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AMELIA EARHART
On July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart flew away from a town called Lae in the South Pacific. Earhart was attempting to circumnavigate the globe. After taking off from Lae, she disappeared. The Superhero Historians will investigate her life, her final flight, and the possible outcomes to that flight.
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Let’s talk airplanes! Amelia Earhart flew the Lockheed L-10 Electra. The L-10 was a twin engine monoplane. “A what?” Okay, that means it had two engines and only one wing surface. You may have seen a bi-plane with two wings on top of eachother. The monoplane is just like a lot of planes you see today. The L-10 was completely made of metal. It had a double tail. Pretty cool. Earhart’s plane was a special enhanced version of the plane.
Let’s talk about flying around the world. Most people will just say “circumnavigate the globe.” I guess that sounds more official.
The globe is pretty large. When preparing to circumnavigate it, there are a bunch of choices to make. Think of it like you are heading to school. Unless you live right next to the school, there are probably a bunch of different ways you can go. Right? The same is true for going around the globe. So to officially circumnavigate the globe there has to be some kind of measurements.
To go around the Earth you must travel around 40,000 km. You must start and finish at the same spot and fly through every meridian on the Earth. Meridian is the imaginary line that connects the North and South Poles. The distance you must travel is just under 40,000 km, at 36,787.559 km. Your course must also pass set points outside the Arctic and Antarctic Circles. Sounds like a long flight.
We hope that you’ve enjoyed the Jay Treaty topic. The Jay Treaty was a major decision for President Washington. It was an unpopular decision with a lot of Americans and further split politics between Federalists and Democratic - Republicans.
Special thanks to all of our sources:
The Library of Congress www.loc.gov
Presidential Courage by Michael Beschloss
Online Library of Liberty www.oll.libertyfund.org
National Archives @ http://archives.gov/
Miller Center of Public Affairs www.millercenter.virginia.edu
Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 30 April 1796 [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/
President Washington was successful in getting the Jay Treaty passed. He pushed it through. However, the fight over the treaty had worn the first president down. He would not run for president again. Remember, back then there were no term limits on the Presidency. Washington’s dream of no political parties was gone. Democratic - Republicans did not praise Washington’s time as president, only his actions beforehand. By the end of his term only Federalists were in his Cabinet. Only Federalists.
The fight in the House of Representatives over the Jay Treaty was vicious. A historic moment came on April 28, 1796 when Fisher Ames gave a speech supporting the treaty. Fisher Ames was a Representative from Massachusetts. A Federalist who supported the Jay Treaty, Ames gave his speech while suffering from bad health. John Adams tells his wife about the speech in a letter only days after.
Mr. Ames, the day before Yesterday in his feeble State, Scarcely able to stand upon his Legs and with much difficulty finding Breath to utter his Periods, made one of the best Speeches he ever produced to the most crouded Audience ever assembled. He was attended to with a silence and Interest never before known and he made an Impression that terrified the hardiest and will never be forgotten. Judge Indel and I happened to sit together. Our feelings beat in Unison. My God! How great he is says Indel? He is delightful Said I—presently gracious God! Says Indel how great he has been”? He has been noble, said I. After some time Indel breaks out Bless my stars I never heard any thing so great since I was born! It is divine said I.
Adams was angered that Democratic - Republicans even made the speech necessary.
The Democratic - Republicans tried a lot of things to stop the Jay Treaty. Some of it was personal towards President Washington. The House of Representatives tried to hold back the money needed for the treaty. This amount was $90,000. The Democratic - Republicans in the House of Representatives stopped recognizing President Washington’s birthday. But, their big attempt to stop the Jay Treaty was when the House of Representatives requested all paperwork related to the Jay Treaty.
Remember how political writers “back in the day*” used different names when they wrote something? Benjamin Franklin wrote as Silence Dogood* and Alexander Hamilton wrote the Federalist Papers under the name Publius. The battle over the Jay Treaty once again brought out the Roman in Alexander Hamilton. He wrote a series of arguments for the treaty under the name Camillus. Then he responded to his arguments under the name Philo Camillus. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s pretty awesome.
Let’s take a quick look at President Washington’s Cabinet. He relied on their advice about the Jay Treaty.
President George Washington wanted a government free from political parties. This dream quickly vanished under Hamilton’s Federalists and Jefferson’s Democratic - Republicans. However, President Washington governed as best as he could for the good of the entire country. Before taking action on the Jay Treaty, President Washington sought the advice and consent of the Senate and the opinions of his Cabinet. The following letter to the Selectmen of Boston, shows the President’s thoughts.
President Washington knew that the American public would be against the Jay Treaty. He wanted the Senate to be able to discuss the treaty without public outcry. So he told his Secretary of State to keep the treaty a secret. That didn’t last long.
This is the kind of stuff I love. It’s why I’m a member of the Superhero Historians. Check it out. When President Washington wanted to appoint John Jay to negotiate the treaty with Great Britain, there was opposition. The Federalists were aligned more with Great Britain. The Democratic - Republicans were more on the side of France. Aaron Burr, remember him, was a Democratic - Republican. He moved to vote that sending Jay was unnecessary and that he would have to resign from the Supreme Court first. Here is the actual vote! Burr’s motion failed. Count it up for yourself.
There is an interesting connection between the two men who negotiated the Jay Treaty. America’s John Jay and Great Britain’s Baron William Grenville both struck major blows against slavery. Remember our post on John Jay and his fight to make slavery illegal in New York? Well Baron Grenville succeeded in passing a law abolishing the British slave trade in 1807.
Listen up. I’ll keep this short and to the point. The shadow of war hovered over the Jay Treaty in 1794. The United States was still fragile. President Washington did not want to risk another war with Great Britain. At the time of the treaty, Great Britain and France were waging war. Great Britain did not want the United States trading with France. As a result, they seized American ships bound for France.
When talking about the beginning of the United States of America, a few other countries keep coming up. The first, Great Britain, is obvious. The other country is France. The other thing that keeps popping up is Thomas Jefferson favoring France while Alexander Hamilton favored Great Britain. I’ll let Dean and Phineas take care of the politics and people involved. I want to talk a little about France.
The Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783, ended the Revolutionary War. But, it didn’t end the problems between the United States and Great Britain. Not at all. After the Treaty of Paris, tensions between the two countries kept burning. So, let’s take a look at the Treaty of Paris so we can understand the Jay Treaty.
