L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 22 L'Italo-Americano LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D ear Readers ,  as July, our patriotic month begins, let me share an "Ital- ian" connected bit of history that took place during our third president Thomas Jef- ferson's (1801-1809) term in office. Over two hundred years ago, a fledgling United States formed an alliance with the Kingdom of Two Sicilies that helped end the Barbary pirates reign of terror in the M editerranean. In 1801, Tripoli declared war on the Unit- ed States when Thomas Jeffer- son refused to continue paying tribute to the pasha of Tripoli and sent ships to blockade Bar- bary ports. Italy's coastal cities and islands had been among the main targets of attacks by the Barbary Pirates. The King of Sicily provided eight Italian war- ships and several hundred Sicil- ian soldiers to support the Amer- ican effort. And this is how ... to the s hores of Tripoli... w as added to the M arine Corp Anthem. *** Let's refresh your memory and mine on the Declaration of I n d ep en d en ce w hich began "When in the Course of Human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the politi- cal bands which have connected them w ith another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal sta- tion to which the Laws of Nature and of N ature's G od entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation," and then went on to list grievances against the pre- sent King and his system of gov- ernment. This document was signed by the Representatives of the 13 original colonies, Delaware, P enns ylvania, N ew J ers ey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massa- chusetts, Maryland, South Car- olina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina and Rhode Island, in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776 and that is the date we annually commemorate. Naturally, King George III, upon receiving the document, was not pleased and a long war followed. A nd, although not often found in our s chool his tory books, the contributions of Ital- ians and Italian Americans to the American Revolutionary War were many: After the Colonists declared themselves independent from England and set up "The United States of America," a long war followed and it was not until A pril 30, 1789 that George Washington- "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen"- became the first President of the United States. He took the first US Presi- dential oath of office on the bal- cony of the City Hall in New York- the new nation's tempo- rary capital. From 1789 to 1790, the Presidential mansion was located at No. 1 Cherry Street, New York. *** A bit of the back s tory: Columbus discovered America in 1492. When heads of Euro- pean countries dis covered a "new world," many of them tried to get a share of it. A sort of race began. Spain took possession of South America, Mexico and all the southern part of our new USA. Then France, Holland and England wanted a share, but could not agree upon a division that would satisfy all. In a war between England and Holland, England got the Dutch colonies of N ew Y ork, N ew J ers ey, D elaw are and P enns ylvania. Then England drove out the French. The king sent a regiment from the Ohio river and valley. Eventually England, too, would go. A few years after the war with France, the English colonists (Yankees) began to quarrel with the mother country. The king of England had won the war against France, but had ended up deeply in debt and wanted the colonists to help pay for it. In 1765, he passed the Stamp Act, which meant that every time some kind of goods - deeds, wills, playing cards, newspapers, almanacs, and advertisements printed in newspapers - was sold, it was necessary to buy stamps to put on them to make them valid. King George began appoint- ing officers in American to sell the stamps. Mobs visited the homes of stamp officers, after which very few of the officers were bold enough to sell them. Benjamin Franklin of Pennsyl- vania, on business in London, told the king he had no business taxing the colonists for these "Sons of Liberty" had already paid more than their share of the English/French War by furnish- ing men and supplies for the army, and for settling America and bringing it under the English flag. The English king and govern- ment gave up on the stamps tax, but never stopped trying to get more money from the colonists. Soon another law was passed saying they must pay tax on cer- tain goods brought to America from England. This law made the colonists angry, and they quit buying goods from England until the English merchants begged the government to give up the law because they did not want the Americans to quit trading. "Okay," said King George, "but the Tea Tax stays." In Decem- ber 1773, s hips carrying tea arrived in Charleston, Philadel- phia and New York. When the people refused to buy the English "Royal Tea," it was stored in damp cellars to rot, but in Boston, after the colonists asked the governor to send the tea back to England and he refused, a large party of men dressed up as Indians boarded the ships. With tomahawks waving, they dunned 342 chests of tea overboard into the bay: it was the "Boston Tea Party." Boston patriot Paul Revere had taken his "midnight ride" on April 18, 1775, the eve of the Battle of Lexington. The quarrel with England had been going on for ten years. The July 4, 1776's singing of the Declaration of Independence just formalized it. At the outbreak of the Revolu- tion, Italians and Italian Amer- icans with anglicized spellings of their names were early getting their share of fatal firepower from the British soldiers, i.e. James Bracco, killed in action on October 28, 1776. But Italy contributed more than men to the A merican Revolution. Even before the conflict started, Italy was a source of inspiration to American patriots because of the struggle waged by Pasquale Paoli and his fellow Corsicans for independence.

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