in 2008.
Ayckbourn suffered a stroke in February 2006 and returned to work in September; the premiere of his 70th play If I Were You at the Stephen Joseph Theatre came the following month.
He announced in June 2007 that he would retire as artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre after the 2008 season. His successor, Chris Monks, took over at the start of the 2009–2010 season but Ayckbourn remained to direct premieres and revivals of his work at the theatre, beginning with How the Other Half Loves in June 2009.
In March 2010, he directed an in-the-round revival of his play Taking Steps at the Orange Tree Theatre, winning universal press acclaim.John Thaxter Taking Steps, The Stage, 29 March 2010
In July 2014, Ayckbourn directed a musical adaptation of The Boy Who Fell into A Book, with musical adaptation and lyrics by Paul James and music by Eric Angus and Cathy Shostak. The show ran in The Stephen Joseph Theatre and received critical acclaim.
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Alan Ayckbourn
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Honours and awards
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Honours and awards
1973: Evening Standard Award, Best Comedy, for Absurd Person Singular
1974: Evening Standard Award, Best Play, for The Norman Conquests
1977: Evening Standard Award, Best Play, for Just Between Ourselves
1981: Honorary Doctor of Letters degree (Litt.D.) from University of Hull
1985: Evening Standard Award, Best Comedy, for A Chorus of Disapproval
1985: Laurence Olivier Award, Best Comedy, for A Chorus of Disapproval
1986: Freedom of the Borough of Scarborough.https://www.thescarboroughnews.co.uk/news/people/boxer-ingle-and-four-others-honoured-by-the-town-1-4262978
1987: Evening Standard Award, Best Play, for A Small Family Business
1987: Plays and Players Award
1987: Honorary Doctor of Letters degree (Litt.D.) from Keele University
1987: Honorary Doctor of Letters degree (Litt.D.) from University of Leeds
1987: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
1989: Evening Standard Award, Best Comedy, for Henceforward...
1990: Evening Standard Award, Best Comedy, for Man of the Moment
1997: Knight Bachelor
1998: Honorary Doctor of the University degree (D.Univ.) from Open University
2008: Induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame
2009: Laurence Olivier Special Award
2009: The Critics' Circle annual award for Distinguished Service to the Arts
2011: Honorary Doctor of Letters degree (Litt.D.) from York St. John University
Ayckbourn also sits on the Council of the Society of Authors. He is also a longtime patron of Next Stage Theatre Company, an amateur theatre company based in Bath.
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Alan Ayckbourn
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Works
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Works
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Alan Ayckbourn
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Full-length plays
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Full-length plays
Play numberThis numbering is the system used by the official Ayckbourn site as to how many plays have been written. This includes the full-length plays performed but later withdrawn and full-length plays for family audiences, but excludes revues and musical entertainments, adaptations of other plays, plays for children, individual one-act plays, "grey plays" (those written for performance but not publication) and plays for television. It also treats each of the plays in The Norman Conquests, House and Garden and Damsels in Distress as one play each, the one-acts from Confusions as a single full-length play, all variations of Intimate Exchanges as one play (likewise for Sisterly Feelings and It Could Be Any One Of Us), both parts of The Revengers' Comedies as a single play, and the rewrites of Jeeves and Callisto 5 as the same play as the original. Other sources may number plays differently. Title Series Scarborough premiereStephen Joseph Theatre premiere dates on Ayckbourn site Scarborough premieres of Ayckbourn plays between 1959 and 1976 were at