Great Duck Derby at Graydon – Join the Famiily Fun – July 11th
Third annual, Great Ridgewood Duck Derby
Ridgewood NJ, On Saturday, July 11th, Ridgewood Parks & Recreation, in cooperation with Jacobsen Landscape Contractors of Midland Park, will be hosting the Great Ridgewood Duck Derby at Graydon Pool. Come out and embrace the national “Come Alive Outside” campaign and join us for an afternoon of fun family activity. This event will feature an array of different types of entertainment. There will also be a number of different kinds of activities throughout the day such as beach games, a sand sculpture contest, duck decorating, face painting, and ultimately concluding with an exciting rubber duck race down the Ho Ho Kus Brook.
This is a catered event pre-registration is a must and the deadline for advance sales is July 10th. The cost to take part in this fun family event is $10 per person ($20 per person non-residents) which includes one rubber duck, a SACK Picnic lunch of sandwich, beverage, chips and cookie.
The “Come Alive Outside” campaign started in 2010 by Jim Paluch in hopes of combating the sedentary, indoor lifestyle that is contributing to a multitude of adverse effects in our society. Playing outside has more benefits than just the physical, outdoor play can help children develop social skills, reduce stress, and increase their self-confidence. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 60 minutes of free play outside daily is essential for a child’s development which is why it is the “Come Alive Outside” campaign’s mission to create opportunities for children to get outside for some good healthy fun. Other events that have been hosted by the “Come Alive Outside” committee have been the award winning “Fire and Ice – A Winter Festival”, Bike, Hike and Discover and the Harvest Moon Family Hoedown, and the annual Duck Derby.
To register for the Great Ridgewood Duck Derby you can either stop by the Stable, 259 N. Maple Ave and complete registration or go online at www.ridgewoodnj.net/communitypass (Graydon Pool). The rain date for this event will be on Sunday July 12th. Please call the Parks & Recreation Department at 201-670-5560 for further information.
By Melanie Batley | Tuesday, 07 Jul 2015 11:35 AM!
A Nobel Prize-winning scientist who supported President Barack Obama has said that he does not believe global warming is a problem, and has openly criticized the president for his position on the issue.
“I would say that basically global warming is a non-problem,” Dr. Ivar Giaever announced during a speech at the 65th Nobel Laureate Conference in Lindau, Germany, last week, according to Climate Depot.
Quoting Obama’s warning that “no challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change,” Giaever said it was a “ridiculous statement.”
“I say this to Obama: Excuse me, Mr. President, but you’re wrong. Dead wrong,” he said, according to Climate Depot.
“Obama said last year that 2014 is [the] hottest year ever. But it’s not true. It’s not the hottest.”
In America, is it possible to have open, vigorous, no-holds-barred debate?
Is it? Is it really possible?
It’s a shame we have to even ask the question but consider the following:
– If you question the theory of climate change (formerly known as global warming till that was discredited), you’re attacked as neanderthal.
– If you disagree with the Supreme Court’s bare majority (5 to 4) ruling on gay marriage, you’re called a bigot.
– If you argue that separation of church and state was never meant to separate us from church, you’re targeted as a raving evangelical.
– If you defend the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms, you’re a threat to society; among those who “cling to their guns.”
– If you seek to have a reasonable discussion about the waves of illegal immigrants coming across our southern border, you’re termed a racist.
– If you opposed Obamacare, you are have no compassion.
– If you defend capitalism, financial success and property rights, they call you selfish and greedy.
– If you don’t want your kids to be subjected to government-sponsored sex education or a curriculum that reinvents American history, you’re accused of being unenlightened or, worse yet — guilty of parental neglect.
– If you defend states’ rights, you’re divisive. If you’re weary of radical Islamists and you’re wondering when we’ll respond in kind, you’re a war-monger. If you don’t admire European-style socialism, you’re myopic and provincial.
– If you speak up on these or similar matters, you’re likely to be branded mean or jingoistic or imbecilic.
This is what we’re dealing with. This is what “argument” has been reduced to. And it’s juvenile, self-serving, demagogic and ultimately destructive.
