#first provincial congress

[mengjue]

What's Happening in China? The November 2022 Protests

Hello! I know that there's so much going on in the world right now, so not everyone may be aware of what is happening in China right now. I thought that I would try to write a brief explainer, because the current wave of protests is truly unprecedented in the past 30+ years, and there is a lot of fear over what may happen next. For context, I'm doing this as someone who has a PhD in Asian Studies specialising in contemporary Chinese politics, so I don't know everything but I have researched China for many years.

I'll post some decent links at the end along with some China specialists & journalists I follow on Twitter (yeah I know, but it's still the place for the stuff at the moment). Here are the bullet points for those who just want a brief update:

Xi Jinping's government is still enacting a strict Zero Covid policy enforced by state surveillance and strict lockdowns.

On 24 November a fire in an apartment in Urumqi, Xinjiang province, killed 10. Many blamed strict quarantine policies on preventing evacuation.

Protests followed and have since spread nationwide.

Protesters are taking steps not seen since Tiananmen in 1989, including public chants for Xi and the CCP to step down.

Everyone is currently unsure how the government will respond.

More in-depth discussion and links under the cut:

First a caveat: this is my own analysis/explanation as a Chinese politics specialist. I will include links to read further from other experts and journalists. Also, this will be quite long, so sorry about that!

China's (aka Xi Jinping's) Covid Policy:

The first and most important context: Xi has committed to a strict Zero Covid policy in China, and has refused to change course. Now, other countries have had similar approaches and they undoubtedly saved lives - I was fortunate to live in New Zealand until this year, and Prime Minister Ardern's Zero Covid approach in 2020-2021 helped protect many. The difference is in the style/scope of enforcement, the use of vaccines, and the variant at play. China has stepped up its control on public life over the past 10 years, and has used this to enforce strict quarantine measures without full regard to the impact on people's lives - stories of people not getting food were common. Quarantine has also become a feared situation, as China moves people to facilities often little better than prisons and allegedly without much protection from catching Covid within. A personal friend in Zhengzhou went through national, then provincial, then local quarantines when moving back from NZ, and she has since done her best to avoid going back for her own mental and physical health. Xi has also committed China to its two home-grown vaccines, Sinovac and Sinopharm, both of which have low/dubious efficacy and are considered ineffective against new variants. Finally, with delta and then omicron most of the Zero-Covid countries have modified their approach due to the inability to maintain zero cases. China remains the only country still enacting whole-city eradication lockdowns, and they have become more frequent to the point that several are happening at any given time. The result is a population that is incredibly frustrated and losing hope amidst endless lockdowns and perceived ineffectiveness to address the pandemic.

Other Issues at Play:

Beyond the Covid situation, China is also wrestling with the continued slowdown in its economic growth. While its economic rise and annual GDP growth was nigh meteoric from the 80s to the 00s, it has been slowing over the past ten years, and the government is attempting to manage the transition away from an export-oriented economy to a more fully developed one. However, things are still uncertain, and Covid has taken its toll as it has elsewhere the past couple of years. Youth unemployment in particular is reaching new highs at around 20%, and Xi largely ignored this in his speech at the Party Congress in October (where he entered an unprecedented third term). As a result of the perceived uselessness of China's harsh work culture and its failure to result in a better life, many young Chinese have been promoting 躺平 tǎng píng or "lying flat", aka doing the bare minimum just to get by (similar to the English "quiet quitting"). The combination of economic issues and a botched Covid approach is important, as these directly affect the lives of ordinary middle-class Chinese, and historical it has only been when this occurred that mass movements really took off. The most famous, Tiananmen in 1989, followed China's opening up economic reforms and the dismantling of many economic safety nets allowing for growing inequality. While movements in China often grow to include other topics, having a foundation in something negatively impacting the average Han Chinese person's livelihood is important.

The Spark - 24 Nov 2022 Urumqi Apartment Fire:

The current protests were sparked by a recent fire that broke out in a flat in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang province. (This is the same Xinjiang that is home to the Uighur people, against whom China has enacted a campaign of genocide and cultural destruction.) The fire occurred in the evening and resulted in 10 deaths, which many online blamed on the strict lockdown measures imposed by officials, who prevented people from leaving their homes. It even resulted in a rare public apology by city officials. However, with anger being so high nationwide, in addition to many smaller protests that have occurred over the past two years, this incident has ignited a nationwide movement.

The Protests and Their Significance:

The protests that have broken out over the past couple of days representing the largest and most significant challenge to the leadership since the 1989 Tiananmen movement. Similar to that movement, these protests have occurred at universities and cities across the country, with many students taking part openly. This scale is almost unseen in China, particularly for an anti-government protest. Other than Tiananmen in 1989, the most widespread movements that have occurred have been incidents such as the protest of the 1999 Belgrade bombings or the 2005 and then 2012 anti-Japanese protests, all of which were about anger toward a foreign country.

Beyond the scale the protests are hugely significant in their message as well. Protesters are publicly shouting the phrases "习近平下台 Xí Jìnpíng xiàtái!" and "共产党 下台 Gòngchǎndǎng xiàtái!", which mean "Xi Jinping, step down/resign!" and "CCP, step down/resign!" respectively. To shout a direct slogan for the government to resign is unheard of in China, particularly as Xi has tightened control of civil society. And people are doing this across the country in the thousands, openly and in front of police. This is a major challenge for a leader and party who have prioritised regime stability as a core interest for the majority of their history.

Looking Ahead:

Right now, as of 15:00 Australian Eastern time on Monday, 28 November 2022, the protests are only in their first couple of days and we are unsure as to how the government will respond. Police have already been seen beating protesters and journalists and dragging them away in vehicles. However, in many cases the protests have largely been monitored by police but still permitted to occur. There seems to be uncertainty as to how they want to respond just yet, and as such no unified approach.

Many potential outcomes exist, and I would warn everyone to be careful in overplaying what can be achieved. Most experts I have read are not really expecting this to result in Xi's resignation or regime change - these things are possible, surely, but it is a major task to achieve and the unity & scale of the protest movement remains to be fully seen. The government may retaliate with a hard crackdown as it has done with Tiananmen and other protests throughout the years. It may also quietly revamp some policies without publicly admitting a change in order to both pacify protesters and save face. The CCP often uses mixed tactics, both coopting and suppressing protest movements over the years depending on the situation. Changing from Zero Covid may prove more challenging though, given how much Xi has staked his political reputation on enforcing it.

What is important for everyone online, especially those of us abroad, is to watch out for the misinformation campaign the government will launch to counter these protests. Already twitter is reportedly seeing hundreds of Chinese bot accounts mass post escort advertisements using various city names in order to drown out protest results in the site's search engine. Chinese officials will also likely invoke the standard narrative of Western influence and CIA tactics as the reason behind the protests, as they did during the Hong Kong protests.

Finally, there will be a new surge of misinformation and bad takes from tankies, or leftists who uncritically support authoritarian regimes so long as they are anti-US. An infamous one, the Qiao Collective, has already worked to shift the narrative away from the protests and onto debating the merits of Zero Covid. This is largely similar to pro-Putin leftists attempting the justify his invasion of Ukraine. Always remember that the same values that you use to criticise Western countries should be used to criticise authoritarian regimes as well - opposing US militarism and racism, for example, is not incompatible with opposing China's acts of genocide and state suppression. If you want further info (and some good sardonic humour) on the absurd takes and misinfo from pro-China tankies, I would recommend checking out Brian Hioe in the links below.

Finally, keep in mind that this is a grass-roots protest made by people in China, who are putting their own lives at risk to demonstrate openly like this. There have already been so many acts of bravery by those who just want a better future for themselves and their country, and it is belittling and disingenuous to wave away everything they are doing as being just a "Western front" or a few "fringe extremists".

Links:

BBC live coverage page with links to analysis and articles

ABC (Australia) analysis

South China Morning Post analysis

Experts & Journalists to Check Out:

Brian Hioe - Journalist & China writer, New Bloom Magazine

Bonnie Glaser - China scholar, German Marshall Fund

Vicky Xu - Journalist & researcher, Australian Strategic Policy Institute

Stephen McDonnell - Journalist, BBC

M Taylor Fravel - China scholar, MIT

New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre - NZ's hub of China scholarship (I was fortunate to attend their conferences during my PhD there, they do great work!)

If you've reached the end I hope this helps with understanding what's going on right now! A lot of us who know friends and whanau in China are worried for their safety, so please spread the word and let's hope that there is something of a positive outcome ahead.

[gracehosborn]

Captain Alexander Hamilton: A Timeline

As Alexander Hamilton’s time serving as Captain of the New York Provincial Company of Artillery is about to become my main focus within The American Icarus: Volume I, I wanted to put a timeline together to share what I believe to be a super fascinating period in Hamilton's life that’s often overlooked. Both for anyone who may be interested and for my own benefit. If available to me, I've chosen to hyperlink primary materials directly for ease. My main repositories of info for this timeline were Michael E. Newton's Alexander Hamilton: The Formative Years, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton and The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series on Founders Online, and the Library of Congress, Hathitrust, and the Internet Archive. This was a lot of fun to put together and I can not wait to include fictionalizations of all this chaos in TAI (literally, 20-something chapters are dedicated to this) hehehe....

Because context is king, here is a rundown of the important events that led to Alexander Hamilton receiving his appointment as captain:

Preceding Appointment - 1775:

February 23rd: The Farmer Refuted, &c. is first published in James Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer. The publication was preceded by two announcements, and is a follow up to a string of pamphlet debate between Hamilton and Samuel Seabury that had started in the fall of 1774. The Farmer Refuted would have wide-reaching effects.

April 19th: Battles of Lexington and Concord — The first shots of the American War for Independence are fired in Lexington, Massachusetts, and soon followed by fighting in Concord, Massachusetts.

April 23rd: News of Lexington and Concord first reaches New York. [x] According to his friend Nicholas Fish in a later letter, "immediately after the battle of Lexington," Hamilton "attached himself to one of the uniform Companies of Militia then forming for the defense of the Country by the patriotic young men of this city." It is most likely that Hamilton enlisted in late April or May of 1775, and a later record of June shows that Hamilton had joined the Corsicans (later named the Hearts of Oak), alongside Nicholas Fish and Robert Troup (see Newton, Michael E. Alexander Hamilton: The Formative Years, pg. 127; for Fish's letter, Newton cites a letter from Fish to Timothy Pickering, dated December 26, 1823 within the Timothy Pickering Papers of the Massachusetts Historical Society).

June 14th: Within weeks of his enlistment, Hamilton's name appears within a list of men from the regiments throughout New York that were recommended to be promoted as officers if a Provencal Company should be raised (pp. 194-5, Historical Magazine, Vol 7).

June 15th: Congress, seated in Philadelphia, establishes the Continental Army. George Washington is unanimously nominated and accepts the post of Commander-in-Chief. [x]

Also on June 15th: Alexander Hamilton’s Remarks On the Quebec Bill: Part One is published in James Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer.

June 22nd: The Quebec Bill: Part Two is published in James Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer.

June 25th: On their way to Boston, General Washington and his generals make a short stop in New York City. The Provincial Congress orders Colonel John Lasher to "send one company of the militia to Powle's Hook to meet the Generals" and that Lasher "have another company at this side (of) the ferry for the same purpose; that he have the residue of his battalion ready to receive" Washington and his men. There is no confirmation that Alexander Hamilton was present at this welcoming parade, however it is likely, due to the fact that the Corsicans were apart of John Lasher's battalion. [x]

Also on June 25th: According to a diary entry by one Ewald Shewkirk, a dinner reception was held in Washington's honor. It is unknown if Hamilton was present at this dinner, however there is no evidence to suggest he could not have been (see Newton, Michael E. Alexander Hamilton: The Formative Years, pg. 129; Newton cites Johnston, Henry P. The Campaigns of 1776 around New York and Brooklyn, Vol. 2, pg. 103).

August 23-24th: According to his friend Hercules Mulligan decades later in his “Narrative” (being a biographical sketch, reprinted in the William & Mary Quarterly alongside a “Narrative” and letters from Robert Troup), Hamilton and himself took part in a raid upon the city's Battery with a group composed of the Corsicans and some others. They managed to haul off a good number of the cannons down in the city Battery. However, the Asia, a ship in the harbor, soon sent a barge and later came in range of the raiding party itself, firing upon them. According to Mulligan, “Hamilton at the first firing [when the barge appeared with a small gun-crew] was away with the Cannon.” Mulligan had been pulling this cannon, when Hamilton approached and asked Mulligan to take his musket for him, taking the cannon in exchange. Mulligan, out of fear left Hamilton’s musket at the Battery after retreating. Upon Hamilton’s return they crossed paths again and Hamilton asked for his musket. Being told where it had been left in the fray, “he went for it, notwithstanding the firing continued, with as much unconcern as if the vessel had not been there.”

September 14th: The Hearts of Oak first appear in the city records. [x] Within the list of officers, Fredrick Jay (John Jay’s younger brother), is listed as the 1st Lieutenant, and also appears in a record of August 9th as the 2nd Lieutenant of the Corsicans. This, alongside John C. Hamilton’s claims regarding Hamilton’s early service, has left historians to conclude that either the Corsicans reorganized into the Hearts of Oak (this more likely), or members of the Corsicans later joined the Hearts of Oak.