the original venue of the Library Theatre, and premieres between 1977 and 1995 were at the intermediate venue of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round at Westwood. Premieres from 1996 were at the current Stephen Joseph Theatre, in the Round unless otherwise stated. In some productions, the official premiere date was later than the actual opening night. The premiere date is shown here. West End premiereWest End premiere dates on Ayckbourn site New York premiereBroadway premiere dates on Ayckbourn site1The Square Cat This play is withdrawn. It is not available for production and it is intended that the script will never be published. However, a copy is available at the Bob Watson archive in Scarborough. 30 July 19592Love After All21 December 19593Dad's Tale19 December 19604Standing Room Only13 July 1961(12 June 1966) This play was not performed in the West End but was performed in the British Council, London Overseas Student Centre for one night only. 5Christmas V Mastermind26 December 19626Mr Whatnot12 November 19636 August 19647Relatively Speaking Relatively Speaking was originally titled Meet My Father9 July 196529 March 19678The Sparrow13 July 19679How the Other Half Loves31 July 1969 5 August 1970 29 March 197110Family Circles Family Circles was originally titled The Story So Far..., then Me Times Me Times Me, then Me Times Me 20 August 1970 8 October 197411Time And Time Again8 July 197116 August 197212Absurd Person Singular26 June 19724 July 19738 October 197413The Norman ConquestsTable Manners Table Manners was originally titled Fancy Meeting You 18 June 1973 9 May 1974 7 December 197514Living Together Living Together was originally titled Make Yourself at Home 26 June 1973 21 May 1974 7 December 197515Round and Round the Garden 2 July 1973 6 June 1974 7 December 197516Absent Friends17 June 197423 July 197517Confusions Confusions is a set of five loosely connected one-act plays.30 September 197419 May 197618JeevesJeeves is a musical collaboration with Andrew Lloyd Webber, re-written 1996 as By Jeeves. 22 April 197519Bedroom Farce 16 June 1975 16 March 1977 29 March 197920Just Between Ourselves 28 January 1976 20 April 197721Ten Times Table 18 January 1977 5 April 197822Joking Apart 11 January 1978 7 March 197923Sisterly Feelings 10/11 January 1979Two variations of Sisterly Feelings were premiered on separate nights. 3/4 June 198024Taking Steps 28 September 1979 2 September 1980 20 February 199125Suburban Strains 18 January 1980 5 February 198126Season's Greetings 25 September 1980 29 March 198227Way Upstream2 October 1981 4 October 198228Making Tracks 16 December 1981 14 March 198329Intimate ExchangesIntimate Exchanges is a play with four two-way forks in the plot, thereby offering sixteen possible variations depending on choices made by the characters. The eight variations offered after the third fork are often treated as individual plays.Affairs in a Tent 3 June 1982 14 August 1984 (31 May 2007) The New York Premiere of Intimate Exchanges, was off-Broadway at 59E59 as part of the 2006–07 revival.Events on a Hotel TerraceA Garden FeteA PageantA Cricket MatchA Game of GolfA One Man ProtestLove in the Mist30It Could Be Any One Of Us It Could Be Any One Of Us is a single play with three alternative endings. 5 October 1983 14 March 198331A Chorus of Disapproval 2 May 1984 1 August 198532Woman in Mind 30 May 1985 3 September 198633A Small Family Business20 May 1987 27 April 199234Henceforward... 30 July 1987 21 November 198835Man of the Moment 10 August 1988 14 February 199036Mr A's Amazing Maze Plays 30 November 1988 4 March 199337The Revengers' Comedies The Revengers' Comedies is a two-part play normally performed over two separate evenings. 13 June 1989 13 March 199138Invisible Friends 23 November 1989 13 March 199139Body Language 21 May 199040This Is Where We Came In 4/11 January 199041Callisto 5 Callisto 5 was re-written in 1999 as Callisto #7. 