As a high school and collegiate debater I learned that there were at least two sides to every issue and that issues can and should be fairly and fully aired based on fact. But today we have a government, a media and a popular culture that engage in name-calling, broad-brushing, stereotyping, band-wagoning, hand-wringing, fear and intimidation. All of these are among the worst types of propaganda.
And, make no mistake about it, the biggest purveyors of these techniques can be found on the left among re-branded “progressives” (aka liberals).
They preach tolerance and understanding but they practice a near maniacal form of intolerance. In the name of compassion, they will swat you down quicker than you can say “Why?” or “Where” or “When?” or “How?”
Those are question they don’t want to deal with — questions they have no intention of answering.
We’ve reached a stage of polarization where people simply do not want to be challenged. Period.
Following the influx of illegal immigrant minors from Central America, an official at the federal agency charged with protecting public health describes Barack Obama as “the worst pres we have ever had,” an “amateur” and “Marxist,” according to internal emails obtained by Judicial Watch.
JW got the records as part of an investigation into the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) activation of anEmergency Operations Center (EOC) to deal with the barrage of illegal alien minors last summer. Tens of thousands of Central Americans came into the United States through the Mexican border and contagious diseases—many considered to be eradicated in the U.S.—became a tremendous concern. The CDC, which operates under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), responded by opening an emergency facility designed to monitor and coordinate response activities to eminent public health threats.
This special emergency division was created after the 2001 terrorist attacks and has responded to more than 50 public health threats, including hurricanes, food borne disease outbreaks, the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic and the Haiti cholera outbreak. Scientists from across the CDC are brought together to analyze, validate, and efficiently exchange information during a public health emergency and connect with response partners. The EOC also coordinates the deployment of CDC staff and the procurement and management of all equipment and supplies that agency responders may need during their deployment.
It’s a major and costly operation that can stick American taxpayers with a huge tab. That’s why JW launched a probe when the Obama administration took in the illegal immigrants, initially coined Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC), with open arms last summer. JW has sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for planning records involving the border crisis as well as information relating to the solicitation of “on-demand escort services” for the 65,000 UACs that remain in the U.S. Last year JW also reported that the illegal immigrant minors have brought in serious diseases, including swine flu, dengue fever, possibly Ebola virus and tuberculosis.
The CDC records obtained by JW this week include email exchanges between agency officials directly involved in the activation of the EOC to handle the health threats created by the influx of illegal alien minors last summer. In an email dated June 9, 2014, CDC Logistics Management Specialist George Roark wrote to CDC Public Health Advisor William Adams that “no country in the world would allow” the influx. Adams replies that “in ten years or less, they’ll all be voting…Commander’s intent…” Roark fires back by describing Obama as “the worst pres we have ever had…he truly is ‘the amateur’ but a Marxist too.”
Enhanced North Jersey Coast Line express weekend service to beach towns
July 6,2015
NEWARK, NJ — NJ TRANSIT is making it convenient and affordable to get to summer shore destinations with the return of express weekend rail service from Penn Station New York and northern New Jersey cities to shore communities along the North Jersey Coast Line this Sunday, June 21.
Enhanced Saturday, Sunday and holiday rail service on the North Jersey Coast Line will operate from June 21 through September 12 and utilize the agency’s dual-powered locomotives to provide a one-seat ride.
“This one-seat ride rail service from New York is a sound investment that not only gives visitors and residents easier access to some of our most popular beaches and boardwalks, it also helps take cars off the roadway and boosts tourism and the economy in our shore communities,” said Transportation Commissioner and NJ TRANSIT Chairman Jamie Fox.
“Our Shore service provides a safe and reliable way to get people where they need to be to enjoy time in the sun and expands transit options for travelers along the state’s costal region,” said NJ TRANSIT Executive Director Veronique “Ronnie” Hakim. “NJ TRANSIT is grateful for the continued support of the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) without whom funding for this service would not be possible.”
Four round-trip express trains will operate between Penn Station New York and Bay Head. This service also features hourly train service between Bay Head and Long Branch from approximately 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Two of the round-trips will be geared to beach travelers, with an additional two round-trips providing service during the early morning and late night timeframes.
