FROM MINNEAPOLIS, MN TO MANY CITIES IN THE USA!

Starting in May 2020, demonstrations over the police killing of George Floyd have been held in the city of Portland, Oregon, concurrent with protests in other cities around the United States and around the world. As of July 2020, many of the protests, which have been held every day since May 28, have drawn more than 1,000 participants. Some of the protests have been entirely peaceful, while others have involved heated confrontations with police, sometimes involving injury, declaration of riot, and use of tear gas and other weapons. The Oregon chapter of the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the City of Portland, the Portland Police Bureau, and other law enforcement entities on June 28, claiming that police targeted and attacked journalists and legal observers. In early July, the federal government sent law enforcement officers to Portland, and engaged in tactics that have been criticized by Portland's mayor and most of the state's congressional delegation.

Background

According to The New York Times, "Demonstrators in Portland, including some who identify as antifa, the loose coalition of self-described anti-fascist activists, have had years of conflict with law enforcement. But after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis set off a nationwide movement for racial justice and police accountability, the protest in Portland drew thousands to the streets."

Organizers

A number of different organizations have led demonstrations, including Rose City Justice and the Albina Ministerial Alliance. The Facebook and Twitter accounts associated with the Pacific Northwest Youth Liberation Front (or PNW Youth Liberation Front) have served as "information hubs" for sharing protest plans. The group does not have identifiable leaders and describes itself as a "decentralized network of autonomous youth collectives dedicated to direct action towards total liberation". The groups' Facebook and Twitter accounts were created in February 2017, and have 3,600 and 11,000 followers, respectively, as of early June 2020. The group has used a black flag emoji, which often symbolizes anarchism.

Demonstrations

May

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on May 28, at one point blocking the entrance to the Multnomah County Justice Center. There were two peaceful demonstrations held on May 29. A "Eulogy for Black America" was organized by the Portland chapter of NAACP at Terry Schrunk Plaza in downtown Portland, and a vigil was organized by the PNW Youth Liberation Front at Peninsula Park, in the north Portland part of the Piedmont neighborhood.

Crowd estimates for the demonstration at Terry Schrunk Plaza ranged from a "hundred or so" to "hundreds" of people; the event included several speakers including Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty. She was reportedly "visibly overcome by emotion" and said, "This is the reality of being black in America. Over and over and over again, black people have been killed, and there has been silence from the majority community....Black people are tired. Black people are exhausted by racism." The president of the NAACP chapter, Reverend E.D. Mondainé, also spoke.

More than 1,000 people gathered at Peninsula Park, where ministers and Black Panthers spoke against police brutality. From the crowd, hundreds marched to downtown Portland via Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and the Burnside Bridge. Along the way, some people started breaking windows, tagging buildings with graffiti, looting, and setting vehicles and buildings on fire. A riot ensued, prompting Mayor Ted Wheeler to declare a state of emergency. A fire was started inside the Multnomah County Justice Center. Pioneer Place and other storefronts saw looting. The riot lasted for approximately 5 hours; two officers were injured, and 13 people were arrested. The Portland Business Alliance estimated the riot cost local businesses "tens of millions" of dollars because of property damage, looting, and lost wages.

On May 30, Rev. Mondainé posted a video online urging protesters to stay home and calling looting and violence counterproductive. Demonstrators gathered in downtown Portland again; crowd estimates ranged from hundreds to a thousand. One group attempted to break into the Lloyd Center; riot police broke up a group of approximately 200 people outside the shopping mall. Police had arrested 16 people by 11 p.m. At least 51 demonstrators were arrested during the night, bringing the total number of arrests to date to 64.

On the afternoon of May 31, a crowd assembled at the intersection of Southwest 3rd Avenue and Main Street in downtown. At one point, in a show of solidarity with Black Lives Matter, some police officers took a knee alongside protesters. By nightfall there were approximately 6,000 peaceful demonstrators.[32] Shortly after the curfew took effect at 8 p.m., police dispersed the crowd outside the Multnomah County Justice Center using tear gas. Separately, thousands of people gathered at Laurelhurst Park in southeast Portland, and others assembled outside a former police precinct at the intersection of East Burnside Street and 47th Avenue. Police did not intervene as the group marched from the Multnomah County Justice Center to Pioneer Courthouse Square and back. The Pearl District Neighborhood Association was "advised of potential protest activity" in the Pearl District and the Northwest District. Around 11:30 p.m., saying projectiles were thrown at officers, police declared "a civil disturbance and unlawful assembly" and ordered protesters to leave.

