The Liberty Bell

On July 8, 17776, a pealing bell in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House announced the first public reading of the declaration of Independence. Today, that iron bell is known as the Liberty Bell, and it is a treasured symbol of the nation’s devotion to freedom.

The Liberty Bell was made in England and shipped to Philadelphia in 1752. Inscribed on the bell were these words: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” But the first time the bell was tested, it cracked. It was recast and then hung in the State House, which was renamed Independence Hall after the Declaration of Independence was signed there. During the Revolution, the bell was hidden under the floor of a church in Allentown, Pennsylvania to keep it safe. After the war, it was rehung in Independence Hall and rung on important occasisions.

In 1835 while toiling for the funeral of Chief Justice John Marshall, the bell cracked a second time. It was repaired once more, but in 1846, it cracked again as it rang in honor of George Washington’s birthday. This time the bell could not be repaired.

Today the Liberty Bell is enshrined in a special pavilion in Independence National Historic Park in Philadelphia, just across from its original home.

The liberty bell weighs more than 2,080 pounds and has a circumference of 12 feet at its widest point. It is about three feet high.

Clara Barton

She was called the “angel of the battlefield” by those who saw her caring for wounded and dying soldiers during the Civil War. Her role there made her a national heroine. A strong-minded woman, Clara barton then devoted the rest of her life to helping others.
When the Civil war began in 1861, Barton was working as the first female clerk in the Patent Office in Washington D.C. But reports of suffering soldiers roused her to action. Besides nursing the wounded, she carried supplies and medicines to the battlefield.

Clara barton created a bureau to search for missing Civil War soldiers and mark the graves of the dead.

Barton’s war efforts left her exhausted and ill. In 1869, she went to Switzerland to recover. There, barton learned about the International red Cross, an organization devoted to the relief of suffering resulting from war. In 1870-1871, she took part in Red Cross activities during the Franco-Prussia war. Two years later, Barton returned home and set about forming an American red Cross. In 1881, she achieved her goal and served as the organization’s first president for 22 years. Before retiring in 1904, Barton expanded the efforts of the Red Cross to include aid to victims of peacetime disasters, such as floods and hurricanes.

The Alien and Sedition Acts

In the U.S., the right to speak freely is guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. But in 1798, the country’s leaders tried to limit free speech and freedom of the press. At that time, the new nation was on the brink of war with France. As an attempt to limit criticism of the government and support for France the Federalist Party of President John Adams pushed the Alien and Sedition Acts through Congress.

The Alien Act denied citizenship to anyone who had lived in the U.S. for less than 14 years and allowed the President to deport “dangerous” foreigners. The Sedition Act allowed the government to arrest anyone who criticized its policies. Among those tried and convicted under the laws were several newspaper editors and a congressman. Matthew Lyon, a congressman from Vermont was jailed for criticizing the Sedition Act in a letter to a newspaper.

In 1799, realtions with France improved dramatically, but critics of the government were still being put in jail. When Thomas Jefferson became president in 1801, he immediately pardoned everyone convicted of sedition during the previous three years. The Alien and Sedition Acts were allowed to expire in 1802, and freedom of speech returnmed to the U.S.

1620

On September 16, 1620, 101 men, women, and children set sail in a small ship – the Mayflower – from the port of Plymouth, England. They were leaving England to escape persecution for their religious beliefs. They wanted to be free to worship in their own way and to create their own community.

The Pilgrims’ goal was the shore of North America, a vast and little known coastline that had only a handful of small European settlements. For eight weeks they sailed, tossed by the stormy North Atlantic. Finally, on November 10, the Mayflower reached Cape Cod, a long sandy peninsula in present-day Massachusetts.

