Dear Friends, Thank you again for being part of the truly special week in New York City this past April — a week that brought together the Annual General Conference, […]

During the 250th Anniversary of the birth of our nation, many focus on the colonial activities centering around New England. A little-known event occurred in North Carolina in the little village of Halifax that helped turn the tide and create our nation. The Halifax Resolves and the three North Carolina Delegates that attended the Second Congressional Congress were the catalysts that brought us to the founding of the United States of America.

Step into a gripping dialogue with acclaimed prize-winning historical biographer Flora Fraser and Doug Bradburn, President and CEO of George Washington’s Mount Vernon, as they reexamine the American Revolution through a provocative lens. This conversation challenges the familiar narrative of unity and independence. It reveals a nation divided—neighbors, friends, even families torn apart by opposing allegiances. Was this truly a revolution, or America’s first civil war? Through vivid storytelling and historical insight, Fraser and Bradburn explore the deeply personal conflicts between those who risked everything for independence and those who remained steadfastly loyal to the British Crown.

As ESU Happy Hours continue to salute America’s 250th birthday, we turn to the great state of Connecticut. By the mid-to-late 1700’s, western Connecticut had developed as a quiet, agricultural “backwater,” landlocked and insulated from the politics and secessionist turmoil of the big colonial cities. Nevertheless, during the Revolutionary War, Connecticut earned the nickname “The Provisions State,” by supplying vast amounts of meat, grain, clothing, and weaponry to General George Washington’s Continental Army, and was second only to Massachusetts in the number of men serving in the war.

Philadelphia, PA., America’s first capital, held a pivotal role as the cradle of American democracy. When George Washington took the oath of office in 1789, Philadelphia had the largest free and literate community of Africans in the entire British Atlantic. This community raised families, built institutions, created opportunities for self-emancipated Africans to continue north, fought for equal rights, and they participated in public life. They exemplified the ideals of the new republic.

Daniel Boone (1734-1820) was an American pioneer, trailblazer, outdoorsman, revolutionary, and adventurer whose frontier exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. The story of the early settlement of Kentucky is well documented, and Daniel Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the U.S. state of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of the Thirteen Colonies.