1776 (film), Historical accuracy
The film particularly omits the views of the mid-Atlantic Quaker population, represented by Dickinson. Although in the film Dickinson is portrayed as loyalist, and John Adams is seen making the points of objection about the tax abuses of George III of the United Kingdom, including regressive taxes and "taxation without representation", all to fund wars and the King's lifestyle, not to benefit the people, it was Dickinson's Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania that had originally made these points. A supposed physical fight between Dickinson and Adams is portrayed, in which Dickinson calls Adams a "lawyer" as an epithet, which makes little sense as Dickinson was a lawyer himself.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
Despite the film's inclusion of Martha Jefferson and Abigail Adams, Dickinson's wife, Mary Norris Dickinson, was the only spouse actually present in Philadelphia during the convention. (Franklin's common law wife, Deborah Read, had died a year or so earlier. Martha Jefferson had just suffered a miscarriage and was dealing with complications of gestational diabetes in Virginia.)


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
Another departure from history is that the separation from Great Britain was accomplished in two steps: the actual vote for independence came on July 2 with the approval of Lee's resolution of independence. The wording of the Declaration of Independence—the statement to the world as to the reasons necessitating the split—was then debated for three days before being approved on July 4. The vote for independence did not hinge on passages being removed from the Declaration, since Congress had already voted in favor of independence. For the sake of drama, the play's authors combined the two events.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
In addition, some historians believe that the Declaration was not signed on July 4, but was instead signed on August 2, 1776. Others note that the final copy of the document was signed by the delegates over several weeks and months, commencing in July and not completed until as late as September.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
The Liberty Bell in 1776 is shown being rung as the delegates were signing the Declaration on July 4; however, Independence Hall's wooden steeple was structurally unstable, and the Liberty Bell was silent, having been lowered into the upper chamber of the brick tower. A smaller bell, used to toll the hours, may have rung on July 8, for the public reading of the Declaration.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
Many characters in 1776 differ from their historical counterparts. Central to the drama is the depiction of John Adams as "obnoxious and disliked." According to biographer David McCullough, Adams was one of the most respected members of Congress in 1776. Adams's often-quoted description of himself in Congress as "obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular" is from a letter written 46 years later in 1822, after his unpopular presidency had likely colored his view of the past. According to McCullough, no delegate described Adams as obnoxious in 1776. Historian Garry Wills earlier made a similar argument, writing that "historians relay John Adams's memories without sufficient skepticism", and that it was Dickinson, not Adams, who was advocating an unpopular position in 1776.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
The committee of five appointed to write the Declaration of Independence were: Franklin, age 70 (Howard Da Silva was 62 at the time of filming in 1971); Roger Sherman, 55 (Rex Robbins was 36); Adams, 41 (Daniels was 44); Jefferson 33 (Ken Howard was 27); and Livingston, 29 (John Myhers was 49). The lyrics of "But Mr. Adams" give the reason that Livingston can not write the Declaration is because "I've been presented with a new son by the noble stork", but Livingston actually had only two children, both daughters, and the elder was not born until 1780.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
For practical and dramatic purposes, the work does not depict all of the more than 50 members of Congress who were present at the time. This version of John Adams is, in part, a composite character, combining the real Adams with his cousin Samuel Adams, who was in Congress at the time but is not depicted in the play.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
Although the play depicts Delaware's Caesar Rodney as an elderly man near death from skin cancer (which would eventually kill him), he was just 47 years old at the time and continued to be very active in the Revolution after signing the Declaration. He was not absent from the voting because of health; however, the play is accurate in having him arrive "in the nick of time", having ridden 80 miles (130 km) the night before (an event depicted on Delaware's 1999 State Quarter) unaided, instead of with the help of another delegate.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
Further, Richard Henry Lee announces that he is returning to Virginia to serve as governor. He was never governor; his cousin Henry Lee (who is anachronistically called "General 'Lighthorse' Harry Lee", a rank and nickname earned later) did eventually become governor (and the father of Confederate general Robert E. Lee). John Adams was also depicted as disliking Richard Henry Lee, but according to McCullough, Adams expressed nothing but "respect and admiration for the tall, masterly Virginian." He did dislike Benjamin Franklin, contrary to what was portrayed.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
Martha Jefferson never traveled to Philadelphia to be with her husband; she was extremely ill during the summer of 1776, having just endured a miscarriage. The play's authors invented the scene "to show something of the young Jefferson's life without destroying the unity of setting." Martha is also depicted as dancing a galop or polka with Franklin and Adams, dances not introduced until the 1800s.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
James Wilson was not the indecisive milquetoast depicted in the play and the film. His patrician WASP accent in the film is misleading, since Wilson was a Scottish immigrant whose parents were farmers. The real Wilson, who was not yet a judge in 1776, had been cautious about supporting independence at an earlier date, but he supported the resolution of independence when it came up for a vote. Pennsylvania's deciding swing vote was actually cast by John Morton, who is not depicted in the musical.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
The quote attributed to Edmund Burke by Dr. Lyman Hall in a key scene with Adams is a paraphrase of a real quote by Burke.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
The song "Cool Considerate Men" is anachronistic; the terms "right" and "left" in politics were not in use until the French Revolution of 1789. John Dickinson, who is portrayed as an antagonist here, was motivated mainly by his Quaker roots and his respect for the British Constitution, having lived in England for 3 years in the 1750s. He was no wealthier than some members of the pro-Independence faction, and freed his slaves in 1777. Thomas Jefferson wrote that "his name will be consecrated in history as one of the great worthies of the revolution".


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
The film also misses the objection some had to the Declaration's stated basis in "rights of Man" based in "natural law" derived from a supernatural being. The Quaker-based population in the mid-Atlantic, represented by Dickinson, objected to this conception.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
Dickinson's objection to the Declaration had to do with this, as well as the fact he and his base preferred civil disobedience to war as the means, and a view that the colonies were too immature and the egalitarian mid-Atlantic culture would be overruled by the slavery of the South and the patriarchal Puritan attitudes of New England, represented by John Adams, in the foundation of the new country.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
The film also omits the fact that Dickinson, after refusing to sign the Declaration, set about drafting the Articles of Confederation, which he based on "rights of Person" with no reference to anything but law created by human beings and the only reference to "men" being in the context of mustering armies. This basis was then used when the Articles were converted to the Constitution but by then completely omitting the word "man" and only using the word "Person."


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
The musical also deviates from history in its portrayal of attitudes about slavery. In 1776, after a dramatic debate over slavery, the southern delegates walk out in protest of the Declaration's denunciation of the slave trade, and only support independence when that language was removed from the Declaration. The walkout is fictional, as the debate over the wording of the declaration took place after the vote for independence on July 2, and apparently most delegates, northern and southern, supported the deletion of the clause.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
The musical depicts Edward Rutledge as the leader of the opposition to an anti-slavery clause in Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration. However, while it is known that, according to Jefferson, the clause was opposed by South Carolina and Georgia, plus unspecified "northern brethren", that is all that is known about opposition to the clause. Rutledge was a delegate from South Carolina, but there is no historical evidence that he played any part—much less a leadership role—in the opposition to the clause. The musical does acknowledge the complexity of the Colonial attitudes toward slavery in the dramatic song "Molasses to Rum to Slaves", sung by the Rutledge character, which illustrates the hypocrisy in northern condemnations of slavery since northerners profited from the triangle trade.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
Thomas Jefferson is depicted in the musical as saying that he has resolved to free his slaves, something he did not do, except for a few slaves freed after his death 50 years later. The musical also depicts Franklin as claiming that he is the founder of the first abolitionist organization in the New World; the real Franklin did not become an abolitionist until after the American Revolution, becoming president of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society in 1785. It was actually Dickinson who freed his slaves in 1776, conditionally at first, and fully by 1787 when the Constitution was ratified.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
In both the play and the film, John Adams sarcastically predicts that Benjamin Franklin will receive from posterity too great a share of credit for the Revolution. "Franklin smote the ground and out sprang—George Washington. Fully grown, and on his horse. Franklin then electrified them with his miraculous lightning rod and the three of them—Franklin, Washington, and the horse—conducted the entire Revolution all by themselves." Adams did make a similar comment about Franklin in April 1790, just after Franklin's death, although the mention of the horse was a humorous twist added by the authors of the musical.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
James Wilson is portrayed as subordinating himself to Dickinson's opposition to independence, only changing his vote so that he would not be remembered unfavorably. In fact, Wilson was considered one of the leading thinkers behind the American cause, consistently supporting and arguing for independence, although he would not cast his vote until his district had been caucused.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
The formula John Adams gives Abigail for making saltpeter—"By treating sodium nitrate with potassium chloride, of course! "—refers to various chemicals by their modern names, instead of the names used in the 1770s. A more historically accurate version might be "treating soda niter with potash." More accurate still would have been a detailed description of the process, involving ingredients such as manure or bat guano, but that probably would have been too long, and repulsive to audiences.


1776 (film), Historical accuracy
Abigail's request for pins in exchange is not frivolous. Electroplating had not been invented yet: The common pin was subject to rusting and breakage, and so required replacement. At the time, pins were necessary for a wide range of crafts, creating garments and headgear (including wigs), making lace, ribbon and other trimmings and textiles. They also served the roles now played by paperclips and staples. Women used them as closures or to anchor pieces of clothing. (Hooks and eyes existed, but like so many manufactured goods, they had to be imported. The hook-and-eye industry was not established in the United States until the early 19th century.) The real Abigail, if dressed as in this scene in the film, would have supported the front lacing of her gown by using pins to fasten the fabric to the stiffened bodice beneath.