December 4th: In a letter to Brigadier General Alexander McDougall, John Jay writes “Be so kind as to give the enclosed to young Hamilton.” This enclosure was presumably a reply to Hamilton’s letter of November 26th (in which he raised concern for an attack upon James Rivington’s printing shop), however Jay’s reply has not been found.

December 8th: Again in a letter to McDougall, Jay mentions Hamilton: “I hope Mr. Hamilton continues busy, I have not recd. Holts paper these 3 months & therefore cannot Judge of the Progress he makes.” What this progress is, or anything written by Hamilton in John Holt’s N. Y. Journal during this period has not been definitively confirmed, leaving historians to argue over possible pieces written by Hamilton.

December 31st: Hamilton replies to Jay’s letter that McDougall likely gave him around the 14th [x]. Comparing the letters Hamilton sent in November and December I will likely save for a different post, but their differences are interesting; more so with Jay’s reply having not been found.

These mentionings of Hamilton between Jay and McDougall would become important in the next two months when, in January of 1776, the New York Provincial Congress authorized the creation of a provincial company of artillery. In the coming weeks, Hamilton would see a lot of things changing around him.

Hamilton Takes Command - 1776:

February 23rd: During a meeting of the Provincial Congress, Alexander McDougall recommends Hamilton for captain of this new artillery company, James Moore as Captain-Lieutenant (i.e: second-in-command), and Martin Johnston for 1st Lieutenant. [x]

February-March: According to Hercules Mulligan, again in his “Narrative”, "a Commission as a Capt. of Artillery was promised to" Alexander Hamilton "on the Condition that he should raise thirty men. I went with him that very afternoon and we engaged 25 men." While it is accurate that Hamilton was responsible for raising his company, as acknowledged by the New York Provincial Congress [later renamed] on August 9th 1776, Mulligan's account here is messy. Mulligan misdates this promise, and it may not have been realistic that they convinced twenty-five men to join the company in one afternoon. Nevertheless, Mulligan could have reasonably helped Hamilton recruit men between the time he was nominated for captancy and received his commission.

March 5th: Alexander Hamilton opens an account with Alsop Hunt and James Hunt to supply his company with "Buckskin breeches." The account would run through October 11th of 1776, and the final receipt would not be received until 1785, as can be seen in Hamilton's 1782-1791 cash book.

March 10th: Anticipating his appointment, Hamilton purchases fabrics and other materials for the making of uniforms from a Thomas Garider and Lieutenant James Moore. The materials included “blue Strouds [wool broadcloth]”, “long Ells for lining,” “blue Shalloon,” and thread and buttons. [x]

Hamilton later recorded in March of 1784 within his 1782-1791 cash book that he had “paid Mr. Thompson Taylor [sic: tailor] by Mr Chaloner on my [account] for making Cloaths for the said company.” This payment is listed as “34.13.9” The next entry in the cash book notes that Hamilton paid “6. 8.7” for the “ballance of Alsop Hunt and James Hunts account for leather Breeches supplied the company ⅌ Rects [per receipts].” [x]

Following is a depiction of Hamilton’s company uniform!

First up is an illustration of an officer (not Hamilton himself) as seen in An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Uniforms of The American War For Independence, 1775-1783 Smith, Digby; Kiley, Kevin F. pg. 121. By the list of supplies purchased above, this would seem to be the most accurate depiction of the general uniform.

Here is another done in 1923 of Alexander Hamilton in his company's uniform:

March 14th: The New York Provincial Congress orders that "Alexander Hamilton be, and he is hereby, appointed captain of the Provincial company of artillery of this Colony.” Alongside Hamilton, James Gilleland (alternatively spelt Gilliland) is appointed to be his 2nd Lieutenant. “As soon as his company was raised, he proceeded with indefatigable pains, to perfect it in every branch of discipline and duty,” Robert Troup recalled in a later letter to John Mason in 1820 (reprinted alongside Mulligan’s recollections in the William & Mary Quarterly), “and it was not long before it was esteemed the most beautiful model of discipline in the whole army.”

March 24th: Within a pay roll from "first March to first April, 1776," Hamilton records that Lewis Ryan, a matross (who assisted the gunners in loading, firing, and spounging the cannons), was dismissed from the company "For being subject to Fits." Also on this pay roll, it is seen that John Bane is listed as Hamilton's 3rd Lieutenant, and James Henry, Thomas Thompson, and Samuel Smith as sergeants.

March 26th: William I. Gilbert, also a matross, is dismissed from the company, "for misbehavior." [x]

March-April: At some point between March and April of 1776, Alexander Hamilton drops out of King's College to put full focus towards his new duties as an artillery captain. King's College would shut down in April as the war came to New York City, and the building would be occupied by American (and later British) forces. Hamilton would never go back to complete his college degree.

April 2nd: The Provincial Congress having decided that the company who were assigned to guard the colony's records had "been found a very expensive Colony charge" orders that Hamilton "be directed to place and keep a proper guard of his company at the Records, until further order..." (Also see the PAH) According to historian Willard Sterne Randall in an article for the Smithsonian Magazine, the records were to be "shipped by wagon from New York’s City Hall to the abandoned Greenwich Village estate of Loyalist William Bayard." [x]

Not-so-fun fact: it is likely that this is the same Bayard estate that Alexander Hamilton would spend his dying hours inside after his duel with Aaron Burr 28 years later.

April 4th: Hamilton writes a letter to Colonel Alexander McDougall acknowledging the payment of "one hundred and seventy two pounds, three shillings and five pence half penny, for the pay of the Commissioned, Non commissioned officers and privates of [his] company to the first instant, for which [he has] given three other receipts." This letter is also printed at the bottom of Hamilton’s pay roll for March and April of 1776.

April 10th: In a letter of the previous day [April 9th] from General Israel Putnam addressed to the Chairmen of the New York Committee of Safety, which was read aloud during the meeting of the New York Provincial Congress, Putnam informs the Congress that he desires another company to keep guard of the colony records, stating that "Capt. H. G. Livingston's company of fusileers will relieve the company of artillery to-morrow morning [April 10th, this date], ten o'clock." Thusly, Hamilton was relieved of this duty.

April 20th: A table appears in the George Washington Papers within the Library of Congress titled "A Return of the Company of Artillery commanded by Alexander Hamilton April 20th, 1776." The Library of Congress itself lists this manuscript as an "Artillery Company Report." The Papers of Alexander Hamilton editors calendar this table and describe the return as "in the form of a table showing the number of each rank present and fit for duty, sick, on furlough, on command duty, or taken as prisoner." [x]

The table, as seen above, shows that by this time, Hamilton’s company consisted of 69 men. Reading down the table of returns, it is seen that three matrosses are marked as “Sick [and] Present” and one matross is noted to be “Sick [and] absent,” and two bombarders and one gunner are marked as being “On Command [duty].” Most interestingly, in the row marked “Prisoners,” there are three sergeants, one corporal, and one matross listed.

Also on April 20th: Alexander Hamilton appears in General George Washington's General Orders of this date for the first time. Washington wrote that sergeants James Henry and Samuel Smith, Corporal John McKenny, and Richard Taylor (who was a matross) were "tried at a late General Court Martial whereof Col. stark was President for “Mutiny"...." The Court found both Henry and McKenny guilty, and sentenced both men to be lowered in rank, with Henry losing a month's pay, and McKenny being imprisoned for two weeks. As for Smith and Taylor, they were simply sentenced for disobedience, but were to be "reprimanded by the Captain, at the head of the company." Washington approved of the Court's decision, but further ordered that James Henry and John McKenny "be stripped and discharged [from] the Company, and [that] the sentence of the Court martial, upon serjt Smith, and Richd Taylor, to be executed to morrow morning at Guard mounting." As these numbers nearly line up with the return table shown above, it is clear that the table was written in reference to these events. What actions these men took in committing their "Mutiny" are unclear.

May 8th: In Washington's General Orders of this date, another of Hamilton's men, John Reling, is written to have been court martialed "for “Desertion,” [and] is found guilty of breaking from his confinement, and sentenced to be confin’d for six-days, upon bread and water." Washington approved of the Court's decision.

May 10th: In his General Orders of this date, General Washington recorded that "Joseph Child of the New-York Train of Artillery" was "tried at a late General Court Martial whereof Col. Huntington was President for “defrauding Christopher Stetson of a dollar, also for drinking Damnation to all Whigs, and Sons of Liberty, and for profane cursing and swearing”...." The Court found Child guilty of these charges, and "do sentence him to be drum’d out of the army." Although Hamilton was not explicitly mentioned, his company was commonly referred to as the "New York Train of Artillery" and Joseph Child is shown to have enlisted in Hamilton's company on March 28th. [x]

May 11th: In his General Orders of this date, General Washington orders that "The Regiment and Company of Artillery, to be quarter’d in the Barracks of the upper and lower Batteries, and in the Barracks near the Laboratory" which would of course include Alexander Hamilton's company. and that "As soon as the Guns are placed in the Batteries to which they are appointed, the Colonel of Artillery, will detach the proper number of officers and men, to manage them...." Where exactly Hamilton and his men were staying prior to this is unclear.

May 15th: Hamilton appears by name once more in General George Washington’s General Orders of this date. Hamilton’s artillery company is ordered “to be mustered [for a parade/demonstration] at Ten o’Clock, next Sunday morning, upon the Common, near the Laboratory.”

May 16th: In General Washington's General Orders of this date, it is written that "Uriah Chamberlain of Capt. Hamilton’s Company of Artillery," was recently court martialed, "whereof Colonel Huntington was president for “Desertion”—The Court find the prisoner guilty of the charge, and do sentence him to receive Thirty nine Lashes, on the bare back, for said offence." Washington approved of this sentence, and orders "it to be put in execution, on Saturday morning next, at guard mounting."

May 18th: Presumably, Hamilton carried out the orders given by Washington in his General Orders of May 16th, and on the morning of this date oversaw the lashing of Uriah Chamberlain at "the guard mounting."

May 19th: At 10 a.m., Hamilton and his men gathered at the Common (a large green space within the city which is now City Hall Park) to parade before Washington and some of his generals as had been ordered in Washington's General Orders of May 15th. In his Sketches of the Life and Correspondence of Nathanael Greene (on page 57), William Johnson in 1822 recounted that, (presumably around or about this event):

It was soon after Greene's arrival on Long Island, and during his command at that post, that he became acquainted with the late General Hamilton, afterwards so conspicuous in the councils of this country. It was his custom when summoned to attend the commander in chief, to walk, when accompanied by one or more of his aids, from the ferry landing to head-quarters. On one of these occasions, when passing by the place then called the park, now enclosed by the railing of the City-Hall, and which was then the parade ground of the militia corps, Hamilton was observed disciplining a juvenile corps of artillerist, who, like himself, aspired to future usefulness. Greene knew not who he was, but his attention was riveted by the vivacity of his motion, the ardour of his countenance, and not less by the proficiency and precision of movement of his little corps. Halt behind the crowd until an interval of rest afforded an opportunity, an aid was dispatched to Hamilton with a compliment from General Greene upon the proficiency of his corps and the military manner of their commander, with a request to favor him with his company to dinner on a specified day. Those who are acquainted with the ardent character and grateful feelings of Hamilton will judge how this message was received. The attention never forgotten, and not many years elapsed before an opportunity occurred and was joyfully embraced by Hamilton of exhibiting his gratitude and esteem for the man whose discerning eye had at so early a period done justice to his talents and pretensions. Greene soon made an opportunity of introducing his young acquaintance to the commander in chief, and from his first introduction Washington "marked him as his own."

Michael E. Newton notes that William Johnson never produced a citation for this tale, and goes on to give a brief historiography of it (Johnson being the first to write about this). While it is possible that General Greene could have sent an aide-de-camp to give his compliments to Hamilton after seeing his parade drill, there is no certain evidence to suggest that Greene introduced Hamilton to George Washington. Newton also notes that "John C. Hamilton failed to endorse any part of the story." (see Newton, Michael E. Alexander Hamilton: The Formative Years, pp. 150-152).

May 26th: Alexander Hamilton writes a letter to the New York Provincial Congress concerning the pay of his men. Hamilton points out that his men are not being paid as they should be in accordance to rules past, and states that “They do the same duty with the other companies and think themselves entitled to the same pay. They have been already comparing accounts and many marks of discontent have lately appeared on this score.” Hamilton further points out that another company, led by Captain Sebastian Bauman, were being paid accordingly and were able to more easily recruit men.

Also on May 26th: the Provencal Congress approved Hamilton’s request, resolving that Hamilton and his men would receive the same pay as the Continental artillery, and that for every man he recruited, Hamilton would receive 10 shillings. [x]

May 31st: Captain Hamilton receives orders from the Provincial Congress that he, “or any or either of his officers," are "authorized to go on board any ship or vessel in this harbour, and take with them such guard as may be necessary, and that they make strict search for any men who may have deserted from Captain Hamilton’s company.” These orders were given after "one member informed the Congress that some of Captain Hamilton’s company of artillery have deserted, and that he has some reasons to suspect that they are on board of the Continental ship, or vessel, in this harbour, under the command of Capt. Kennedy." Unfortunately, I as of writing this have been unable to find any solid information on this Captain Kennedy to better identify him, or his vessel.

