Bowler was a British situation comedytelevision show written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, starring George Baker, Fred Beauman, Renny Lister and Gretchen Franklin, about a London gang boss determined to improve his social standing. Bowler was produced by London Weekend Television and aired during 1973. Research Bowler
The Declaration of Independence was made in 1776 by the 13 English colonies in North America breaking away from all allegiance to the British Crown. The Declaration was mainly the work of Thomas Jefferson. Already in December 1775 the Congress had declared itself independent of the English parliament and by this declaration had repudiated allegiance to the Crown.
Absolute separation from Great Britain was not at first contemplated by the colonies. New England favoured it, but the Southern States were opposed. The transfer of the war to the southward in May and June, 1776, brought them to this view. The North Carolina Convention took the first step toward independence by a resolution 'to concur with those in the other colonies in declaring independence', April 22, 1776. Virginia, May 17, 1776, prepared the title of the document by directing her Representatives to propose in Congress a 'Declaration of Independence'. Such a resolution was offered by Richard Henry Lee on June the 7th, 1776. This resolution was adopted on July the 2nd. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R Livingston were the committee appointed to draft the Declaration. The draft was formulated almost entirely by Jefferson. Before July the 1st, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey had instructed their delegates to vote against the Declaration. This instruction was rescinded, South Carolina came over to the majority, and Delaware's vote, at first divided, was in the affirmative. The Declaration was, therefore, adopted by the unanimous vote of twelve States, New York alone not voting, on July the 4th, 1776. The New York Convention afterward ratified the Declaration. The engrossed copy was signed on August the 2nd. The Declaration sets forth the rights of man and of the colonists, enumerates their grievances against the British Government, and declares 'that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States'.
Dreams are trains of ideas which present themselves to the mind during sleep. The principal fixture of the state of dreaming is the alleged absence of voluntary control over the current of thought, so that the principle of suggestion has unlimited sway - however, it is possible for some individuals to alter the train of thought and even voluntarily awake from an unpleasant dream. There is usually an utter want of coherency in the images that appear before the mental eye, but this want excites no surprise in the dreamer.
Occasionally, however, intellectual efforts are made during sleep which would be difficult to surpass in the waking state. It is said that Condillac often brought to a conclusion in his dreams reasonings on which he had been employed during the day; and that Franklin believed that he had been often instructed in his dreams concerning the issue of events which at that time occupied his mind. Coleridge composed from 200 to 300 lines during a dream: the beautiful fragment of Kubia Khan, which was all he got committed to paper when he awoke, remains a specimen of that dream-poem.
Dreams are subjective phenomena dependent on natural causes. They generally take their rise and character from external bodily impressions, or from something in the preceding state of body or mind. They are, therefore, retrospective and resultant instead of being prospective or prophetic. The latter opinion has, however, prevailed in all ages and among all nations; and hence the common practice of divination or prophesying by dreams, that is, interpreting them as presages of coming events. Some earlier authorities declared that all our dreams take place when we are in process of going to sleep or becoming awake, and that during deep sleep the mind is totally inactive. This is denied by the majority of philosophers, and has subsequently been shown to be incorrect. Research Dreams
The Newport Mercury was the second newspaper published in Rhode Island. It was founded and edited by James Franklin, and the first numbers appeared at Newport in September, 1758. This journal attained considerable success, becoming at once self-supporting. Research Newport Mercury
A newspaper is a publication reporting and commenting upon news. The first periodicals were published by the Romans., the first newspapers proper were produced in Venice by the government, published monthly during the war of 1563 against the Turks.
The first genuine newspaper established in the United States was the Boston News Letter founded at Boston in 1704 by Postmaster John Campbell, and continued until 1776. Previous to this there had been
issued at Boston three publications of one number each. Of these the first, called a Newspaper Extraordinary consisted wholly of extracts from a letter of Dr. Increase Mather, who was then in London endeavouring to obtain a new charter for Massachusetts. This letter was published by Samuel Green in 1689.
On September the 25th, 1690, appeared the first and only number of
Publick Occurrences Foreign and Domestic issued by Benjamin Harris. The authorities promptly seized and suppressed the paper as 'a pamphlet published contrary to law and containing reflections of a very high nature'. In 1697 B Green and J Allen republished a news letter, bearing no title, which had been issued in London the same year. It was printed on a single page, .and contained small news items from the continent. After the Boston News Letter there appeared in 1719 the Boston Gazette Andrew Bradford issuing the American Weekly Mercury at Philadelphia the same year. James Franklin established the New England Courant at Boston two years later. This was suppressed for its attacks upon the Government and clergy, but was revived by Benjamin Franklin. WilliamBradford began the Gazette at New York in 1725, and John Peter Zenger the New York Weekly Journal in 1733, in the cause of the people against the Colonial Government. Zenger's paper may be regarded as a prototype of the modern news journal. Newspapers were founded in the other American colonies in the following order: In Maryland, at Annapolis, in 1727; in South Carolina, at Charleston, in 1731; in Rhode Island, at Newport, in 1731; in Virginia, at Williamsburg, in 1736; in North Carolina, at New Berne, in 1755; in Connecticut, at New Haven, in 1755; in New Hampshire, at Portsmouth, in 1756; in Georgia, at Savannah, in 1763; in Vermont, at Westminster, in 1781.