12 December 199042Wildest Dreams 6 May 1991 14 December 199343My Very Own Story 10 August 199144Time of My Life 21 April 1992 3 August 1993 6 June 201445Dreams From A Summer House 26 August 199246Communicating Doors 2 February 1994 7 August 199547Haunting JuliaHaunting Julia and Snake in the Grass were originally written as stand-alone plays. In 2008, they were included in the trilogy Things That Go Bump with the newly written Life and Beth. 20 April 199448The Musical Jigsaw Play 1 December 199449A Word From Our Sponsor 20 April 1995(18) By Jeeves 2 July 1996 2 July 1996 28 October 200150The Champion Of Paribanou 4 December 199651Things We Do For Love 29 April 1997Performed end-stage in the McCarthy Auditorium 2 March 199852Comic Potential 4 June 1998 13 October 199953The Boy Who Fell into a Book 4 December 199854House and Garden House and Garden are a pair of plays intended to be performed simultaneously as a diptych House 17 June 1999 8 August 200055Garden 17 June 1999 8 August 2000(41)Callisto#7 4 December 199956Virtual Reality 8 February 200057Whenever 5 December 200058Damsels in DistressGamePlan 29 May 2001 7 September 200259FlatSpin 3 July 2001 7 September 200260RolePlay 4 September 2001 7 September 200261Snake in the Grass 5 June 200262The Jollies 3 December 200263Sugar Daddies 23 July 200364Orvin – Champion of Champions 8 August 200365My Sister Sadie 2 December 200366Drowning on Dry Land 4 May 200467Private Fears in Public Places 17 August 2004 (5 May 2005)Private Fears in Public Places did not have West End or Broadway performances, but did have a London Premiere at the Orange Tree Theatre in the London Borough of Richmond, and off-Broadway at 59E59 Theaters. (9 June 2005)68Miss Yesterday 2 December 200469Improbable Fiction 31 May 200570If I Were You 17 October 200671 Things That Go BumpLife and Beth 22 July 200872Awaking Beauty 16 December 200873My Wonderful Day 13 October 200911 November 200974Life of Riley 16 September 201075Neighbourhood Watch 13 September 201130 November 201176Surprises 17 July 201277Arrivals & Departures 6 August 2013 29 May 201478Roundelay 9 September 2014 79Hero's Welcome8 September 201526 May 201680Consuming Passions12 August 201681A Brief History of Women5 September 20171 May 201882Better Off Dead11 September 201883Birthdays Past, Birthdays Present10 September 201984Anno Domino25 May 202085The Girl Next Door8 June 202186All Lies6 May 202287Family Album6 September 202288Welcome to the Family16 May 202389Constant Companions12 September 2023
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Alan Ayckbourn
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One-act plays
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One-act plays
Alan Ayckbourn has written eight one-act plays. Five of them (Mother Figure, Drinking Companion, Between Mouthfuls, Gosforth's Fete and Widows Might) were written for Confusions, first performed in 1974.
The other three one-act plays are:
Countdown, first performed in 1962, most well known as part of Mixed Doubles, a set of short one-act plays and monologues contributed by nine different authors.
Ernie's Incredible Illucinations, written in 1969 for a collection of short plays and intended for performance by schools.
A Cut in the Rates, performed at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in 1984, and filmed for a BBC documentary.
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Alan Ayckbourn
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Books
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Books
Ayckbourn, Alan (2019) The Divide. UK: PS Publishing. ISBN 978-1-786364-47-0.
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Alan Ayckbourn
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Film adaptations of Ayckbourn plays
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Film adaptations of Ayckbourn plays
Plays adapted as films include:
A Chorus of Disapproval (play) filmed as A Chorus of Disapproval (1988 film), directed by Michael Winner;
Intimate Exchanges (play) filmed as Smoking/No Smoking (1993 film), directed by Alain Resnais;
The Revengers' Comedies (play) filmed as The Revengers' Comedies (also known as Sweet Revenge), directed by Malcolm Mowbray;
Private Fears in Public Places (play) filmed as Cœurs (2006 film) directed by Alain Resnais.
Life of Riley (play) filmed as Life of Riley (2014 film) directed by Alain Resnais.