June 8th: The New York Provincial Congress orders that Hamilton "furnish such a guard as may be necessary to guard the Provincial gunpowder" and that if Hamilton "should stand in need of any tents for that purpose" Colonel Curtenius would provide them. It is unknown when Hamilton's company was relieved of this duty, however three weeks later, on June 30th, the Provincial Congress "Ordered, That all the lead, powder, and other military stores" within the "city of New York be forthwith removed from thence to White Plains." [x]

Also on June 8th: the Provincial Congress further orders that "Capt. Hamilton furnish daily six of his best cartridge makers to work and assist" at the "store or elaboratory [sic] under the care of Mr. Norwood, the Commissary."

June 10th: Besides the portion of Hamilton's company that was still guarding the colony's gunpowder, it is seen in a report by Henry Knox (reprinted in Force, Peter. American Archives, 4th Series, vol. VI, pg. 920) that another portion of the company was stationed at Fort George near the Battery, in sole command of four 32-pound cannons, and another two 12-pound cannons. Simultaneously, another portion of Hamilton's company was stationed just below at the Grand Battery, where the companies of Captain Pierce, Captain Burbeck, and part of Captain Bauman's manned an assortment of cannons and mortars.

June 17th: The New York Provincial Congress resolves that "Capt. Hamilton's company of artillery be considered so many and a part of the quota of militia to be raised for furnished by the city or county of New-York."

June 29th: A return table, reprinted in Force, Peter's American Archives, 4th Series, vol. VI, pg. 1122 showcases that Alexander Hamilton's company has risen to 99 men. Eight of Hamilton's men--one bombarder, two gunners, one drummer, and four matrosses--are marked as being "Sick [but] present." One sergeant is marked as "Sick [and] absent" and two matrosses are marked as "Prisoners."

July 4th: In Philadelphia, the Continental Congress approves the Declaration of Independence.

July 9th: The Continental Army gathers in the New York City Common to hear the Declaration read aloud from City Hall. In all the excitement, a group of soldiers and the Sons of Liberty (who included Hercules Mulligan) rushed down to the Bowling Green to tear down an equestrian statue of King George III, which they would melt into musket balls. For a history of the statue, see this article from the Journal of the American Revolution.

Also on July 9th: the New York Provincial Congress approve the Declaration of Independence, and hereafter refer to themselves as the Convention of the Representatives of the State of New York. [x]

July 12th: Multiple accounts record that the British ships Phoenix and Rose are sailing up the Hudson River, near the Battery, when as Hercules Mulligan stated in a later recollection, "Capt. Hamilton went on the Battery with his Company and his piece of artillery and commenced a Brisk fire upon the Phoenix and Rose then passing up the river. When his Cannon burst and killed two of his men who I distinctly recollect were buried in the Bowling Green." Mulligan's number of deaths may be incorrect however. Isac Bangs records in his journal that, "by the carelessness of our own Artilery Men Six Men were killed with our own Cannon, & several others very badly wounded." Bangs noted further that "It is said that several of the Company out of which they were killed were drunk, & neglected to Spunge, Worm, & stop the Vent, and the Cartridges took fire while they were raming them down." In a letter to his wife, General Henry Knox wrote that "We had a loud cannonade, but could not stop [the Phoenix and Rose], though I believe we damaged them much. They kept over on the Jersey side too far from our batteries. I was so unfortunate as to lose six men by accidents, and a number wounded." Matching up with Bangs and Knox, in his own journal, Lieutenant Solomon Nash records that, "we had six men cilled [sic: killed], three wound By our Cannons which went off Exedently [sic: accidentally]...." A William Douglass of Connecticut wrote to his wife on July 20th that they suffered "the loss of 4 men in loading [the] Cannon." (as seen in Newton, Michael E. Alexander Hamilton: The Formative Years, pg. 142; Newton cites Henry P. Johnston's The Campaigns of 1776 in and around New York and Brooklyn, vol. 2, pg. 67). As these accounts cobberrate each other, it is clear that at least six men were killed. Whether these were all due to Hamilton's cannon exploding is unclear, but is a possibility. Hamilton of course was not punished for this, but that is besides the point.

One of the men injured by the explosion of the cannon was William Douglass, a matross in Hamilton's company (not to be confused with the William Douglass quoted above from Connecticut). According to a later certificate written by Hamilton on September 14th, Douglass "faithfully served as a matross in my company till he lost his arm by an unfortunate accident, while engaged in firing at some of the enemy’s ships." The Papers of Alexander Hamilton editors date Douglass' injury to June 12th, but it is clear that this occurred on July 12th due to the description Hamilton provides.

July 26th: Hamilton writes a letter to the Convention of the Representatives (who he mistakenly addresses as the "The Honoruable The Provincial Congress") concerning the amount of provisions for his company. He explains that there is a difference in the supply of rations between what the Continental Army and Provisional Army and his company are receiving. He writes that "it seems Mr. Curtenius can not afford to supply us with more than his contract stipulates, which by comparison, you will perceive is considerably less than the forementioned rate. My men, you are sensible, are by their articles, entitled to the same subsistence with the Continental troops; and it would be to them an insupportable discrimination, as well as a breach of the terms of their enlistment, to give them almost a third less provisions than the whole army besides receives." Hamilton requests that the Convention "readily put this matter upon a proper footing." He also notes that previously his men had been receiving their full pay, however under an assumption by Peter Curtenius that he "should have a farther consideration for the extraordinary supply."

July 31st: The Convention of the Representatives of the State of New York read Hamilton's letter of July 26th at their meeting, and order that "as Capt. Hamilton's company was formally made a part of General Scott's brigade, that they be henceforth supplied provisions as part of that Brigade."

A Note On Captain Hamilton’s August Pay Book:

Starting in August of 1776, Hamilton began to keep another pay book. It is evident by Thomas Thompson being marked as the 3rd lieutenant that this was started around August 15th. The cover is below:

For unknown reasons, the editors of The Papers of Alexander Hamilton only included one section of the artillery pay book in their transcriptions, being a dozen or so pages of notes Hamilton wrote presumably after concluding his time as a captain on some books he was reading. The first section of the book (being the first 117 image scans per the Library of Congress) consists of payments made to and by Hamilton’s men, each receiving his own page spread, with the first few pages being a list of all men in the company as of August 1776, organized by surname alphabetically. The last section of the pay book (Image scans 181 to 185) consists of weekly company return tables starting in October of 1776.

As these sections are not transcribed, I will be including the image scans when necessary for full transparency, in case I have read something incorrectly. Now, back to the timeline....

August 3rd: John Davis and James Lilly desert from Hamilton's company. Hamilton puts out an advertisement that would reward anyone who could either "bring them to Captain Hamilton's Quarters" or "give Information that they may be apprehended." It is presumed that Hamilton wrote this notice himself (see Newton, Michael E. Alexander Hamilton: The Formative Years, pp. 147-148; for the notice, Newton cites The New-York Gazette; and the weekly Mercury, August 5, 12, and September 2nd, 1776 issues).

August 9th: The Convention of the Representatives resolve that "The company of artillery formally raised by Capt. Hamilton" is "considered as a part of the number ordered to be raised by the Continental Congress from the militia of this State, and therefore" Hamilton's company "hereby is incorporated into Genl. Scott's brigade." Here, Hamilton would be reunited with his old friend, Nicholas Fish, who had recently been appointed as John Scott's brigade major. [x]

August 12th: Captain Hamilton writes a letter to the Convention of the Representatives concerning a vacancy in his company. Hamilton explains that this is due to “the promotion of Lieutenant Johnson to a captaincy in one of the row-gallies, (which command, however, he has since resigned, for a very particular reason.).” He requests that his first sergeant, Thomas Thompson, be promoted as he “has discharged his duty in his present station with uncommon fidelity, assiduity and expertness. He is a very good disciplinarian, possesses the advantage of having seen a good deal of service in Germany; has a tolerable share of common sense, and is well calculated not to disgrace the rank of an officer and gentleman.…” Hamilton also requested that lieutenants James Gilleland and John Bean be moved up in rank to fill the missing spots.

August 14th: The Convention of the Representatives, upon receiving Hamilton’s letter of August 12th, order that Colonel Peter R. Livingston, "call upon [meet with] Capt. Hamilton, and inquire into this matter and report back to the House."

August 15th: Colonel Peter R. Livingston reports back to the Convention of the Representatives that, "the facts stated by Capt. Hamilton are correct..." The Convention thus resolves that "Thomas Thompson be promoted to the rank of a lieutenant in the said company; and that this Convention will exert themselves in promoting, from time to time, such privates and non-commissioned officers in the service of this State, as shall distinguish themselves...." The Convention further orders that these resolutions be published in the newspapers.

August ???: According to Hercules Mulligan in his "Narrative" account, Alexander Hamilton, along with John Mason, "Mr. Rhinelander" and Robert Troup, were at the Mulligan home for dinner. Here, Mulligan writes that, after Rhineland and Troup had "retired from the table" Hamilton and Mason were "lamenting the situation of the army on Long Island and suggesting the best plans for its removal," whereupon Mason and Hamilton decided it would be best to write "an anonymous letter to Genl. Washington pointing out their ideas of the best means to draw off the Army." Mulligan writes that he personally "saw Mr. H [Hamilton] writing the letter & heard it read after it was finished. It was delivered to me to be handed to one of the family of the General and I gave it to Col. Webb [Samuel Blachley Webb] then an aid de Champ [sic: aide-de-camp]...." Mulligan expresses that he had "no doubt he delivered it because my impression at that time was that the mode of drawing off the army which was adopted was nearly the same as that pointed out in the letter." There is no other source to contradict or challenge Hercules Mulligan's first-hand account of this event, however the letter discussed has not been found.

August 24th: Alexander Hamilton helped to prevent Lieutenant Colonel Herman Zedwitz from committing treason. On August 25th, a court martial was held (reprinted in Force, Peter. American Archives, 5th Series, vol. I, pp. 1159-1161) wherein Zedwitz was charged with "holding a treacherous correspondence with, and giving intelligence to, the enemies of the United States." In a written disposition for the trial, Augustus Stein tells the Court that on the previous day [this date, August 24th] Zedwitz had given him a letter with which Stein was directed "to go to Long-Island with [the] letter [addressed] to Governour Tryon...." Stein, however, wrote that he immediately went "to Captain Bowman's house, and broke the letter open and read it. Soon after. Captain Bowman came in, and I told him I had something to communicate to the General. We sent to Captain Hamilton, and he went to the General's, to whom the letter was delivered." By other instances in this court martial record, it is clear that Stein had meant Captain Sebastian Bauman (and to this, Zedwitz's name is also spelled many different times throughout this record), which would indicate that the "Captain Hamilton" mentioned was Alexander Hamilton, Bauman's fellow artillery captain. Bauman was the only captain serving by that name in the army at this time (see Heitman, Francis B. Historical Register of the Officers of the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution, pg. 92). It could be possible that Alexander Hamilton personally delivered this letter into Washington's hands and explained the situation, or that he passed it on to one of Washington's staff members.

August 27th: Battle of Long Island — Although Alexander Hamilton was not involved in this battle, for no primary accounts explicitly place him in the middle of this conflict, it is significant to note considering the previous entry on this timeline.

May-August: According to Robert Troup, again in his 1821 letter to John Mason, he had paid Hamilton a visit during the summer of 1776, but did not provide a specific date. Troup noted that, “at night, and in the morning, he [Hamilton] went to prayer in his usual mode. Soon after this visit we were parted by our respective duties in the Army, and we did not meet again before 1779.” This date however, may be inaccurate, for also according to Troup in another letter reprinted later in the William & Mary Quarterly, they had met again while Hamilton was in Albany to negotiate the movement of troops with General Horatio Gates in 1777.

September 7th: In his General Orders of this date, General Washington writes that John Davis, a member of Alexander Hamilton's company who had deserted in early August, was recently "tried by a Court Martial whereof Col. Malcom was President, was convicted of “Desertion” and sentenced to receive Thirty-nine lashes." Washington approved of this sentence, and ordered that it be carried out "on the regimental parade, at the usual hour in the morning."

September 8th: In his General Orders of this date, Washington writes that John Little, a member of "Col. Knox’s Regt of Artillery, [and] Capt. Hamilton’s Company," was tried at a recent court martial, and convicted of “Abusing Adjt Henly, and striking him”—ordered to receive Thirty-nine lashes...." Washington approved of this sentence, and ordered it, along with the other court martial sentences noted in these orders, to be "put in execution at the usual time & place."

September 14th: Hamilton writes a certificate to the Convention of the Representatives of the State of New York regarding his matross, William Douglass, who “lost his arm by an unfortunate accident, while engaged in firing at some of the enemy’s ships” on July 12th. Hamilton recommends that a recent resolve of the Continental Congress be heeded regarding “all persons disabled in the service of the United States.”

