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From: "Sally Rolls Pavia" <>
Subject: [FHSA] The Year Was 1790
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:21:14 -0700

The year was 1790 and the young American nation was already feeling the pull
of North versus South. Northern states were still facing debt from the
Revolutionary War, while southern states had paid off most of their debt. So
when Alexander Hamilton proposed that the federal government assume
Revolutionary War debts, the South was definitely not on-board. In order to
gain support for the legislation, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and
James Madison worked out a compromise. The agreement would put the capital
of the young nation on the banks of the Potomac, surrounded by slave states,
in exchange for support of the funding of Revolutionary debt. In the
meantime, Philadelphia would be the capital.
The first U.S. Census taken that same year counted a total population of 3
939,625, with African Americans making up 19 percent of that number (9
percent free and 10 percent slaves). 90 percent of the African American
population lived in the South.
Large families were the norm, with an average of eight children. The white
American population would double every twenty-two years.
New York was the largest city in the country with a population of 33,131,
while Philadelphia followed in second place with 28,522 citizens. More than
two-thirds of that city turned out in April for the funeral of the beloved
statesman, Benjamin Franklin.
In London, women breathed a collective sigh of relief as the alleged "London
Monster" was arrested. For several years someone had been terrorizing
attractive women in that city, accosting them and usually stabbing them in
the thigh or posterior, although occasionally he was said to have hidden a
knife in a nosegay and stabbed them in the nose. A Welshman named Rynwick
Williams was arrested after a victim pointed him out. However, he had a
strong alibi for at least one of the crimes, and it was speculated that he
was set up to gain a handsome reward that had been offered for the capture
of the perpetrator. Regardless, young Rynwick was sentenced to six years in
prison.
In northern England the first lifeboat was tested and proved successful.
Inspiration for its creation came following a shipwreck tragedy the previous
year in which eight men drowned in sight of the shore. The rescue in the
stormy sea was thought to be suicidal, so a shore-based rescue boat, the
Original, was created to avert future tragedies. The Original went on to
save hundreds of lives and spawned the creation of many more such boats.

Sally Rolls Pavia

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“We have all been warmed by fires we did not build and have drunk from wells we did not dig.”

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