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Katherine Johnson’s mathematical calculations helped guide some of America’s most important early space missions while she confronted the racial and gender barriers faced by Black women in twentieth-century America.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (July 2024) |
| Congress Voting Independence | |
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| Artist | Robert Edge Pine |
| Year | c. 1784 to 1788 (unfinished at the time of Robert Edge Pine's death) |
| Location | |
Congress Voting Independence is a painting by Robert Edge Pine showing the interior of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. It includes portraits of most of the signers of the United States Declaration of Independence. The artist worked on the painting from 1784 until his death in 1788. The painting is unfinished. The work is currently part of the collections of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia.
Most of the Founding Fathers in the portrait can be identified. The central figures are the Committee of Five, which was charged by the Second Continental Congress with drafting the Declaration of Independence, including (from left to right): John Adams from the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Roger Sherman from Connecticut Colony, Robert R. Livingston from the Province of New York, Thomas Jefferson from the Colony of Virginia, and Benjamin Franklin (seated) from the Province of Pennsylvania.
In the foreground on the left is Samuel Adams from the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and Robert Morris (wearing white) from the Province of Pennsylvania. Above Samuel Adams is Robert Treat Paine from the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and above him is Benjamin Rush from the Province of Pennsylvania. Immediately to the left of Samuel Adams is Samuel Chase from the Province of Maryland, and above Robert Morris (wearing dark) is Benjamin Harrison from the Colony of Virginia.
An engraving based on the painting was made by Edward Savage in 1801, who finished the unpainted portraits.
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Congress Voting Independence is a painting by Robert Edge Pine showing the interior of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. It includes portraits of most of the signers of the United States Declaration of Independence. The artist worked on the painting from 1784 until his death in 1788. The painting is unfinished. The work is currently part of the collections of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia.
The Lee Resolution, also known as "The Resolution for Independence", was the formal assertion passed by the Second Continental Congress on July 2, 1776, resolving that the Thirteen Colonies (then referred to as the United Colonies) were "free and independent States" and separate from the British Empire. This created what became the United States. News of the act was published that evening in The Pennsylvania Evening Post and the following day in The Pennsylvania Gazette. The Declaration of Independence, which officially announced and explained the case for independence, was approved two days later, on July 4, 1776. The resolution is named for Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, who proposed it to Congress after receiving instructions and wording from the Fifth Virginia Convention and its president, Edmund Pendleton. Lee's full resolution had three parts which were considered by Congress on June 7, 1776. Along with the independence issue, it also proposed to establish a plan for ensuing American foreign relations, and to prepare a plan of a confederation for the states to consider. Congress decided to address each of these three parts separately. Some sources suggest that Lee used language from the Virginia Convention's instructions almost verbatim. A vote on the first part of the resolution was delayed for several weeks to allow time for securing state support and legislative instructions for independence. However, the urgency of events required the immediate consideration of the other, less-debated provisions. On June 10, Congress decided to form a committee to draft a declaration of independence in case the resolution should pass; the following day, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston were appointed as the Committee of Five to accomplish this. That same day, Congress decided to establish two other committees to develop the resolution's last two parts. The following day, another committee of five (John Dickinson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Benjamin Harrison V, and Robert Morris) was established to prepare a plan of treaties to be proposed to foreign powers; a third committee was created, consisting of one member from each colony, to prepare a draft of a constitution for confederation of the states. The committee appointed to prepare a plan of treaties made its first report on July 18, largely in the writing of John Adams. A limited printing of the document was authorized, and it was reviewed and amended by Congress over the next five weeks. On August 27, the amended plan of treaties was referred back to the committee to develop instructions concerning the amendments, and Richard Henry Lee and James Wilson were added to the committee. Two days later, the committee was empowered to prepare further instructions and report back to Congress. The formal version of the plan of treaties was adopted on September 17. On September 24, Congress approved negotiating instructions for commissioners to obtain a treaty with France, based on the template provided in the plan of treaties; the next day, Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Thomas Jefferson were elected commissioners to the court of France. Alliance with France was considered vital if the war with Britain was to be won and the newly declared country was to survive. The committee drafting a plan of confederation was chaired by John Dickinson; they presented their initial results to Congress on July 12, 1776. Long debates followed on such issues as sovereignty, the exact powers to be given the confederate government, whether to have a judiciary, and voting procedures. The final draft of the Articles of Confederation was prepared during the summer of 1777 and approved by Congress for ratification by the individual states on November 15, 1777, after a year of debate. It continued in use from that time onward, although it was not ratified by all states until almost four years later on March 1, 1781.
