iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Pissedoffpundit @pissedoffpundant.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Reposted by Madelaine Drohan

Great movie, wish I would've known it was a documentary, way back then🤔...

1695071833

As for marital relations, Franklin spent decades apart from his common-law wife Deborah and did not bother to return home from Europe when he learned she was dying. I am not sure what Adams thought about that, but I doubt he approved.

020

He was definitely put off by the slipperiness and chameleon-like qualities of Benjamin Franklin, the object of my study. Adams always seemed to have the good of his fellow colonists at heart, whereas with Franklin you never knew.

His letters to his wife, Abigail, caught my eye. In them, he opened his mind to her on big matters (independence) and small (his personal faults), treating her as his equal. He came across as a straightforward, principled man. I suspect he may have been a bit of a prig in real life.

I formed a liking for John Adams when I read letters written by delegates to the Continental Congress from the time the American colonists invaded Canada in 1775 to their Declaration of Independence in 1776.

@economist.com Checks and Balance podcast wants listeners to name their favourite founding father. I picked John Adams. Here is why: #hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books @dundurnpress.bsky.social @america250.bsky.social @revwar250.bsky.social

Two separate portraits of Abigail and John Adams. She is wearing a lace cap and shawl. He is dressed in a black jacket and white neckerchief. They are middle-aged. Both look serious.

140

Section on the Quebec Act: “For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies”

010

The landowners and speculators among the founders had counted on having the land below the Great Lakes for new settlements. They eventually got this part of Canada in the 1783 peace treaty with Britain that ended the American Revolution.

They did not like that Britain allowed the Canadians to keep their civil law, except in criminal matters. But they were infuriated that Britain decided Canada’s borders should return to what they were (approx) when it conquered the colony in 1760, instead of much narrower ones set out in 1763.

The Protestant founders were irritated the Act allowed the French Canadians, 99% of the population in the British colony, to continue practising Roman Catholicism (despite promising to do the same when they were trying to get them to join the revolution).

The founding fathers were still peeved with Britain about the 1774 Quebec Act when they declared independence #OTD July 4, 1776. They made sure to include the Act’s terms in the grievances listed in the Declaration of Independence. #canada #history #americanrevolution @revwar250.bsky.social

A map of part of North America in 1774, showing the original 13 colonies, the British colony of the Province of Quebec (Canada), the Spanish possessions, which take up most of the map, and Oregon Country on the west coast. There is also an area marked Indian Country between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. East and West Florida are shown. The Province of Quebec extends below the Great Lakes to the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.

122

The previous day, delegates had voted unanimously for independence and had largely approved a declaration, barring final review. “The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America,” he declared.

010

But an attempt on December 31, 1775, failed miserably. The invaders finally departed Canada in late June 1776. On the upside, Adams told his wife the delay had extinguished hopes for reconciliation and solidified support for independence.

Seven months earlier, American troops were gathered outside the walls of Quebec City, the seat of British power in the colony. Hopes were high that with Montreal and Trois-Rivières already in their hands, Canada would soon be theirs.

Instead, he hinted at internal divisions among the delegates, with those still hoping for reconciliation with Britain causing “Obstructions, Embarrassments and studied Delays, which have finally, lost Us the Province.”

100

He said that if he could write freely, he could easily convince her “how such a Declaration would have influenced Affairs in Canada.” Delegates to the Continental Congress had agreed not to talk about their internal deliberations.

#OTD July 3, 1776, John Adams grumbled in a letter to his wife Abigail that had the Declaration of Independence been made seven months earlier, “we should have mastered Quebec and been in Possession of Canada.” #hedidnotconquer #canada #history #books #americanrevolution @revwar250.bsky.social

000

100

Internet Archive @archive.org · 01/07/2026

100

Reposted by Madelaine Drohan

🇨🇦 This Canada Day, we're celebrating the remarkable collection built by Internet Archive Canada and its library, archive, and university partners over the past 20 years. Discover how this digital library came together ⤵️ internetarchivecanada.org/2026/07/01/w... 🧵 1️⃣/ 👇

