Tampa Chapter

Sons of the American Revolution

October 2012

 

Contents

          Meeting announcement

Editor’s note

          Oct. agenda items

          Books on the Constitution

          Revolution History note

          Program Schedule

          Misc. reminders and information

 

The October meeting honoring our Fire/EMT and Law enforcement award winners will be held on Oct. 20th at the Piccadilly Cafeteria, located at 11810 Dale Mabry Highway North, Tampa, Florida (813-963-1660).

 

 

An agenda for the meeting will be provided. The most important agenda item for the Oct. meeting is the report of the nominating committee. 

 

 

Books on the Constitution:

As Compatriot Dick Young announced at the Sept. meeting, we donated two books to the Tampa Public Library: Miracle at Philadelphia by Catherine Bowen and Constitutional Journal by Jeffrey St. John.

 

Miracle at Philadelphia is the recognized iconic version of the creation of the Constitution.  It is well written, easy to read and does a good job of placing the convention in the context of the times.

 

Constitutional Journal is approachable and easy to read as well.  Using Madison’s notes and other primary sources, St. Johns reports on each day’s events as if he were a newspaper reporter covering the convention.  He also wrote a sequel, using the same technique, A Child of Fortune, to cover the ratification of the Constitution.  Over the next two years leading up to the 225th anniversary of Washington’s inauguration, I’ll be including excerpts from St. Johns book to detail some aspects of the ratification process.   

 

Two other books that might be of interest are Witness at the Creation by Richard Morris and the Federalist Papers.  Morris’ book discuses and explains the collaboration of Jay, Madison and Hamilton in writing the Federalist Papers.  There are many good editions of the Federalist Papers that can be found.

 

And, while there are many good biographies of the various founders, I would mention A Worthy Company by M E Bradford.  Its subtitle is Brief lives of the framers of the United States Constitution.  This is a nice little book with concise biographies of the people who were at the convention.

 

 

American Revolution Notes

 

October was a busy month during the War for Independence.  On October 7, 1777, the American northern army defeated the British army under Gen Burgoyne at the Second Battle of Freeman’s Farm.  This battle effectively ended Burgoyne’s campaign through up state New York and he surrendered his army 10 days later.  The surrender of a British field army provided proof that the Americans could win, which gave Benjamin Franklin the added “ammunition” he needed to convince the French to sign a treaty of alliance and formally enter the war on the side of the Americans.

 

Three years later, October 7, 1780, the “over the mountain men” attacked and destroyed one-third of the British southern army at the Battle of King’s Mountain.

 

The Battle of King’s Mountain in conjunction with the battles of Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse were the deciding factors that ended up pushing Gen Cornwallis and the remnants of the British southern army to Yorktown a year later.  Washington moved his army from New York, surrounded Cornwallis and after a 2 week siege, Cornwallis surrendered his army on October 19, 1781. 

 

So, October was both a good month and an important month for the Americans during the war.

 

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PROGRAM SCHEDULE

Below is the tentative program schedule for the 2012-2013 year.  As always send along any suggestions for speakers.

 

October       EMT/Fire Medal and Law enforcement medal

November    VP Bob Yarnell on the “real” first thanksgiving + joint meeting with CAR

December    Installation of officers

January

February

March

April            ROTC luncheon

May             very tentative: recognition of chapter Knight Essay winner & speaker from Veterans Memorial Park and Museums Meal Park and Museum

 

 

Misc. Reminders and notes

 

Chapter Website—always remember you can find information about the chapter and programs on the chapter website.  http://www.patriot-web.com/

 

One of the duties of the Chapter Chaplain is to send cards to our members that are sick. If you know of anyone that I need to send a card to, please mention it at our next meeting. Another duty is to send a sympathy card to the family of a member who has passed away.

Jack C. Bolen           

Chaplain

 

Chapter officers and committee chairman are encouraged to send any pertinent information they wish included in the newsletter to the editor.