June

On June 1, three demonstrations were organized in Portland. One was held at the intersection of Northeast Sandy and 57th. Others were planned in downtown and at the intersection of Southeast Stark Street and 13th Avenue. More than 1,000 protesters staged a die-in on the Burnside Bridge, then continued to downtown's Pioneer Courthouse Square. Following two hours of speeches, chants, and music, demonstrators returned to the city's east side via the same bridge. Portland Police allowed use of the bridge, and the evening's events remained mostly peaceful. A drone photograph of the die-in by photographer Andrew Wallner earned more than a million reactions on social media posts.

On the fifth day of protests, hundreds gathered at Pioneer Courthouse Square then staged another die-in on the Burnside Bridge. A second demonstration was organized at Revolution Hall. By the evening, thousands had gathered at Pioneer Courthouse Square. One group returned to the Burnside Bridge, while hundreds remained in the square. Around 8 p.m., the two groups merged and numbered approximately 10,000. The demonstrations were mostly peaceful until later in the evening; most protesters marched across the Burnside Bridge, but police used stun grenades and tear gas on a smaller, separate group of people who were throwing projectiles. Police arrested several people, and 16 were detained. Elsewhere in the metropolitan area, there were demonstrations in Cedar Mill and at Tualatin's Lake at the Commons.

The first few days of June were identified, as of July 8, as having the largest crowds of the Portland George Floyd protests, exceeding 10,000 people. Portland Police Bureau (PPB) declared a riot at one of the protests in early June. Arson, looting, and vandalism, and injuries to two officers were reported since the demonstrations began on May 28. Approximately 100 people had been arrested As of June 2, 2020. In early June, local businesses reported losses totaling millions of dollars as the result of vandalism and looting, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Several thousand people demonstrated on June 3, gathering at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, where Rev. Mondainé and others spoke. Later, groups splintered, with many gathering outside the Multnomah County Justice Center once again. There were other small protests throughout the city, including one in north Portland's Columbia Park and another at Pioneer Courthouse Square. The Oregonian reported an overall crowd size of approximately 8,000.

Thousands demonstrated on June 4. The protests were peaceful until late at night, and twelve arrests were made. Damian Lillard helped lead thousands across the Morrison Bridge into downtown, where protests gathered at Waterfront Park.

There were multiple demonstrations planned on June 5. Don't Shoot Portland organized the "George Floyd Memorial and Benefit Show" at Laurelwood Park. In the Woodstock neighborhood, the family-friendly "Black Lives Matter March & Rally" saw up to 2,000 people march from the All Saints Episcopal along Southeast Woodstock to 52nd, and no incidents requiring police intervention. Demonstrators also gathered at Revolution Hall for the "No Justice No Peace Rally & March". Portland Trail Blazers players Rodney Hood, Nassir Little, and Anfernee Simons all joined. In the evening, protesters pushed down fencing in front of the Multnomah County Justice Center and police used gas and stun grenades for crowd dispersal.

On June 7 in Portland, outside the city's Justice Center, 48 people were jailed in protest. The protest and march originated at Pioneer Courthouse Square. Demonstrators gathered at Southeast Stark Street and 12th Avenue on June 9. There were approximately 500 people outside the Multnomah County Justice Center by 9 p.m.