A pen-and-watercolor page from the Katchewanooka Herald presenting a five-panel comic sequence numbered 1–5. Panel 1: a soldier reassures a frightened woman, "Don't be alarmed Mrs. Collins, I will protect you"; panel 2 shows a hedgehog on a plank labeled "The supposed whirlpool"; panel 3 depicts the soldier prodding the hedgehog with a long pole, captioned "Mr. Collins am I done enough?"; panel 4 shows a woman seated on a trunk covering her face, captioned "Oh! Oh! Mr. Collins do not be so rash"; panel 5 shows a figure lying flat on the ground, captioned "At the report of the gun Mrs. Collins has fainted & disappears behind the log." The paper is aged with torn edges.

219757

In a different letter, Adams blamed the indecision of Congress and mistakes by rebel officers for the series of disasters in Canada, adding that an epidemic of small pox “compleated our Ruin, and have compell'd us to evacuate that important Province. We must however regain it, sometime or other.”

000

Only after all these letters were read could delegates resume what John Adams called “the Great Debate” over the declaration. But the letters had left their mark. “Alass Canada!” Adams wrote a friend at the end of the day. “We have found Misfortune and disgrace in that Quarter. Evacuated at last.”

100

John Sullivan, the general in charge of getting the defeated troops across the border, wrote about the large number of rebel soldiers who were ill. He said it was “the most dismal spectacle Ever furnished from one Army in this Quarter of the Globe.”

100

In his letter to Congress, George Washington, commander of the Continental Army, wrote of “the melancholy situation of our affairs in Canada.” Philip Schuyler, the general who had overall command of the invasion, spoke of the “Grief I feel on the Evacuation of Canada by our Troops.”

100

The delegates had started the day with the unhappy task of reviewing letters from the rebel generals who had overseen the inglorious retreat of the American army from the British colony of Canada. This marked the end of the 1775-76 invasion begun with high hopes of a quick and easy conquest.

100

#OTD July 1, 1776, delegates to the Continental Congress pondered their failure to make Canada the 14th colony before they moved on to debating the wording of their intended declaration of independence. #history #books #americanrevolution @revwar250.bsky.social @250yearsagonews.bsky.social

A sepai-toned etching of John Adams, founding father. He is wearing a dark coat, white neckerchief, and his natural hair. His image is surrounded by a decorative frame.

130

thecanadianencyclopedia.ca

Benjamin Franklin tried twice during the American Revolution to make Canada the 14th colony. I wrote about these failed attempts and the thinking behind them for the Canadian Encyclopedia. Here's the link: thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/b... #canada #history #books #americanrevolution

Benjamin Franklin and American Attempts to Annex Canada

Benjamin Franklin, writer, publisher, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat (born 17 January 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts; died 17 April 1790 in Philadelphi...

030

“Alas Canada,” John Adams (pictured) wrote July 1, 1776, “We have found Misfortune and disgrace in that Quarter.” He later said the retreat was caused by “a Complication of Circumstances, of Famine, Pestilence, Distress, Defeat, and Disgrace.” #hedidnotconquer @dundurnpress.bsky.social

000

By June 20, Guy Carleton, the British governor of Canada, thanked the Canadians for their zeal and said they could return to their homes now that “the rebels are gone.” America’s first war of liberation had failed.

100

General John Sullivan, Arnold’s superior, bemoaned “the sad necessity of abandoning Canada.” In a letter to his commanding officer, he added “I am sufficiently mortified, and since wish I had never seen this fatal country.”

100

Benedict Arnold, the rebel general who led the flight from Montreal, estimated that half the 7,000 American troops in Fort St. Jean were suffering from smallpox. A further 1,000 were vulnerable because they had not yet had the disease.

100

Now they were being chased out of Canada by British troops, Canadian militia, and their Indigenous allies. The Americans sacked and burned forts and destroyed bridges as they hurried to the border near the top of Lake Champlain. They were encumbered by sick and wounded. @revwar250.bsky.social

100