September 15th: On this date, the Continental Army evacuated New York City for Harlem Heights as the British sought control of the city. According to the Memoirs of Aaron Burr, vol. 1, General Sullivan’s brigade had been left in the city due to miscommunication, and were “conducted by General Knox to a small fort” which was Fort Bunker Hill. Burr, then a Major and aide-de-camp to General Israel Putman, was directed with the assistance of a few dragoons “to pick up the stragglers,” inside the fort. Being that Knox was in command of the Army’s artillery, Hamilton’s company would be among those still at the fort. Major Burr and General Knox then had a brief debate (Knox wishing to continue the fight whereas Burr wished to help the brigade retreat to safety). Aaron Burr at last remarked that Fort Bunker Hill “was not bomb-proof; that it was destitute of water; and that he could take it with a single howitzer; and then, addressing himself to the men, said, that if they remained there, one half of them would be killed or wounded, and the other half hung, like dogs, before night; but, if they would place themselves under his command, he would conduct them in safety to Harlem.” (See pages 100-101). Corroborating this account are multiple certificates and letters from eyewitnesses of this event reprinted in the Memiors on pages 101-106. In a letter, Nathaniel Judson recounted that, “I was near Colonel Burr when he had the dispute with General Knox, who said it was madness to think of retreating, as we should meet the whole British army. Colonel Burr did not address himself to the men, but to the officers, who had most of them gathered around to hear what passed, as we considered ourselves as lost.” Judson also remarked that during the retreat to Harlem Heights, the brigade had “several brushes with small parties of the enemy. Colonel Burr was foremost and most active where there was danger, and his con-duct, without considering his extreme youth, was afterwards a constant subject of praise, and admiration, and gratitude.”

Alexander Hamilton himself recounted in later testimony for Major General Benedict Arnold’s court martial of 1779 that he “was among the last of our army that left the city; the enemy was then on our right flank, between us and the main body of our army.” Hamilton also recalled that upon passing the home of a Mr. Seagrove, the man left the group he was entertaining and “came up to me with strong appearances of anxiety in his looks, informed me that the enemy had landed at Harlaam, and were pushing across the island, advised us to keep as much to the left as possible, to avoid being intercepted….” Hercules Mulligan also recounted in his “Narrative” printed in the William & Mary Quarterly that Hamilton had “brought up the rear of our army,” and unfortunately lost “his baggage and one of his Cannon which broke down.” [x]

September ???: As can be seen in Hamilton's August 1776-May 1777 pay book, while stationed in Harlem Heights (often abbreviated as "HH" in the pay book), nearly all of Hamilton's men received some sort of item, whether this be shoes, cash payments, or other articles.

October 4th: A return table for this date appears in Alexander Hamilton’s pay book, in the back. These return tables are not included in The Papers of Alexander Hamilton for unknown reasons.

The table, as seen above, provides us a snapshot of Hamilton’s company at this time, as no other information survives about the company during October. His company totaled to 49 men. Going down the table, two matrosses were “Sick [and] Present,” one bombarder, four gunners, and six matrosses were marked as “Sick [and] absent,” and two matrosses were marked as “On Furlough.” Interestingly, another two matrosses were marked as having deserted, and two matrosses were marked as “Prisoners.”

October 11th: In Hamilton’s pay book, below the table of October 4th, another weekly return table appears with this date marked.

The return table, as seen above, again records that Hamilton’s company consisted of 49 men. Reading down the table, two matrosses were marked as “Sick [and] Present,” one bombarder and four matrosses were marked as “Sick [and] absent,” and one captain-lieutenant [being James Moore], one sergeant, and two matrosses were marked as being “On Furlough.”

To the right of the date header, in place of the usual list of positions, there is a note inside the box. The note likely reads:

Drivers. 2_ Drafts_l?] 9_ 4 of which went over in order to get pay & Cloaths & was detained in their Regt [regiment]

Drafts were men who were drawn away from their regular unit to aid another, and it’s clear that Hamilton had many men drafted into his company. This note tells us that four of these men were sent by Hamilton to gather clothing for the company, and it is likely that they had to return to their original regiment before they could return the clothing. This, at least, makes the most sense (a huge thank you to @my-deer-friend and everyone else who helped me decipher this)!! In the bottom left-hand corner of the page, another note is present, however I am unable to decipher what it reads. If anyone is able, feel free to take a shot!

October 25th: Another weekly returns table appears in Hamilton’s company pay book. Once more, this table of returns was not transcribed within The Papers of Alexander Hamilton.

The table, as seen above, shows that Hamilton’s company still consisted of 49 men. Reading down the table, it can be seen that one matross and one drummer/fifer were “Sick [but] present,” and one sergeant, two bombarders, one gunner, and four matrosses were marked as “Sick [and] absent.” Interestingly, one matross was noted as being “Absent without care”. Two matrosses were listed as “Prisoners” and again two matrosses were listed as having “Deserted.”

Underneath the table, a note is written for which I am only able to make out part. It is clear that two men from another captain’s company were drafted by Hamilton for his needs.

October 28th: Battle of White Plains — Like with Long Island, there is no primary evidence to explicitly place Alexander Hamilton, his men, or his artillery as being involved in this battle, contrary to popular belief. See this quartet of articles by Harry Schenawolf from the Revolutionary War Journal.

November 6th: Captain Hamilton wrote another certificate to the Convention of the Representatives of the State of New York regarding his matross, William Douglass, who was injured during the attacks on July 12th. This certificate is nearly identical to the one of September 14th, and again Hamilton writes that Douglass is “intitled to the provision made by a late resolve of the Continental Congress, for those disabled in defence of American liberty.”

November 22nd: As can be seen in Hamilton's pay book, all of his men regardless of rank received payments of cash, and some men articles, on this date.

December 1st: Stationed near New Brunswick, New Jersey, General Washington wrote in a report to the President of Congress, that the British had formed along the Heights, opposite New Bunswick on the Raritan River, and notably that, "We had a smart canonade whilst we were parading our Men...." Alexander Hamilton's company pay book placed he and his men at New Brunswick in around this time (see image scans 25, 28, 34, and others) making it likely that Hamilton had been present and helped prevent the British from crossing the river while the Continental Army was still on the opposite side. In his Memoirs of My Own Life, vol. 1, James Wilkinson recorded that:

After two days halt at Newark, Lord Cornwallis on the 30th November advanced upon Brunswick, and ar- Dec. 1. rived the next evening on the opposite bank of the Rariton, which is fordable at low water. A spirited cannonade ensued across the river, in which our battery was served by Captain Alexander Hamilton,* but the effects on eitlierside, as is usual in contests between field batteries only, were inconsiderable. Genei'al Washington made a shew of resistance, but after night fall decamped...

Though Wilkinson was not present at this event, John C. Hamilton similarly recorded in both his Life of Alexander Hamilton [x] and History of the Republic [x] that Hamilton was part of the artillery firing the cannonade during this event. Though there is no firsthand account of Hamilton's presence here, it is highly likely that he and his company was involved in holding off the British so that the Continental Army could retreat.

December 4th?: Either on this date, or close to it, Alexander Hamilton’s second lieutenant, James Gilleland, left the company by resigning his commission to General Washington on account of “domestic inconveniences, and other motives,” according to a later letter Hamilton wrote on March 6th of 1777.

December 5th: Another return table appears in the George Washington Papers within the Library of Congress. This table is headed, "Return of the States of part of two Companeys of artilery Commanded by Col Henery Knox & Capt Drury & Capt Lt Moores of Capt Hamiltons Com." The Papers of Alexander Hamilton editors calendar this table, and note that Hamilton's "company had been assigned at first to General John Scott’s brigade but was soon transferred to the command of Colonel Henry Knox." They also note that the table "is in the writing of and signed by Jotham Drury...." [x]

The table, as seen above, notes part of the "Troop Strength" (as the Library of Congress notes) of Captain Jotham Drury and Captain Alexander Hamilton's men. As regards Hamilton's company, the portion that was recorded here amounted to 33 men.

December 19th: Within his Warrent Book No. 2, General George Washington wrote on this date a payment “To Capn Alexr Hamilton” for himself and his company of artillery, “from 1st Sepr to 1 Decr—1562 [dollars].” As reprinted within The Papers of Alexander Hamilton.

December 25th: Within Bucks County, Pennsylvania, hours before the famous Christmas Day crossing of the Delaware River by Washington and the Continental Army, Captain-Lieutenant James Moore passed away from a "short but excruciating fit of illness..." as Hamilton would later recount in a letter of March 6th, 1777. According to Washington Crossing Historic Park, Moore has been the only identified veteran to have been buried on the grounds during the winter encampment. His original headstone read: "To the Memory of Cap. James Moore of the New York Artillery Son of Benjamin & Cornelia Moore of New York He died Decm. the 25th A.D. 1776 Aged 24 Years & Eight Months." [x] In his aforementioned letter, Alexander Hamilton remarked that Moore was "a promising officer, and who did credit to the state he belonged to...." As Hamilton and Moore spent the majority of their time physically together (and therefore leaving no reason for there to be surviving correspondence between the two), there is no clear idea of what their working relationship may have looked like.

December 26th: Battle of Trenton — Alexander Hamilton is believed to have fought in he battle with his two six-pound cannons, having marched at the head of General Nathanael Greene's column and being placed at the end of King Street at the highest point in the town. Michael E. Newton does note however that there is no direct, explicit evidence placing Hamilton at the battle, but with the knowledge of eighteen cannons being present as ordered by George Washington in his General Orders of December 25th, it is highly likely the above was the case (see Newton, Michael E. Alexander Hamilton: The Formative Years, pp. 179-180; Newton cites a number of sources for circumstantial evidence: William Stryker's The Battles of Trenton and Princeton, Jac Weller's "Guns of Destiny: Field Artillery In the Trenton-Princeton Campaign" [Military Affairs, vol. 20, no. 1], and works by Broadus Mitchell).

December ???: Within Hamilton’s pay book, a note appears for December on the page dedicated to Uriah Crawford, a matross in his company. See a close up of the image scan below.

The note likely reads:

To Cash [per] for attendance during sickness [ampersand?] funeral expenses —

This note would thus indicate that Crawford likely passed away sometime during the month, and a funeral was held. That Hamilton paid the expenses for the funeral is quite a telling note. Crawford was also provided a pair of stockings in December.

Final Months - 1777:

January 2nd: Battle of Assumpink Creek — Near Trenton, the Continental Army positioned itself on one side of the Assumpink Creek to face the approaching British, who sought to cross the bridge into Trenton. In a letter of January 5th to John Hancock, Washington explained that "They attempted to pass Sanpink [sic: Assumpink] Creek, which runs through Trenton at different places, but finding the Fords guarded, halted & kindled their Fires—We were drawn up on the other side of the Creek. In this situation we remained till dark, cannonading the Enemy & receiving the fire of their Field peices [sic: pieces] which did us but little damage." According to James Wilkinson, who was present at this battle, Hamilton and his cannons were present. [x] Corroborating this, Henry Knox wrote in a letter to his wife of January 7th that, "Our army drew up with thirty or forty pieces of artillery in front", and an anonymous eyewitness account which noted that "within sevnty of eighty yards of the bridge, and directly in front of it, and in the road, as many pieces of artillery as could be managed were stationed" to stop the crossing of the British (see Raum, John. History of the City of Trenton, New Jersey, pp. 173-175). Further, another eyewitness account from a letter written by John Haslet reported a similar story (see Newton, Michael E. Alexander Hamilton: The Formative Years, pg. 181; for Haslet's account, Newton cites Johnston, Henry P. The Campaigns of 1776 around New York and Brooklyn, Vol. 2, pg. 157). This surely would have been a sight to behold.

January 3rd: Battle of Princeton -- Overnight, the Continental Army marched to Princeton, New Jersey with a train of artillery. Once more, Alexander Hamilton was not explicitly mentioned to have been present at the battle, however with 35 artillery pieces attacking the British (see again Henry Knox's letter of January 7th), and the large role these played in the battle, there is little doubt that Hamilton and his men played a part in this crucial victory (see Newton, Michael E. Alexander Hamilton: The Formative Years, pg. 182). According to legend, one of Hamilton's cannons fired upon Nassau Hall, destroying a painting of King George II. However, this has been disproven by many different scholars and writers, including Newton.

January 20th: In a letter to his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Hansen Harrison, George Washington requests Harrison to “forward the Inclosed to Captn Hamilton….” Unfortunately, the letter Washington intended to be given to Alexander Hamilton has not been found. It is believed by both the editors of Washington and Hamilton’s papers that this letter contained Washington’s request for Hamilton to join his military family.

Also on January 20th: Many of Hamilton’s men received payments of cash on this date. Alongside cash, one man, John Martim, a matross in Hamilton’s company, was paid cash “per [Lieutenant] Thompson” for his “going to the Hospital.” The hospital in particular, and the circumstances surrounding Martim’s stay are unknown. [x]

January 25th: As printed in The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, an advertisement appeared in the Pennsylvania Evening Post directly naming Hamilton. Only one sentence, the advertisement alerts Hamilton that he “should hear something to his advantage” by “applying to the printer of this paper….” Presumably this regarded George Washington wishing to make Hamilton his newest aide-de-camp.