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Alan Ayckbourn
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Notes
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Notes
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Alan Ayckbourn
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References
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References
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Alan Ayckbourn
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External links
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External links
Archival material at
Category:1939 births
Category:Living people
Category:Knights Bachelor
Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Category:People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College
Category:Laurence Olivier Award winners
Category:Writers from Scarborough, North Yorkshire
Category:People from Hampstead
Category:Writers from the London Borough of Camden
Category:Fellows of St Catherine's College, Oxford
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
Category:20th-century English dramatists and playwrights
Category:21st-century English dramatists and playwrights
Category:English male dramatists and playwrights
Category:Special Tony Award recipients
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Alan Ayckbourn
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Table of Content
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short description, Life, Childhood, Adult life, Influence on plays, Career, Early career and acting, Writing, Directing, Honours and awards, Works, Full-length plays, One-act plays, Books, Film adaptations of Ayckbourn plays, Notes, References, External links
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redirect Adomnán
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Adamnan
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Table of Content
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Alpha Centauri
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Short description
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Alpha Centauri (, α Cen, or Alpha Cen) is a star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus. It consists of three stars: Rigil Kentaurus (), Toliman (), and Proxima Centauri (). Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Sun at 4.2465 light-years (ly) which is 1.3020 pc.
Rigil Kentaurus and Toliman are Sun-like stars (class G and K, respectively) that together form the binary star system . To the naked eye, these two main components appear to be a single star with an apparent magnitude of −0.27. It is the brightest star in the constellation and the third-brightest in the night sky, outshone by only Sirius and Canopus.
Rigil Kentaurus has 1.1 times the mass () and 1.5 times the luminosity of the Sun (), while Toliman is smaller and cooler, at and less than . The pair orbit around a common centre with an orbital period of 79 years. Their elliptical orbit is eccentric, so that the distance between A and B varies from 35.6 astronomical units (AU), or about the distance between Pluto and the Sun, to or about the distance between Saturn and the Sun. One astronomical unit is the distance from Earth to the Sun, 150 million kilometers.
Proxima Centauri is a small faint red dwarf (class M). Though not visible to the naked eye, Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Sun at a distance of , slightly closer than . The distance between Proxima Centauri and is about , equivalent to about 430 times the radius of Neptune's orbit.
Proxima Centauri has one confirmed planet: Proxima b, an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone (though it is unlikely to be habitable), one candidate planet, Proxima d, sub-Earth which orbits very closely to the star, and the controversial Proxima c, a mini-Neptune astronomical units away. Rigil Kentaurus may have a Neptune-sized planet in the habitable zone, though it is not yet known with certainty to be planetary in nature and could be an artifact of the discovery mechanism. Toliman has no known planets.
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Alpha Centauri
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Etymology and nomenclature
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Etymology and nomenclature
α Centauri (Latinised to Alpha Centauri) is the system's designation given by J. Bayer in 1603. It belongs to the constellation Centaurus, named after the part human, part horse creature in Greek mythology; Heracles accidentally wounded the centaur and placed him in the sky after his death. Alpha Centauri marks the right front hoof of the Centaur. The common name Rigil Kentaurus is a Latinisation of the Arabic translation Rijl al-Qinṭūrus, meaning "the Foot of the Centaur". Qinṭūrus is the Arabic transliteration of the Greek (Kentaurus). The name is frequently abbreviated to Rigil Kent () or even Rigil, though the latter name is better known for Rigel ( Orionis).
An alternative name found in European sources, Toliman, is an approximation of the Arabic aẓ-Ẓalīmān (in older transcription, aṭ-Ṭhalīmān), meaning 'the (two male) Ostriches', an appellation Zakariya al-Qazwini had applied to the pair of stars Lambda and Mu Sagittarii; it was often unclear on old star maps which name was intended to go with which star (or stars), and the referents changed over time. The name Toliman originates with Jacob Golius' 1669 edition of Al-Farghani's Compendium. Tolimân is Golius' Latinisation of the Arabic name "the ostriches", the name of an asterism of which Alpha Centauri formed the main star.
was discovered in 1915 by Robert T. A. Innes, who suggested that it be named Proxima Centaurus, . The name Proxima Centauri later became more widely used and is now listed by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as the approved proper name; it is frequently abbreviated to Proxima.
