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2.1.1 Importation of slaves, Historian Caroline Robbins in 1977 examined the status of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence and concluded: {{quote|There were indeed disparities of wealth earned or inherited: some Signers were rich others had about enough to enable them to attend Congress .. the majority of revolutionaries were from moderately well-to-do or average income brackets Twice as many Loyalists belonged to the wealthiest echelon But some Signers were rich; few indigent .. the Signers were elected not for wealth or rank so much as because of the evidence they had already evinced of willingness for public service a few of them were wealthy or had financial resources that ranged from good to excellent but there are other founders who were less than wealthy On the whole they were less wealthy than the Loyalists, 14.2 General histories Jefferson Adams Jay and Franklin all acquired significant political experience as ministers to countries in Europe. . The American Revolutionary War began on April 19 1775 with the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Siege of Boston the colonists were divided over breaking away from British rule and split into two factions: Patriots who rejected British rule and Loyalists who desired to remain subject to the British King. General Thomas Gage was commander of British forces in America at the beginning of the war. Upon hearing the shocking news of the onset of war Washington was "sobered and dismayed" and he hastily departed Mount Vernon on May 4 1775 to join the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Grant also expressed the view that the war against Mexico had brought punishment on the United States in the form of the American Civil War:. Mixed-race slave girls of predominant European ancestry New Orleans 1863 Thousands of raw volunteers (as well as many professional soldiers) came to the area to fight for the Union By the mid-summer Washington teemed with volunteer regiments and artillery batteries from throughout the North all serviced by what was little more than a country town of what had been in 1860 75,800 people.[b] George Templeton Strong's observation of Washington life led him to declare. Concourses C and D Map of free and slave states c.?1856! . Slaves and slavery are mentioned only indirectly in the 1787 Constitution for example Article 1 Section 2 Clause 3 prescribes that "three fifths of all other Persons" are to be counted for the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives and direct taxes Additionally in Article 4 Section 2 Clause 3 slaves are referred to as "persons held in service or labor" the Founding Fathers however did make important efforts to contain slavery Many Northern states had adopted legislation to end or significantly reduce slavery during and after the American Revolution in 1782 Virginia passed a manumission law that allowed slave owners to free their slaves by will or deed. As a result thousands of slaves were manumitted in Virginia. Thomas Jefferson in 1784 proposed to ban slavery in all the Western Territories which failed to pass Congress by one vote. Partially following Jefferson's plan Congress did ban slavery in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 for lands north of the Ohio River. 15.3 Other Further information: United States public debt and Alexander Hamilton, The international slave trade was banned in all states except South Carolina by 1800 Finally in 1807 President Jefferson called for and signed into law a Federally-enforced ban on the international slave trade throughout the U.S and its territories it became a federal crime to import or export a slave. However the domestic slave trade was allowed for expansion or for diffusion of slavery into the Louisiana Territory, The Revolution had a strong immediate influence in Great Britain Ireland the Netherlands and France Many British and Irish Whigs spoke in favor of the American cause in Ireland there was a profound impact; the Protestants who controlled Ireland were demanding more and more self-rule Under the leadership of Henry Grattan the so-called "Patriots" forced the reversal of mercantilist prohibitions against trade with other British colonies the King and his cabinet in London could not risk another rebellion on the American model and made a series of concessions to the Patriot faction in Dublin Armed Protestant volunteer units were set up to protect against an invasion from France As in America so too in Ireland the King no longer had a monopoly of lethal force.

Canberra Australia (1927) Return to Mount Vernon Further information: Legacy of George Washington Cultural depictions of George Washington and Historical rankings of presidents of the United States. . Corwin Amendment College of New Jersey (now Princeton): James Madison Gunning Bedford Jr Aaron Burr Benjamin Rush and William Paterson, The founding fathers were not unified on the issue of slavery in her study of Thomas Jefferson historian Annette Gordon-Reed discusses this topic "Others of the founders held slaves but no other founder drafted the charter for freedom" in addition to Jefferson George Washington John Jay and many other of the Founding Fathers practiced slavery but were also conflicted by the institution which many saw as immoral and politically divisive. Conversely many founders such as Samuel Adams and John Adams were against slavery their entire lives Benjamin Rush wrote a pamphlet in 1773 which harshly condemned slavery and beseeched the colonists to petition the king and put an end to the British African Company of Merchants which kept slavery and the slave trade going the Continental Association of 1774 contains a clause severely limiting the slave trade as part of the general boycott of British trade. Health Beginning in the 19th century with increasing mining and agriculture upstream and urban sewage and runoff downstream the water quality of the Potomac River deteriorated This created conditions of severe eutrophication It is said that President Abraham Lincoln used to escape to the highlands on summer nights to escape the river's stench in the 1960s with dense green algal blooms covering the river's surface President Lyndon Johnson declared the river "a national disgrace" and set in motion a long-term effort to reduce pollution from sewage and restore the beauty and ecology of this historic river One of significant pollution control projects at the time was the expansion of the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant which serves Washington and several surrounding communities. Enactment of the 1972 Clean Water Act led to construction or expansion of additional sewage treatment plants in the Potomac watershed Controls on phosphorus one of the principal contributors to eutrophication were implemented in the 1980s through sewage plant upgrades and restrictions on phosphorus in detergents. . !