1776 (film), Reception, Critical reception
Vincent Canby of The New York Times observed, "The music is resolutely unmemorable. The lyrics sound as if they'd been written by someone high on root beer, and the book is familiar history—compressed here, stretched there—that has been gagged up and paced to Broadway's not inspiring standards. Yet Peter H. Hunt's screen version of 1776 ... insists on being so entertaining and, at times, even moving, that you might as well stop resisting it. This reaction, I suspect, represents a clear triumph of emotional associations over material ... [ It] is far from being a landmark of musical cinema, but it is the first film in my memory that comes close to treating seriously a magnificent chapter in the American history."


1776 (film), Reception, Critical reception
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave 1776 two stars and declared, "This is an insult to the real men who were Adams, Jefferson, Franklin and the rest ... The performances trapped inside these roles, as you might expect, are fairly dreadful. There are good actors in the movie (especially William Daniels as Adams and Donald Madden as John Dickinson), but they're forced to strut and posture so much that you wonder if they ever scratched or spit or anything ... I can hardly bear to remember the songs, much less discuss them. Perhaps I shouldn't. It is just too damn bad this movie didn't take advantage of its right to the pursuit of happiness."


1776 (film), Reception, Critical reception
Rotten Tomatoes rates the picture 69%, based on 16 reviews by critics.


1776 (film), Reception, Box office
The film was the Christmas attraction at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and performed very well, grossing $1,743,978 in its first 6 weeks. It did not perform as well in its other opening engagements in Philadelphia, Boston and Washington. The film returned to the Music Hall for two weeks starting June 3, 1976 in honor of the United States Bicentennial.


1776 (film), Reception, Accolades
The film was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy but lost to Cabaret. Harry Stradling Jr. was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography but lost to Geoffrey Unsworth for Cabaret.


1776 (film), Reception, Accolades
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:


1776 (film), Reception, Home media
The film was released on videocassette and laserdisc in the 1980s, and on DVD in 2002. The Laserdisc version, out of print, contains an additional four minutes of footage and background music not contained on the DVD release. The 168-minute version is considered director Peter Hunt's preferred version, hence its "director's cut" moniker. The DVD version was released as the "Restored Director's Cut" and contains clips that were unreleased and unavailable in videocassette versions, including the "Cool, Cool Considerate Men" musical number and accompanying dialogue. In its theatrical and original home video releases, the film was rated G; following the restoration of various parts cut by producer Jack L. Warner, the DVD was rated PG.


1776 (film), Reception, Home media
The film was released on Blu-ray from a 4K-master on June 2, 2015. It contains two commentaries: an all-new commentary, with director Peter H. Hunt, William Daniels, and Ken Howard, and also the DVD version's commentary with Hunt and Peter Stone only. It also contains two versions of the film: the DVD's "Director's Cut", and an "extended cut" adding an additional 2 minutes and 44 seconds to the DVD edition's time. It also includes two deleted and alternative scenes with filmmaker commentary, screen tests, and original theatrical release trailers.


1776 (musical)
1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The show is based on the events leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, telling a story of the efforts of John Adams to persuade his colleagues to vote for American independence and to sign the document.


1776 (musical)
The show premiered on Broadway in 1969, earning warm reviews, and ran for 1,217 performances. The production won three Tony Awards, including Best Musical. In 1972, it was made into a film adaptation. It was revived on Broadway in 1997; another Broadway revival is scheduled for 2021.


1776 (musical), History
In 1925, Rodgers and Hart wrote a musical about the American Revolution called Dearest Enemy. In 1950, a musical about the Revolution was presented on Broadway, titled Arms and the Girl, with music by Morton Gould, lyrics by Dorothy Fields, and book by Herbert Fields, Dorothy Fields and Rouben Mamoulian, the show's director.


1776 (musical), History
Sherman Edwards, a writer of pop songs with several top 10 hits in the late 1950s and early '60s, spent several years developing lyrics and libretto for a musical based on the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Edwards recounted that "I wanted to show [the founding fathers] at their outermost limits. These men were the cream of their colonies. ... They disagreed and fought with each other. But they understood commitment, and though they fought, they fought affirmatively." Producer Stuart Ostrow recommended that librettist Peter Stone collaborate with Edwards on the book of the musical. Stone recalled,


1776 (musical), History
The minute you heard ["Sit Down, John"], you knew what the whole show was. ... You knew immediately that John Adams and the others were not going to be treated as gods or cardboard characters, chopping down cherry trees and flying kites with strings and keys on them. It had this very affectionate familiarity; it wasn't reverential.


1776 (musical), History
Adams, the outspoken delegate from Massachusetts, was chosen as the central character, and his quest to persuade all 13 colonies to vote for independence became the central conflict. Stone confined nearly all of the action to Independence Hall and the debate among the delegates, featuring only two female characters, Abigail Adams and Martha Jefferson, in the entire musical. After tryouts in New Haven, Conn., and Washington, D.C. the show opened on Broadway at the 46th Street Theatre on March 16, 1969. Peter Hunt directed.


1776 (musical), Synopsis
NOTE: The show can be performed in one or two acts.


1776 (musical), Synopsis, Act I
On May 8, 1776, in Philadelphia, the Second Continental Congress proceeds with its business. John Adams, the widely disliked delegate from Massachusetts, is frustrated because Congress will not even debate his proposals on independence. The other delegates, preoccupied by the rising heat, implore him to “Sit Down, John". Adams replies that Congress has done nothing for the last year but dawdle ("Piddle, Twiddle, and Resolve"). He reads the latest missive to his loving wife Abigail, who appears in his imagination ("Till Then").


1776 (musical), Synopsis, Act I
Later that day, Adams meets delegate Benjamin Franklin, who suggests that a resolution for independence would have more success if proposed by someone else. Richard Henry Lee of Virginia enters, summoned by Franklin. The cocky Lee crows that he cannot fail, as a member of the oldest and most glorious family in America: "The Lees of Old Virginia". He will ask the Virginia House of Burgesses to authorize him to offer a pro-independence resolution.


1776 (musical), Synopsis, Act I
Back in Congress, John Hancock appoints a committee of Adams, Franklin, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Robert Livingston of New York, and Jefferson to draft the declaration. The five argue about who should write the declaration ("But, Mr. Adams"); one by one, each member gives a reason why he cannot do it, until all eyes turn to Jefferson. He tries to wriggle out, but finally agrees.


1776 (musical), Synopsis, Act I
A week later, Adams and Franklin visit Jefferson, who has spent the week moping. But Adams has sent for Jefferson's beloved wife Martha. She enters and Adams and Franklin leave the young lovers in peace. Adams, alone, again exchanges letters with his wife Abigail ("Yours, Yours, Yours"). The next morning, Franklin and Adams ask Martha how a man as silent as Jefferson won a woman as lovely as she. She tells them that she loves him because of the way “He Plays the Violin".


1776 (musical), Synopsis, Act I
John Dickinson leads the more conservative Congressmen in a minuet, singing of their desire to hold onto their wealth ("Cool, Cool Considerate Men"). After the dance, the remaining delegates depart, leaving Andrew McNair (the custodian), the courier, and a workman in the chamber. The workman asks the courier if he has seen any fighting, and the courier replies that his two closest friends were killed on the same day at Lexington. He describes the final thoughts of a dying young man as his mother searches for his body ("Momma Look Sharp").


1776 (musical), Synopsis, Act II
Jefferson is outside the chamber while Mr. Thomson reads the declaration to Congress. Adams and Franklin arrive, delighted: An exhibition of shooting by the Continental Army has convinced Chase, and Maryland will vote in favor of independence. They congratulate Jefferson on his work, and Franklin compares the creation of this new country to the hatching of a bird ("The Egg"). They debate which bird would best represent America; Franklin argues for the turkey, and Jefferson suggests the dove, but Adams insists on the eagle. The others resign themselves to that choice.


1776 (musical), Synopsis, Act II
On June 28, Hancock asks if there are any alterations to be offered to the Declaration of Independence. Many delegates voice suggestions. Edward Rutledge of South Carolina objects to a clause condemning the slave trade. He accuses the northern colonies of hypocrisy, as they also prosper from slavery, through the Triangle Trade ("Molasses to Rum"). Rutledge leads a walk-out with the delegates from both Carolinas and Georgia. The resolve of the other delegates is broken, and most of them also leave. Adams' faith in himself is shaken. Re -reading a dispatch from Washington, Adams, now alone, wonders "Is Anybody There?"


1776 (musical), Synopsis, Act II
It is now July 2. Hancock calls for the vote on the Lee Resolution. Thomson calls on each delegation. Rutledge again presses to have the slavery clause removed under threat of none of the southern states signing; Franklin argues they must first win independence before there is any hope of abolishing slavery, and Jefferson reluctantly crosses it out with his pen. Hancock suggests that no man be allowed to sit in Congress without signing the Declaration. Dickinson announces that he cannot in good conscience sign it, and still hopes for reconciliation with England; however, he resolves to join the army to fight for and defend the new nation. Adams leads Congress in a salute to Dickinson as he leaves the chamber.


1776 (musical), Synopsis, Act II
On the evening of July 4, McNair rings the Liberty Bell in the background as Thomson calls each delegate to sign the Declaration. The delegates freeze in position as the Liberty Bell rings to a fevered pitch.