The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both meet in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Members of Congress are chosen through direct election, though vacancies in the Senate may be filled by a governor's appointment. Congress has a total of 535 voting members: 100 senators and 435 representatives. The House of Representatives also has 6 additional non-voting members. The vice president of the United States, as president of the Senate, has a vote in the Senate only when there is a tie. Congresses convene for two-year terms (a Congress), commencing every other January. Each Congress is usually split into two sessions, one for each year. Elections are held every even-numbered year on Election Day. The members of the House of Representatives are elected for the two-year term of a Congress. The Reapportionment Act of 1929 established that there be 435 representatives, and the Uniform Congressional District Act requires that they be elected from single-member constituencies or districts. It is also required that the congressional districts be apportioned among states by population every ten years using the U.S. census results, provided that each state has at least one congressional representative. Each senator is elected at-large in their state for a six-year term, with terms staggered, so every two years approximately one-third of the Senate is up for election. Each state, regardless of population or size, has two senators, so currently, there are 100 senators for the 50 states. Article One of the Constitution requires that members of Congress be at least 25 years old for the House and at least 30 years old for the Senate, be a U.S. citizen for seven years for the House and nine years for the Senate, and be an inhabitant of the state which they represent. Members in both chambers may stand for re-election an unlimited number of times. Congress was created by the Constitution's First Article and first met in 1789, replacing the Congress of the Confederation in its legislative function. Although not legally mandated, in practice members of Congress since the late 19th century are typically affiliated with one of the two major parties, the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, and only rarely with a third party or independents affiliated with no party. Members can also switch parties at any time, though this is uncommon.
The Declaration of Independence, headed The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America on the document directed to be engrossed by Congress on July 19, 1776, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continental Congress, who were convened at the Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall, in Philadelphia. These delegates became known as the nation's Founding Fathers. The Declaration explains why the Thirteen Colonies regarded themselves as independent sovereign states no longer subject to British colonial rule, and has become one of the most circulated, reprinted, and influential documents in history. The American Revolutionary War commenced in April 1775 with the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Amid the growing tensions, delegates of the several colonies reconvened the Continental Congress on May 10 at Philadelphia. The British monarch, King George III, proclaimed them to be in rebellion on August 23, 1775. On June 11, 1776, Congress appointed the Committee of Five (John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman) to draft and present the Declaration. Adams, a leading proponent of independence, persuaded the committee to charge Jefferson with writing the document's original draft, which the Congress then edited. Jefferson largely wrote the Declaration between June 11 and 28, 1776. The Declaration presented the political, moral, and legal justifications for independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Two days prior to the Declaration's adoption, Congress passed the Lee Resolution, which resolved that the British no longer had governing authority over the Thirteen Colonies. The Declaration justified the independence of the colonies, citing 27 colonial grievances against the king and asserting certain natural and legal rights, including a right of revolution. The Declaration was unanimously ratified on July 4 by the Second Continental Congress, whose delegates represented the Thirteen Colonies. In ratifying and signing it, the delegates knew they were committing an act of high treason against the Crown, which was punishable by torture and death. Two days following its ratification, on July 6, it was published by The Pennsylvania Evening Post. The first public readings of the Declaration occurred simultaneously on July 8, 1776, at noon at three previously designated locations: Trenton, New Jersey; Easton, Pennsylvania; and Philadelphia. The Declaration was published in several forms. The printed Dunlap broadside was widely distributed following the Declaration's signing, and two original copies are now preserved in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The signed copy of the Declaration is on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and is generally considered the official document; this copy, engrossed (hand written) by Timothy Matlack, was ordered by Congress on July 19, and signed primarily on August 2, 1776. The Declaration has proven an influential and globally impactful statement on human rights. It was viewed by Abraham Lincoln as the moral standard to which the United States should strive, and he considered it a statement of principles through which the Constitution should be interpreted. In 1863, Lincoln made the Declaration the centerpiece of his Gettysburg Address, widely considered among the most famous speeches in American history. The Declaration's second sentence—"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"—is considered one of the most significant and famed lines in world history. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis has written that these words are "the most potent and consequential words in American history".
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →The Greenwood District.