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Showing 31–40 of 1209 results for Flags and Founding Documents

When Women Lost the Vote: A Revolutionary Story: Women of the Holton Family

Two women named Christianna Holton (mother and daughter) voted in Upper Penns Neck Township elections between 1800 and 1806. They were both members of the Oldman’s Creek Moravian Church.
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When Women Lost the Vote: A Revolutionary Story: How Did the Vote Expand?: New Jersey’s Revolutionary Decade

New Jersey became the first and only state to legally enfranchise women in 1790, when state legislatures reformed the New Jersey State Constitution’s election law to include the words “he or she.” It proclaimed what the New Jersey Constitution of 1776 had only implied: that propertied women could vote. This statute was neither accidental nor insignificant, and it changed the voting landscape in the state. Women voting was just one part of a growing national and international movement among some women to increase women’s rights, a movement inspired by Revolutionary-era ideology in both America and Europe. And while New Jersey blazed the trail in the new nation, it expressed a tide rising in other states as well, like Massachusetts, where Abigail Adams endorsed women voting in New Jersey.
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Meet the Figures: Oneida Nation Theater: Han Yerry

Han Yerry was born about 1724 to a Mohawk mother and a German father (he was also known by Han Yerry Doxtader, referring to his part-German ancestry), though he considered himself an Oneida and became chief warrior of the nation’s Wolf Clan. He was “ordinary sized” and “quite a gentleman in his demeanor.” At the outbreak of the war, he mustered Oneida warriors to support the Revolutionary cause. After Oriskany, Han Yerry was part of the Oneida party that travelled to Valley Forge, where he had a personal dinner with George Washington. In 1779, he was one of a number of Oneida and Tuscarora warriors who received officers’ commissions from Congress (he was made a captain). He remained a leader after the war and died around 1794. 

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When Women Lost the Vote: A Revolutionary Story: Christiana Kitts

A woman of Swedish descent, Christiana Kitts was born in the 1740s. She voted in December 1800 and died the following year, leaving her estate to her children and grandchildren.
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Picturing Washington's Army: West Point

In August 1782, Pierre Charles L’Enfant painted West Point, the administrative and strategic center of the Continental Army. Since the spring of 1778, West Point had become the army’s largest post. During that summer, New England troops dug entrenchments on the surrounding hills and built fortifications on Constitution Island, across the river. These buildings and fortifications are visible in L’Enfant’s scene. 

Image courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 

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Cost of Revolution: Part 4 Irish Revolution

The American Revolution put Ireland on edge. In 1778, after France announced its alliance with the United States, many Irish people feared that the French would invade their country. Tens of thousands of Protestant landholders, lawyers, and craftsmen rallied to form a militia force called the Irish Volunteers to counter the potential threat. No invasion came. The Volunteers quickly became Ireland’s strongest political action group and successfully advocated for greater Irish rights and liberties as part of the British Empire. In the 1790s, a new political movement led by the United Irishmen called for total Irish independence from the British Empire. The United Irishmen dreamed of creating an Irish republic with political equality for all Irishmen, regardless of their religion. The American and French revolutions inspired them. Richard Mansergh St. George opposed the ideas of the United Irishmen and paid for it with his life in February 1798. St. George's death marked the beginning of a bloody year in Ireland. The United Irishmen launched a full-fledged revolt against British rule in May 1798, but their fight was short-lived. The British and loyal Irish forces swiftly crushed the Irish Revolution. In just five months, the fighting left over 30,000 Irish men, women, and children dead, regardless of their loyalties.
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Among His Troops: Continental Army Along the Hudson

George Washington called the Hudson River the “Key of America.” With the Mohawk River to the West and Lake George and Lake Champlain to the North, the Hudson was part of a system of waterways that reached from the Great Lakes, to Canada, and down to New York City. During the Revolutionary War, Americans clustered their Hudson River fortifications around three narrows– West Point in the North, the Popolopen Creek in the middle, and King’s Ferry to the South. These posts were between 45 and 60 miles from New York City. In 1781, French troops and a portion of the Continental Army crossed the Hudson River at King’s Ferry on their way to Yorktown, Virginia, a crossing that is now recognized as part of the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail. By the summer of 1782, the American Army had secured its control of this region. Along the 15-mile stretch of the Hudson River, Washington maintained a force of over 11,000 soldiers. At the same time, 13,000 British troops occupied New York City. West Point was the Continental Army’s strongest fortification. Verplanck’s Point and Stony Point, on either side of King’s Ferry, were the front line against the British to the south.


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When Women Lost the Vote: A Revolutionary Story: Grace Gaw Nicholson Little

Originally from Philadelphia, former tavern keeper Grace Little lived as a widow in Princeton when she voted. Her property included a farm, livestock, and three enslaved people named Judith, Phebe, and John.
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Washington's Field Headquarters: George Washington’s Sleeping Marquee

Click on the numbers here to learn more about the components of the tent and to see images of the original objects and paintings that helped us build this replica.

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When Women Lost the Vote: A Revolutionary Story: Catherine Helms

The widow of a tavern keeper and ferry operator, Catherine Helms voted in 1800. She died in 1802 and is buried in the cemetery of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Pennsville, New Jersey.
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