In 2016, the Working Group on Star Names of the IAU, having decided to attribute proper names to individual component stars rather than to multiple systems, approved the name Rigil Kentaurus () as being restricted to and the name Proxima Centauri () for On 10 August 2018, the IAU approved the name Toliman () for
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Alpha Centauri
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Other names
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Other names
During the 19th century, the northern amateur popularist E.H. Burritt used the now-obscure name Bungula (). Its origin is not known, but it may have been coined from the Greek letter beta () and Latin 'hoof', originally for Beta Centauri (the other hoof).
In Chinese astronomy, Nán Mén, meaning Southern Gate, refers to an asterism consisting of Alpha Centauri and Epsilon Centauri. Consequently, the Chinese name for Alpha Centauri itself is Nán Mén Èr, the Second Star of the Southern Gate. [ AEEA (Activities of Exhibition and Education in Astronomy) 天文教育資訊網 2006 年 6 月 27 日]
To the Indigenous Boorong people of northwestern Victoria in Australia, Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri are Bermbermgle, two brothers noted for their courage and destructiveness, who speared and killed Tchingal "The Emu" (the Coalsack Nebula). The form in Wotjobaluk is Bram-bram-bult.
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Alpha Centauri
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Observation
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Observation
To the naked eye, appear to be a single star, the brightest in the southern constellation of Centaurus. Their apparent angular separation varies over about 80 years between 2 and 22 arcseconds (the naked eye has a resolution of 60 arcsec), but through much of the orbit, both are easily resolved in binoculars or small telescopes. At −0.27 apparent magnitude (combined for A and B magnitudes ), Alpha Centauri is a first-magnitude star and is fainter only than Sirius and Canopus. It is the outer star of The Pointers or The Southern Pointers, so called because the line through Beta Centauri (Hadar/Agena), some 4.5° west, points to the constellation Crux—the Southern Cross. The Pointers easily distinguish the true Southern Cross from the fainter asterism known as the False Cross.
South of about 29° South latitude, is circumpolar and never sets below the horizon. North of about 29° N latitude, Alpha Centauri never rises. Alpha Centauri lies close to the southern horizon when viewed from latitude 29° N to the equator (close to Hermosillo and Chihuahua City in Mexico; Galveston, Texas; Ocala, Florida; and Lanzarote, the Canary Islands of Spain), but only for a short time around its culmination. The star culminates each year at local midnight on 24 April and at local 9 p.m. on 8 June.
As seen from Earth, Proxima Centauri is 2.2° southwest from this distance is about four times the angular diameter of the Moon. Proxima Centauri appears as a deep-red star of a typical apparent magnitude of 11.1 in a sparsely populated star field, requiring moderately sized telescopes to be seen. Listed as V645 Cen in the General Catalogue of Variable Stars, version 4.2, this UV Ceti star or "flare star" can unexpectedly brighten rapidly by as much as 0.6 magnitude at visual wavelengths, then fade after only a few minutes. Some amateur and professional astronomers regularly monitor for outbursts using either optical or radio telescopes. In August 2015, the largest recorded flares of the star occurred, with the star becoming 8.3 times brighter than normal on 13 August, in the B band (blue light region).
