That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
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The first Africans arrived in Virginia because of the transatlantic slave trade.
Across three and a half centuries—from 1501 to 1867—more than 12.5 million Africans were captured, sold, and transported to the Americas.
While Portugal and Spain were the first European powers engaged in this trade, eventually most of the European powers would get involved. It was as profitable as it was brutal.
The Africans who came to Virginia in 1619 had been taken from Angola in West Central Africa.
They were captured in a series of wars that was part of much broader Portuguese hostilities against the Kongo and Ndongo kingdoms, and other states.
These captives were then forced to march 100-200 miles to the coast to the major slave-trade port of Luanda.
They were put on board the San Juan Bautista, which carried 350 captives bound for Vera Cruz, on the coast of Mexico, in the summer of 1619.
Nearing her destination, the slave ship was attacked by two English privateers, the White Lion and the Treasurer, in the Gulf of Mexico and robbed of 50-60 Africans.
Their Story
The two privateers then sailed to Virginia where the White Lion arrived at Point Comfort, or present-day Hampton, Virginia, toward the end of August. John Rolfe, a prominent planter and merchant
(and formerly the husband of Pocahontas), reported that “20. and odd, ‘perhaps their wives’ Negroes” were “bought for victuals,” (italics added).
The majority of the Angolans were acquired by wealthy and well-connected English planters including Governor Sir George Yeardley and the cape, or head, merchant,
Abraham Piersey.
The Africans were sold into bondage despite Virginia having no clear-cut laws sanctioning slavery.
The Treasurer arrived at Point Comfort a few days after the White Lion but did not stay long, quickly setting sail for the English colony of Bermuda.
Prior to leaving port, however, it is possible that 7 to 9 Africans were sold, including a woman named “Angelo” (Angela) who was taken to Captain William Pierce’s Jamestown property, which Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists excavated in partnership with the National Park Service.
By March 1620, 32 Africans were recorded in a muster as living in Virginia but by 1625 only 23 were recorded.
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These Africans, scattered throughout homes and farms of the James River Valley, were the first of hundreds of thousands of Africans forced to endure slavery in colonial English America.
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O Lord,
by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit:
so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live.
Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
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Jefferson held that "acknowledging and adoring an overruling providence"
(as in his First Inaugural Address)
was important and in his second inaugural address, expressed the need to gain "the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our fathers, as Israel of old".[8]
Still, together with James Madison, Jefferson carried on a long and successful campaign against state financial support of churches in Virginia. Also, it is Jefferson who coined the phrase
"wall of separation between church and state"
in his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists of Connecticut.
During his 1800 campaign for the presidency, Jefferson even had to contend with critics who argued that he was unfit to hold office because of their discomfort with his "unorthodox" religious beliefs.
In a letter to John Adams dated August 22, 1813, Jefferson named Joseph Priestly (an English Unitarian who moved to America) and Conyers Middleton (an English Deist) as his religious inspirations.[9]
Jefferson used certain passages of the New Testament to compose The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth
(the "Jefferson Bible"),
which excluded any miracles by Jesus and stressed his moral message.
Though he often expressed his opposition to many practices of the clergy, and to many specific popular Christian doctrines of his day, Jefferson repeatedly expressed his admiration for Jesus as a moral teacher, and consistently referred to himself as a Christian
(though following his own unique type of Christianity) throughout his life.
Jefferson opposed Calvinism, Trinitarianism, and what he identified as Platonic elements in Christianity.
In private letters Jefferson also described himself as subscribing to other certain philosophies, in addition to being a Christian.
In these letters he described himself as also being an "Epicurean"
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Epicurus
Epicurus distinguished between two different types of pleasure: "moving" pleasures (κατὰ κίνησιν ἡδοναί) and "static" pleasures (καταστηματικαὶ ἡδοναί).[79][80] "Moving" pleasures occur when one is in the process of satisfying a desire and involve an active titillation of the senses.
After one's desires have been satisfied (e.g. when one is full after eating), the pleasure quickly goes away and the suffering of wanting to fulfill the desire again returns.[79][81] For Epicurus, static pleasures are the best pleasures because moving pleasures are always bound up with pain.
(1819),[10] a "19th century materialist" (1820),[11] a "Unitarian by myself" (1825),[12] and "a sect by myself" (1819).[13]
Upon the disestablishment of religion in Connecticut, he wrote to John Adams: "I join you, therefore, in sincere congratulations that this den of the priesthood is at length broken up, and that a Protestant Popedom is no longer to disgrace the American history and character.
Wikipedia
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Our history
Fire destroys
Thomas Jefferson library
On this day in 1851, a fire sweeps through the Library of Congress and destroys two-thirds of Thomas Jefferson’s personal literary collection.
Jefferson, who died in 1826, had offered to sell his personal library to Congress after the Congressional library, along with the rest of the Capitol and the White House, was burned by the British in 1814, during the War of 1812.
His collection of 6,487 volumes of books and newspapers fetched $23,950 and, in addition to providing an invaluable archive to the nation, the fee helped pay off some of Jefferson’s personal debts.
According to the Library of Congress, Jefferson also offered to arrange and number all the books himself.
He called his collection, which contained a vast assortment of scientific works, an “interesting treasure” that he hoped would have a “national impact.”
Jefferson was a voracious reader who claimed that he could not live without books.
His servants often found him sitting on the floor of his library at Monticello surrounded by as many as 20 open books and newspapers at a time.
He studied a variety of subjects, including paleontology, mechanics, classical literature, natural history, agriculture, math, chemistry, philosoph
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
DECEMBER 24
1851
December 24
Fire destroys Thomas Jefferson library
