American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

Congress of the Confederation (July 13, 1787) passed "An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio," later shortened to the Northwest Ordinance. This Ordinance, recognized in The United States Code Annotated as one of America's four most significant government documents, was later introduced into Congress by Rufus King, a signer of the Constitution, received House approval, July 21, 1789; received Senate approval, August 4, 1789 and signed into law by President George Washington, August 7, 1789, during the same period the First Amendment was being formulated. In addition to prohibiting slavery within...

Constitutional Convention (June 28, 1787) Thursday, was embroiled in a debate over how each state was to be represented in the new government. The hostile feelings created by the smaller states being pitted against the larger states, was so bitter that some delegates threatened to leave the Convention. Benjamin Franklin, being the President (Governor) of Pennsylvania, 1785-1788, hosted the rest of the 55 delegates attending the Convention. As the senior member of the convention at 81 years of age, he commanded the respect of all present and rose to speak at this moment of crisis. James Madison gave an account...

Constitutional Convention (May 14, 1787) began at the State House (Independence Hall) for the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation and formulating the Constitution. George Washington, who had been unanimously elected as President of the Convention, rose during the Convention and admonished the delegates: <If to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair; the event is in the Hand of God!> 1787CV001 -- American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to...

Emma Willard (February 23, 1787-April 15, 1870) was an American educator and historian. She was a leader in the movement to provide higher education among women. Emma Willard was born in Berlin, Connecticut and began teaching at the age of sixteen. She was married to John Willard in 1809 and with his help she established a girl's boarding school and later a girl's seminary at Middleton, Vermont. The seminary was moved to New York and became the Emma Willard School. She wrote many successful books and later built a school for women in Athens, Greece. In 1843, American historian Emma...

Theodore Frelinghuysen (March 28, 1787-April 12, 1862) was an American politician and educator. He served as New Jersey Attorney General; U.S. Senator, 1829-35; second President of the University of New York, 1839-50, Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and seventh President of Rutgers College, 1850-61. In 1844, Theodore Frelinghuysen was the Vice-Presidential candidate with Presidential candidate Henry Clay on the Whig Party ticket. After their narrow defeat, Theodore Frelinghuysen wrote to Henry Clay: <Let us look away to the brighter and better prospects and surer hopes in the promise and consolations of the Gospel of our Saviour. I pray, my honored...