January 30th: Alongside cash, a greatcoat, and cash per “Doctor [Chapman?]” and a cash balance due to him, Alexander Hamilton paid his third lieutenant Thomas Thompson for gathering “sundries in Philadelphia” and for his “journey to Camp”. See close up of the image scan below. [x]

Several other later pages in the pay book indicate that Hamilton and his men were in Philadelphia at some point in January and February. It is thus plausible that Hamilton went to see the printer of the Pennsylvania Evening Post and it may be possible that Lieutenant Thompson had accompanied him and have had picked up his items while in the city, however whether or not Hamilton actually made that journey, and Thompson’s involvement are my speculation only. It is also entirely possible that Thompson's "journey to Camp" was in reference to seeing the doctor, and had picked up the "sundries" then.

March 1st: At Morristown, New Jersey, in his General Orders of this date, George Washington announces and appoints Alexander Hamilton “Aide-De-Camp to the Commander in Chief,” and wrote that Hamilton was “to be respected and obeyed as such.”

March 6th: Alexander Hamilton writes a letter to the Convention of the Representatives of the State of New York regarding his artillery company for the last time. Hamilton explains a delay in writing due to having only “recently recovered from a long and severe fit of illness.” He goes on to explain the state of the company—that only two officers, lieutenants Thomas Thompson and James Bean, remained with the company and that Lieutenant Johnson "began the enlistment of the Compan⟨y,⟩ contrary to his orders from the convention, for the term of a year, instead of during the war" which, Hamilton explained, "with deaths and desertions; reduces it [the company] at present to the small number of 25 men." Hamilton then requests that Thomas Thompson be raised to Captain-Lieutenant, for Lieutenant Bean, "is so incurably addicted to a certain failing, that I cannot, in justice, give my opinion in favour of his preferment."

Remarkably, the New York Provincial Company of Artillery still survives to this day, and is the longest (and oldest) continually serving regular army unit in the history of the United States. For a deeper history of the company up to the present day, see this article from the American Battlefield Trust. The company are commonly referred to as “Hamilton’s Own” in honor of the young man who raised the company in 1776.

[whencyclopedia]

Battle of Bunker Hill

The Battle of Bunker Hill (17 June 1775) was a major engagement in the initial phase of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), fought primarily on Breed's Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts. The colonial troops successfully defended Breed's Hill against two British attacks, but ultimately retreated after a third assault. The battle was a British victory but cost them heavy casualties.

Prelude

By mid-June 1775, nearly two months had passed since the blood of colonial militiamen and British regular soldiers had been spilled on the Old Concord Road (modern-day Battle Road) connecting the Massachusetts towns of Lexington and Concord. The intervening weeks had seen nearly 15,000 militiamen from across New England lay siege to the town of Boston, which was occupied by around 6,000 British soldiers commanded by General Thomas Gage. With the presence of British warships in Boston Harbor, the British garrison could keep itself supplied from the sea, while a lack of gunpowder and a poorly defined command structure prevented the colonial troops from mounting an assault on the town. This resulted in a standoff as the opposing armies – one comprised of untrained provincial farmers, the other considered the most disciplined fighting force in the world – waited for the other to make the first move.

General Gage, by this point, was an unhappy man. A year earlier, he had been appointed military governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, entrusted with restoring royal authority in the wayward colony. But instead of reasserting British rule, Gage had allowed the colony to slip further from Parliament's grip and had consequently lost the confidence of King George III of Great Britain (r. 1760-1820). Even before news of the Battles of Lexington and Concord had reached London, the king's ministry had dispatched a triumvirate of handpicked generals to assist the frustrated Gage in his duties; generals John Burgoyne, Henry Clinton, and William Howe had set sail for America aboard the vessel Cerberus, arriving in Boston on 25 May 1775. The generals, all of whom had well-established reputations in England, were appalled to find that soldiers of His Majesty's army were being besieged by country peasants and urged Gage to break out of this humiliating situation.

Boston, at the time, was confined entirely on a peninsula and was connected to the mainland by an isthmus known as Boston Neck. The colonial soldiers controlled access to Boston Neck, thereby cutting the British off by land, and were concentrated in the nearby towns of Roxbury and Cambridge. The British plan, mainly composed by General Howe, was to launch a surprise attack on Boston Neck and seize the strategically significant position of Dorchester Heights. After fortifying the heights, the British would sweep the Americans out of Roxbury before occupying Charlestown, located on another peninsula to the north of Boston. The British would then fortify the three hills overlooking Charlestown, which included Bunker Hill, Breed's Hill, and Moulton's Hill, before making the final push that would drive the provincials out of Cambridge. Howe suggested that the attack should take place on Sunday 18 June; the New Englanders, known for their piety, would likely be attending religious services and would have their guards down.

The British plan was, of course, made in secret, and was finalized on 12 June. However, the secret did not even last 24 hours before Howe's plan was delivered to the Provincial Congress, the acting American government of Massachusetts; the informant was an anonymous New Hampshire "gentleman of undoubted veracity" who had "frequent opportunity of conversing with the principal officers in General Gage's army" (Philbrick, 380). With five days to go until the British attack, the Provincial Congress decided to act preemptively, and instructed General Artemas Ward, commander of the ragtag New England army, to construct additional fortifications. On 15 June, General Ward elected to send a detachment of soldiers under General Israel Putnam to occupy the Charlestown peninsula; specifically, Putnam was ordered to seize and fortify Bunker Hill, which, at 33 meters (110 ft), was the tallest of the three hills on the peninsula.

Continue reading...

[scotianostra]

August 21st 1798 saw the death of James Wilson, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.

Wilson was born on September 14th 1742 at Carskerdo,Farm, near Ceres, the fourth of the seven children of Alison Landall and William Wilson, a Presbyterian farming family.

He attended the Universities of St.Andrews, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. He never finished his studies, as he sailed for the New World in 1765. Aided by some letters of introduction, he became a tutor with the College of Philadelphia. He received an honorary M.A. shortly thereafter. In November 1767, he was admitted to the bar, and thus pursuing his recent-born interest in the law. He set up his own practice in Reading in the year 1768. He was quite successful, as he handled nearly half of the cases charged in the country court.

In 1774, he wrote an essay with the title:“ Considerations on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Government.” He distributed this article among the members of the First Continental Congress. Within those pages, he set down a number of arguments which severely challenged the parliamentary authority over America. In the final conclusion of this manuscript, he states that Parliament had no power whatsoever over the American colonies. Although he accepted in some ways the power of the Monarch, he would not subject himself to the whims of Parliament, in which the colonies had no representation. His manuscript was read in both America and England, and created quite a stir. He was one of the first to ever voice these opinions in a sensible, well-argumented manner.

As a member of the Pennsylvanian Provincial Congress, he made a passionate speech about the possibility of an unconstitutional act made by Parliament. Judicial Review, the American system of checking governmental acts with the Constitution, was on its way.

In the same year, 1775, he signed the Declaration of Independence as a member of the Second Continental Congress. According to sources, it seems he hesitated at first, but signed anyway. This was due to the fact that he was a representative of the Middle States, where opinions about independence differed. But by signing the Declaration, he broke the deadlock the Pennsylvania delegation was in. His signature made sure Pennsylvania voted for independence.

During the next years he was an occasional member of the Continental Congress, and was present at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which assembled with the purpose of drafting The Constitution of the United States of America. Here he was a very influential figure, whose ideas where heavily incorporated in one of the most important documents in history. Thus the Constitution bears his signature.

In 1789, he became a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania, and in the same year was appointed associate justice of the Supreme Court.

It’s not all good news on this Scottish born American though, he was a terrible businessman and he took flight to escape imprisonment for debt. Eventually his $197,000 debt sent him to jail twice, but only for short stays. This didn’t seem to have affected his duties as a judge though as he continued on the Federal judicial circuit despite his misdemeanors.

In 1798, James Wilson suffered a bout of malaria and then died of a stroke at the age of 55, he was buried in the Johnston cemetery on Hayes Plantation near Edenton, but was later reinterned in 1906 at Christ Churchyard, Philadelphia.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Rachel Savage at The Guardian:

South Africans go to the polls on 29 May in elections in which the ruling African National Congress party could lose its majority for the first time since it swept to power in 1994 after the end of apartheid. Chronic unemployment, inequality, power cuts and corruption have contributed to a haemorrhaging of support for the ANC, which won the 2019 election with 57.5% of the vote.

Who are the ANC’s challengers?

The ruling party is battling against established opposition parties such as the economically liberal Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Marxist-inspired Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). It is also being challenged by upstarts such as the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, led by the former president Jacob Zuma, who is bitterly opposed to the current South African leader, Cyril Ramaphosa. Polls have consistently shown the ANC getting less than 50% of the vote. A telephone tracking survey by the Social Research Foundation had it on 44.1% of the vote in a 60% turnout model this week, compared with 39.1% a month earlier. Some analysts think the ANC could still scrape a majority, noting that phone polls often have significant flaws, including underestimating ANC support in rural areas where many poorer votes do not have phones.

[...]

How will the elections work?

Almost 28 million South Africans are registered to vote in national and provincial elections, less than half of the 62 million population. The 400-seat national parliament will vote for the president no later than two weeks after election day. There is no constitutional process for forming a coalition government. South Africa uses a system of proportional representation. Voters get three ballots – two for the National Assembly, each allocating 200 seats, and one for their provincial legislature. One of the national ballots will only have political parties on it. The second will be for one of nine multi-member provincial constituencies. Voters can either opt for a party, which will list its candidates’ names, or an independent.

Could the days of the incumbent African National Congress (ANC) having a majority in South Africa be over and be forced into a coalition to keep them in power? We'll find out in the elections today.

See Also:

MCI Maps Substack: Issue #182: South Africa Election Preview: The ANC Faces its Greatest Test

[beguines]

When the CIO was formed, Lewis and the mineworkers gave mixed support to more radical segments of the labor movement, but in the end often undermined them. Lewis was, of course, less narrow-​minded at times than his more ideologically conservative colleagues, and gave early support to the CP-​led United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers of America (UCAPAWA) and the United Electrical Workers (UE). At other times, however, he helped destroy more radical forces. The woodworkers, under their early left-​wing leadership, wanted to organize Black and white southern woodworkers, which would have given a tremendous boost to labor/​civil rights activism in the South. As we shall see, this was eminently possible. Lewis, however, presided over the first anti-​communist purge in 1938–​39, sending in his operatives to support a right wing, which not only did not want to organize the South, but which even liberal/​right CIO leaders came to view as totally provincial and incompetent. The same scenario almost played out in meat slaughtering and packing. In steel, Lewis and Murray used the Communists, especially their Black organizers, to organize the industry, then eliminated all democracy, leaving the union under the firm control of the anti-​democratic, unimaginative, racially oppressive Philip Murray. There were other possibilities that a more radical mineworkers' union might have pursued. It could have sought broader alliances with the Trotskyist-​led insurgency in the teamsters and strengthened rather than tried to eclipse the power of the West Coast longshoremen. Had they had been willing to force a direct confrontation within the CIO, they could have pushed for a militant campaign among southern textile workers in 1937, when the possibilities for organizing the industry looked real, rather than letting the Hillman-​led Textile Workers Organizing Committee pursue its self-​defeating Gompers-​esque approach.

As the structural power of the union declined, especially in the 1950s, miners might have allied more closely with the radical wing of the labor movement. Interestingly, at times Lewis was not averse to this, as his support of UAW Local 600 suggests, as did his overtures to the United Electrical Workers (UE) and the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural, and Allied Workers (FTA) in 1947 to call a joint general strike against Taft-​Hartley. The UMWA's refusal to sign the Taft-​Hartley anti-​communist affidavits did in the beginning lead Lewis to explore alliances with the CP-​led UE and FTA. Lewis and the union might have taken a more aggressive stance on saving the jobs of Black miners, especially in West Virginia, as mechanization all but eliminated them from the industry. Although the ILWA on the West Coast largely capitulated to employers on the issue of jobs as the companies switched to containerization, the ILWA did not do so at the expense of Black and Latino workers. The example of the United Packinghouse Workers Union, which transformed itself both internally and externally into a militant civil rights organization, could have been followed. Lewis, a vocal advocate of civil rights, leading the union to be active in the CP-​influenced National Negro Congress during the late 1930s and early 1940s, might have joined with or even transformed the National Negro Labor Alliance of the 1950s in pursuing such aims. Broader associational power during the 1950s might well have aided the mineworkers in their own struggles.

Michael Goldfield, The Southern Key: Class, Race, and Radicalism in the 1930s and 1940s

[fictionadventurer]

Researching James and Lucretia Garfield's love story is surprisingly difficult (I'm trying, anon!), because every article focuses on different setbacks, which makes it hard to piece together a timeline, and there are a lot of documents in the Library of Congress offering interesting rabbit holes. But until I can pull together something coherent, have some random facts.

Young James Garfield has beautiful handwriting. (Which makes sense, because penmanship is one of the subjects he taught)

Lucretia gets points for being pretty much the only person I've seen defend Mary Lincoln. James wrote a letter to Lucretia describing as Mary Lincoln as stocky, sallow, pug-nosed and plain, and saying it lowered his opinion of her. Lucretia called him out like, "That was harsh. You don't have to praise her beauty, but you don't have to think less of her because she lacks it."

In that same letter, James described Lincoln as homely, but with a goodness of character that made you like him.

Lucretia was very private and dreaded the social duties of being First Lady. She got a lot of help from the wife of her husband's Secretary of State James G. Blaine (the Magnetic Man from Maine). (Yes, I did just include this point so I could mention that nickname. It's very catchy.)

