Wednesday, February 22, 2017

George Washington (b.February 22, 1732)


George was tutored as a child in a one room schoolhouse on his father’s property.
His mother sewed his penmanship pages “Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour” together to make a booklet.
He was born in Colonial Virginia at Popes Creek.
He was a surveyor.
He was part of the British Army in the American Colonies.
     1752 He went to Barbados with Lawrence, his half-brother, in hopes his brother  would recover from Tuberculosis. Lawrence died. George contracted smallpox. George did not immediately inherit Mount Vernon, there were two others in line before him. 
     May 28, 1754  The British forces under the command of George Washington at Jumonville Glen in Pennsylvania, resulted in the beginning of the Seven Years War / French and Indian War.1
     1761 inherited Mount Vernon.
He wrote letters to many women asking them to marry him. (If one is found, the Mount Vernon Association is interested).
Martha wanted her daughter to marry George, her daughter did not want to, Martha accepted.
George and Martha never had any children of their own.
George and Martha were married for about ten years,before they sat down to dinner alone.
The slaves were never sold off even though there were too many to be supported on the Mount Vernon Plantation.  Families were kept together, one slave family had 6 daughters.
George Washington was bankrupt, but forgiven.
     George Washington was chosen to lead the new, independent Army, because he was an excellent roll model and leader who motivated his troops. By choosing Mr. Washington, Virginia was thus included in the American Revolution, which until that time had been centered in the North in New England.
Commander in Chief of the new United States Army.
Dec. 25-26, 1776 He crossed the Delaware River at night to surprise the Hessian forces at Trenton.
He was asked, if he would be king, but declined (this was one of the reasons for the war for independence.)
First President of the United States of America. Set the precedent for limited term of office.
He had no teeth.  His false teeth were very uncomfortable.
He wrote many letters to Martha on how to specifically run the estate.
The gardens at Mount Vernon had an outhouse in a corner. The deposits would be used as fertilizer.
George paid craftsman to come live on his estate and train one of his slaves in the trade needed.
The main house at Mount Vernon is wood, sand was added to the paint to make it look like white stone.
The house was in severe disrepair and some ladies from the DC/Alexandria area formed a group and raised money to repair the house and grounds, within the last century.
George died at the age of 67.  He was having difficulties breathing and was further weakened by

Monday, January 2, 2017

The Modern World: Part One: Global History 1760-1910



The Modern World: Part One: Global History 1760-1910
Professor Philip Zelikow, University of Virginia
FREE MOOC via Coursera.org  through http://www.class-central.com


Commercial and Military Revolutions (1760-1800)
Week 1: video 1: The Study of History
·         What happened?
·         Why things happened the way they did?
o   Circumstances
o   Choices made by man
§  How
§  Why
§  What could have happened
§  Situation>Problem>Solutions>Action & new situation

                W1:V2: The Great Divide [between tradition and modern world]
·         Traditional world (not change from generation to generation)
·         Modern world (massive changes)
o   Population
§  1500-1750 290million in 250 years (187 million more in 50 years)
§  1800-1850 284 million
§  Late 1700s billions
o   Income
§  Malthusian trap: finite amount of stuff for 2000 years
§  1800 another great divide with the Industrial Revolution
·         Malthusian trap broke
o   Global Europe: commerce, ideas, and military intrusions
o   Political Revolutions
§  Liberal, democratic, “national”
§  Change from nobility & church [toward the people wanting more say]
o   Culture
§  Beliefs
§  Limits/possibilities human innovations, status, prosperity

                W1:V3: The Traditional and the Modern

                W!:V4: The Great Divide-Why?

                W1:V5: The World of 1760

                W1:V6:  The Commercial Revolution

                W1:V7: The Military Revolution

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Europe’s Social and Political Order, 1600-1715, Politics of Absolutism and English Civil War




Chapter 13: The Struggle for Survival and Sovereignty:
Europe’s Social and Political Order,
1600-1715 [1]

Timeline and Key Dates for the Politics of Absolutism and English Civil War) [2],[3]

Image result for ivan the terrible1533-1584 Reign of Ivan IV the Terrible, (thunder),(fearsome)   [4]
            First Tsar of Russia, ruthlessly expanded lands and central control.
1584-1613 Russia’s time of Troubles
The late 1590s and early 1600s were a particularly bad phase of the "little ice age" that afflicted all Europe - the winters of exceptional severity that it produced, impacted Russia even worse than areas with milder climates. Furthermore, the poor crops coincided with an increase in the taxes and exactions of government and landlords, so many peasants fled their lands.[5]  The solutions were rigid centralized authority (Poland) or more power to the nobles (Russia).