The express service will serve Penn Station New York, Secaucus Junction, Newark Penn Station, Elizabeth, Rahway, Aberdeen-Matawan, Red Bank, Long Branch, Asbury Park, and then all station stops to Bay Head, without the need of a transfer in Long Branch. A travel time savings of approximately 25 minutes is expected from the normal travel time between New York and trains such as Belmar, Manasquan and Point Pleasant.
Seating will be limited aboard the express service. Customers are strongly encouraged to purchase round-trip tickets or discounted beach packages to Long Branch, Asbury Park, Ocean Grove, Bradley Beach and Belmar (a savings of $6.50) prior to the start of their trip. NJ TRANSIT beach packages are available at some ticket windows and ticket vending machines. More information on beach packages is available on njtransit.com/summer.
Customers can also purchase NJ TRANSIT tickets using MyTix mobile ticketing.
Express trains will supplement NJ TRANSIT’s regular hourly rail shuttle service between Long Branch and Bay Head, and will operate using the statewide transportation agency’s new ALP-45 dual-powered locomotives. These specialized trains will operate in electric mode between New York and Long Branch and will switch to diesel operation for travel between Long Branch and Bay Head – allowing for the one-seat ride.
The announcement follows the May 11, 2015 endorsement of the service by the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA), which authorized a $273,000 allocation through the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) to fund the new service.
Detailed schedules are available on njtransit.com.
Reader says the Morristown case is a clear precedent for Valley, USE IT
Why the Council hasn’t been protecting Village taxpayers is just stunning in the failure to uphold their fiduciary responsibility. Now they have a court ruling that establishes CLEAR precedent to go after Valley’s not-for-profit tax status and force them to pay the +$4.3 million they should be paying annually based on assessed value of their properties in Ridgewood, and yet they’d rather argue about an HR hiring and a parking garage that should be paid for in a public private partnership with the business owners in the CBD. Wake up and go after Valley, and stop pandering to biz owners. Taxpayers deserve your immediate attention to these issues, which can bring in millions in new revenue. Otherwise they’re not doing their job to protect the interests of tax paying Villagers.
Morristown just put in the effort for us, all you need to do is cut & paste and change the name of the defendant from “Morristown” to “Valley”. The Morristown ruling establishes clear precedent, it’s a lay-up tailor made for Ridgewood vs. Valley. They pay their supposedly “not-for-profit” CEO $2 mm a year but pay no Village taxes. But our Council has a bunch of people trying to start knife fights while our house is on fire. Very, very damning of the current five.
It would be great to see Ms. Hauck use her relationships and actually stand up against Valley Hospital and ask them to 1) drop their lawsuit; and 2) pay for the municipal services they consume like police, fire and snow removal. Or suggest that we use the Morristown Medical Center court ruling that it should pay property taxes on virtually all of its property in town, and go after Valley to pay property taxes in Ridgewood on ALL of their property. How can they argue they are a NOT-for-profit when they are paying their CEO $2 million a year and expanding in an arms race to become a “hospital system” with other regional hospitals? I would have a much stronger view of Ms. Hauck’s independence if she supported either of the above ideas without any form of quid pro quo on Valley’s expansion plans in Ridgewood .
If anything, Ms. Hauck is probably advising them on how to make sure it doesn’t happen. With no background or interest in public service except raising money for Valley, and no knowledge of how it works or most of the issues, she agreed (not decided–agreed–was invited–I know this) to run for council solely to help Valley–I would be a lot on that–in exchange for being the third vote for anything Aronsohn wanted. And she had to agree not to attend the social functions she had enjoyed for many years. This is conjecture, not inside information. It just makes sense.
When 2 of the 3 Council majority members are publicly pro-Valley? Where the 3 council bosom buddies always vote in a block (hmm, how do they do that without meeting illegally?)? When the Council majority doesn’t even allow discussion on an issue if they already have the votes to get their way?