On June 10, an afternoon rally to disband the Portland Police was held in Terry Schrunk Plaza. In the evening a ride leaving Irving Park was organized by Portland's chapter of Black Girls Do Bike. Several thousand people marched from Southeast Stark Street and 12th Avenue to Unthank Park. Protesters failed to create an autonomous zone similar to Seattle's Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. Approximately 1,000 people demonstrated on June 11 after an already-planned city budget meeting led to historic levels of public comment, with one city commissioner, Chloe Eudaly, voting "no," stating that the proposed cuts to the police bureau fell short of what demonstrators were calling for. A unanimous vote was required to pass the budget. "While my colleague can take a principled 'no' stance on passing this budget, I as a Black woman cannot," Commissioner Hardesty responded in a statement. "I do not want to let this detract from the very real steps taken, but it is an important reminder on what performative allyship looks like."

For the 17th day, protesters assembled in various parts of the Portland area on June 13. The main march, with at least 1,000 people, went from Revolution Hall, the starting point for most of the marches, and went to Cleveland High School, including a stretch of Southeast Division St. from 11th to 26th. The Clinton Street Theater displayed a quote from Malcolm X on its marquee as protesters marched past. N1789M, a Cessna 208 Caravan surveillance plane linked with the U.S. Marshals Service circled overhead for 3 hours.

About 1,000 demonstrators marched to Jefferson High School on June 14, the 18th day of protests. A statue of Thomas Jefferson was toppled from its pedestal.

At a second city budget vote on the issue, commissioners voted 3–1 to cut PPB funding by $15 million. This would terminate the Gun Violence Reduction Team and cut funding for school resource officers and transit police, while reallocating nearly $5 million to Portland Street Response, which would respond to calls concerning homeless people instead of police. Commissioner Chloe Eudaly again voted "no".

The group Care Not Cops, who wanted more money cut from PPB funding, later that day demonstrated outside of Mayor Wheeler's apartment in Northwest Portland. By midnight, they had been joined by hundreds of people, who began blocking off the streets at Northwest Glisan and 10th Avenue with impromptu. Just after 5:30 a.m. police cleared the scene; a police spokesman said there were only about 50 protesters left by that time. Mayor Wheeler helped in cleaning up the debris.

A statue of the first U.S. president, George Washington, on Northeast Sandy Boulevard and 57th Avenue was toppled by demonstrators on June 18.

June 23 was the sentencing date for Jeremy Christian, who was convicted of murder and attempted murder for an attack in 2017. Three men, all of them white, attempted to stop Christian's attack on two black girls; Christian killed two of them and injured the third. In commemoration of that event, hundreds gathered at Powell Park on SE 26th and Powell for a demonstration and march focusing on white allies. They marched to Reed College, which one of the men killed had attended.

County officials removed a fence that had stood around the Justice Center for several weeks on June 26.

July

Officers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were deployed following President Trump's executive order that sought to protect statues. Willamette Week reported that several federal law enforcement agencies were deployed to Portland on July 2, including the U.S. Marshals Service, the Federal Protective Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Homeland Security Investigations. DHS sent officers in tactical gear from "more than a half-dozen" federal agencies and departments from around the country. Portland Deputy Police Chief Chris Davis said his department had not requested federal assistance and that federal officers' presence would "complicate things" for the PPB.

On July 1–2, protesters set fire to the Elk sculpture and fountain in the Plaza Blocks that resulted in structural damage to the granite base; deemed a safety hazard by the Regional Arts & Culture Council, the city removed the unharmed elk on July 2, and later, the fountain.

Multiple demonstrations took place in the city on July 4 including an "Anti-Independence Day" rally that began at Portland State University's Native American Student & Community Center, expressing indigenous support for Black Americans, followed by the "Bars Up Guns Down" motorcycle ride from Revolution Hall to the Justice Center and back in support of Black Lives Matter. That night, several hundred people gathered at Chapman Square and let off illegal ariel fireworks, some of which were aimed directly at the Justice Center, actions that were condemned by the PPB and the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office. Police twice declared a riot on the national holiday, first at 4 am and again after 11 pm. Protests continued on July 5 for the 39th consecutive day. Seven people faced federal charges for their activities at the Justice Center demonstrations over the July 4 weekend.

Local journalists Cory Elia and Lesley McLam sued the City of Portland and law enforcement agencies after having been arrested on June 30. The lawsuit sought a restraining order that would bar law enforcement officers from violating journalists' rights, as well as seeking damages for injuries. The suit resulted in a restraining order.