Between 1704 and 1775 seventy-eight different newspapers had been printed with varied success in the American colonies. Of these, thirty-nine were in actual process of publication at the outbreak of the American War of Independence. The papers most influential in advancing the revolutionary cause were the Boston Gazette and the Massachusetts Spy, On the British occupation of Boston, New York and Philadelphia, most of the Whig journals were suspended. It has been estimated that the thirty-nine newspapers of 1775 circulated about 1,300,000 copies annually.
After the Federal Constitution was adopted in America the newspapers fell largely into the hands of English immigrants, men of versatility and talent. Violent partisan controversies arose. The most influential papers of this period were the Columbian Centinel, published at Boston during forty years, commencing in 1784, by Benjamin Russell; the New York Minerva, established at New York in 1793 by Noah Webster; the New York Evening Post, established as the central organ of the Federalists in 1801; the Philadelphia Aurora, founded by Benjamin Franklin Bache in 1790, and afterward edited with vindictive partisanship by William Duane, an Englishman; the Philadelphia National Gazette, established in 1791 by Philip Freneau; and the National Intelligencer, established at Washington by Samuel H Smith in 1800.
The first American penny paper was the New York Sun, established in 1833 by Benjamin Day. The first American Sunday paper was the Sunday Courier, appearing in New York in 1825, with but little success. The chief period of the political influence of editors in the United States was that beginning in 1830 and ending after the American Civil War. Before that date the editor was often of little account, but from 1830 to 1870 the paper was often known chiefly as the organ of the individual editor's opinions. Research Newspaper
The New England Courant was the fourth newspaper published in the American colonies. It was established in 1721 at Boston, by James Franklin, who had been deprived of the printing of the Boston News Letter. Franklin's friends were much opposed to the publication of a new journal, for they thought one quite sufficient for the entire continent. But James Franklin inaugurated a new departure in journalism by attacking the Government officials and lampooning the clergy. On this account the suppression of his paper was threatened, where upon Benjamin Franklin assumed the editorship, and continued the publication with the same freedom. It was finally suppressed in 1727. Research New England Courant
The Pennsylvania Gazette was a semi-weekly newspaper established at Philadelphia on December the 24th, 1728, by Samuel Keimer. The full title was The Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences and Pennsylvania Gazette. Samuel Keimer soon turned it over to the management of his apprentice, Benjamin Franklin, who quickly made it the most valuable newspaper property in America. The semi-weekly publication was, however, changed to a weekly, owing to lack of subscription. Benjamin Franklin retired from the management of the Gazette in 1766. The Gazette did good service to the Revolutionary cause until the British occupation of Philadelphia. Publication was suspended until after evacuation. It was then renewed and survived another brief suspension in 1815. The first part of the title was dropped when Benjamin Franklin assumed the management. In 1845 the Gazette was merged in the Daily North American. Research Pennsylvania Gazette
The Red Line Map was a map made by the Frenchman D'Anville in 1746. It had been sent to Vergennes, the French Minister, by Franklin in 1782, and was discovered among the Paris archives by Jared Sparks. A strong red line drawn near the ridge, in which the Kennebec and Penobscot Rivers rise, more than favoured the English claims, respecting the north-east boundary of the United States. Jared Sparks sent it to Webster, who was anxious lest the English should hear of it. It was used in a secret session of the Senate, and with the Maine commissioners to induce a ratification of the treaty, and was afterward made a ground of reproach against Webster by opponents of the treaty. Research Red Line Map
The committee reported various devices during several years. William Barton, of Philadelphia, was appointed to submit designs. Sir John Prestwich, an English antiquarian, suggested a design to John Adams in 1779.
Combining the various designs of William Barton and John Prestwich, a seal was adopted on June the 20th, 1782. Arms: Paleways of thirteen pieces argent and gules; a chief azure; the escutcheon on the breast of the American eagle displayed proper, holding in his dextertalon an olive branch and in his sinister a bundle of thirteen arrows; and in his beak a scroll with the motto: E Pluribus Unum. Crest: a glory breaking through a cloud proper and surrounding thirteen stars. Reverse: A pyramid unfinished. In the zenith an eye in a triangle, surrounded with a glory proper, over the eye the words, Annuit Coeptis. Beneath the pyramid, MDCCLXXVI, and the words, Novus Ordo Seculorum. Research Seal of the United States
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Bowler
