News you missed! Random thoughts on it all....
Your father to be your father again
........During the mission, Adams and Franklin lodged together at crowded inn in a small room with only one window. Adams records an unforgettable and amusing story in his diary about that evening and hearing Franklin’s theory of colds.
The Window was open, and I, who was an invalid and afraid of the Air in the night . . . , shut it close. Oh! says Franklin dont shut the Window. We shall be suffocated. I answered I was afraid of the Evening Air. Dr. Franklin replied, the Air within this Chamber will soon be, and indeed is now worse than that without Doors: come! open the Window and come to bed, and I will convince you: I believe you are not acquainted with my Theory of Colds. Opening the Window and leaping into Bed, I said I had read his Letters to Dr. Cooper in which he had advanced, that Nobody ever got cold by going into a cold Church, or any other cold Air: but the Theory was so little consistent with my experience, that I thought it a Paradox: However I had so much curiosity to hear his reasons, that I would run the risque of a cold. The Doctor then began an harrangue, upon Air and cold and Respiration and Perspiration, with which I was so much amused that I soon fell asleep, and left him and his Philosophy together. (Diary of John Adams, September 9, 1776. Original is at the Massachusetts Historical Society. Read the full text here)
Congress moved slowly toward independence at first. Adams fretted and voiced his frustrations to Franklin and other delegates. Franklin, a sly and crafty politician, counseled patience. In early 1776, events began to pick up speed.
In January, Thomas Paine published the pamphlet Common Sense to make the case for independence. In March, Congress passed a resolution allowing American vessels to attack ships owned by its enemies and claim them as prizes. In April, North Carolina became the first to publicly support independence and instruct its delegates accordingly. On May 15, Virginia instructed its delegates to vote for independence.
Democrat Congresswoman Barbara Jordan: “Credibility in immigration policy can be summed up in one sentence: those who should get in, get in; those who should be kept out, are kept out; and those who should not be here will be required to leave.”
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