On July 9 about 50 people marched in Lents Park and about 100 gathered downtown by the Justice Center. In the same neighborhood, a young Black woman was fatally shot, and the police did not immediately identify any suspects. A man from Texas was arrested for striking a Portland police officer three times with a hammer on July 10. On July 11, protester Donavan La Bella was shot in the head with a "less lethal" round by federal police, suffering facial and skull fractures and having to undergo facial reconstruction surgery.[88] On July 14, a group marched from Kenton Park to the Portland Police Association building on Lombard street, where the crowd grew to more than 200 people. After demonstrators faced off with police officers, the police declared a riot.

During the protests, tactical officers from the U.S. Marshals Special Operations Group and U.S. Customs and Border Protection's elite BORTAC unit were sent to Portland to protect federal property. Starting on or about July 14, however, federal agents in unmarked vehicles began arresting protesters who were not near federal property. Rose City Justice led a march of 200–250 people from Revolution Hall to Pioneer Courthouse Square on July 14, after having previously suspended its activities. On July 14, Mayor Wheeler called on Acting U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf to remove federal agents from the city, accusing them of causing violence and using "life-threatening tactics" and saying "we do not need or want their help". The following day, four of Oregon's U.S. lawmakers issued a statement condemning the recent actions of federal law enforcement officials in Portland, who used tear gas and other aggressive techniques multiple times since July 10.[93] U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and U.S. Representatives Suzanne Bonamici and Earl Blumenauer accused the federal government of a "politically driven" response and of seeking "to target, attack, or silence those peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights". As of 15 July 2020, federal officers had arrested at least 19 people.[87] Portland police closed the Plaza Blocks, a hub for protesters at the Justice Center, at 5:00 a.m. on July 16.

Starting the early morning of July 15, "rapid deployment teams" of unidentified federal agents from multiple agencies arrested protesters and forcefully took them in unmarked vans.[95][96] A story focusing on the search, detention, questioning, and brief incarceration of Mark Pettibone, a 29 year old protester, was first reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting and picked up the next day by national outlets, including a New York Times story authored by independent Portland journalist Sergio Olmos. Several witnesses reported seeing federal law enforcement officers in camouflage "emerge from unmarked vehicles, grab protesters without explanation, and drive off." Pettibone stated that he was "basically tossed" into an unmarked van and transported to a holding cell in the federal courthouse, where he was read his Miranda rights; he was released without any citation or arrest record. Similar incidents involving plainclothes officers of unknown agencies, occurred the following day. The failure of officers to identify what agency they report to is a tactic that drew comparisons to actions in preparation for the Donald Trump photo op at St. John's Church in Washington, D.C. several weeks prior. The actions by federal agents have been condemned by the mayor, governor, members of Congress, and independent commentators. The Oregon attorney general, Ellen Rosenblum, filed a lawsuit against several federal agencies. The American Civil Liberties Union added federal agencies as defendants to its existing lawsuit against local law enforcement entities. These arrests were reported as having rejuvenated the protests in Portland, prompting crowds in the hundreds for the first time in several weeks, and drawing criticism from Mayor Wheeler, who is also the police commissioner and has been widely considered to condone use of force by local police.

On July 18, protesters gathered at the PPB's North Precinct, taunting officers and vandalizing patrol vehicles. When police dispersed a group near North Interstate Avenue, protesters threw rocks and paint-filled balloons at officers, injuring one. Protesters also broke into the Portland Police Association building and set it on fire. Officers extinguished the fire and declared a riot, making seven arrests and deploying tear gas but not CS gas. Protesters made barricades out of fencing they removed from around the federal courthouse. Conflict resumed overnight on July 20. Hundreds of protesters, including what Portland police described as "dozens of people with shields, helmets, gas masks, umbrellas, bats, and hockey sticks," repeatedly advanced on the U.S. courthouse. At about 1:30 a.m., protesters set a fire in the portico, adding wood and debris to make it larger. Federal agents emerged from inside and deployed tear gas to repel the protesters. Portland police officers were not involved in crowd control measures and, they stressed, did not fire tear gas.

