American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

Franz Joseph Haydn (March 31, 1732-May 31, 1809) was an Austrian musical composer. He was considered the first master of the symphony, setting an example which Mozart and Beethoven later followed. He developed the string choir which has become the backbone of the modern orchestra. His works include 104 symphonies, 83 quartets, 42 sonatas, 24 concertos, 14 operas, 8 oratorios as well as the Austrian national anthem. His musical scores were replete with such phrases as "In nomine Domini," "Soli Deo Gloria," or "Laus Deo." Franz Joseph Haydn declared: <When I think of my God, my heart dances within me for...

George Washington (February 22, 1732-December 14, 1799) was the first President of the United States, 1789-97; Chancellor of the College of William and Mary, 1788-99; President of the Constitutional Convention, where the United States Constitution was formulated, May 14, 1787-September 17, 1787; Commander in Chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, 1775-83; delegate to First and Second Continental Congress, 1774-75; Justice of Fairfax County, 1768; member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, 1758-74; in 1759 married Martha Dandridge Custis (1731- 1802), the widowed daughter of Col. John Dandridge; Colonel in the Virginia Militia, 1752-58; aide-de-camp to General Edward Braddock,...

Richard Henry Lee (January 20, 1732-June 19, 1794) was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, a delegate to the First Continental Congress and a U.S. Senator. On November 1, 1777, as recorded in the Journals of Congress, Richard Henry Lee, along with the committee of Samuel Adams and General Daniel Roberdeau, recommended a resolution setting apart: <Thursday, the 18th of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise, that with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the...

Francis Marion (February 26, 1732-February 27, 1795) was a Major-General in the Revolutionary War. His daring tactics and exploits earned him the nickname "Old Swamp Fox" by the British General Banastre Tarleton, who spent much time and energy vainly pursuing, but never apprehending him. "Marion's Brigade" was a volunteer force that could assemble at a moment's notice, and seemed, to the British, to be able to attack everywhere at once. Taking part in several important battles, and capturing many prisoners, General Francis Marion made communication impossible for the British troops in the Carolinas. Marion's grandfather, a French Protestant Huguenot who fled...

John Blair (October 1731-August 31, 1800) was a signer of the Constitution of the United States. He was elected to Virginia's Supreme Court of Appeals and was appointed a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, 1798, by President George Washington. John Blair was active in the Episcopal church in Williamsburg, Virginia. In a letter to his sister, at the time of her husband's death, John Blair expressed: <With much grief of my own and real sympathy for yours, I sit down to write you a Letter of Condolence on as great a Loss as could have befallen you...but an event no way contingent...