The first clear voice for religious freedom in the North American colonies was apparently a rash young preacher named Roger Williams. The schoolbooks may say that the Puritans and Pilgrims went to the New World in search of religious freedom, what they went for was to establish a system at least as rigid as they one they left, only this time they'd be in charge. Williams was banished on this day, was sheltered by the First Peoples for a time, and then founded Rhode Island - where religious freedom was the rule.
Scandinavians celebrate this day as Leif Ericson day, in honor of the first European to set foot in North America. And they take stubborn pride in the fact that this holiday doesn't shift around from year to year, even if they don't know exactly what date he landed, or exactly where he landed.
Back to British colonial activity, Parliament passed the first of a series of laws giving British ship owners and seamen a competitive advantage on the sea, sometimes hurting the colonies and other times helping them. In the colony of Connecticut a small religious school was founded. And in Canada, today is Thanksgiving.
1635 - Roger Williams was banished from Massachusetts. One of the first to call for religious freedom in the British Colonies, he wanted no part of churches that were still connected to the Church of England. He also maintained that land must be purchased from the first peoples rather than being taken, claimed that since the land was occupied the royal charter had no authority. Founded Rhode Island, purchased the land from the Narragnasetts.
1651 - The Parliament of Great Britain adopted the original Act of Trade and Navigation which required that all trade conducted with England or any British colony should be carried in English-built ships with a crew that was no less than 75% English. There were minor exceptions, the main point was that trade should primarily go through London and that it would benefit the British merchant marine.
1701 - Ten Puritan clergymen received a charter from the Connecticut colonial legislature to establish the Collegiate School at Branford. The first classes were held at Killingworth (now Clinton), the school moved to Saybrook and finally New Haven where it changed the name to Yale College in 1718.
1855 - A US patent was issued to Joshua C. Stoddard, a beekeeper at Worcester, Massachusetts, for the steam calliope. The original instrument had 15 whistles in a row on top of a wood-fired boiler, valves allowed blasts of steam to enter the whistles, the valves were activated by pins in a revolving metal drum like a music box. Later instruments had keyboards, some were capable of generating 135 decibels.
1967 - Argentine Marxist guerrilla leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara was shot by order of Bolivian military in a schoolroom at the village of La Higuera, Bolivia. He had been wounded and captured the day before in an action with a Bolivian Ranger company, trained by the US Army Special Forces (Green Berets) and supervised by a CIA field officer. The CIA wanted to fly him to Panama for questioning.
Leif Ericson Day, US - Commemorates the arrival in North America of the first European, Leiv Eriksson, probably in the year 1000 but possibly up to two years later. (The boat he sailed had carried Bjarni Herjulfsson to within sight of the coast in 986.) Eriksson (commonly spelled Leif Ericson) sailed from Greenland and stopped at Labrador and Newfoundland before final landfall where his crew spent the winter. Exact date and place of the camp is not known.
Thanksgiving Day, Canada - The holiday has moved back and forth between November and October, Thursday and Monday, and has been commemorated as Thanksgiving for the end of several wars, for anniversaries, coronations, and jubilees of the monarch, and for "Blessings of an abundant harvest" for many years. From 1921 to 1930 it was observed with Armistice Day, since then it has remained on the second Monday of October and the proclamation has read "For general thanksgiving to Almighty God for the blessings with which the people of Canada have been favoured." (also observed on this day in Saint Lucia)
We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense that
we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.
- H. L. Mencken
Religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless the
decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in
public policy. They must learn to make their views known without trying
to make their views the only alternative.
- Barry Goldwater
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change;
the realist adjusts the sails.
- William Arthur Ward
Were this world an endless pain, and by sailing eastward we could forever
reach new distances, and discover sights more sweet and strange than any
Cyclades or Islands of King Solomon, then there were promise in the voyage.
- Herman Melville
Twisted History is sent daily, absolutely free, to our subscribers who understand that the events of the past centuries have shaped our lives today - and are probably less depressing than the events on today's TV news. Both an HTML version (which looks just like this) and a text version that is compatible with all mail clients are available.
Manage your subscription
Tell a friend
about Twisted History
Leave
Feedback
Copyright 2000 G. Armour Van Horn, all rights reserved. This document may be distributed freely. Please forward the complete message including this copyright notice.