Assault on Chris David

That same night, Navy veteran Chris David, wearing his Naval Academy gear, approached some of the federal agents to ask them why they were there. As seen on video, David was standing still when one agent hit him forcefully five times with a baton; another agent sprayed David's face with a gas, which David said was pepper spray. As a result of the incident, David's hand was broken in two places.

Around 1:45 a.m., when another group of unidentified armed federal agents advanced on a group of protesters, a woman wearing only a face mask and a stocking cap intervened. She stood in the street and for 15 minutes struck a number of poses in front of them, at one point sitting yoga-style on the pavement, before rising and disappearing into the crowd. The federal agents dispersed.

Responses

Government

Portland mayor Ted Wheeler tweeted, "Burning buildings with people inside, stealing from small and large businesses, threatening and harassing reporters. All in the middle of a pandemic where people have already lost everything. This isn't calling for meaningful change in our communities, this is disgusting." Sara Boone, chief of Portland Fire & Rescue, attributed the protests and violence to Floyd's death and "a system that allows people of color to 'feel fear every day.'" The city implemented a curfew from 8pm on May 30 to 6am on May 31. On May 31, Wheeler extended the curfew for another night (8pm to 6am). He said the demonstration has been "co-opted by rioters and looters", and Jami Resch, chief of the Portland Police Bureau, called the rioters a "group of selfish individuals".

On May 30, TriMet paused bus and MAX Light Rail service to and from downtown and the Rose Quarter after the demonstrations started. The following day, the agency stopped bus, MAX, and Portland Streetcar[114] service starting at 3:30 p.m., and said in a statement: "Our hearts at TriMet are heavy following the violence that damaged our city overnight, along with the emotions that are so raw here and across the nation. While TriMet appreciates the First Amendment right to protest, we hope that it is done without violence or vandalism." The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) blocked the interchanges into the city along I-5, I-84, I-405, and U.S. Route 26.Willamette Week's Matthew Singer said ODOT's move was "without precedent in recent memory". Motorized scooter services (including Lime and Spin) were temporarily suspended in select parts of Northwest and Southwest Portland, the Central Eastside, and the Lloyd District.

On June 1, Gov. Kate Brown activated 50 National Guard and 100 state police troopers. Wheeler extended the same curfew for a third night. Billy J. Williams, United States Attorney for the District of Oregon, said at a press conference: "What I saw at the Justice Center ... was sickening. This has to stop and in order for that to happen in the city of Portland, we need help. We need bodies, we need more numbers to do something to stop this ridiculous violence. This just cannot keep up." The city's curfew was lifted on June 2. Elected officeholders (including Wheeler, Williams, Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill, and Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese), law enforcement officials, and black demonstrators and community leaders met for the first time.[118][119] The Hawthorne Bridge's west-bound lanes were closed for security purposes on the evening of June 2. Resch said, "I want to recognize the thousands of demonstrators who came downtown in a peaceful manner and exercised their First Amendment rights. There are many thousands of you who are not involved in the violence and destruction and I thank you. I still hear your message and I know the others who are engaging in criminal acts do not represent you."

The Oregon Convention Center's (OCC) spires were illuminated yellow as a "beacon of hope for our suffering and silenced communities of color". Metro, which operates the venue, said, "Our venues are located in areas with deep legacies of racial injustices and we support peaceful demonstrations to stand together to dismantle systemic racism and hatred." Additionally, the OCC's executive director said the venue "is an economic driver for our state and the spires have become as much of a staple in the skyline at the White Stag on Burnside. We will continue to shine bright in community solidarity, providing a beacon of hope for Oregonians."

On June 5, Wheeler pledged to "limit the ways police respond" by restricting use of sonic weapons and tear gas "if police had a viable alternative". He tweeted: "Effective immediately, I have directed @Portlandpolice to use LRAD only to share information and not as a sonic warning tone function."

On June 17, City Council reduced the police bureau's budget by about $16 million, or six percent.