Valley is not only going to continue to get a free pass from this Council – wait until they cut a deal on the Valley lawsuit that lets them double in size and still pay no taxes. We are going to be paying for the damage these 3 Council members have done for a generation.
Univision and NBC may claim to be distancing themselves from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump over his recently stated opposition to criminal illegal aliens, but Trump’s strong stance against criminal illegals has been well established for years and buttressed by governmental data.
In his 2011 bestselling book, Time to Get Tough, Trump held both Republicans and Democrats responsible for the nation’s failed immigration policies and cited Government Accountability Office (GAO) data revealing the economic costs the nation’s 351,000 criminal aliens imposed on U.S. taxpayers at the time.
“Both sides need to grow up and put America’s interests first—and that means doing what’s right for our economy, our national security, and our public safety,” wrote Trump. “According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) 2011 report, America’s prisons house 351,000 criminal aliens who committed a crime after having already broken the law by entering America illegally.”
Trump added, “Making taxpayers pay for 351,000 criminals who should never have been here in the first place is ridiculous.”
Advocates of the change say it would resolve a technical oversight from a decades-old bankruptcy law, while skeptics warn that it could throw into question billions of dollars in debt now owned by investors across the country.
Earlier this week, Puerto Rico’s governor declared that the nation’s $72 billion pile of debt was too much for it to handle. To avoid a “death spiral,” Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla said the commonwealth would have to break its promise to pay back some money owed.
But a quirk in the nation’s bankruptcy code is throwing Congress into the middle of the matter, as lawmakers will need to quickly pass a new law if Puerto Rico is going to gain access to the nation’s bankruptcy courts.
Puerto Rico’s nonvoting representative, Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierlusi (D) is working to build support for legislation that has simmered in Congress for months, but has taken on new urgency following the governor’s declarations.
Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) are working to build support for similar legislation in the Senate.
A 1984 update to the nation’s bankruptcy laws left Puerto Rico out of the picture, apparently by accident. Chapter 9 of the bankruptcy code gives states the power to allow agencies or municipalities to declare bankruptcy, as happened most recently in Detroit. But the law is silent on territories like Puerto Rico, leaving it on the outside looking in when it comes to public bankruptcies.
“As best we can tell, it’s a typographical error in the bankruptcy code,” said John Pottow, a bankruptcy expert and legal professor at the University of Michigan. “It should be noncontroversial.”
Giving that power to Puerto Rico would allow some of its subsidiaries, like a debt-laden power utility, to enter into bankruptcy court, giving the territory some breathing room on its finances.
Lawmakers pushing to address that change say it was a simple oversight, and Puerto Rico was always supposed to have the same ability as the states.
JULY 5, 2015 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JULY 5, 2015, 4:48 PM
BY KARA YORIO
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Go outside and play.
Those four words sent generations of elementary school kids out the door on their own each summer. The instruction was typically followed by another four-word directive: Be home before dinner.
These days, you’d be hard-pressed to find neighborhoods full of 6- and 7-year-olds in yards or streets, parks or playgrounds without adult supervision.
One of the most difficult and debated parental decisions is when to let kids be on their own — walk to school or the park with friends, go into town or even stay at the house without an adult. Some adamantly believe there’s only one choice: Never allow children out of sight until middle school and beyond or send an 8-year-old off on a solo bike ride around the neighborhood without a second thought. Most of us, though, sit somewhere in the middle.
We want to instill independence and a sense of adventure, but can’t quite bring ourselves to do it most of the time. The what-ifs overwhelm. Accidents can happen, but it’s the abductions that haunt us, the high-profile missing children cases whose names echo in our minds: Joan D’Alessandro, Etan Patz, Adam Walsh, Polly Klaas, Megan Kanka.
Sure, the abduction of a child by a stranger is statistically rare, but if it’s my daughter does it matter how rare it is? If it’s my kid that disappears on that first day I let her ride her bike around the block to her friend’s house then does it matter how many other kids do it without incident every single day? But why can’t I put those fears aside and give my daughter the same freedom I enjoyed?
The man arrested in connection with the seemingly random killing of a woman who was out for a stroll with her father along the San Francisco waterfront is an illegal immigrant who previously had been deported five times, federal immigration officials say.
