History: The Year is 1773

I've uploaded year 1773 to the TSP Wiki...

http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1773

Here are some one liners...


Forming a Shadow Government -- There is a plan for after-the-war before there is a war. This will cut down on the bloodshed.

Harrison Collects the Money but Not the Longitude Prize -- John Harrison appeals to Parliament for his money. The Longitude Board is waiting for him to drop dead.

Important Events -- British rule in India, Boston Tea Party.

Forming a Shadow Government

A number of letters between Governor Hutchinson and his advisors have come into the possession of Benjamin Franklin. According to Hutchinson, the colonies will NEVER be granted liberty. The American pursuit of equality as Englishmen is a fool's errand. When confronted with his letters, Hutchinson is evasive, so John Hancock has them published. Meanwhile, in the backroom of the Boston Gazette, Samuel Adams is planning the Boston Tea Party. The tea is consigned to Governor Hutchinson and sons. Adams sees an opportunity to destroy Hutchinson financially and force a war between Great Britain and America. But if there is going to be a war, there will also be an "after-the-war". In almost every revolution of the past, there has NOT been a plan for "AFTER-THE-WAR". To avoid disunity and a bloody fight for power, Committees of Safety are organized out of the Committees of Correspondence. They are local shadow governments, meeting in churches, homes and MOSTLY TAVERNS! Their goal is to identify royalists, push them out of key positions and substitute patriots. It is not pretty, but it is better than a stick-in-the-eye or a knife-in-the-back. Know what I mean? ^{[1] [2] [3]}

My Take by Alex Shrugged
If you think that the current political fighting is rough, it is NOTHING compared to the load of stuff going on BEFORE the American Revolution and, AFTER the Revolution too. British ships carried away royalists to avoid the anticipated reprisals and purges. Certainly, royalists suffered, but it was mild in comparison to other revolutions. Over time, the royalists returned. The French Revolution was an example of having no plan for after-the-war. Thomas Paine almost lost his head in France. He was good at agitating but not planning. In the modern day the Reverend Martin Luther King had a dream and a plan. Things didn't "just happen." Rosa Parks didn't just "sit on a bus." That was not spontaneous any more than the Boston Tea Party was. The picture of Walter Gadsden leaning into those Birmingham police dogs told a story of a thousand words but not one of those words was true! He said in an interview that he was not submitting to an attack. He was kneeing that dog in the throat. Seeing is not always believing. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

Harrison Collects the Money but Not the Longitude Prize

The English Longitude Board has placed even more conditions on winning the prize. It is clear that the Board intends that John Harrison die of old age before he can collect the prize money for his invention, the marine chronometer. Board members think that using astronomical tables and taking astronomical measurements is better. (Why? Because they are ASTRONOMERS!) King George the 3rd is a science enthusiast and takes pity on John Harrison. The King arranges for him to appear before Parliament to make his case. It awards him the money he is owed. It is not the Longitude Prize but it is the money. It will have to be enough. John Harrison has done what Sir Isaac Newton said could not be done, created a time piece durable enough to be used aboard ship, and accurate enough for calculating a ship's position at sea. Harrison will die three years later at the age of 83. ^[7]

My Take by Alex Shrugged
John Harrison could have won the award years earlier, but he kept perfecting the chronometer, making it smaller and smaller until it could be held in the hand. During those years, the membership of the Longitude Board changed and the chairman of the Board was in competition with Harrison for the prize... obviously a conflict of interest. In fact, he sabotaged one of Harrison's earlier chronometers. Despite the politics and back-biting, both methods are useful for navigation in the modern day. Coincidentally, in 1773, Nathaniel Bowditch was born. He will author a book on navigation that is required reading in the modern day and a copy of his book is still carried on every US Navy vessel. The book is entitled, The New American Practical Navigator published in 1802. When Bowditch died, the first full-sized bronze statue in the United States was erected in his honor. ^[8]

Important Events

• British Company Rule in India begins. The capital is in Calcutta. Parliament reorganizes the East India Company. ^[9]

• Benjamin Franklin publishes the Rules By Which A Great Empire May Be Reduced To A Small One. It reads like the satirical question, "How do you make a million dollars in the airline industry?" Answer: "Start with 10 million." ^[10]

• The Boston Tea Party. Samuel Adams leads colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians onto British East India ships and dump their cargo of tea into the bay. it's not the only place that tea is dumped but it is the best remembered. (Please see previous history segments for additional information on the Boston Tea Party.

This Year in Wikipedia

Year 1773, Wikipedia.