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Alpha Centauri
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Observational history
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Observational history
thumb|upright=1.2|The Very Large Telescope open to the night sky, with the Milky Way running diagonally across the sky above it and many southern stars and constellations labelled and connected by lines, including Alpha Centauri and the not visible Proxima Centauri.|alt=Image of a very large telescope dome open to the night sky, with the Milky Way running diagonally across the sky above it and many southern stars and constellations labelled and connected by lines
Alpha Centauri is listed in the 2nd century star catalog appended to Ptolemy's Almagest. Ptolemy gave its ecliptic coordinates, but texts differ as to whether the ecliptic latitude reads or . (Presently the ecliptic latitude is , but it has decreased by a fraction of a degree since Ptolemy's time due to proper motion.) In Ptolemy's time, Alpha Centauri was visible from Alexandria, Egypt, at but, due to precession, its declination is now , and it can no longer be seen at that latitude. English explorer Robert Hues brought Alpha Centauri to the attention of European observers in his 1592 work Tractatus de Globis, along with Canopus and Achernar, noting:
The binary nature of Alpha Centauri AB was recognized in December 1689 by Jean Richaud, while observing a passing comet from his station in Puducherry. Alpha Centauri was only the third binary star to be discovered, preceded by Mizar AB and Acrux.
The large proper motion of Alpha Centauri AB was discovered by Manuel John Johnson, observing from Saint Helena, who informed Thomas Henderson at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope of it. The parallax of Alpha Centauri was subsequently determined by Henderson from many exacting positional observations of the AB system between April 1832 and May 1833. He withheld his results, however, because he suspected they were too large to be true, but eventually published them in 1839 after Bessel released his own accurately determined parallax for in 1838. For this reason, Alpha Centauri is sometimes considered as the second star to have its distance measured because Henderson's work was not fully acknowledged at first. (The distance of Alpha Centauri from the Earth is now reckoned at 4.396 light-years or .)
thumb|Alpha Centauri (Rigel Kentaurus) around the South celestial pole
John Herschel made the first micrometrical observations in 1834. Since the early 20th century, measures have been made with photographic plates.
By 1926, William Stephen Finsen calculated the approximate orbit elements close to those now accepted for this system. All future positions are now sufficiently accurate for visual observers to determine the relative places of the stars from a binary star ephemeris. Others, like D. Pourbaix (2002), have regularly refined the precision of new published orbital elements.
Robert T. A. Innes discovered Proxima Centauri in 1915 by blinking photographic plates taken at different times during a proper motion survey. These showed large proper motion and parallax similar in both size and direction to those of which suggested that Proxima Centauri is part of the system and slightly closer to Earth than . As a result, Innes concluded that Proxima Centauri was the closest star to Earth yet discovered.
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Alpha Centauri
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Location and motion
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Location and motion
Alpha Centauri may be inside the G-cloud of the Local Bubble, and its nearest known system is the binary brown dwarf system Luhman 16, at distance.
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Alpha Centauri
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Historical distance estimates
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Historical distance estimates
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"
|+ Alpha Centauri AB historical distance estimates
|-
! rowspan="2" | Source
! rowspan="2" |Year
! rowspan="2" |Subject!! rowspan="2" | Parallax (mas) !! colspan="3" | Distance !! rowspan="2" | References
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!parsecs !! light-years !! petametres
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| H. Henderson || 1839 || AB || || || 2.81 ± 0.53 || ||
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| T. Henderson
|1842
|AB
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| 1.10 ± 0.15
| 3.57 ± 0.5
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| Maclear
|1851
|AB
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| 32.4 ± 2.5
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| Moesta
|1868
|AB
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| Gill & Elkin
|1885
|AB
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| Roberts
|1895
|AB
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| 1.32 ± 0.2
| 4.29 ± 0.65
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| Woolley et al.
|1970
|AB
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| Gliese & Jahreiß
|1991
|AB
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| van Altena et al.
| 1995
| AB
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| Perryman et al.
| 1997
| AB
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| Söderhjelm
| 1999
| AB
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|rowspan="2"| van Leeuwen
|rowspan="2"| 2007
| A
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| B
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| 37.5 ± 2.5
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| RECONS TOP100
|2012
|AB
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|}
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Alpha Centauri
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Kinematics
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Kinematics
thumb|upright=1.2|Alpha Centauri (with unlabeled Proxima Centauri) on a radar map of all known stellar and substellar objects within 9 light years (ly), arranged clockwise in hours of right ascension, and marked by distance (▬) and position (◆). Distances are marked outward from the Sun (Sol), with concentric circles indicating the distance in one ly steps. Positions are marked inward from their distance markings, connected by lines according to their declinations (doted when positive), representing the arcs of the declinations viewed edge-on.