Further, Immigration and Customs Enforcement says San Francisco had him in their custody earlier this year but failed to notify ICE when he was released.
“DHS records indicate ICE lodged an immigration detainer on the subject at that time, requesting notification prior to his release so ICE officers could make arrangements to take custody. The detainer was not honored,” ICE said in a statement Friday afternoon.
Kathryn Steinle was killed Wednesday evening at Pier 14 — one of the busiest tourist destinations in the city.
Police said Thursday they arrested Francisco Sanchez in the shooting an hour after it occurred.
On Friday, ICE revealed their records indicate the individual has been previously deported five times, most recently in 2009, and is from Mexico.
JULY 4, 2015, 10:59 PM LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, JULY 4, 2015, 11:25 PM
BY SHAWN BOBURG
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
At the Port Authority, even the lawyers are getting lawyers.
More than 15 officials — including three in-house attorneys — have lawyered up amid an escalating investigation into the Port Authority’s decision to redirect $1.8 billion in toll money from its Hudson River crossings to fix roads in New Jersey.
The development signals that the 15-month-old joint investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has entered a more serious phase. And the focus on at least three of the agency’s top staff attorneys suggests prosecutors and federal regulators are closely examining the legal justification for shifting toll dollars to New Jersey-owned roads.
The investigation is focused on whether the Port Authority misled investors and bondholders in 2011 when it agreed to use toll money to rebuild the 3.5-mile Pulaski Skyway and three other major New Jersey state roads at the behest of the Christie administration. Laws limit the bi-state agency’s spending to projects associated with its own facilities.
The Port Authority quietly justified the spending by labeling the highways as access roads to the agency’s Lincoln Tunnel — even though they are miles from the tunnel, do not connect to it directly and do not generate any revenues for the Port Authority. Agency lawyers described the repairs in bond documents as “access infrastructure improvements” to the Lincoln Tunnel.
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/02/2015 21:15 -0400
Submitted by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,
Have you ever come across someone on the Internet that you suspected was a paid government troll? Well, there is a very good chance that you were not imagining things. Thanks to Edward Snowden, we now have solid proof that paid government trolls are using “psychology-based influence techniques” on social media websites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Documents leaked by Snowden also reveal that government agents have been conducting denial-of-service attacks, flooding social media websites with thinly veiled propaganda and have been purposely attempting to warp public discourse online. If we do not stand up and object to this kind of Orwellian behavior, it is only going to get worse and worse.
In the UK, the Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG) is a specialized unit within the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). If it wasn’t for Edward Snowden, we probably still would never have heard of them. This particular specialized unit is engaged in some very “questionable” online activities. The following is an excerpt from a recent piece by Glenn Greenwald and Andrew Fishman…
Though its existence was secret until last year, JTRIG quickly developed a distinctive profile in the public understanding, after documents from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden revealedthat the unit had engaged in “dirty tricks” like deploying sexual “honey traps” designed to discredit targets, launching denial-of-service attacks to shut down Internet chat rooms, pushing veiled propaganda onto social networks and generally warping discourse online.
We are told that JTRIG only uses these techniques to go after the “bad guys”.
But precisely who are the “bad guys”?
It turns out that their definition of who the “bad guys” are is quite broad. Here is more from Glenn Greenwald and Andrew Fishman…
JTRIG’s domestic and law enforcement operations are made clear. The report states that the controversial unit “currently collaborates with other agencies” including the Metropolitan police, Security Service (MI5), Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), Border Agency, Revenue and Customs (HMRC), and National Public Order and Intelligence Unit (NPOIU). The document highlights that key JTRIG objectives include “providing intelligence for judicial outcomes”; monitoring “domestic extremist groups such as the English Defence League by conducting online HUMINT”; “denying, deterring or dissuading” criminals and “hacktivists”; and “deterring, disrupting or degrading online consumerism of stolen data or child porn.”