Federal

On July 13, President Trump praised federal authorities for their response to the Portland protests, saying they had done "a great job". Speaking at the White House, Trump said, "Portland was totally out of control, and they went in, and I guess we have many people right now in jail and we very much quelled it, and if it starts again, we’ll quell it again very easily. It’s not hard to do, if you know what you’re doing." On July 16, Acting U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) Chad Wolf met with federal law enforcement officials in Portland after issuing a press release condemning "rampant, long-lasting violence" in Portland, including a timeline alleging violence by anarchists on Portland streets. Wolf said, "This siege can end if state and local officials decide to take appropriate action instead of refusing to enforce the law. DHS will not abdicate its solemn duty to protect federal facilities and those within them." On July 19, Trump tweeted:

We are trying to help Portland, not hurt it. Their leadership has, for months, lost control of the anarchists and agitators. They are missing in action. We must protect Federal property, AND OUR PEOPLE. These were not merely protesters, these are the real deal!

Both the mayor of Portland and the governor of Oregon called for federal officers to leave the city, with the governor describing the federal action as being "like adding gasoline to a fire".

Police

On June 6, PPB chief of police Resch, announced that she had appointed Chuck Lovell as "the exact right person at the exact right moment" to serve as the new city police chief; Resch stated that she would remain on the force but in another role. Lovell, who became the bureau’s fourth Black police chief, expressed hope that police and the community could join together to build trust and change the institutional disregard for human life that led to Floyd’s death.

A month later, on July 8, the executive board of the Portland Police Association expressed "no confidence" in City Council, and expressed frustration with its perceived lack of support for the police bureau. The following day, the PPB deputy police chief, Chris Davis, commented on the challenges of coordinating with federal officers, and the distinction between what he termed "legitimate protest" vs. "criminal activity."

Community

Rev. Mondainé of Portland's NAACP chapter spoke against looting and vandalism.[134] Some restaurant owners expressed support for the protesters via social media and by contributing to organizations working to assist people of color and combat police brutality, among other causes. Le Pigeon sustained damage during the demonstrations; owner Gabriel Rucker said, "To the person that smashed my window last night I hear you and I hope you find a voice that screams louder than broken glass. To the person who broke my window last night I love you and if you were hungry I would cook you a meal."

The Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing organized a Zoom conference. More than 320 people participated, and committee members passed a resolution asking elected and law officials to "stand against white supremacy and police violence". Furthermore, the resolution says, "We must do more than make symbolic statements against racism. We must change the outcomes of policing, reducing incidents of violence, and the targeting of communities of color and other marginalized groups." On June 1, the organization SOLVE organized a volunteer cleanup effort in downtown in collaboration with local businesses. Hundreds of volunteers filled approximately 150 trash bags, while social distancing because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In early June, local business owners of color launched the Portland Cleanup Project.

In late June, Rose City Justice, the organization that had organized the largest marches, ceased sponsoring marches in response to questions and concerns from other entities in the Black Lives Matter movement. Some expressed dissatisfaction with large demonstrations that did not directly engage in direct action and civil disobedience to effect change; others questioned whether the donations the group had received, which exceeded $24,000, were being put to appropriate use.

The Oregon chapter of the ACLU filed a suit against the City of Portland, the Portland Police Bureau, and other law enforcement entities on June 28, claiming that police targeted and attacked journalists and legal observers.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd_protests_in_Portland,_Oregon

Storm the Bastille! Viva La Revolution... Rise Up In The Streets!

Storming of the Bastille~ July 14, 1789

Background

During the reign of Louis XVI, France faced a major economic crisis. This crisis was caused in part by the cost of intervening in the American Revolution and exacerbated by a regressive system of taxation. On 5 May 1789, the Estates General of 1789 convened to deal with this issue, but were held back by archaic protocols and the conservatism of the second estate: representing the nobility who made up less than 2% of France's population.

On 17 June 1789, the third estate, with its representatives drawn from the commoners, reconstituted themselves as the National Assembly, a body whose purpose was the creation of a French constitution. The king initially opposed this development, but was forced to acknowledge the authority of the assembly, which renamed itself the National Constituent Assembly on 9 July.