1776 (musical), Productions
After out-of-town tryouts, the original Broadway production opened on Broadway on March 16, 1969, at the 46th Street Theatre (now the Richard Rodgers Theatre) and closed on February 13, 1972, after 1,217 performances. In its three-year run, it played in three different theatres: the 46th Street, the St. James Theatre (1970) and, finally, the Majestic Theatre (1971). The principal cast included William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, Paul Hecht, Clifford David, Ronald Holgate, David Ford, Virginia Vestoff and Ken Howard.


1776 (musical), Productions
Rex Everhart, who was Da Silva's understudy, replaced him on the original Broadway cast album after Da Silva suffered a mild heart attack, which required him to leave the show temporarily. Betty Buckley made her Broadway debut as Martha Jefferson in the original stage production. Clifford David left the production soon after opening. He was replaced as Rutledge by David Cryer who was in turn replaced by John Cullum who became one of the few Broadway replacements in history to recreate a role on film. (Cullum was succeeded in the Broadway production by Paul-David Richards.)


1776 (musical), Productions
The musical toured for two years in the United States and was given a London production, opening on June 16, 1970, at the New Theatre. The production starred Lewis Fiander as Adams, Vivienne Ross as Abigail Adams, Ronald Radd, Bernard Lloyd, David Kernan as Rutledge, John Quentin as Jefferson and Cheryl Kennedy as Martha Jefferson.


1776 (musical), Productions
An Australian production, also with Lewis Fiander, opened at Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne on 26 June 1971 and moved to the Theatre Royal in Sydney on 11 September 1971.


1776 (musical), Productions
1776 was revived by the Roundabout Theatre Company, opening on August 4, 1997, in a limited engagement at the Roundabout's home theater, the Criterion Center, before transferring to the George Gershwin Theatre on December 3, 1997, for a commercial run. It closed on June 14, 1998, after 333 performances and 34 previews. The production was directed by Scott Ellis with choreography by Kathleen Marshall, and featured Brent Spiner as Adams, Michael Cumpsty as Dickinson, Pat Hingle as Franklin, and Paul Michael Valley as Jefferson. Rex Everhart, who replaced Howard Da Silva on the original cast album, understudied Hingle as Franklin.


1776 (musical), Productions
The musical was produced in an Encores! City Center staged concert from March 30 to April 3, 2016. Directed by Garry Hynes, the cast starred Santino Fontana as John Adams, John Larroquette as Benjamin Franklin, John Behlmann as Thomas Jefferson, Christiane Noll as Abigail Adams, Nikki Renée Daniels as Martha Jefferson, Bryce Pinkham as John Dickinson, Alexander Gemignani as Edward Rutledge, André De Shields as Stephen Hopkins, and Jubilant Sykes as Richard Henry Lee. The cast included MacIntyre Dixon, Ric Stoneback, and Kevin Ligon reprising their roles from the 1997 revival as Andrew McNair, Samuel Chase, and George Read respectively. The production notably sported a racially diverse cast in light of the recent success of another musical about the Founding Fathers, Hamilton.


1776 (musical), Productions
The musical was produced in Chicago, Illinois by Porchlight Music Theatre as part of their "Porchlight Revisits" series in November 2018. Directed by Michael Weber, Music Directed by Jeremy Ramey, with Musical Staging by Michelle Lauto.


1776 (musical), Productions
A Broadway revival of 1776, but with an all-female cast, is planned for Spring 2021. It is expected to be a co-production between the American Repertory Theater and the Roundabout Theatre Company. The play was expected to be seen first at the American Repertory Theater in May to June 2020, under the direction of Diane Paulus, and then in Los Angeles at the Ahmanson Theatre, before arriving at the American Airlines Theatre for Roundabout's 2020–2021 season. In 2020, the show was postponed, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


1776 (musical), Dramatic analysis
Scene Three of 1776 holds the record for the longest time in a musical without a single note of music played or sung – over thirty minutes pass between "The Lees of Old Virginia" and "But Mr. Adams", the next song in the show. On the DVD commentary, Peter Stone says that he experimented with adding various songs in this section, but nothing ever worked.


1776 (musical), Dramatic analysis
During this scene, dubbed "Big Three" by cast members, musicians were allowed to leave the pit, reportedly the first time in Broadway history that they were permitted to do so in the middle of a show. Stone also notes that people often told him that, because of the subject matter and the large amount of dialogue, 1776 should have been a conventional play rather than a musical. Stone believes that the songs create a playful, irreverent tone that helps bring the historical characters to life.


1776 (musical), Historical accuracy
According to The Columbia Companion to American History on Film, historical "[i]naccuracies pervade 1776, though few are very troubling." Because Congress was held in secrecy and there are no contemporary records on the debate over the Declaration of Independence, the authors of the play created the narrative based on later accounts and educated guesses, inventing scenes and dialogue as needed for storytelling purposes. Some of the dialogue was taken from words written, often years or even decades later, by the actual people involved, and rearranged for dramatic effect.


1776 (musical), Historical accuracy
The central departure from history is that the separation from Great Britain was accomplished in two steps: the actual vote for independence came on July 2 with the approval of Lee's resolution of independence. The wording of the Declaration of Independence—the statement to the world as to the reasons necessitating the split—was then debated for three days before being approved on July 4. The vote for independence did not hinge on some passages being removed from the Declaration, as implied in the play, since Congress had already voted in favor of independence before debating the Declaration.


1776 (musical), Historical accuracy
For the sake of drama, the play's authors combined the two events. In addition, some historians believe that the Declaration was not signed on July 4, as shown in 1776, but was instead signed on August 2, 1776. The authors of 1776 had the delegates sign the Declaration on July 4 for dramatic reasons.


1776 (musical), Historical accuracy
Of the four principal characters, the musical also notably focuses on Jefferson's wife, Martha, and Adams' wife, Abigail, but omits Dickinson's wife, Mary Norris, who was actually in Philadelphia at the time, unlike the other wives, and had a different perspective than the other wives. Franklin's common-law wife, Deborah Read, was deceased at this point, and his mistresses are not depicted, although he does mention a "Rendez-vous" he has to attend to.


1776 (musical), Historical accuracy
Many characters in 1776 differ from their historical counterparts. Central to the drama is the depiction of John Adams as "obnoxious and disliked". According to biographer David McCullough, however, Adams was one of the most respected members of Congress in 1776. Adams' often-quoted description of himself in Congress as "obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular" is from a letter written 46 years later, in 1822, after his unpopular presidency had likely colored his view of the past. According to McCullough, no delegate described Adams as obnoxious in 1776. Historian Garry Wills earlier made a similar argument, writing that "historians relay John Adams's memories without sufficient skepticism", and that it was Dickinson, not Adams, who was advocating an unpopular position in 1776.


1776 (musical), Historical accuracy
Dickinson, who refused to sign Adams' and Jefferson's declaration based on "rights of man" and "natural law", was seeking to avoid reopening issues from the English Civil Wars, including Oliver Cromwell's Puritan regime, and the Jacobitism cause. In 1689, these issues had been definitively resolved in the Glorious Revolution and the constitutionalization of the English Bill of Rights based in "rights and responsibilities of person"; the word "man" is not used except in the context of treason. The last Jacobite rebellion, seeking to re-establish Catholicism and the religious concept of "natural law", had only just happened in 1745, however. None of this background of Dickinson's position is depicted. (Dickinson would later draft the Articles of Confederation, a codification of the Continental Congress system that governed the United States until the present United States Constitution supplanted it; the Articles draw upon the "rights and responsibilities of person" language.)


1776 (musical), Historical accuracy
For practical and dramatic purposes, the play does not depict all of the more than 50 members of Congress who were present at the time. The John Adams of the play is, in part, a composite character, combining the real Adams with his cousin Samuel Adams, who was in Congress at the time but is not depicted in the play (though he is mentioned).


1776 (musical), Historical accuracy
Although the play depicts Caesar Rodney as an elderly man near death from skin cancer (which would eventually kill him), he was just 47 at the time and continued to be very active in the Revolution after signing the Declaration. He was not absent from the voting because of health; however, the play is accurate in having him arrive "in the nick of time", having ridden 80 miles the night before (an event depicted on Delaware's 1999 State Quarter). In the play, Richard Henry Lee announces that he is returning to Virginia to serve as governor.


1776 (musical), Historical accuracy
He was never governor; his cousin Henry Lee III (who is anachronistically called "General 'Lighthorse' Harry Lee", a rank and nickname earned later) did eventually become governor and would also become the father of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. John Adams was also depicted in the play and the film as disliking Richard Henry Lee. That is not the case as, according to David McCullough, Adams expressed nothing but "respect and admiration for the tall, masterly Virginian." He did, however, contrary to what was portrayed in the play and the film, dislike Benjamin Franklin.


1776 (musical), Historical accuracy
Martha Jefferson never traveled to Philadelphia to be with her husband. In fact, she was extremely ill during the summer of 1776, having just endured a miscarriage. The play's authors invented the scene "to show something of the young Jefferson's life without destroying the unity of setting." James Wilson was not the indecisive milquetoast depicted in the play. The real Wilson, who was not yet a judge in 1776, had been cautious about supporting independence at an earlier date, but he supported the resolution of independence when it came up for a vote. Pennsylvania's deciding swing vote was actually cast by John Morton, who is not depicted in the musical.


1776 (musical), Historical accuracy
The quote attributed to Edmund Burke by Dr. Lyman Hall in a key scene with John Adams is a paraphrase of a real quote by Burke.