Particularly disturbing to me is the phrase “domestic extremist groups”. What does someone have to say or do to be considered an “extremist”? For example, the English Defence League is a non-violent street protest movement in the UK that is strongly against the spread of radical Islam and sharia law in the UK. So if they are “extremists”, how many millions upon millions of ordinary citizens in the United States would fit that definition?
When conducting operations against “extremists”, psychology-based influence techniques are among the tools that JTRIG uses to combat them online. The following comes from one of the documents that was posted by Greenwald and Fishman…
“Interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a glorious liberty document.”
Damon Root|Jul. 4, 2015 9:15 am
On July 5, 1852, the abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass delivered one of the greatest speeches of his long and storied career. Titled “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?,” Douglass’ speech contained both a searing denunciation of American slavery and a rousing defense of the libertarian principles coursing through the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. “Interpreted as it ought to be interpreted,” Douglass thundered from the stage, “the Constitution is a glorious liberty document.”
In my view, there’s no such thing as a bad day to reflect on the wisdom of Frederick Douglass—but July Fourth is perhaps a better day for it than most. So as a way of both honoring Douglass and marking the anniversary of his remarkable July Fourth speech, here are two stories from the Reason archives which examine the life and legacy of this indispensable American hero.
Frederick Douglass, Classical Liberal
It’s true that Frederick Douglass simultaneously championed both civil rights and economic liberty. But the proper term for that combination isn’t Social Darwinism; it’s classical liberalism. The central component of Douglass’ worldview was the principle of self-ownership, which he understood to include both racial equality and the right to enjoy the fruits of one’s labor.
Consider the remarkable 1848 letter Douglass wrote to his old master, the slaveholder Thomas Auld. It rings out repeatedly with the tenets of classical liberalism. “You are a man and so am I,” Douglass declared. “In leaving you, I took nothing but what belonged to me, and in no way lessened your means for obtaining an honest living.” Escaping from slavery wasn’t just an act of self-preservation, Douglass maintained; it was an affirmation of his unalienable natural rights. “Your faculties remained yours,” he wrote, “and mine became useful to their rightful owner.”
Douglass struck a similar note in his powerful 1852 speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” Evoking John Locke’s famous description of private property emerging from man mixing his labor with the natural world, Douglass pointed to slaves “plowing, planting and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses” as proof that they too deserved the full range of natural rights. “Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? That he is the rightful owner of his own body?” Douglass asked his mostly white audience. “There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him.”
What Frederick Douglass Teaches Us About American Exceptionalism and the Growth of Freedom
Douglass’ genius was not in hailing or excoriating American in hyperbolic terms. Plenty of people before and after him have done that. To simply assert that the United States is the either most perfect or most depraved nation is a form of exceptionalism, to be sure. But it is also an indulgent gesture that presumes that we can’t redeem ourselves or ever be held in error.
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims the independence of the United States of America from Great Britain and its king. The declaration came 442 days after the first volleys of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts and marked an ideological expansion of the conflict that would eventually encourage France’s intervention on behalf of the Patriots.
The first major American opposition to British policy came in 1765 after Parliament passed the Stamp Act, a taxation measure to raise revenues for a standing British army in America. Under the banner of “no taxation without representation,” colonists convened the Stamp Act Congress in October 1765 to vocalize their opposition to the tax. With its enactment in November, most colonists called for a boycott of British goods, and some organized attacks on the customhouses and homes of tax collectors. After months of protest in the colonies, Parliament voted to repeal the Stamp Act in March 1766.
Most colonists continued to quietly accept British rule until Parliament’s enactment of the Tea Act in 1773, a bill designed to save the faltering East India Company by greatly lowering its tea tax and granting it a monopoly on the American tea trade. The low tax allowed the East India Company to undercut even tea smuggled into America by Dutch traders, and many colonists viewed the act as another example of taxation tyranny. In response, militant Patriots in Massachusetts organized the “Boston Tea Party,” which saw British tea valued at some 18,000 pounds dumped into Boston Harbor.
