American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803-April 27, 1882) was the American poet who composed some of the best loved poems in American literature, including The Concord Hymn, written in 1837 for the dedication of the monument where the Revolutionary War began at Concord's North Bridge, April 19, 1775, which made famous the line, "the shot heard around the world." The most recognizable stanza of this poem is inscribed on the base of Daniel Chester French's Minute Man Statue: <By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April's breeze unfurled; Here once the embattled farmers stood; And fired...

Ohio (March 1, 1803) was the 17th State admitted to the Union. On August 7, 1789, President George Washington signed into law an Act of Congress which prohibited slavery from entering the territory, titled "An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio," Article VI. On April 30, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson signed The Enabling Act for Ohio, which required the government being formed in that territory to be: <...not repugnant to the [Northwest Ordinance].> 1803OH001 The Northwest Ordinance stated: <SECTION 13. And, for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious...

Marcus Whitman (September 4, 1802-November 29, 1847) was an American pioneer, doctor and missionary to the Indians in the Pacific Northwest. Dr. Marcus Whitman had practiced medicine for eight years in Rushville, New York, and in Canada before being appointed, in 1836, as a missionary-physician to Oregon, with his wife Narcissa, by the American Board of Foreign Missions. They set up missions at Wailatpu near Walla Walla, Washington, and at Laowai. In 1842-43, responding to a potential threat of closure, Dr. Marcus Whitman made a 4,000-mile trek east to persuade the Mission Board not to disband the mission. He also...

Victor Marie Hugo (February 26, 1802-May 22, 1885) was a French author. He wrote: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1831; Les Contemplations, 1856; Les Miserables, 1862; Legend of the Centuries, 1859-83; and numerous other great works, was deeply involved in politics, and was exiled from France a number of times. Victor Marie Hugo avouched: <England has two books, the Bible and Shakespeare. England made Shakespeare, but the Bible made England.> 1802VH001 Victor Hugo remarked: <Courage for the great sorrows of life, and patience for the small ones, and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in...

Gustave de Beaumont (February 6, 1802-March 30, 1865) was a French historian, published his work in Paris titled, Marie ou l'Esclavage aux E'tas-Unis, 1835. In this work he documented his travels in America with Alexis de Tocqueville, May 1831-February 1832. He was commissioned by the French Government to study the American prisons, democracy, and religion. In his work, Marie ou l'Esclavage aux E'tas-Unis, 1835, Gustave de Beaumont reported: <The principal established religious sects in North America are the Methodists, Anabaptists, Catholics, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Quakers or Friends, Universalists, Congregationalists, Unitarians, Dutch Reformed, German Reformed, Moravians, Evangelical Lutherans, etc. The Anabaptists are...