1776 (musical), Historical accuracy
The song "Cool Considerate Men" is anachronistic because the terms "right" and "left" in politics were not in use until the French Revolution of 1789. John Dickinson, who is portrayed as an antagonist here, was motivated mainly by his Quaker roots and his respect for the British Constitution, having lived in England for 3 years in the 1750s. He was no wealthier than some members of the pro-Independence faction, and freed his slaves in 1777. Thomas Jefferson wrote that "his name will be consecrated in history as one of the great worthies of the revolution".


1776 (musical), Historical accuracy
The musical also deviates from history in its portrayal of attitudes about slavery. In 1776, after a dramatic debate over slavery, the southern delegates walk out in protest of the Declaration's reference to the slave trade, and only support independence when that language is removed from the Declaration. The walkout is fictional, and apparently most delegates, northern and southern, supported the deletion of the clause.


1776 (musical), Historical accuracy
The musical claims that Edward Rutledge led the opposition to the supposedly anti-slavery clause in the original draft of the Declaration. This is inaccurate on two counts. First, the musical does not mention the motivation of the clause, namely the fact that, following Lord Dunmore's Proclamation, England was granting freedom to runaway slaves who joined its army. Second, Rutledge's leadership against the clause is completely fictional. According to Jefferson, the clause was opposed by South Carolina and Georgia, plus unspecified "northern brethren"; that is the limit of known information about opposition to the clause.


1776 (musical), Historical accuracy
Thomas Jefferson is depicted as saying that he has resolved to free his slaves, something he did not do, except for a few slaves freed after his death 50 years later. Franklin claims that he is the founder of an abolitionist organization, but the real Franklin did not become an active abolitionist until after the American Revolution, becoming president of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society in 1785.


1776 (musical), Historical accuracy
James Wilson is portrayed as subordinating himself to Dickinson's opposition to independence, only changing his vote so that he would not be remembered unfavorably. In fact, Wilson was considered one of the leading thinkers behind the American cause, consistently supporting and arguing for independence, although he would not cast his vote until his district had been caucused.


1776 (musical), Historical accuracy
The phrase "We are about to brave the storm in a skiff made of paper", placed in the mouth of John Hancock, was actually stated by John Dickinson ("Others strenuously assert...we ought to brave the Storm in a Skiff made of Paper.") in his arguments against independence.


1776 (musical), Historical accuracy
In both the play and the film, John Adams sarcastically predicts that Benjamin Franklin will receive from posterity too great a share of credit for the Revolution. "Franklin smote the ground and out sprang—George Washington. Fully grown, and on his horse. Franklin then electrified them with his magnificent lightning rod and the three of them—Franklin, Washington, and the horse—conducted the entire Revolution all by themselves." Adams did make a similar comment about Franklin in April 1790, just after Franklin's death, although the mention of the horse was a humorous twist added by the authors of the musical.


1776 (musical), Critical reception
In his review of the original 1969 production, Clive Barnes of The New York Times wrote,


1776 (musical), Critical reception
On the face of it, few historical incidents seem more unlikely to spawn a Broadway musical than that solemn moment in the history of mankind, the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Yet 1776... most handsomely demonstrated that people who merely go 'on the face of it' are occasionally outrageously wrong....  [1776] is a most striking, most gripping musical. I recommend it without reservation. It makes even an Englishman's heart beat faster... the characters are most unusually full... for Mr. Stone's book is literate, urbane and, on occasion, very amusing....


1776 (musical), Critical reception
William Daniels has given many persuasive performances in the past, but nothing, I think, can have been so effective as his John Adams here. This is a beautiful mixture of pride, ambition, an almost priggish sense of justice and yet – the saving grace of the character – an ironic self-awareness.


1776 (musical), Critical reception
This is by no means a historical tract or a sermon on the birth of this nation. It is warm with a life of its own; it is funny, it is moving... Often, as I sat enchanted in my seat, it reminded me of Gilbert and Sullivan in its amused regard of human frailties.... The songs and lyrics are, as I have indicated, remarkably original.


1776 (musical), Critical reception
In this cynical age, it requires courage as well as enterprise to do a musical play that simply deals with the events leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And 1776... makes no attempt to be satirical or wander off into modern bypaths. But the rewards of this confidence reposed in the bold conception were abundant. The result is a brilliant and remarkably moving work of theatrical art... it is Mr. Daniels' John Adams who dominates the evening, as he did the Congress. Peter Hunt's direction, the choreography of Onna White, and the setting by Jo Mielziner are just right.


1776 (musical), Awards and nominations, Original Broadway production
(Note: William Daniels, who starred as John Adams, was ruled ineligible for the Best Actor nomination because his name was not billed above the title of the show. He was nominated for Best Featured Actor, but refused the nomination.)


1776 (musical), Film adaptation
The 1972 film version of 1776 was produced by Jack L. Warner with Hunt again directing and Stone writing the screenplay. The film featured William Daniels as Adams, Ken Howard as Jefferson, Howard Da Silva as Franklin, John Cullum as Edward Rutledge, Ron Holgate as Richard Henry Lee, and Virginia Vestoff as Abigail Adams, all of whom had performed their roles on Broadway. The supporting cast was also mostly recruited from the Broadway production. The principal exceptions were Donald Madden and Blythe Danner, who took over the roles of John Dickinson and Martha Jefferson.


1776 (musical), Film adaptation
A Director's Cut of the original film has been released on DVD and Blu-ray. Both the look and sound of the original film have been improved through modern technology. Many cuts to the original film by the producer Jack Warner have been restored, including verses from the songs "Piddle Twiddle and Resolve" and "He Plays the Violin" and the entire "Cool, Cool, Considerate Men". Musical underscoring has been removed from several scenes without songs in order to strengthen the focus on dialogue. Bonus material includes commentary by Director Peter Hunt and by Peter Stone, the book/screenwriter. Among other topics, they discuss artistic liberties and anachronisms used to dramatize the events.


1776 (musical), In popular culture
Throughout the course of the third season of the Netflix original series Grace and Frankie, Robert, played by Martin Sheen, and his husband Sol, played by Sam Waterston, are persuaded to audition for a local production of 1776 by the local gay men's theater group, resulting in Robert landing the lead role of John Adams, much to the disappointment of Sol who was not cast.


1776 Commission
The 1776 Commission was an advisory committee established in September 2020 by then–U.S. President Donald Trump to support what he called "patriotic education". The commission, which included no historians specializing in United States history, released The 1776 Report on January 18, 2021, two days before the end of Trump's term. Historians condemned the report, saying it was "filled with errors and partisan politics". The commission was terminated by President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021.


1776 Commission, History
Trump first spoke of giving students a "patriotic education" on September 2, 2020. He reiterated his intention to establish the commission in a proclamation on October 6, 2020. The commission was conceived partly as a response to The New York Times' 1619 Project, which explores American history through an African-American framing. Various federal laws prohibit the federal government from directly regulating school curricula, which are determined by school districts under rules established by state governments. However, the federal government influences state and local decisions through funding.


1776 Commission, Establishment
Trump announced the new commission in a speech on September 17, 2020, in which he contended that a "twisted web of lies" regarding systemic racism was currently being taught in U.S. schools, calling it "a form of child abuse." On November 2, the day before the 2020 elections, Trump officially established the commission by executive order. Trump appointed the commission's members on December 18, 2020. The commission held its first meeting on January 5, 2021.


1776 Commission, Establishment
Under the executive order, Trump established an 18-member group serving a two-year term appointed by the president, which is to write a report on “core principles of the American founding and how these principles may be understood to further enjoyment of ‘the blessings of liberty’".


1776 Commission, Establishment, Goals
According to the executive order establishing the commission, the commission's goal was to end what it calls the "radicalized view of American history" which has "vilified [the United States'] Founders and [its] founding". In response to the work of figures like Howard Zinn and groups like the 1619 Project, the 1776 Commission seeks to increase "patriotic education" via a centralized approach to nationalist curriculum. This effort is linked to Trump's wider attacks on critical race theory.


1776 Commission, Establishment, Goals
The commission was also intended to promote these concepts at national parks, landmarks, and monuments among other federal properties; federal agencies were instructed to provide grants and initiatives in a way that prioritized those supporting "the American Founding".


1776 Commission, Establishment, Members
The 18-member commission was composed of conservative activists, politicians and intellectuals; it included no professional historians of the United States. Trump appointed the Commission's members on December 18, 2020. The chair was Larry Arnn, the president of the conservative Hillsdale College, and the co-chair was Carol Swain, a Black conservative who is a former professor at Vanderbilt Law School.


1776 Commission, Establishment, Members
Others appointed by Trump include his ex-domestic policy advisor Brooke Rollins; Charles R. Kesler;,a Claremont Graduate Studies professor and editor of conservative Claremont Review of Books; conservative activists Ned Ryun, a Bush speech writer; Charlie Kirk; Phil Bryant, the Republican former governor of Mississippi; and classical historian Victor Davis Hanson; as well as John Gibbs; Scott McNealy, founder of Curikki, an online curriculum company; Peter Kirsanow, a black Civil Rights Commission member; Thomas Lindsay, a professor of Political Science; Michael Farris, a lawyer and professor of Political Science; and former Representative, Bob McEwen.


1776 Commission, The 1776 Report, Contents
The commission released the 41-page "The 1776 Report" on January 18, 2021, two days before the end of Trump's term and the inauguration of Joe Biden. The report does not include citations or footnotes, and does not identify its main authors.


1776 Commission, The 1776 Report, Contents
Among other things, the document identifies "progressivism" and "racism and identity politics" as "challenges to America's principles" and likens them to "communism," "slavery," and "fascism." It refers to John C. Calhoun as "the leading forerunner of identity politics" and criticizes some aspects of the civil rights movement. The document also describes American universities as "often today [...] hotbeds of anti-Americanism, libel, and censorship" and criticizes feminist movements. It concludes with recommendations to promote positive stories and images of the country's founders at home, in schools, and in the arts, among other things.