1589-1792 Bourbon Dynasty of France
            1589-1610 Reign of Henry IV in France     Image result for henry iv of france[6]
            “Good King Henry”; first monarch of the House of Bourbon;
August 24, 1572: St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre (Henry IV escaped with the help of his wife, if he converted to Catholicism.[7]
Edict of Nates (1610):  Henry IV issued freedom of religion to Protestants, even though he had converted to Catholicism.
“I want there to be no peasant in my kingdom so poor that he cannot have a chicken in his pot every Sunday.”—Henry IV

1603-1714 Stuart Dynasty in England
            King James VI of Scotland in 1566 and became King James I of England and Ireland in 1603-1625. He was the first Stuart king.  The Stuarts were of Scottish origins and generally Catholic. They ruled a Protestant nation, in which the Parliament distrusted them and sought to limit their power, and in 1642 Civil War[8]

1613-1917 Romanov Dynasty in Russia[9] (see note for list of 18 czars & czarinas)
Mikhail Feodorovich......................1613-1645 (First Romanov czar)

1618-1648 Thirty Years’ War[10]
Battles throughout most of Europe, over religious, dynastic, territorial, and commercial rivalries. Ended with the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia. The Map of Europe was changed.

1625 Charles I becomes king
1629 Charles I dissolves Parliament (first of three times) He needed Parliament to provide money for … in exchange they wanted more of a say in how it was spent (impeachment of the King’s advisor Buckingham) or they shorted the term of the funds appropriation.[11]

1640-1688 Reign of Frederick William in Prussia “The Great Elector”  He united Prussia into a monarchy which was dependent on the nobles.[12]


1642-1649 Civil War in England. Royalists (Roundheads) vs. Parliamentarians
The English Civil Wars (1642-1651) stemmed from conflict between Charles I and Parliament over an Irish insurrection. The first war was settled with Oliver Cromwell’s victory for Parliamentary forces at the 1645 Battle of Naseby. The second phase ended with Charles’ defeat at the Battle of Preston and his subsequent execution in 1649. Charles’ son, Charles, then formed an army of English and Scottish Royalists, which prompted Cromwell to invade Scotland in 1650. The following year, Cromwell shattered the remaining Royalist forces and ended the “wars of the three kingdoms,” though Charles II eventually ascended to the throne in 1660.”[13]
            1649 Charles I executed
            Oliver Cromwell became the Protectorate of England

1643-1715 Reign of Louis XIV in France
            “divine right” absolutism; patronage at Versailles; [14]
1648 Treaty of Westphalia = end of the Thirty Years War
1648-1653 The Fronde “the sling” (civil war) in France[15]
            A protest of Cardinal Mazarin’s taking power from nobels.

1649-1660 Commonwealth in England 
            The Rump Parliament declared England a Commonwealth (republic)
1651 Thomas Hobbes, The Leviathan
            An absolute monarchy would save people from a “nasty, brutish, and short” life. [16]
1660 Restoration of English monarchy with Charles II

1683 Siege of Vienna by Ottoman forces
Attempt by Suleiman the Magnificent ’s forces to take Vienna, Austria, furthest extent of Ottoman Empire.

1685 Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in France
The Cardinal de Richelieu, who regarded its political and military clauses as a danger to the state, annulled them by the Peace of Alès in 1629. On October 18, 1685, Louis XIV formally revoked the Edict of Nantes and deprived the French Protestants of all religious and civil liberties. Within a few years, more than 400,000 persecuted Huguenots emigrated—to England, Prussia, Holland, and America—depriving France of its most industrious commercial class.”[17]

1685 James II becomes king of England
1688 Glorious Revolution in England: James II of England overthrown and William III invaded


1688-1713 Reign of Frederick I in Prussia

1689 William and Mary become monarchs of England

1689-1725 Reign of Peter the Great in Russia

1690 English philosopher John Locke, Second Treatise of Government
            Established, in theory, the framework for constitutional government[18]

1713-1714 Peace of Utrecht: a series of treaties regarding the Spanish succession, colonies, …[19]

1721 Treaty of Nystad: ended Great Northern War between Swedens and the Russians and Danes[20]










[2] In Microsoft Word, go to References tap then click “insert footnote”

[3] Dennis Sherman and Joyce Salisbury. West in the World, 5th ed. (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2014), 391, 396, 417.

[16] Dennis Sherman and Joyce Salisbury. West in the World, 5th ed. (New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2014), 416.
[18] Ibid., 418-419.
[20] etc.usf.edu/maps/pages/7400/7434/7434.htm