Inside the bay protected by Cape Cod, the Pilgrims found a site that seemed promising for settlement. Before they left the ship, they drew up an agreement to form a government that would pass laws “for the general Good of the Colony.” According to tradition, they stepped ashore on a large boulder, still known as Plymouth Rock. The first winter at Plymouth was terrible. Nearly half of the settlers died of disease or starvation. But the Pilgrims were determined, and their community survived as one of the first European settlements in North America. The first building erected by the Pilgrims at Plymouth was called the Common House, where religious services were held.

Jefferson Davis

“Oh, the muskets they may rattle…And the cannons they may roar…But we’ll fight for you, Jeff Davis…Along the Southern shore.”

The muskets first rattled and the cannons first roared on April 12, 1861. On that day, Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, ordered his troops to fire on Fort Sumter, a Union post in South Carolina. With that, the Civil War between the north and the South had begun.

Davis grew up in Mississippi, attended school in Kentucky, and graduated from West Point in 1824. He served with distinction in the Mexican War, but then left the army and became a prosperous Mississippi cotton planter and respected politician. He was elected to the House of Representatives, then served as Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce, and was elected to the U.S. Senate. An outspoken advocate for states’ rights. Davis believed strongly that Americans had the right to own slaves. By the time the Union broke apart he was the South’s leading statesman, and an obvious choice for the condederate presidency.

After the war, Davis spent two years in prison and lost his U.S. citizenship. In 1978, almost 90 years after his death, the U.S. Congress restored his citizenship.

June 3rd, Jefferson Davis’ birthday, is a legal holiday in nine southern states.

The papers of Jefferson Davis can be found here

Information regarding Jefferson Davis’ home…Beauvoir….here

The Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains are the backbone of North America. Their majestic, towering peaks stretch for 3,000 miles, from northern Alaska to New Mexico. In some areas, the mountain band is hundreds of miles wide.

The Rockies began to form 200 million years ago. Powerful forces in th earth buckled the land surface, creating folds and bumps thousands of feet high. The Rockies reached their greatest height about 100 million years ago. Wind and rain have worn them down since then, but they are still spectacular. More than 50 peaks in the chain are ofer 14,000 feet above sea level. Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado contains 107 peaks more than 10,000 feet high.

In 1804, explorers Lewis and Clark discovered the huge extent of the range that Native Americans called “the shining mountains.” They were followed by trappers and traders, who found the high mountain passes through which settlers later struggled on their way west.

In the 1850s, prospectors struck gold and silver in the Rockies; some of their mining settlements became cities, such as Denver. Today, the mountains attract skiers in winter and hikers and campers in summer.

National and state parks preserve millions of acres of magnificent mountain scenery and protect wildlife, including grizzly bears, bald eagles, and bighorn sheep.

Find the official site for the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado here and others sites are listed below:

Pikes Peak
Royal Gorge
Rocky Mountain National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Grand Teton National Park
Glacier National Park (U.S.)
Sawtooth National Recreation Area

Pony Express

A lone rider gallops through the sagebrush, his horse’s hooves pounding rhythmically on the dry ground. Bulging leather mailbags strapped to his saddle show why he is traveling so fast: He works for the Pony Express, a private service that carries mail fromn Missouri to California in just eight days.

Before April 1860, when the Pony Express was founded, mail bound for California went by stagecoach and took three weeks to arrive. Pony Express riders took a more direct – and dangerous – route across praries, deserts, and mountains. They covered the 2,000 miles from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California, in relays. Each rider traveled up to 75 miles, changing horses at stations built 10 to 15 miles apart along the route.

Along the daring Pony Express riders were some of the West’s most famous figures, including “Buffalo Bill” Cody. They faced blizzards, flash floods, mountain lions, bandits, and Indian attacks for a salary of $50 a month. Their bravery captured the hearts of Americans. But the Pony Express lived only about 18 months. The click of telegraph keys replaced the pounding of horses’ hooves on October 21, 1861, when the first transcontinental telegraph line was completed.

The Pony Express charged $5 to deliver each half-ounce letter. Each rider carried 20 pounds of mail.