1776 Commission, The 1776 Report, Reception
Historians condemned the report, saying it was "filled with errors and partisan politics" and identified factual inaccuracies and a lack of scholarship. The American Historical Association (AHA), in a statement cosigned by 33 other historical societies, stated that the report was completed "without any consultation with professional historians of the United States."


1776 Commission, The 1776 Report, Reception
On January 19, 2021, the Association of University Presses released a statement: "While we leave it to historians to offer a detailed rebuttal of the document’s inaccuracies – if any should choose to do so – we note that it is plagued by procedural deficiencies that would render it unpublishable as a serious work of scholarship."


1776 Commission, The 1776 Report, Reception
James Grossman, the executive director of the AHA, criticized Trump's push for so-called "patriotic education," writing that genuinely patriotic history is a rigorous effort to study the past honestly and acknowledge complexity, rather than "cheerleading"; "nationalist propaganda"; or "simplistic and inaccurate narrative of unique virtue and perpetual progress." Grossman described the 1776 Commission's report as "a hack job" that was "not a work of history," but of "cynical politics." Grossman said, "This report skillfully weaves together myths, distortions, deliberate silences, and both blatant and subtle misreading of evidence to create a narrative and an argument that few respectable professional historians, even across a wide interpretive spectrum, would consider plausible, never mind convincing."


1776 Commission, The 1776 Report, Reception
Historian Timothy Messer-Kruse likened the content of the report to "every moldy trope of 1950s fifth-grade civics books" and wrote that it misrepresented the beliefs of founding father John Jay as expressed in Federalist No. 2 . Historian Eric Rauchway criticized the report for misreading John Winthrop's "City upon a Hill" speech and for the report's claims regarding the civil rights movement. Historian Alexis Coe, a biographer of George Washington, said the report was riddled with "errors, distortions, and outright lies" and mischaracterized Washington's involvement with slavery.


1776 Commission, The 1776 Report, Reception
Kevin M. Kruse and other historians criticized the report for suggesting that Martin Luther King, Jr. would have opposed affirmative action, noting that King in fact endorsed affirmative action during his life. Even historians who were critical of the 1619 Project, such as Sean Wilentz of Princeton University, criticized the report of the 1776 Commission. Wilentz described the report as "the flip side of those polemics" and "basically a political document" that "reduces history to hero worship."


1776 Commission, The 1776 Report, Reception
Historians also noted that portions of the report had been copied without attribution from earlier writings by its authors (including a 2008 op-ed by Thomas Lindsay published in Inside Higher Ed and a 2002 Heritage Foundation essay and Intercollegiate Studies Institute essay written by Matthew Spalding, the commission's executive director).


1776 Commission, The 1776 Report, Reception
Commentator Eugene Scott criticized the commission's report for suggesting "that identity politics is something unique to those outside of the Trump administration"; Scott writes that Trump's rhetoric and Trumpism "has been rooted in identity politics": specifically, a prioritization of demographic groups that are "largely White, Christian and appealing to traditional gender norms."


1776 Commission, The 1776 Report, Reception
Writing for Slate, Rebecca Onion described the report as "a screed forwarded by a Fox-poisoned aunt, one that might best be politely ignored" and noted historian Diana Butler Bass's fear that the report was "'a huge gift' to white evangelical Trump supporters, who have long taught this vision of history to children who are enrolled in Christian schools or home-schooled."


1776 Commission, The 1776 Report, Reception
Commission members Victor Davis Hanson and Mike Gonzalez defended the report. Hanson argued that the report did not "whitewash the continuance of many injustices" in U.S. history and defended the report's declaration that "progressivism" was at odds with American values, while Gonzalez, a senior fellow of the Heritage Foundation, criticized media coverage of the report and argued that Biden's disbanding of the commission was an outcome of "the woke left" waging a "war on U.S. history."


1776 Commission, Termination
On January 20, 2021, hours after he was inaugurated as Trump's successor, President Joe Biden issued an executive order dissolving the 1776 Commission. The report was removed from the White House website, although the National Archives and Records Administration archived the report, along with the entire Trump White House website.


1776 Commission, Termination
In May 2021, Matthew Spalding, the commission's executive director, announced the commission would resume its activities in a non-governmental capacity.


1776 Connecticut gubernatorial election
The 1776 Connecticut gubernatorial election took place on April 11, 1776; the offices to be filled were governor and lieutenant governor. This was the only such election to take place before Connecticut approved the Declaration of Independence on October 10, 1776.


1776 Connecticut gubernatorial election
Statesman Jonathan Trumbull ran unopposed and won the election. Trumbull had been governor of the Connecticut Colony prior to the American Revolution. The candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 1776 was Matthew Griswold, who also won his election. Trumbull went on to win successive gubernatorial elections until 1784, when he was succeeded by Griswold.


1776 English cricket season
The 1776 English cricket season was the fifth in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The scorecards of seven first-class matches have survived. The earliest printed cricket scorecard templates were introduced during 1776.


1776 English cricket season, Matches
Seven first-class match scorecards survive from 1776, all of them involving Hampshire XIs playing either Kent XIs or Surrey XIs.


1776 English cricket season, Matches
Three other matches not between county sides are known to have been played during the season. Full scorecards do not survive from these matches.


1776 English cricket season, Other events
A notice in the Leicester Journal of 17 August is the earliest known mention of cricket in Leicestershire.


1776 English cricket season, First mentions
Richard Aubrey Veck made his debut in first-class cricket during the season.


1776 Kuiper
1776 Kuiper, provisional designation 2520 P-L, is a dark Eoan asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 38 kilometers in diameter.


1776 Kuiper
It was discovered on 24 September 1960, by Dutch astronomer couple Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten in collaboration with Dutch–American astronomer Tom Gehrels at the U.S. Palomar Observatory in California, and named after Dutch astronomer Gerard Kuiper.


1776 Kuiper, Orbit and classification
Kuiper is a member of the Eos family (606), the largest asteroid family in the outer main belt consisting of nearly 10,000 asteroids. It orbits the Sun in the outer asteroid belt at a distance of 3.1–3.1 AU once every 5 years and 6 months (1,996 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.01 and an inclination of 9° with respect to the ecliptic. Kuiper was first identified as 1930 EB at Heidelberg Observatory in 1930, extending its observation arc by 30 years prior to its official discovery observation.


1776 Kuiper, Orbit and classification, Palomar–Leiden survey
The survey designation "P-L" stands for Palomar–Leiden, named after Palomar and Leiden Observatory, which collaborated on the fruitful Palomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s. Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the photographic plates to Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory where astrometry was carried out. The trio are credited with the discovery of several thousand minor planets.


1776 Kuiper, Physical characteristics
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Kuiper measures 36.0 and 40.0 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has a low albedo of 0.033 and 0.054, respectively. Typical value for C-, D- or P-type asteroids in the outer main-belt. However, as of 2017, Kuiper's composition, as well as its rotation period and shape remain unknown.


1776 Kuiper, Naming
This minor planet is named after Dutch–American astronomer Gerard Kuiper (1905–1973), initiator of the Palomar-Leiden survey. He was a well-known authority in the field of planetary science and director at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and at Yerkes Observatory. He discovered Miranda and Nereid, satellites of Uranus and Neptune, respectively.


1776 Kuiper, Naming
The third zone of the Solar System, the Kuiper belt, is named after him. Also, the Mercurian crater Kuiper, the Martian crater Kuiper and the lunar crater Kuiper all bear his name. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 25 September 1971 (M.P.C. 3185).


1776 Rhode Island gubernatorial election
The 1776 Rhode Island gubernatorial election was the first election in the State after its secession from British colonies and joining the United States.


1776 Rhode Island gubernatorial election
The election was organized for the 3rd of April, 1776 when Nicholas Cooke won unopposed with 100% of the vote.


1776 Rhode Island gubernatorial election
Cooke had also governed the State when it was a Colony.


1776 Unites
1776 Unites is a project launched by civil rights activist Robert Woodson that seeks to unite African-Americans to advocate principles like entrepreneurship, self-determination, and mutual social support through a series of essays published on its website. Woodson created the project as a response to the 1619 Project.


1776 Unites
Notable contributors to the project include academics such as Carol M. Swain, Glenn Loury, Jason D. Hill, Wilfred Reilly, Shelby Steele, John McWhorter, and John Sibley Butler: other contributors including journalists Coleman Hughes and Clarence Page. 1776 Unites essays typically discuss the lives of financially successful African-Americans, and the project includes an open-access curriculum.


1776 Unites, The project's message
Contributors to 1776 Unites promote current and historical examples of prosperous Black communities as “a powerful refutation of the claim that the destiny of Black Americans is determined by what whites do, or what they have done in the past.” 1776 Unites also promotes the work and thought of entrepreneurs, philanthropists, business and community leaders, and others it considers "," to illustrate the opportunities for success that are open to African Americans today, their contributions to national economic and cultural life, and their stake in U.S. life and history.


1776 Unites, The project's message
Robert Woodson said his central motivation in founding 1776 Unites was to counter the narratives he contends were embedded in the 1619 Project, developed by the New York Times, which postulates that the founding of America in a structural and economic sense occurred not in 1776, the year of its declared independence, but rather in 1619 when the first Black slaves arrived. In addition to critiquing arguments that place slavery at the center of the United States’ origins, 1776 Unites also publicizes the historical achievements of African American individuals and communities, including those who had been “in slavery but not of slavery” and became successful business leaders after emancipation.