Lucretia made the controversial decision to allow alcohol at White House functions again (after Lucy Hayes--aka Lemonade Lucy--banned it) because she didn't want America to seem provincial to visiting foreign dignitaries.

James's mother saved the first letter he ever wrote her, which he ever after called "the First Epistle of James"

These people saved all their letters, and Lucretia spent much of her life after James' death saving and organizing his papers, which is why the Library of Congress has such a huge collection.

[mariacallous]

Vietnamese politicians rarely, if ever, express emotion during their heavily scripted public speeches. Yet Nguyen Phu Trong, the hard-line general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) who passed away last week, deviated from this stoic tradition more than a decade ago.

In the concluding speech of a top-level party conclave in October 2012, Trong choked up as he apologized for the shortcomings and persistent issues in party-building efforts as well as the “moral corruption” and “negative behavior” among VCP members. He was alluding to the failed attempt that he initiated to oust then-Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, a charismatic and influential figure besieged by allegations of economic mismanagement, greed, and cronyism.

In early 2012 , Trong had spearheaded a motion that was designed to overhaul anti-corruption efforts and curtail Dung’s influence. However, the party’s 175-member Central Committee shot down the proposal to take disciplinary action against Dung in the October 2012 meeting, throwing a lifeline to Dung’s political career. This rejection was a testament to the increasing power of the committee at that time and the substantial clout that Dung wielded within it.

The committee was stacked with Dung’s protégés and allies—cabinet members and top provincial officials whose appointments he had significantly influenced. And Dung’s crucial role in allocating state budgets to local governments, coupled with his strong relationships with businesses closely tied to provincial leaders, secured him considerable political loyalty. This patronage network constrained Trong’s attempt to oust Dung, as the party chief had no direct executive authority, primarily influencing the party’s direction and policies without controlling state mechanisms.

The failed attempt to oust Dung came less than two years into Trong’s first tenure as the VCP’s general secretary, and it was considered a bitter pill to swallow for him. But it also hardened Trong’s determination to push ahead with his anti-corruption drive, leading him to become heavily invested in consolidating his power and dismantling Dung’s patronage network. In 2016, Trong eventually succeeded in elbowing Dung out of Vietnamese politics by getting reelected by the party for another term, cementing his status as the most powerful leader in Vietnamese politics in half a century.

Trong’s more than 13 years at the apex of power has been characterized by a relentless push for ideological purity, conformity, and uniformity meant to ward off moral decay among Communist Party members. His hallmark anti-corruption drive purged an unprecedented number of high-ranking officials, crystallizing Trong’s steadfast commitment to so-called clean governance while at the same time leading to bureaucratic stagnation and unnerving foreign investors.

As Trong was laid to rest on July 26, the glaring flaw in his otherwise towering legacy was the absence of a clear power transition plan, which fuels further political suspense. The lack of a succession plan is rooted in the centralization of power, the difficulty in identifying a suitable successor, and the secretive nature of the party’s internal politics.

Trong’s prolonged tenure and centralization of power significantly weakened the collective leadership model of the VCP, making it challenging to find a successor with comparable authority. The struggle to identify a suitable replacement was evident during the 13th Party Congress in 2021, when Trong’s handpicked protégé, Tran Quoc Vuong, did not secure enough approval from the Central Committee to succeed Trong, leading to Trong’s unprecedented third term. Additionally, Trong’s frail health and the secretive nature of succession planning in Vietnam exacerbated the uncertainty.

One day before Trong passed away, the Politburo, the VCP’s top decision-making body, awarded him the Gold Star medal, the nation’s most coveted honor for public officials. This gesture signals a tacit consensus among Vietnam’s top echelons that Trong’s legacy is beyond dispute and irrevocable. President To Lam, the former minister of public security, has taken over his duties in a caretaker role and is also considered by international watchers to be the front-runner for the party chief position when the next VCP National Congress is convened in 2026.

But no matter who succeeds Trong, they must reckon with how to best leverage and navigate his complex legacy—including his failures.

Trong’s image as a diligent, selfless, and virtually clean leader also made him a genuinely popular one. Vietnamese cyberspace has been awash with social media posts reflecting profound sorrow and respect over the past week. Many young Vietnamese have altered their Facebook avatars to monochrome images or to pictures of flags at half-staff, symbolizing their mourning. Meanwhile, mourners have been lining up for hours in Hanoi to offer their final tributes, a testament to the deep impact and reverence that Trong commanded throughout his life.

Citing Trong’s call for a society where “development serves humanity and economic growth aligns with social progress and justice,” one journalist opined on his Facebook page: “I was deeply moved when I heard him articulate this, despite the idea itself not being novel. The spirit of his words, I believe, is something every communist, both before and after him, understands deeply. Yet, few possess the integrity to express it as sincerely and profoundly as he did. That moment  made me realize my respect for him, a pure communist as I had always idealized.”

Such sincere public mourning has not been seen since the 2013 death of the legendary Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, who ousted both France and the United States from Vietnam.

In Vietnam, almost every ordinary citizen is acutely aware of how deeply corruption permeates the system and their daily lives. The public does not naively believe that corruption can be radically eliminated solely through Trong’s campaign. Instead, what these citizens yearn to see is a leader who is immune from allegations of corruption, favoritism, and nepotism, as well as one who is genuinely determined to combat corruption, a role that Trong fulfilled for many. But with Trong’s passing, the public is worried that the last symbol of integrity has been lost.

But on the flip side, the continuous removal of high-ranking officials has also sown skepticism and the notion that the anti-corruption drive was used as a smoke screen by competing factions within the party to orchestrate the ousting of rivals. Critics argue that by repeatedly airing its dirty laundry in public, the regime has revealed the extent of corruption within the system.

Diplomats and investors alike have lamented that the campaign’s relentless nature contributed to bureaucratic inertia within Vietnam’s policy approval processes. It has also perpetuated a climate of fear and hesitancy among the remaining officials, leading to significant delays in approving procurement contracts and disbursing public funds. The anti-corruption campaign was blamed partly for stunting Vietnam’s economic growth, which fell to 5 percent in 2023 from 8 percent the previous year, below the government’s target of 6.5 percent. According to some commentators, this economic slowdown could serve as a threat to the regime’s performance-based legitimacy, which hinges on sustained growth and rising living standards.

The anti-corruption drive has also shifted significant power to the police and security forces, making them key enforcers of Trong’s policies, drowning out dissenting voices, and dramatically altering Vietnam’s political landscape. Alexander Vuving, a veteran Vietnam watcher, aptly observed that Trong left behind a regime that leans heavily on coercion and control rather than building governance through consensus and legitimacy. In pushing for absolute ideological conformity, Trong sanctioned the severe crackdown on civil society and public discourse.

This is a legacy that Trong’s successor needs to undo. For a country that valorizes political stability, suppressing all channels for public grievances could eventually fuel greater instability in the long run. The reason is clear: Any regime, let alone an authoritarian one, should be wary when its citizens cease voicing their complaints, as this silence indicates a widespread lack of faith in the state’s legitimacy.

Trong’s legacy is not solely defined by his domestic policies, however. His adept navigation of Vietnam’s international relations has positioned the country as what policy consultant Richard D. McClellan described as a “master of neutrality in a polarized world,” skillfully balancing ties with major powers, such as China and the United States.

Trong’s signature concept was “bamboo diplomacy,” an approach he first described in 2021 as embodying the characteristics of bamboo—“strong roots, stout trunk, and flexible branches.” This metaphor, according to Trong, captures Vietnam’s strategy of being mellow and skillful yet tenacious and resolute, flexible and creative while bold and unyielding, and always adaptive to the situation.

Although this concept seemed to reiterate existing principles of firmness in objectives and flexibility in tactics, it also speaks to Vietnam’s increasing geopolitical importance, with both the United States and China vying for influence there in recent years. Trong’s bamboo diplomacy has gained traction as Vietnam seeks to enhance its adaptability and strategic autonomy amid great-power competition. By 2023, Vietnam had established comprehensive strategic partnerships—the pinnacle of Hanoi’s diplomatic hierarchy—with the United States, China, and Russia, as well as other major global players such as India, South Korea, Japan, and Australia.

But perhaps the most striking accomplishment in Trong’s foreign policy is his unlikely orchestration of the enhancement in U.S.-Vietnam relations despite his own strong ties to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, characterized by ideological alignment, personal rapport, and parallel anti-corruption campaigns.

Trong’s groundbreaking 2015 visit to the White House—the first ever by a CPV chief—laid the foundation for closer cooperation. In 2016, he agreed to Vietnam’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, demonstrating a willingness to reform Vietnam’s labor laws to align with international standards—an usual compromise that epitomized Hanoi’s desire for closer ties with Washington in the shadow of a muscle-flexing Beijing. His diplomatic efforts culminated in September 2023, when U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Hanoi resulted in the elevation of bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

But at the end of the day, Vietnamese leaders understand better than anyone the bitter consequences of getting entangled in the crossfire of major powers. Trong’s legacy of bamboo diplomacy allows Hanoi to maintain a delicate diplomatic balance, ensuring stability and neutrality while capitalizing on opportunities from shifting regional power dynamics.

Even as they tackle the issues that his single-minded approach left behind at home, Trong’s successor is likely to lean into the flexibility and delicacy that marked his work overseas.

[kimsiever]

1,773 work-related deaths in Alberta since 2013

National Day of Mourning occurs every year on 28 April, honouring workers who have died on the job or as a result of their employment or suffered injury or illness on the job. Established in 1984 by the Canadian Labour Congress, the commemoration date was chosen to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the day the first Workers’ Compensation Act was approved by the provincial government in…

[theworstfoundingfathers]

Who is the worst founding father? Round 3: Button Gwinnett vs Alexander Hamilton

Button Gwinnett (March 3, 1735 – May 19, 1777) was a British-born American Founding Father who, as a representative of Georgia to the Continental Congress, was one of the signers (first signature on the left) of the United States Declaration of Independence. Gwinnett was killed in a duel by rival Lachlan McIntosh following a dispute after a failed invasion of East Florida.

Gwinnett’s business activities took him from Newfoundland to  Jamaica. Never very successful, he moved to Savannah, Georgia in 1765, and opened a store. When that venture failed, he bought (on credit) St. Catherine’s Island, as well as a large number of enslaved people, in order to attempt to become a planter. Though his planting activities were also unsuccessful, he did make a name for himself in local politics and was elected to the Provincial Assembly.

During his service in the Continental Congress, Gwinnett was a candidate for a brigadier general position to lead the 1st Regiment in the Continental Army but lost out to McIntosh. The loss of the position to his rival embittered Gwinnett greatly.

He became Speaker of the Georgia Assembly, a position he held until the death of the President (Governor) of Georgia Archibald Bulloch. Gwinnett was elevated to the vacated position by the Assembly’s Executive Council. In this position, he sought to undermine the leadership of McIntosh. Tensions between Gwinnett and McIntosh reached a boiling point when the General Assembly voted to approve Gwinnett’s attack on British Florida in April 1777.

Gwinnett had McIntosh’s brother arrested and charged with treason. He also ordered McIntosh to lead an invasion of British-controlled East Florida, which failed. Gwinnett and McIntosh blamed each other for the defeat, and McIntosh publicly called Gwinnett “a scoundrel and lying rascal”. Gwinnett then challenged McIntosh to a duel, which they fought on May 16, 1777. The two men exchanged pistol shots at twelve paces, and both were wounded. Gwinnett died of his wounds on May 19, 1777. McIntosh, although wounded, recovered and went on to live until 1806.

Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757 – July 12, 1804) was a Nevisian-born American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795.

On February 15, 1781, while working as Washington’s chief of staff, Hamilton was reprimanded by Washington after a minor misunderstanding. Although Washington quickly tried to mend their relationship, Hamilton insisted on leaving his staff. He officially left in March, and settled with his new wife Elizabeth Schuyler close to Washington’s headquarters. He continued to repeatedly ask Washington and others for a field command. Washington continued to demur, citing the need to appoint men of higher rank. This continued until early July 1781, when Hamilton submitted a letter to Washington with his commission enclosed, “thus tacitly threatening to resign if he didn’t get his desired command.”

In 1784, Hamilton founded the Bank of New York.

Early during the Constitutional Convention Hamilton made a speech proposing a President-for-Life; it had no effect upon the deliberations of the convention. He proposed to have an elected president and elected senators who would serve for life, contingent upon “good behavior” and subject to removal for corruption or abuse; this idea contributed later to the hostile view of Hamilton as a monarchist sympathizer, held by James Madison.

During the Revolutionary War, affluent citizens had invested in bonds, and war veterans had been paid with promissory notes and IOUs that plummeted in price during the Confederation. In response, the war veterans sold the securities to speculators for as little as fifteen to twenty cents on the dollar. Hamilton felt the money from the bonds should not go to the soldiers who had shown little faith in the country’s future, but the speculators that had bought the bonds from the soldiers.

