American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

Ezra Stiles (November 29, 1727-May 12, 1795) was a founder of Rhode Island College (later Brown University) in 1763, the president of Yale College, and was the president of the first society for the abolition of slavery formed in Connecticut, in 1790. On May 8, 1783, as the president of Yale College, Ezra Stiles gave a major Election Address, titled "The United States Elevated to Glory and Honor," before the Governor and the General Assembly of Connecticut, declaring: <Our system of dominion and civil polity would be imperfect without the true religion; or that from the diffusion of virtue among the...

William Samuel Johnson (October 7, 1727-November 14, 1819) was one of the signers of the United State Constitution. He was a distinguished lawyer, having received an honorary doctorate in civil law from Oxford, 1766. He was a delegate to the Stamp Act Convention, a Commissioner to England and a member of the Continental Congress. He served as a state representative, a U.S. Senator, and a Justice on the Supreme Court of Connecticut. He was the President of Columbia College, 1787-1800. William Samuel Johnson was the son of the well-known Anglican minister, Samuel Johnson and the great grandson of Robert Johnson, who...

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...