1776 Unites, History of the project
1776 Unites was launched at the National Press Club on February 14, 2020, and on that same day partnered with the conservative newspaper Washington Examiner to release a series of essays critical of the 1619 Project, arguing that slavery and its ugly legacy should not be seen as definitive of the black experience.


1776 Unites, History of the project
In September 2020, 1776 Unites announced a curriculum that will offer life lessons from largely unknown or forgotten African-American figures from the past, such as Elijah McCoy and Biddy Mason, who triumphed over adverse conditions to gain independence and prosperity.


1776 Virginia gubernatorial election
The Virginia gubernatorial election of 1776 was the first gubernatorial election of the newly independent Commonwealth of Virginia. It was held on June 29, 1776, forty-five days after the adoption of the Lee Resolution by the Fifth Virginia Convention asserting the independence of the United Colonies from Great Britain. The election was conducted under the provisions of the Constitution of Virginia, which had been adopted by the convention the same day and went into effect immediately. Patrick Henry, a leading advocate for independence who had served as a delegate to the First Continental Congress, was elected governor by a majority vote, defeating Thomas Nelson, Jr. and John Page.


1776 Virginia gubernatorial election
The new Constitution called for the Governor of Virginia to be elected by the votes of the Virginia General Assembly meeting in joint session. The Virginia Convention, as the provisional legislature of the commonwealth, performed this function in the election of 1776. Prior to 1830, the governor served a term of one year, renewable no more than three times in a seven-year period. Henry was reelected four times: twice consecutively in 1777 and 1778, and again in 1784 and 1785, to serve a total of five consecutive terms in office.


1776 Virginia gubernatorial election, Background
The Fifth Virginia Convention convened in Williamsburg on May 6, 1776 amidst increasingly widespread support for independence among the Patriots who supported the American Revolution. On May 15, 1776 the convention approved a resolution instructing Virginia's delegates in the Second Continental Congress to support a formal declaration of independence absolving the Thirteen Colonies from their allegiance to the British Empire. Congress voted to adopt the Lee Resolution on July 2, precipitating passage of the United States Declaration of Independence.


1776 Virginia gubernatorial election, Background
While Congress debated independence, the Virginia Convention took action to establish the foundations for an independent commonwealth. A Declaration of Rights was introduced in the convention on May 27 and adopted on June 12; on June 29, the delegates voted unanimously to adopt the proposed Constitution of Virginia. With the Constitution now in place, elections for governor and Attorney General proceeded immediately.


1776 Virginia gubernatorial election, Electoral system
The Constitution of 1776 called for the governor and other executive officers to be elected by a joint session of the General Assembly, with a majority of votes cast necessary to elect the governor. The governor was elected for a term of one year and limited to three terms in a seven-year period. With the first General Assembly yet unelected, the Virginia Convention carried out the election of the first governor and Attorney General. The election was conducted by secret ballot; in all, 106 delegates to the Virginia Convention cast votes for governor.


1776 Virginia gubernatorial election, Results
The Virginia Convention elected Henry by a majority of 60 electoral votes to 45 for his nearest competitor, Thomas Nelson. George Wythe, James Madison, Bartholomew Dandridge, and William Roscoe Wilson Curl were appointed to inspect the ballots and inform Henry of his election.


1776 in Wales
This article is about the significance of the year 1776 to Wales and its people.


1776 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1776.


1776 in paleontology
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1776.


1776 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).


1776 in poetry, Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1776 in poetry, Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1776 in science
The year 1776 in science and technology involved some significant events.


1776 in sports
1776 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.


1776 in the United States
Events from the year 1776 in the United States. This year is celebrated in the United States as the official beginning of the nation, with the Declaration of Independence issued on July 4.


1777
1777 (MDCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar, the 1777th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 777th  year of the 2nd millennium, the 77th  year of the 18th century, and the  8th   year of the 1770s decade. As of the start of 1777, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.


1777 English cricket season
The 1777 English cricket season was the sixth in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The scorecards of six first-class matches have survived. James Aylward made a record score of 167 runs that stood until 1820.


1777 English cricket season, Matches
Six first-class match scorecards survive from 1777, all of them involving Hampshire XIs playing England sides.


1777 English cricket season, Matches
James Aylward made his record score of 167 in the first England v Hampshire match of the season in June. This set a new record for the highest score in first-class cricket, surpassing the score of 136 made by John Small which had been made in 1775. A printed bill reporting the match said that "Aylward went in at 5 o’clock on Wednesday afternoon, and was not out till after three on Friday" in making his score. The Hampshire total was 403 runs, with Tom Sueter scoring 46 runs, the second highest score in the innings. The match is known to have been played using three stumps, a voluntary measure which had been first introduced in 1775.


1777 English cricket season, Matches
Aylward's record stood until 1820, when it was beaten by William Ward.


1777 English cricket season, Matches
Three other matches are known to have been played during the season.


1777 English cricket season, Debutants
The following players made their first known appearance during the 1777 season.


1777 Gehrels
1777 Gehrels, also designated 4007 P-L, is a stony asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 13 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered during the Palomar–Leiden survey in 1960, and named for astronomer Tom Gehrels, one of the survey's principal investigators and credited discoverer.


1777 Gehrels, Discovery
Gehrels was discovered during the Palomar–Leiden survey by the Dutch astronomer couple Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten, in collaboration with Dutch–American astronomer Tom Gehrels at Palomar Observatory, California, on 24 September 1960.


1777 Gehrels, Discovery
The survey designation "P-L" stands for Palomar–Leiden, named after Palomar and Leiden Observatory, which collaborated on the fruitful Palomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s. Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the photographic plates to Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory, where astrometry was carried out. The trio are credited with the discovery of several thousand minor planets.


1777 Gehrels, Orbit and classification
It orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 2.6–2.7 AU once every 4 years and 3 months (1,554 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.02 and an inclination of 3° with respect to the ecliptic.


1777 Gehrels, Orbit and classification
First observed as A905 UE at Heidelberg Observatory in 1905, Gehrels' first used observation was made at Goethe Link Observatory in 1958, extending the body's observation arc by 2 years prior to its official discovery at Palomar.


1777 Gehrels, Physical characteristics
This S-type asteroid is characterized as a transitional Sq-type in the SMASS classification.


1777 Gehrels, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Gehrels measures between 11.860 and 13.14 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.2212 and 0.277.


1777 Gehrels, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts Petr Pravec's revised WISE-data and takes an albedo of 0.2151 with a diameter of 12.67 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 11.773.


1777 Gehrels, Physical characteristics, Lightcurves
Several rotational lightcurve of Gehrels were obtained from photometric observations by astronomers Wiesław Wiśniewski, Petr Pravec, Pierre Antonini, Raoul Behrend, Donn Starkey, Laurent Bernasconi, Jacques Montier, Serge Heterier, Daniel Klinglesmith and Robert Stephens. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period between 2.83 and 2.840 hours with a brightness variation of 0.21 and 0.27 magnitude (U=2/3/3/2+/2/3).


1777 Gehrels, Naming
This minor planet was named in honor of Dutch-born American astronomer Tom Gehrels (1925–2011), professor at the University of Arizona, staff member of the LPL research center at Tucson, a principal investigator in the Pioneer program, receiver of the Masursky Award, initiator of the Spacewatch project, and co-discoverer of thousands of minor planets in the Palomar–Leiden survey (see above). He was a pioneer in the field of photometric and polarimetric observations of Solar System bodies in the 1950s. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 25 September 1971 (M.P.C. 3185).


1777 New York gubernatorial election
The 1777 New York gubernatorial election was held in June 1777 to elect the governor and the lieutenant governor.


1777 New York gubernatorial election, History
The election began on June 1, but due to the American Revolution it took some time to collect and count the votes, and the official result was announced on July 9. George Clinton accepted the office of Governor on July 11 and assumed its duties immediately, pending to take the oath as soon as he could safely leave his military command. He took the oath of office on July 30.


1777 New York gubernatorial election, History
There were no parties yet, as the Democratic-Republican and Federalist Parties appeared only in 1792. Until then the candidacies were based on personal recognition. The concepts of "running mates" also did not apply in this election, with candidates running separately for Governor and Lieutenant Governor. The New York Committee of Safety endorsed Philip Schuyler for Governor and George Clinton for Lieutenant Governor.


1777 New York gubernatorial election, Result
George Clinton was elected both Governor and Lieutenant Governor. Clinton formally resigned the lieutenant governorship, leaving a vacancy. State Senator Pierre Van Cortlandt was elected President pro tempore of the State Senate, and acted as Lieutenant Governor until the end of the legislative year. Van Cortlandt was then elected in a special election and took office as Lieutenant Governor on June 30, 1778.


1777 in Wales
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1777 to Wales and its people.


1777 in architecture
The year 1777 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.


1777 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1777.


1777 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).


1777 in poetry, Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1777 in poetry, Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1777 in science
The year 1777 in science and technology involved some significant events.


1777 in sports
1777 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.


1777 in the United States, Events, Dates unknown
In the St. Louis region, a brood of 13-year cicadas emerges at the same time as a large brood of 17-year cicadas.


17776
17776 (also known as What Football Will Look Like in the Future) is a serialized speculative fiction multimedia narrative by Jon Bois, published online through SB Nation. Set in the distant future in which all humans have become immortal and infertile, the series follows three sentient space probes that watch humanity play an evolved form of American football in which games can be played for millennia over distances of thousands of miles. The series debuted on July 5, 2017, and new chapters were published daily until the series concluded with its twenty-fifth chapter on July 15.