All components of display significant proper motion against the background sky. Over centuries, this causes their apparent positions to slowly change. Proper motion was unknown to ancient astronomers. Most assumed that the stars were permanently fixed on the celestial sphere, as stated in the works of the philosopher Aristotle. In 1718, Edmond Halley found that some stars had significantly moved from their ancient astrometric positions.
In the 1830s, Thomas Henderson discovered the true distance to by analysing his many astrometric mural circle observations. He then realised this system also likely had a high proper motion. In this case, the apparent stellar motion was found using Nicolas Louis de Lacaille's astrometric observations of 1751–1752, by the observed differences between the two measured positions in different epochs.
Calculated proper motion of the centre of mass for is about 3620 mas/y (milliarcseconds per year) toward the west and 694 mas/y toward the north, giving an overall motion of 3686 mas/y in a direction 11° north of west. The motion of the centre of mass is about 6.1 arcmin each century, or 1.02° each millennium. The speed in the western direction is and in the northerly direction . Using spectroscopy the mean radial velocity has been determined to be around towards the Solar System. This gives a speed with respect to the Sun of , very close to the peak in the distribution of speeds of nearby stars.
Since is almost exactly in the plane of the Milky Way as viewed from Earth, many stars appear behind it. In early May 2028, will pass between the Earth and a distant red star, when there is a 45% probability that an Einstein ring will be observed. Other conjunctions will also occur in the coming decades, allowing accurate measurement of proper motions and possibly giving information on planets.
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Alpha Centauri
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Predicted future changes
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Predicted future changes
thumb|upright=1.2|left|Distances of the nearest stars from 20,000 years ago until 80,000 years in the future|alt=Line graph with x-axis in thousands of years and y-axis in light years, the lines on the graph being labelled with the names of stars.
thumb|upright=1.2|Animation showing motion of through the sky. (The other stars are held fixed for didactic reasons.) "Oggi" means today; "anni" means years.|alt=Animated image of a sky chart of the southern celestial hemisphere labelled with years.
Based on the system's common proper motion and radial velocities, will continue to change its position in the sky significantly and will gradually brighten. For example, in about 6,200 CE, α Centauri's true motion will cause an extremely rare first-magnitude stellar conjunction with Beta Centauri, forming a brilliant optical double star in the southern sky. It will then pass just north of the Southern Cross or Crux, before moving northwest and up towards the present celestial equator and away from the galactic plane. By about 26,700 CE, in the present-day constellation of Hydra, will reach perihelion at away, though later calculations suggest that this will occur in 27,000 AD. At its nearest approach, α Centauri will attain a maximum apparent magnitude of −0.86, comparable to present-day magnitude of Canopus, but it will still not surpass that of Sirius, which will brighten incrementally over the next 60,000 years, and will continue to be the brightest star as seen from Earth (other than the Sun) for the next 210,000 years.
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Alpha Centauri
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Stellar system
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Stellar system
Alpha Centauri is a triple star system, with its two main stars, A and B, together comprising a binary component. The AB designation, or older A×B, denotes the mass centre of a main binary system relative to companion star(s) in a multiple star system. AB-C refers to the component of Proxima Centauri in relation to the central binary, being the distance between the centre of mass and the outlying companion. Because the distance between Proxima (C) and either of Alpha Centauri A or B is similar, the AB binary system is sometimes treated as a single gravitational object.