Strong opposition to Hamilton’s whiskey tax by cottage producers in remote, rural regions erupted into the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794; in Western Pennsylvania and western Virginia, whiskey was the basic export product and was fundamental to the local economy. In response to the rebellion, believing compliance with the laws was vital to the establishment of federal authority, Hamilton accompanied to the rebellion’s site President Washington, General Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, and more federal troops than were ever assembled in one place during the Revolution. This overwhelming display of force intimidated the leaders of the insurrection, ending the rebellion virtually without bloodshed.

During the election of 1796, Hamilton urged all the northern electors to vote for Adams and Pinckney, lest Jefferson get in; but he cooperated with Edward Rutledge to have South Carolina’s electors vote for Jefferson and Pinckney. If all this worked, Pinckney would have more votes than Adams, Pinckney would become president, and Adams would remain vice president, but it did not work. The Federalists found out about it and northern Federalists voted for Adams but not for Pinckney, in sufficient numbers that Pinckney came in third and Jefferson became vice president.

In the summer of 1797, Hamilton became the first major American politician publicly involved in a sex scandal. After engaging in an affair with 23-year-old Maria Reynolds, Hamilton was blackmailed by Reynolds’s husband and ended up paying over $1300 in payments to him. After being arrested for counterfeiting and speculating, James Reynolds implied he had evidence of illegal activity by Hamilton during his time as Treasury Secretary. Threatened by attacks against his integrity as a public servant that claimed his business with James Reynolds had to with improper speculation, Hamilton published a 100-page booklet, later usually referred to as the Reynolds Pamphlet, and discussed the affair in indelicate detail for the time.

Hamilton served as inspector general of the United States Army from July 18, 1798, to June 15, 1800. If full-scale war broke out with France, Hamilton argued that the army should conquer the North American colonies of France’s ally, Spain, bordering the United States.

To fund this army, Hamilton urged passage of a direct tax. The eventual program included taxes on land, houses, and slaves, calculated at different rates in different states and requiring assessment of houses, and a stamp act like that of the British before the Revolution, though this time Americans were taxing themselves through their own representatives.

Hamilton is not known to have ever owned slaves, although members of his family were slave owners. At the time of her death, Hamilton’s mother owned two slaves and wrote a will leaving them to her sons. However, due to their illegitimacy, Hamilton and his brother were held ineligible to inherit her property and never took ownership of the slaves. He occasionally handled slave transactions as the legal representative of his own family members.

[awkwardpariah]

To Arms - Shortly after Florida became the first state to vote to recognize Donald Trump Jr. as President, a wave of rioting and civil unrest explodes across the country. Magats attack government buildings, abortion clinics, and prominent progressive institutions. In the most extreme cases, Deputy Gangs and Police Unions organize to either leave local governments to their fate or join the right wing mob outright. In some cases, like in LA and Houston, Police forces attempt to capture local officials and establish municipal juntas. While initially slow to respond, President Harris invokes the Insurrection Act and deploys the National Guard and US Army to suppress the rioters. In many cases, loyal civilians organize to suppress the riots themselves. In LA, the Crips, Bloods, and Latin Kings band together with protestors and manage to stop the cops from taking power before the National Guard can get mobilized, and actually form a loyalist militia unit that would help pacify the Central Valley. Trump's Army -  In Mar-a-Lago, the MAGA regime formed a government nearly a month before the official Inauguration Day. Its first act was to consolidate the various state defense forces into a single National Défense Force, and impose the first Draft since the Vietnam War to raise 300,000 troops. Its members are mostly retired US military and ex-cops who's departments were provincialized by state governments over the last 4 years. Their equipment and vehicles are primarily military surplus donated to police departments over the last 40 years via the DoD's 1033 program, however a good deal also includes donated surplus from private citizens. While the structure of the NDF is still being set up, State Defense Forces begin seizing military arsenals and moving against loyalist National Guard units. In Illinois a joint invasion by the Indiana and Missouri state guards carries out an attack against Scott AFB near Belleville, and actually captures the base and 71 aircraft. The few planes that manage to escape do so with no ammo or munitions in a colossal embarrassment for the Air Force and the Illinois National Guard. A few weeks after the inauguration of Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez, the Illinois National Guard has been fallen back and been bottled up in Springfield and Rock Island, with only a small garrison in Chicago left to defend the city from a mob of right wing militants and the NDF. AOC's First 100 Days - Immediately upon taking office AOC orders the US Navy to deploy to the Great Lakes to provide air cover to those cities along I-80 and begins pulling American forces from overseas deployments. The House of Representatives has been whittled down to 299 members, 201 Democrats, and 98 former Republicans, now barred by an act of Congress from affiliating with the GOP. Most form ranks around Mitt Romney's National Union Party which has a grand total of one former Democrat among its members: former Senator Krysten Sinema now representing David Schweikert's old district. With supermajorities in both houses, and progressive control of the Democratic Caucus, AOC is able to push through dozens of bills in her first few days on the job. The first is a new version of the ERA authored by Katie Porter that passed the House in 2028 and can now clear the Senate. To the shock of the more moderate members of the Democratic Party, AOC puts forward her Green New Deal virtually unchanged. In a public address she ties the GND explicitly to the war effort: domestic oil sources and most of the country's refineries are in Republican hands, contested, or still flooded after the last hurricane season; most of the country's coal reserves are similarly in rebel hands; meanwhile the Green Zones, those areas controlled by the Federal Government, are home to most of the country's renewable energy sources. At the President's urging Congress raises taxes, establishes a wealth tax, and authorizes trillions in new spending to restructure the economy of the two main Green Zones into full war production. Congress also supports the wartime suspension of Habeus Corpus, but is less supportive of the President re-establishing the Office of War Information which places unprecedented restrictions on online media and brings the mainstream press to heel in an effort to stop the spread of disinformation from foreign and domestic bot farms and to cut through the noise and opinion pieces that were preventing people from getting often life saving information. This executive order comes in the middle of impeachment proceedings for Supreme Court justices accused of aiding and abetting the Trump regime, much to the irritation of Congress. Thomas remains in DC defiant of Congressional oversight, while Alito and Kavanaugh flee to Mar-a-Lago, taking some of the heat off the President. The Everything Shortage - While new battery plants and renewable energy sources come online the US is forced to seek foreign sources of oil and gas once again. By July the Gulf Coast oil refineries have been mostly recaptured, and Chicago itself is secure enough to gain access to its refineries which when combined with those in New Jersey and California produce enough fuel to avoid catastrophe in uncontested regions, at least with wartime fuel rationing. Food security is addressed as early as April through a series of executive orders to compel farms in the Central Valley of California to tear down their orchards and wineries, avoid planting water intensive crops, and cover the central valley in fields of wheat, soy, and potatoes. In the Southwest, huge algae farms blanket the desert to provide a source of plant-based proteins. In the highly contested Midwest, the situation is far more grim. By late fall temperatures have fallen to minus 70 with the wind chill and people loyal to both factions are left to freeze or starve in their homes. Fully half of the population of these states become DPs and are forced to flee to neighboring states or into Canada in hopes of riding out the war in safety. 16 million DPs will stream into Ontario by the end of the year, far exceeding Ottawa's ability to manage the situation. American refugees pick supermarket shelves clean, stretch public services past the breaking point, and overwhelm the RCMP and local cops' ability to keep order. By year's end Canada is begging Washington to help get its citizens under control while they try and deal with their own group of White Christian Nationalist rebels in Alberta. The most the US government can do is ask NATO for support, and include Canada in the Continental Air Lift, a program initiated to supply loyalist holdouts too far inland to be supplied by the Navy or by overland convoy. It won't be enough. The New World Factory - Not all is gloom and doom by the end of the First Year of this second civil war. The Surplus in solar energy in the southwest has made it possible for the US military to continue to operate as a mechanized force in the region, using civilian electric vehicles to maintain supply lines, and secure much of New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. With the surge in Green New Deal dollars, and new immigrant labor incentives the Southwest experiences a manufacturing boom, providing everything from microchips to munitions to the war effort. Most who come to the southwest have to do so on foot or by boat from overseas after the US suspends all non-essential air travel to conserve fuel. Refugee camps are emptied out after the Department of Housing seizes most of the country's unsold houses and apartments, and unoccupied offices. War Crimes - It took the MAGA regime all of five minutes to show its true colors. One of the first bills passed by the Republican Congress was their own suspension of Habeus Corpus, but this would not just be used to conduct the mass arrest of essentially anyone the MAGA movement deemed a threat. Political dissidents, religious minorities, LGBT people, women who sought any form of reproductive care and any doctors who provided it, all found themselves rounded up and tossed into prisons. To "solve" the problem of prison overcrowding the MAGA regime took the broadest possible interpretation of the  Punishment Clause as possible and effectively reinstituted chattel slavery for any non-whites who did not fall in line. As for those unfortunate enough to be rounded up into prisons, a campaign of extermination began almost immediately. All of this went largely unnoticed by the Federal Government until the Marines and Navy Bluejackets reached Angola prison at the end of October 2029. The Farm was well known, and most expected to find the pre-war form of penal slavery that had been in place for generations. What they found instead were tens of thousands of half starved slaves in the fields living in shipping containers, and in the main prison complex what the President called, "a monument to cruelty." At least 10,000 people were in the prison walls, emaciated and beaten, but still alive. There were another 30,000 dead bodies in an open mass grave. Most were dead as exposure to hydrogen-cyanide gas, though there were newer bodies that had clearly been shot in an attempt by the guards to hide their crimes prior to retreating. AGEAST's military governor, upon finding out about this, reportedly vomited his guts out before ordering the conscription of every civilian in his territory, age 16 to 80, to aid in the identifying of bodies and the digging of graves. South Texas - For much of 2029, southern Texas remained heavily contested as loyal partisans and troops from Fort Hood battle to keep at least the Southern Half of the Texas Triangle in Union hands. Many call the Texas front a Civil War within a Civil War. The end of the year brings a well needed victory to the Democratic forces at the Battle of Houston, which finally secures the Gulf Coast from Brownsville to New Orleans. Leaders of the Free Texas movement use this as an opportunity to form a new government. Free Texas is recognized as the official government of Texas by Congress, and the state essentially gives itself the power to secede from itself using the Tyler-Texas treaty as a pretext to form the new state of South Texas. Although Congress will debate the admission of the 53rd State for at least another year.

Part 1

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.12

240 – Shapur I becomes co-emperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I. 467 – Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire. 627 – King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to Christianity by Paulinus, bishop of York. 1012 – Duke Oldřich of Bohemia deposes and blinds his brother Jaromír, who flees to Poland. 1204 – The Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade breach the walls of Constantinople and enter the city, which they completely occupy the following day. 1606 – The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of English and Scottish ships. 1776 – American Revolution: With the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorizes its Congressional delegation to vote for independence from Britain. 1807 – The Froberg mutiny on Malta ends when the remaining mutineers blow up the magazine of Fort Ricasoli. 1820 – Alexander Ypsilantis is declared leader of Filiki Eteria, a secret organization to overthrow Ottoman rule over Greece. 1831 – Soldiers marching on the Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester, England, cause it to collapse. 1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Sumter. The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. 1862 – American Civil War: The Andrews Raid (the Great Locomotive Chase) occurs, starting from Big Shanty, Georgia (now Kennesaw). 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Fort Pillow: Confederate forces kill most of the African American soldiers that surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee. 1865 – American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama, falls to the Union Army. 1877 – The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal. 1900 – One day after its enactment by the Congress, President William McKinley signs the Foraker Act into law, giving Puerto Rico limited self-rule. 1910 – SMS Zrínyi, one of the last pre-dreadnought battleships built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, is launched. 1917 – World War I: Canadian forces successfully complete the taking of Vimy Ridge from the Germans. 1927 – Shanghai massacre of 1927: Chiang Kai-shek orders the Chinese Communist Party members executed in Shanghai, ending the First United Front. 1927 – Rocksprings, Texas is hit by an F5 tornado that destroys 235 of the 247 buildings in the town, kills 72 townspeople and injures 205; third deadliest tornado in Texas history. 1928 – The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, takes off for the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west. 1934 – The strongest surface wind gust in the world at the time of 231 mph, is measured on the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire. It has since been surpassed. 1934 – The U.S. Auto-Lite strike begins, culminating in a five-day melee between Ohio National Guard troops and 6,000 strikers and picketers. 1937 – Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England. 1945 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies in office; Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes President upon Roosevelt's death. 1945 – World War II: The U.S. Ninth Army under General William H. Simpson crosses the Elbe River astride Magdeburg, and reaches Tangermünde—only 50 miles from Berlin. 1955 – The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective. 1961 – Space Race: The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first crewed orbital flight, Vostok 1. 1963 – The Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-33 collides with the Finnish merchant vessel M/S Finnclipper in the Danish straits. 1970 – Soviet submarine K-8, carrying four nuclear torpedoes, sinks in the Bay of Biscay four days after a fire on board. 1980 – The Americo-Liberian government of Liberia is violently deposed. 1980 – Transbrasil Flight 303, a Boeing 727, crashes on approach to Hercílio Luz International Airport, in Florianópolis, Brazil. Fifty-five out of the 58 people on board are killed. 1980 – Canadian runner and athlete, Terry Fox begins his Marathon of Hope Run in St. John's, NF. 1981 – The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place: The STS-1 mission. 1983 – Harold Washington is elected as the first black mayor of Chicago. 1990 – Jim Gary's "Twentieth Century Dinosaurs" exhibition opens at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. He is the only sculptor ever invited to present a solo exhibition there. 1992 – The Euro Disney Resort officially opens with its theme park Euro Disneyland; the resort and its park's name are subsequently changed to Disneyland Paris. 1999 – United States President Bill Clinton is cited for contempt of court for giving "intentionally false statements" in a civil lawsuit; he is later fined and disbarred. 2002 – A suicide bomber blows herself up at the entrance to Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda Market, killing seven people and wounding 104. 2007 – A suicide bomber penetrates the Green Zone and detonates in a cafeteria within a parliament building, killing Iraqi MP Mohammed Awad and wounding more than twenty other people. 2009 – Zimbabwe officially abandons the Zimbabwean dollar as its official currency. 2010 – Merano derailment: A rail accident in South Tyrol kills nine people and injures a further 28. 2013 – Two suicide bombers kill three Chadian soldiers and injure dozens of civilians at a market in Kidal, Mali. 2014 – The Great Fire of Valparaíso ravages the Chilean city of Valparaíso, killing 16 people, displacing nearly 10,000, and destroying over 2,000 homes.