17776
Bois began developing 17776 in 2016. Because the story incorporates text, animated GIFs, still images, and videos hosted on YouTube, new tools were developed to allow it to be hosted efficiently on the SB Nation website. The work explores themes of consciousness, hope, despair, and why humans play sports. 17776 was well received by critics, who praised it for its innovative use of its medium and for the depth of emotion it evoked. In 2018, the story won a National Magazine Award for Digital Innovation and was longlisted for both the Hugo Awards for Best Novella and Best Graphic Story.


17776
It is followed by a two-part sequel series: 20020, released from September to October 2020, and the forthcoming 20021. The sequel series follows a 111-team game of college football on fields spanning 236 million yards across the United States.


17776, Premise
The story takes place on a future Earth where humans stopped dying, aging, and being born in 2026. All social ills were subsequently eliminated, and technology preventing humans from any injury was developed. In the United States, American football evolved to include new rules, including those that allow fields thousands of miles long, hundreds of in-game players, and games millennia long. Over time, computers gained sentience due to constant exposure to broadcast human data.


17776, Premise
By the year 17776, the space probe Pioneer 9 (called Nine) has gained sentience and made contact with Pioneer 10 (called Ten) and the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (called Juice).


17776, Premise
As Nine adjusts to a world radically different from that of the 20th century, the three space probes watch multiple football games occurring across the United States: a game using the entirety of Nebraska as a field in which the next point scored wins the game; a game in which players strive to possess every existing football autographed by obscure NFL player Koy Detmer; a game played between the Canadian border and the Mexican border deadlocked for 13,000 years at the bottom of a gorge in Arizona; an NFL regulation game between the Denver Broncos and the Pittsburgh Steelers that changed over 15,000 years into 58 playing teams owning and capitalizing upon portions of the field while the ball is lost; a 500 game that results in the destruction of the Centennial Light; and a game in which the possessing player is attempting to score an automatic win by hiding in his team's end zone for 10,000 years.


17776, Format
17776 is read by scrolling through pages occupied by large GIF images and colored dialogue text, interspersed with occasional YouTube videos. The story is divided into chapters, which were originally published in daily installments between July 5 and July 15, 2017. Much of the GIF and video content of the series uses Google Earth satellite imagery, 3D buildings, and other tools within Google Earth to create animations and visual effects.


17776, Development
Bois wrote and illustrated 17776 for Vox Media's sports news website SB Nation, of which he is creative director. Aside from 17776, Bois produces two other recurring, humorous video essay programs for the site: Pretty Good, which focuses on unusual sports topics and stories, and Chart Party,  which focuses on statistics and has an emphasis on Bois' use of visual art in his journalism and storytelling. Bois is also known for the Breaking Madden series, in which he attempted unusual scenarios in the Madden NFL series of video games.


17776, Development
In early 2016, Bois began developing an "anti-sci fi" project as a possible sequel to The Tim Tebow CFL Chronicles, an earlier work for SB Nation, and set the story in a year far enough in the future that "nobody ever thinks about it." Although he liked the concept and the visuals, he believed the project would not connect with readers and shelved it. Later, he realized that the story needed a centering character; he wrote one in the form of a small town, AM radio talk show host before coming up with the characters of the probes. Development renewed in May 2016, and the project solidified after SB Nation published its article "The Future of Football." Bois described it as the biggest project he ever attempted.


17776, Development
The series was developed by Graham MacAree, who used a Vox Media tool that creates custom packages from standard article sets to give Bois creative leeway and to accommodate the series' weight on the SB Nation website. MacAree found that there were few resources online for achieving the desired effects.


17776, Themes
Bois has stated that he had "conceived [17776] to give the reader a good time," asserting that this "was literally the whole point."


17776, Themes
William Hughes writing for The A.V. Club described 17776 as concerned with why humans play sports: "That is, given the massive resources, time, and information at our disposal (not to mention those available to our descendants), why does communal game-playing still hold such an important place in society?" He also listed consciousness, hope, and despair as among the work's themes. Beth Elderkin of io9 described it as "a deep thought experiment into what we consider humanly possible".


17776, Themes
She also felt that Ten and Juice take on the role of angel and devil, and she suggested the two may be unreliable narrators. Ian Crouch of The New Yorker felt that the work had a "tonal echo" of Don DeLillo's 1972 novel End Zone due to thematic similarities "with the way that the order and logic of football might act as a counterbalance to the chaos of the real world".


17776, Reception
According to the communications director at Vox Media, 17776 garnered over 2.3 million pageviews by July 10. Two days later, it had received more than 2.9 million pageviews. Average engagement time was over nine minutes, and 43 percent of readers finished each installment of the series published by July 7. On July 19, Bois claimed that 17776 received 700,000 unique visitors and 4 million total pageviews, with an average engagement time of 11 minutes.


17776, Reception
Thu-Huong Ha for Quartz described 17776 as "part Italo Calvino, part Peter Heller [author of The Dog Stars], with humor seemingly from within the depths of Reddit," saying that the story would appeal to fans of both sports and literature. Tor.com described the first chapter as full of tension and felt that receiving answers is a "surprisingly heartbreaking" experience "lessened by a gleeful bouncing immaturity" one would not expect from the characters. Beth Elderkin at io9 said the series is "akin to Homestuck" and described it as "weird, complex, and pretty spectacular".


17776, Reception
William Hughes writing for The A.V. Club felt that 17776 is a "truly innovative piece of work". After reading the first three chapters, Agatha French of the Los Angeles Times stated that she was "impressed and excited by the innovation" of what she saw, and that she was intrigued despite not knowing what the work is or is saying. She felt the work took full advantage of its online medium and suggested that it "may also be a glimpse into the future of reading on the Internet".


17776, Reception
Ian Crouch of The New Yorker described the series as, "despite its seemingly meagre parts, a thing of startling beauty". Of the chapters published by July 12, he felt "the most striking chapter" to be one that utilized audio of Verne Lundquist calling the end of a 2013 game between the University of Alabama and Auburn University over a video panning over Earth. He also noted that the series was compared to Homestuck and relayed additional comparisons to Thomas Pynchon novels and "a Reddit thread hijacked by robot trolls".


17776, Reception
The series won the inaugural National Magazine Award for Digital Innovation from the American Society of Magazine Editors; this was the first National Magazine Award nomination and win for SB Nation. It was described by the judges as "an extraordinary combination of art, fiction and technology, an online acid trip that had to be experienced to be believed." It was also longlisted for the Hugo Awards for Best Novella and Best Graphic Story in 2018, ultimately finishing in 11th place in both categories.


17776, Sequel series
On September 28, 2020, a sequel titled 20020 was launched on Secret Base, a branch of SB Nation; on October 13, it was revealed to be the first part of a two-part continuation with the second half, 20021, originally planned for release in the winter or spring of 2021, though later delayed. One chapter of 20020 was released every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday beginning on September 28 and ending on October 23. Both parts of the series are expected to run for twelve chapters.


17776, Sequel series
It focuses on a similarly lengthy, interconnected, 111-team competition based on college football. The sentient space probes featured in 17776 return, with Juice serving as the game's designer and commissioner. 20020's format largely resembles 17776's with a more involved use of Google Earth-based YouTube video storytelling interspersed regularly into the narrative.


1778
1778 (MDCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar, the 1778th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 778th  year of the 2nd millennium, the 78th  year of the 18th century, and the  9th   year of the 1770s decade. As of the start of 1778, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.


1778 Alfvén
1778 Alfvén, also designated 4506 P-L, is a carbonaceous Themistian asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 20 kilometers in diameter.


1778 Alfvén
It was discovered on 26 September 1960, by astronomers Cornelis van Houten, Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld and Tom Gehrels at the U.S. Palomar Observatory, in California. It was later named after Swedish Nobelist Hannes Alfvén.


1778 Alfvén, Orbit and classification
The dark C-type asteroid is a member of the Themis family, a dynamical family of outer-belt asteroids with nearly coplanar ecliptical orbits. Alfvén orbits the Sun in the outer main-belt at a distance of 2.7–3.6 AU once every 5 years and 7 months (2,038 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.13 and an inclination of 2° with respect to the ecliptic.


1778 Alfvén, Orbit and classification
A first precovery was taken at Lowell Observatory in 1906, extending the body's observation arc by 54 years prior to its official discovery observation.


1778 Alfvén, Physical characteristics, Rotation period
In February 2013, two rotational lightcurves of Alfvén were obtained from analysis at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. The lightcurves gave a rotation period of 4.82 and 4.8050 hours with a brightness variation of 0.40 and 0.36 magnitude, respectively (U=3-/2).


1778 Alfvén, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Alfvén measures 20.62 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.095, while the Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.08 and calculates a diameter of 20.51 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 11.8.


1778 Alfvén, Survey designation
The survey designation "P-L" stands for Palomar–Leiden, named after Palomar Observatory and Leiden Observatory, which collaborated on the fruitful Palomar–Leiden survey in the 1960s. Gehrels used Palomar's Samuel Oschin telescope (also known as the 48-inch Schmidt Telescope), and shipped the photographic plates to Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden Observatory where astrometry was carried out. The trio are credited with the discovery of several thousand minor planets.


1778 Alfvén, Naming
This minor planet was named after Swedish engineer, physicist and Nobel prize winner, Hannes Alfvén (1908–1995). The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 15 June 1974 (M.P.C. 3643).


1778 English cricket season
The 1778 English cricket season was the seventh in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The scorecards of five first-class matches have survived.