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Alpha Centauri
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Orbital properties
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Orbital properties
thumb|upright=1.4|left|Apparent and true orbits of Alpha Centauri. The A component is held stationary, and the relative orbital motion of the B component is shown. The apparent orbit (thin ellipse) is the shape of the orbit as seen by an observer on Earth. The true orbit is the shape of the orbit viewed perpendicular to the plane of the orbital motion. According to the radial velocity versus time, the radial separation of A and B along the line of sight had reached a maximum in 2007, with B being further from Earth than A. The orbit is divided here into 80 points: each step refers to a timestep of approx. 0.99888 years or 364.84 days.|alt=Graphic image of a near-circle and a narrow ellipse labelled respectively as "B's real trajectory" and "B's apparent trajectory", with years marked along portions of the ellipses.
thumb|upright=1.4|Orbital plot of Proxima Centauri around the bright apparent star Alpha Centauri AB, with position change marked (in thousands of years).
The A and B components of Alpha Centauri have an orbital period of 79.762 years. Their orbit is moderately eccentric, as it has an eccentricity of almost 0.52; their closest approach or periastron is , or about the distance between the Sun and Saturn; and their furthest separation or apastron is , about the distance between the Sun and Pluto. The most recent periastron was in August 1955 and the next will occur in May 2035; the most recent apastron was in May 1995 and will next occur in 2075.
Viewed from Earth, the apparent orbit of A and B means that their separation and position angle (PA) are in continuous change throughout their projected orbit. Observed stellar positions in 2019 are separated by 4.92 arcsec through the PA of 337.1°, increasing to 5.49 arcsec through 345.3° in 2020. The closest recent approach was in February 2016, at 4.0 arcsec through the PA of 300°. The observed maximum separation of these stars is about 22 arcsec, while the minimum distance is 1.7 arcsec. The widest separation occurred during February 1976, and the next will be in January 2056.
Alpha Centauri C is about from Alpha Centauri AB, equivalent to about 5% of the distance between Alpha Centauri AB and the Sun. Until 2017, measurements of its small speed and its trajectory were of too little accuracy and duration in years to determine whether it is bound to Alpha Centauri AB or unrelated.
Radial velocity measurements made in 2017 were precise enough to show that Proxima Centauri and Alpha Centauri AB are gravitationally bound. The orbital period of Proxima Centauri is approximately years, with an eccentricity of 0.5, much more eccentric than Mercury's. Proxima Centauri comes within of AB at periastron, and its apastron occurs at .
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Alpha Centauri
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Physical properties
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Physical properties
thumb|ESO - Alpha Centauri in the HR-System (by)
thumb|Relative sizes and colour of the Alpha Centauri A, B and C (Proxima) and other local stars, incl. the Sun and Jupiter (artist’s impression)
Asteroseismic studies, chromospheric activity, and stellar rotation (gyrochronology) are all consistent with the Alpha Centauri system being similar in age to, or slightly older than, the Sun. Asteroseismic analyses that incorporate tight observational constraints on the stellar parameters for the Alpha Centauri stars have yielded age estimates of Gyr, Gyr, 6.4 Gyr, and Gyr. Age estimates for the stars based on chromospheric activity (Calcium H & K emission) yield whereas gyrochronology yields Gyr. Stellar evolution theory implies both stars are slightly older than the Sun at 5 to 6 billion years, as derived by their mass and spectral characteristics.
From the orbital elements, the total mass of Alpha Centauri AB is about
– or twice that of the Sun. The average individual stellar masses are about and , respectively, though slightly different masses have also been quoted in recent years, such as and , totaling . Alpha Centauri A and B have absolute magnitudes of +4.38 and +5.71, respectively.
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Alpha Centauri
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Alpha Centauri AB System
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Alpha Centauri AB System
thumb| (left) is of the same stellar type G2 as the Sun, while (right) is a K1-type star.|alt=Two white disks side by side, each with coloured fringes and prominent diffraction spikes
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