Parliament, outraged by the Boston Tea Party and other blatant acts of destruction of British property, enacted the Coercive Acts, also known as the Intolerable Acts, in 1774. The Coercive Acts closed Boston to merchant shipping, established formal British military rule in Massachusetts, made British officials immune to criminal prosecution in America, and required colonists to quarter British troops. The colonists subsequently called the first Continental Congress to consider a united American resistance to the British.
With the other colonies watching intently, Massachusetts led the resistance to the British, forming a shadow revolutionary government and establishing militias to resist the increasing British military presence across the colony. In April 1775, Thomas Gage, the British governor of Massachusetts, ordered British troops to march to Concord, Massachusetts, where a Patriot arsenal was known to be located. On April 19, 1775, the British regulars encountered a group of American militiamen at Lexington, and the first shots of the American Revolution were fired.
Initially, both the Americans and the British saw the conflict as a kind of civil war within the British Empire: To King George III it was a colonial rebellion, and to the Americans it was a struggle for their rights as British citizens. However, Parliament remained unwilling to negotiate with the American rebels and instead purchased German mercenaries to help the British army crush the rebellion. In response to Britain’s continued opposition to reform, the Continental Congress began to pass measures abolishing British authority in the colonies.
In January 1776, Thomas Paine published Common Sense, an influential political pamphlet that convincingly argued for American independence and sold more than 500,000 copies in a few months. In the spring of 1776, support for independence swept the colonies, the Continental Congress called for states to form their own governments, and a five-man committee was assigned to draft a declaration.
The Declaration of Independence was largely the work of Virginian Thomas Jefferson. In justifying American independence, Jefferson drew generously from the political philosophy of John Locke, an advocate of natural rights, and from the work of other English theorists. The first section features the famous lines, “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.” The second part presents a long list of grievances that provided the rationale for rebellion.
On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted to approve a Virginia motion calling for separation from Britain. The dramatic words of this resolution were added to the closing of the Declaration of Independence. Two days later, on July 4, the declaration was formally adopted by 12 colonies after minor revision. New York approved it on July 19. On August 2, the declaration was signed.
Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, third president of the United States, appropriator of the Louisiana Purchase, gastronome…? Of the numerous extraordinary contributions Thomas Jefferson made to the United States of America, one that is often overlooked is his legacy of gourmet cuisine and sustainable horticulture.
In the mid-18th century, the American diet was still largely influenced by English traditions. Meats were often boiled, baked or stewed, while less-frequently-consumed vegetables were typically boiled. Baked breads, sweet pies and alcohol—usually hard cider, ale and fortified port or Madeira wines—were readily consumed. In 1784, two years after his wife had died, Thomas Jefferson was appointed minister plenipotentiary by Congress and set off for France. It was during this time in Paris, and while traveling throughout southern France and northern Italy, that he developed an enduring appreciation of fine cuisine.
Jefferson arranged for one of his slaves, James Hemings, to accompany him to Europe so that he could be trained in the art of French cooking. Under the tutelage of a few well-known chefs and caterers, Hemings soon acquired the skills necessary to assume the role of chef de cuisine at Jefferson’s private residence on the Champs-Elysees, where Jefferson maintained a garden that included Indian corn from American seeds, along with other fruits and vegetables. The scientific gardener enjoyed exchanging plants with his French companions and experimenting with the most unusual vegetables he could obtain.
While touring the country and soaking up epicurean delicacies, Jefferson recorded careful notes and drafted detailed sketches of local farming techniques and tools as well as cooking methods and utensils. One such observation depicted a macaroni machine for making pasta, a version of which he later procured and had shipped back to Monticello. Although he may not have been the first person to bring pasta to America, Jefferson certainly helped to spread its popularity by presenting macaroni and cheese to dinner guests while serving as president of the United States, and while hosting numerous lavish dinner parties in his home at Monticello.
Another indulgence that Jefferson enjoyed while living abroad was ice cream. By 1796, he had established two “freising molds” back home in his Monticello kitchen to facilitate its production, and several accounts exist of the frozen treat being served within a warm crust or pastry at the President’s House (now known as the White House) during his term in office. A recipe written in his hand for vanilla ice cream is considered to be the first known recipe recorded by an American.
