The Buckshot War was an event which occurred in 1838 in Philadelphia where control of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives depended upon the choice of a United States Senator. In the election, the Democratic party candidates for the Legislature were elected by small majorities; but their Congressional candidate was defeated. Thereupon the Democratic judges cast out 5000 Whig votes, claiming fraud. The Whig judges then issued certificates of election to both their Congressional and Legislative candidates, and these returns were accepted by the Whig Secretary of State. At the opening of the Legislature at Harrisburg on December the 4th 1838, armed partisans were present. The Whig Senate adjourned because of the mob, and in the House tow warring bodies assembled. The Whig Governor called on the militia, and tried, without effect, to obtain Federal aid. The Democratic House was finally recognised on December the 25th. Research Buckshot War
The Centennial Exhibition was an international exhibition of arts, manufactures and products of the soil and mines held at Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, during the summer of 1876. It was the first international exhibition held in the USA, and was also an anniversary exhibition of the world's progress in the hundredth year of the existence of the USA. The exhibition was proposed by the citizens of Philadelphia in 1870. In 1872 Congress permitted the appointment of a Board of Finance. This board raised a capital stock of $10,000,000 from among the citizens of Philadelphia. Congress afterward appropriated $2,000,000 as a loan; the State of Pennsylvania $1,000,000, and Philadelphia $1,500,000. Many European and other foreign countries sent exhibits, which were admitted free of duty under bond. The exhibition was open from May the 10th until November the 10th. The paid admissions numbered 8,000,000. Research Centennial Exhibition
Independence Hall in Philadelphia was the scene of the American Declaration of Independence, on July the 4th, 1776. The hall was begun in 1733 and completed in 1741. J Kearsely was the architect, and B Wooley the builder. It was first occupied as the Pennsylvania State House in October, 1735. The tower was built in 1750. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 also met there. Research Independence Hall
The Knights of Labor was an early American trade union-like order founded in Philadelphia in 1869 by Uriah S Stevens and formally organized in 1871 for the protection of working people and the development of educated labour. It was secret until the name was made public in 1881. By that time nearly all trades were represented. It was governed by a national executive board and local assemblies which had power to order strikes and boycotts. The chief strike ordered was that on the MissouriPacific system in 1886. It failed. Research Knights of Labor
The Liberty Bell was a bell cast in London and received at Philadelphia in August, 1752, when it was hung in the Pennsylvania State House, afterward known as Independence Hall. The bell was broken up and recast in April, and again in June, 1753. It announced the American Declaration of Independence on July the 4th, 1776. It was cracked on July the 8th, 1835, while being tolled in memory of Chief Justice Marshall. The bell was exhibited in the Pennsylvania State Building at the World's Columbian Exhibition at Chicago in 1893. Research Liberty Bell
McCulloch Vs Maryland was a famous legal case in the US Supreme Court, brought by writ of error from the Court of Appeals of Maryland to the Supreme Court in 1819.
McCulloch was cashier of a branch established in Baltimore by the Bank of the United States, of Philadelphia, which had been incorporated by an act of Congress in 1816. The action was one of
debt brought by the State of Maryland against McCulloch, who, it was averred, had refused to comply with an act of the Maryland General Assembly of 1818, which imposed a 'tax upon all banks or branches thereof in the State of Maryland, not chartered by the Legislature." The decision of the Court of Appeals of Maryland had been against the plaintiff. The Supreme Court reversed this decision, declaring that the Bank Act of 1816 was constitutional, and that therefore the act of the Maryland Legislature of 1818 was contrary to the Constitution of the United States, and therefore void, because States have no power, by taxation or otherwise, to impede or control the operations of constitutional laws enacted by Congress to carry into execution any of the powers of the Federal Government. Research McCulloch Vs Maryland
The National Intelligencer was an American tri-weekly newspaper established in Washington by Samuel H Smith, in 1800, as the organ of Jefferson's administration. This journal was in reality an offshoot of a publication begun at Philadelphia in 1793 by Joseph Gales, the elder. Gales was an English immigrant, whose republican principles had forced him to leave England. In 1810 Joseph Gales Jr, became one of the editors of the National Intelligencer and was joined in 1813 by William Seaton, also an English immigrant. This paper wielded considerable influence in political circles. Its publication was suspended in 1866. Research National Intelligencer
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
In 1891 the American Lieutenant R E Peary conducted a scientific Arctic exploration to Greenland under the auspices of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. He sailed in June and reached McCormick Bay the following month. From here Peary and his wife and party made a number of exploring tours, reaching as far north as 83 degrees. A journey of 1300 miles was accomplished in sleds, and much valuable geographical and geological research was made. A relief party was dispatched to McCormick Bay in 1892. Research Peary Expedition
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 Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Buckshot War