1778 English cricket season, Matches
Five first-class match scorecards survive from 1778, four of them involving Hampshire XIs.


1778 English cricket season, Matches
Three other matches are known to have been played during the season, including a return match between Chertsey and an England side.


1778 English cricket season, First-class debutants
The following players made their first known appearance during the 1778 season.


1778 Vermont Republic gubernatorial election
The 1778 Vermont Republic gubernatorial election took place on March 12, 1778, and resulted in the selection of Thomas Chittenden as the republic's for first governor. This was Vermont's first gubernatorial election after declaring independence in 1777.


1778 Vermont Republic gubernatorial election
After declaring themselves independent, the former New Hampshire Grants were first known as New Connecticut, but soon changed their name to Vermont. In early 1778, the council of safety that temporarily governed the new republic invited each Vermont town to elect two delegates to meet at a convention in Windsor.


1778 Vermont Republic gubernatorial election
The delegates assembled on March 12 and organized themselves into the first Vermont House of Representatives. They then proceeded to the election of a governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer, and members of a governor's council, who would serve until elections could be held in October. Thomas Chittenden, who had served as president of the council of safety, was chosen for governor. Joseph Marsh was elected lieutenant governor, and Ira Allen was the convention's choice for treasurer. The names of candidates and balloting totals were not recorded, but the convention's secretary noted that Chittenden was elected "by a great majority of votes."


1778 Vermont Republic gubernatorial election
On October 8, 1778, the Vermont General Assembly met in Windsor. Members of the House of Representatives voted for governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer, and members of the governor's council. Chittenden, Marsh, and Allen were elected to one-year terms, though the recorder did not report the vote totals.


1778 in Canada, Historical documents
General George Washington details pros and cons of invading Canada in 1779 (when failed Penobscot Expedition took place instead)


1778 in Canada, Historical documents
Continental Army General Schuyler argues usefulness of Lake Ontario for fighting British in Canada


1778 in Canada, Historical documents
Enslaved mulatto girl Bell is sold to Quebec lieutenant governor after twice escaping her Quebec City owner


1778 in Wales
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1778 to Wales and its people.


1778 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1778.


1778 in paleontology
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1778.


1778 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).


1778 in poetry, Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1778 in poetry, Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1778 in science
The year 1778 in science and technology involved some significant events.


1778 in sports
1778 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.


1779
1779 (MDCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar, the 1779th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 779th  year of the 2nd millennium, the 79th  year of the 18th century, and the  10th  and last year of the 1770s decade. As of the start of 1779, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.


1779 English cricket season
The 1779 English cricket season was the eighth in which matches have been awarded retrospective first-class cricket status. The scorecards of five first-class matches have survived.


1779 English cricket season, Matches
Five first-class match scorecards survive from 1779, four of them matches between England sides and Hampshire XIs.


1779 English cricket season, Matches
Five other matches are known to have been played during the season, including a match between Kent and Surrey at Bourne Paddock in July which was badly affected by rain. Others include early references to cricket in both Berkshire and Oxfordshire.


1779 Paraná
1779 Paraná, provisional designation 1950 LZ, is an asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 4 kilometers in diameter.


1779 Paraná
The asteroid was discovered on 15 June 1950, by Argentine astronomer Miguel Itzigsohn at the La Plata Astronomical Observatory in La Plata, capital of the province of Buenos Aires. It was named for the Paraná River in South America.


1779 Paraná, Orbit and classification
Paraná orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 1.8–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 3 months (1,172 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.16 and an inclination of 1° with respect to the ecliptic.


1779 Paraná, Orbit and classification
As no precoveries were taken, and no prior identifications were made, Paraná's observation arc begins with its official discovery observation in 1950. Paraná has also been cataloged by the Palomar–Leiden survey and received the survey designation 6116 P-L (PLS6116).


1779 Paraná, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Paraná measures 4.09 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.221. Based on a magnitude-to-diameter conversion, using an albedo in the range of 0.05 to 0.25 and a magnitude of 14.1, the asteroid's generic diameter is between 4 and 9 kilometers.


1779 Paraná, Physical characteristics, Rotation period
As of 2017, Paraná's spectral type, rotation period and shape remain unknown.


1779 Paraná, Naming
This minor planet was named for a large and 4,880-kilometers long Paraná River that runs through northern Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. It is a major tributary to the La Plata river, where the city of La Plata and the discovering observatory are located (also see 1029 La Plata). The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 8 April 1982 (M.P.C. 6832).


1779 Vermont Republic gubernatorial election
The 1779 Vermont Republic gubernatorial election took place throughout September, and resulted in the re-election of Thomas Chittenden to a one-year term.


1779 Vermont Republic gubernatorial election
The Vermont General Assembly met in Manchester on October 14. The Vermont House of Representatives appointed a committee to examine the votes of the freemen of Vermont for governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer, and governor's council members. Thomas Chittenden was re-elected governor. Benjamin Carpenter was elected lieutenant governor, and Ira Allen was re-elected as treasurer. The names of candidates and balloting totals were not recorded.


1779 in China, Deaths
This China-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .


1779 in Wales
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1779 to Wales and its people.


1779 in literature
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1779.


1779 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).


1779 in poetry, Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1779 in poetry, Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1779 in science
The year 1779 in science and technology involved some significant events.


1779 in sports
1779 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.


17795 Elysiasegal
17795 Elysiasegal, provisional designation 1998 FJ61, is a Nysian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 20 March 1998, by the LINEAR team at Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site in Socorro, New Mexico, in the United States. The asteroid was named after Elysia Segal, a 2003 ISEF awardee.


17795 Elysiasegal, Orbit and classification
Elysiasegal orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 2.0–2.8 AU once every 3 years and 8 months (1,351 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.17 and an inclination of 2° with respect to the ecliptic. A first precovery was taken by the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking program in 1996, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 2 years prior to its official discovery observation.


17795 Elysiasegal, Naming
This minor planet was named for Elysia Segal (born 1985), American actress and first-place winner at the 2003 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, for her research analyzing the use of proteoglycans as a potential biomarker for congenital hydrocephalus. The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 14 June 2004 (M.P.C. 52173).


17795 Elysiasegal, Physical characteristics
Little is known about Elysiasegal's size, composition, albedo and rotation. Based on its absolute magnitude of 14.5, its diameter is likely to be between 3 and 7 kilometers, assuming an albedo in the range of 0.05 to 0.25.


177P/Barnard
Comet 177P/Barnard, also known as Barnard 2, is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 119 years. It fits the classical definition of a Halley-type comet with (20 years < period < 200 years).


177P/Barnard
The comet, also designated P/2006 M3, was discovered by Edward Emerson Barnard on June 24, 1889, and was re-discovered after 116 years. On July 19, 2006, 177P came within 0.36 AU of the Earth. From late July through September 2006 it was brighter than expected at 8th magnitude in the constellations Hercules and then Draco. Perihelion was August 28, 2006.


177P/Barnard
Of Barnard's other two periodic comets, the first, D/1884 O1 (Barnard 1) was last seen on November 20, 1884, and is thought to have disintegrated. The last, 206P/Barnard-Boattini marked the beginning of a new era in cometary astronomy, as it was the first to be discovered by photography. It was a lost comet after 1892, until accidentally rediscovered on October 7, 2008, by Andrea Boattini.


177th (2/1st Lincoln and Leicester) Brigade
The 177th (2/1st Lincoln and Leicester) Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army that saw active service in the First World War as part of 59th (2nd North Midland) Division and fought again in the Second World War, now the 177th Infantry Brigade, with the 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division before being disbanded in August 1944.


177th (2/1st Lincoln and Leicester) Brigade, First World War
The brigade was raised during the First World War. Part of the Territorial Force, the brigade was raised as a duplicate of the 138th (Lincoln and Leicester) Brigade and was raised from those men in the Territorial Force who had not originally agreed to serve overseas. It was assigned to the 59th (2nd North Midland) Division. However, with the division, the brigade was sent overseas in early 1917 and saw service in the trenches of the Western Front in France and Belgium, in particular during the Third Battle of Ypres, the Battle of Cambrai and Operation Michael, part of the German spring offensive.


177th (2/1st Lincoln and Leicester) Brigade, Second World War
The brigade was disbanded after the war in late 1919 as was the rest of the Territorial Force, which was reformed as the Territorial Army in 1920. Due to the increasing likelihood of war breaking out with Germany, the Territorial Army was ordered to be doubled in size and the brigade was reformed, as the 177th Infantry Brigade. The brigade was created as a 2nd Line duplicate of 176th Infantry Brigade and was assigned to the 59th (Staffordshire) Motor Division.


177th (2/1st Lincoln and Leicester) Brigade, Second World War
After spending many years training in the United Kingdom, the brigade, with rest of the division, was sent overseas to France in late June 1944 as part of Operation Overlord and joined the British Second Army in its attempts to capture Caen. The brigade fought in Operation Charnwood and the Second Battle of the Odon and helped the 59th Division gain an excellent reputation as one of Bernard Montgomery's most reliable divisions.


177th (2/1st Lincoln and Leicester) Brigade, Second World War
The majority of the British Army was, by this stage of the war, suffering from a shortage of manpower, particularly in the rifle infantry (where the majority of casualties fell and where the problem was most acute) and, to a lesser extent, in the Royal Armoured Corps. As a consequence of this, and higher than anticipated casualties in Normandy, along with there being very few draftable infantrymen in the United Kingdom by August 1944, the only solution to this was by breaking up field force units in order to bring other units up to strength.