American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

James Warren (September 28, 1726-November 28, 1808) was the president of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, following Joseph Warren's death. He was a Major-General in the Provincial Militia; a member of the Navy board for the Eastern Department, a member of the Governor's Council, 1792-94; and a presidential elector from Massachusetts, 1804. He was married to Mercy Otis Warren, 1724-1814, a remarkable author of the Revolutionary period, whose correspondence with numerous founding fathers has granted invaluable insight into our nation's history. In 1805, Mercy Otis Warren wrote the History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution, in 3 volumes....

James Bowdoin (August 7, 1726-November 6, 1790) was an American Revolutionary leader, scientist and successful colonial merchant. He graduated from Harvard, 1745; served in the Massachusetts General Court, 1753-56, and the Executive Council of Massachusetts, 1757-74. He was the president of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, 1779. In 1785, he was elected Governor of Massachusetts after John Hancock's first term, and was known for ending Shays' Rebellion. He was active in the Massachusetts Convention which ratified the U.S. Constitution, 1788. In 1780, he founded the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, serving as its first president. Bowdoin College in Maine, founded in...

William Prescott (February 20, 1726-October 13, 1795) was an American Colonel during the Revolutionary War. He built the fortifications at Breed's Hill and commanded the Colonial Militia at the Battle of Bunker Hill, 1775. He was an instrumental part of the battles of Long Island, 1776, and Saratoga, 1777. In 1774, when the British blockaded the Boston harbor, William Prescott wrote to the city's inhabitants: <We heartily sympathize with you, and are always ready to do all in our power for your support, comfort and relief, knowing that Providence has placed you where you must stand the first shock. We consider...

George Wythe (1726-June 8, 1806) was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was a member of the Continental Congress, a member of the House of Burgesses and the Mayor of Williamsburg. He served as the attorney general of the Virginia Colony and established the first law professorship in the United States at the College of William and Mary. In February of 1776, George Wythe, Roger Sherman and John Adams, comprised a committee responsible for establishing guidelines for an embassy bound for Canada. Their instructions stated: <You are further to declare that we hold sacred the rights of...

John Newton (July 24, 1725-December 21, 1807) was the captain of a slave trading ship, who later converted to Christianity and spent the rest of his life fighting slavery. He is best known for writing the hymn, Amazing Grace. After his mother died, John Newton went to sea at age 11. His rebellious attitude caused him to lose his job and subsequently be caught by a press-gang from the H.M.S. Harwich in 1744. He was put in irons, flogged and eventually put on a slave ship. The slave-trader and his African mistress made John Newton a slave on a plantation, as...