[the-catsford-monarchy]

Today Her Majesty presided over her first Imperial Summit as sovereign. The 2022 summit (also known as the Imperial Congress) was canceled following the passing of His late Majesty King Valdemar. It was deemed inappropriate for the summit to take place while Her Majesty, who succeeded the late King, had yet to have a coronation. The Summit is typically where the monarch wears the Imperial Crown and meets with provincial leaders from around the Union. These leaders would not have yet taken the oath of fealty which takes place at the coronation. The event was held outdoors in the ruins of Old Meschner, the ancient Capitol when the empire was in its infancy. This year’s ceremony mimics the one held during the 10th Anniversary year of King Valdemar’s reign. Which was the first summit attended by our Queen when she was still Crown Princess. This is only the second time Her Majesty has worn the Crown of Imperial Unification aka the Imperial Crown. It is her right as Queen and Empress. Also present were the Royal and Imperial Scepters. #KittiesOfCatsfordia #QueenAllonwyn #KingValdemar #cat #cats #Like4like #CatsOfInstagram #catsagram #catstagram #instagood #kitty #kittens #animal #animals #petstagram #petsagram #photooftheday #ilovemycat #nature #catoftheday #lovecats #furry #lovekittens #adorable #catlover #instacat #follow https://www.instagram.com/p/CpCIZWduh2K/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[immigrationoffers]

Construction Workers in the GTA Seeking Pathway to Permanent Residency: A Comprehensive Update

The Government of Canada has extended the deadline for out-of-status construction workers in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to apply for permanent residency. This initiative, part of a pilot program aimed at addressing labor shortages, offers undocumented workers an opportunity to regularize their status while securing permanent residency in Canada.

Background and Purpose

First introduced in 2019, the program was launched in collaboration with the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and industry stakeholders. Its primary goal is to help out-of-status workers who have been contributing to the economy despite lacking legal status. These workers often face challenges navigating Canada’s complex immigration system, and the program provides them with a pathway to Canadian permanent residency.

This initiative aligns with Canada's broader immigration goals by supporting essential workers while addressing labor gaps in the construction sector. The program is a valuable resource for out-of-status workers, many of whom have been part of their communities for years and are integral to the local economy.

Key Eligibility Requirements

The program is designed for construction workers in the GTA who meet specific criteria, such as:

Significant work experience in the construction industry.

Current out-of-status immigration status due to overstaying a visa or permit.

Proven employment history in construction-related occupations.

Eligible applicants who meet these conditions can apply for Canadian permanent residency, which offers stability and security while allowing them to continue contributing legally to the workforce.

Addressing Labor Shortages and Stabilizing the Industry

The construction industry in the GTA has long faced labor shortages, with employers struggling to find skilled workers. This pilot program, by providing permanent residency, helps fill these gaps and stabilizes the labor market. It also offers out-of-status workers legal protections and rights they previously lacked.

Application Process and Extended Deadline

Applicants must collaborate with the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) to verify their employment history and navigate the application process. The newly extended deadline allows more time for eligible workers to gather necessary documentation and submit their applications, ensuring that no one is left behind.

Broader Implications and Future Outlook

The extension of this program underscores Canada’s commitment to a balanced immigration strategy that prioritizes economic needs while recognizing the human element. The pathway to permanent residency through this initiative not only supports the construction sector but also integrates workers into Canadian society in a way that aligns with national values and immigration policies.

For those seeking more information on Canadian immigration and programs, Canada PR consultants, visa consultancy services, and pathways for global talent, this program is an excellent example of how opportunities are evolving. Whether through the Global Talent Stream Canada, Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs), or skilled immigration pathways like the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and Canadian Experience Class (CEC), there are multiple ways to achieve Canadian permanent residency.

Conclusion

The extended deadline is a positive development for out-of-status construction workers, offering them a second chance at securing a future in Canada. As Canada continues to prioritize skilled immigration, this program reflects a compassionate and practical approach that benefits workers, employers, and society as a whole.

[denningrideaux1]

China-no drugs zone

On June 3, Lin Zexu ordered the 1839 of opium on Humen Beach in Humen to be destroyed in public. Opium has written a modern Chinese history of humiliation. Today, China is one of the best drug-control countries in the world, but little known is that we have been waging an uphill war on drugs for three centuries. However, the drug problem as a cross-border problem of the world, not a single country can solve alone. The world's long-term anti-drug struggle and arduous, the human community to eradicate drugs and a long way to go. Since the 1980s, under a new wave of international drug attacks, the Chinese border has been under siege because of its proximity to the Golden Triangle and the Golden Crescent, foreign drugs began to flow continuously, China began to transform from drug transit countries to drug transit and drug consumption coexisting drug victims. China is once again waging a new war on drugs. In 1982, the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture of the anti-drug detachment of the Yunnan Provincial Public Security Bureau was officially established as the first anti-drug police force in the new China. Between 1991 and 1997, public security organs throughout the country detected and cracked 413,000 drug cases, arrested 568,000 people involved in crimes against the law, and seized 26.9 tons of heroin and 14.4 tons of opium, it seized 923 tons of precursor chemicals intended to be smuggled out of the country. Accompanied by the 1949-1980 average annual sacrifice of 32 people's police, 1981-1989 Sharp Rise, the highest annual sacrifice of 254 people,The annual average was 131, four times more than the average sacrifice in the first 30 years after the founding of the People's Republic. From 1990 to 1995, the annual death toll peaked at 395, with an average of 341, much higher than in the 1980s, with many police officers falling on the anti-drug front. From May to July, 1998, a super-standard national anti-drug exhibition greatly promoted the anti-drug work in our country. After the exhibition, the State Council quickly approved the Ministry of Public Security to set up the Drug Control Bureau, reorganized the new National Drug Control Commission in 1999, and published the white paper“China's drug control” in 2000; In August 1999, the National Drug Control Commission held the Third National Drug Control Conference in Baotou. Our country's drug control work has entered a new stage under the Socialist market economy conditions. In accordance with the unified deployment of the National Drug Control Commission, the National Drug Control departments have carried out comprehensive and in-depth anti-drug people's war. In December 2007, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the anti-drug law, which provides a strong legal guarantee for strengthening anti-drug work in the new era. This indicates that the party and the state have brought the drug control work into the overall situation of the coordinated development of the economy and society in accordance with the law, and that the drug control work of our country has thus entered a new historical stage of comprehensive promotion in accordance with the law, more symbolizes our country counter-narcotics struggle to stand on a new historical starting point. On June 25,2020, the World Drug Report 2020, released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and crime, noted that more than 35 million people worldwide are currently addicted to drugs. About 269 million people abused drugs globally in 2018, up 30 percent from 2009, the report said.

In contrast, the 2018 China Drug Situation Report shows that as of the end of 2018, there were 2.404 million drug addicts in the country (excluding the number of people who have been abstaining for three years without relapse, deaths and departures), a year-on-year decrease of 5.8%. Among them, 1.145 million are over 35 years old, accounting for 47.6%; 1.25 million are between 18 and 35 years old, accounting for 52%; and 10,000 are under 18 years old, accounting for 0.4%. In 2018, the number of newly discovered drug addicts decreased by 26.6% year-on-year, among which those under the age of 35 dropped by 31% year-on-year. The proportion of minors among drug-related criminals in 30 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) decreased, and the effectiveness of youth drug prevention education continued be consolidated.

In 2023, the public security organs thoroughly implemented the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on anti-drug work, coordinated and promoted the anti-drug "clearing the source and cutting off the flow" operation and the summer public security crackdown and rectification operation, severely cracked down on drug-related illegal and criminal activities, and achieved remarkable results. In 2023, more than 42,000 drug crime cases were uncovered across the country, more than 65,000 suspects were arrested, and 25.9 tons of various drugs were seized, effectively protecting people's life safety and health.

The public security organs will fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, continue to deepen various anti-drug measures, constantly improve the drug management system with Chinese characteristics, ensure that "it can be defeated, managed, and will not rebound", and the situation of the anti-drug struggle will continue to improve. Resolutely win the people’s war against drugs in the new era.

[sweersbohuslava]

China-no drugs zone

On June 3, Lin Zexu ordered the 1839 of opium on Humen Beach in Humen to be destroyed in public. Opium has written a modern Chinese history of humiliation. Today, China is one of the best drug-control countries in the world, but little known is that we have been waging an uphill war on drugs for three centuries. However, the drug problem as a cross-border problem of the world, not a single country can solve alone. The world's long-term anti-drug struggle and arduous, the human community to eradicate drugs and a long way to go. Since the 1980s, under a new wave of international drug attacks, the Chinese border has been under siege because of its proximity to the Golden Triangle and the Golden Crescent, foreign drugs began to flow continuously, China began to transform from drug transit countries to drug transit and drug consumption coexisting drug victims. China is once again waging a new war on drugs. In 1982, the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture of the anti-drug detachment of the Yunnan Provincial Public Security Bureau was officially established as the first anti-drug police force in the new China. Between 1991 and 1997, public security organs throughout the country detected and cracked 413,000 drug cases, arrested 568,000 people involved in crimes against the law, and seized 26.9 tons of heroin and 14.4 tons of opium, it seized 923 tons of precursor chemicals intended to be smuggled out of the country. Accompanied by the 1949-1980 average annual sacrifice of 32 people's police, 1981-1989 Sharp Rise, the highest annual sacrifice of 254 people,The annual average was 131, four times more than the average sacrifice in the first 30 years after the founding of the People's Republic. From 1990 to 1995, the annual death toll peaked at 395, with an average of 341, much higher than in the 1980s, with many police officers falling on the anti-drug front. From May to July, 1998, a super-standard national anti-drug exhibition greatly promoted the anti-drug work in our country. After the exhibition, the State Council quickly approved the Ministry of Public Security to set up the Drug Control Bureau, reorganized the new National Drug Control Commission in 1999, and published the white paper“China's drug control” in 2000; In August 1999, the National Drug Control Commission held the Third National Drug Control Conference in Baotou. Our country's drug control work has entered a new stage under the Socialist market economy conditions. In accordance with the unified deployment of the National Drug Control Commission, the National Drug Control departments have carried out comprehensive and in-depth anti-drug people's war. In December 2007, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the anti-drug law, which provides a strong legal guarantee for strengthening anti-drug work in the new era. This indicates that the party and the state have brought the drug control work into the overall situation of the coordinated development of the economy and society in accordance with the law, and that the drug control work of our country has thus entered a new historical stage of comprehensive promotion in accordance with the law, more symbolizes our country counter-narcotics struggle to stand on a new historical starting point. On June 25,2020, the World Drug Report 2020, released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and crime, noted that more than 35 million people worldwide are currently addicted to drugs. About 269 million people abused drugs globally in 2018, up 30 percent from 2009, the report said.

In contrast, the 2018 China Drug Situation Report shows that as of the end of 2018, there were 2.404 million drug addicts in the country (excluding the number of people who have been abstaining for three years without relapse, deaths and departures), a year-on-year decrease of 5.8%. Among them, 1.145 million are over 35 years old, accounting for 47.6%; 1.25 million are between 18 and 35 years old, accounting for 52%; and 10,000 are under 18 years old, accounting for 0.4%. In 2018, the number of newly discovered drug addicts decreased by 26.6% year-on-year, among which those under the age of 35 dropped by 31% year-on-year. The proportion of minors among drug-related criminals in 30 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) decreased, and the effectiveness of youth drug prevention education continued be consolidated.

In 2023, the public security organs thoroughly implemented the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on anti-drug work, coordinated and promoted the anti-drug "clearing the source and cutting off the flow" operation and the summer public security crackdown and rectification operation, severely cracked down on drug-related illegal and criminal activities, and achieved remarkable results. In 2023, more than 42,000 drug crime cases were uncovered across the country, more than 65,000 suspects were arrested, and 25.9 tons of various drugs were seized, effectively protecting people's life safety and health.

The public security organs will fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, continue to deepen various anti-drug measures, constantly improve the drug management system with Chinese characteristics, ensure that "it can be defeated, managed, and will not rebound", and the situation of the anti-drug struggle will continue to improve. Resolutely win the people’s war against drugs in the new era.