Paris, close to insurrection and in François Mignet's words, "intoxicated with liberty and enthusiasm", showed wide support for the Assembly. The press published the Assembly's debates; political debate spread beyond the Assembly itself into the public squares and halls of the capital. The Palais-Royal and its grounds became the site of an ongoing meeting. The crowd, on the authority of the meeting at the Palais-Royal, broke open the prisons of the Abbaye to release some grenadiers of the French guards, reportedly imprisoned for refusing to fire on the people. The Assembly recommended the imprisoned guardsmen to the clemency of the king; they returned to prison, and received pardon. The rank and file of the regiment, previously considered reliable, now leaned toward the popular cause.

Necker's dismissal

On 11 July 1789, Louis XVI—acting under the influence of the conservative nobles of his privy council—dismissed and banished his finance minister, Jacques Necker (who had been sympathetic to the Third Estate) and completely reconstructed the ministry.[10] The marshals Victor-François, duc de Broglie, la Galissonnière, the duc de la Vauguyon, the Baron Louis de Breteuil, and the intendant Foulon, took over the posts of Puységur, Armand Marc, comte de Montmorin, La Luzerne, Saint-Priest, and Necker.

News of Necker's dismissal reached Paris on the afternoon of Sunday, 12 July. The Parisians generally presumed that the dismissal marked the start of a coup by conservative elements.[11] Liberal Parisians were further enraged by the fear that a concentration of Royal troops—brought in from frontier garrisons to Versailles, Sèvres, the Champ de Mars, and Saint-Denis—would attempt to shut down the National Constituent Assembly, which was meeting in Versailles. Crowds gathered throughout Paris, including more than ten thousand at the Palais-Royal. Camille Desmoulins successfully rallied the crowd by "mounting a table, pistol in hand, exclaiming: 'Citizens, there is no time to lose; the dismissal of Necker is the knell of a Saint Bartholomew for patriots! This very night all the Swiss and German battalions will leave the Champ de Mars to massacre us all; one resource is left; to take arms!'"

The Swiss and German regiments referred to were among the foreign mercenary troops who made up a significant portion of the pre-revolutionary Royal Army, and were seen as being less likely to be sympathetic to the popular cause than ordinary French soldiers. By early July, approximately half of the 25,000 regular troops in Paris and Versailles were drawn from these foreign regiments. The French regiments included in the concentration appear to have been selected either because of the proximity of their garrisons to Paris or because their colonels were supporters of the reactionary "court party" opposed to reform.

During the public demonstrations that started on 12 July, the multitude displayed busts of Necker and of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, then marched from the Palais Royal through the theater district before continuing westward along the boulevards. The crowd clashed with the Royal German Cavalry Regiment ("Royal-Allemand") between the Place Vendôme and the Tuileries Palace. From atop the Champs-Élysées, the Prince de Lambesc unleashed a cavalry charge that dispersed the remaining protesters at Place Louis XV—now Place de la Concorde. The Royal commander, Baron de Besenval, fearing the results of a blood bath amongst the poorly armed crowds or defections among his own men, then withdrew the cavalry towards Sèvres.

Meanwhile, unrest was growing among the people of Paris who expressed their hostility against state authorities by attacking customs posts blamed for causing increased food and wine prices. The people of Paris started to plunder any place where food, guns and supplies could be hoarded. That night, rumors spread that supplies were being hoarded at Saint-Lazare, a huge property of the clergy, which functioned as convent, hospital, school and even as a jail. An angry mob broke in and plundered the property, seizing 52 wagons of wheat, which were taken to the public market. That same day multitudes of people plundered many other places including weapon arsenals. The Royal troops did nothing to stop the spreading of social chaos in Paris during those days.

Armed conflict

The regiment of Gardes Françaises (English: French Guards) formed the permanent garrison of Paris and, with many local ties, was favourably disposed towards the popular cause. This regiment had remained confined to its barracks during the initial stages of the mid-July disturbances. With Paris becoming the scene of a general riot, Charles Eugene, Prince of Lambesc (Marshal of the Camp, Proprietor of the Royal Allemand-Dragoons), not trusting the regiment to obey his order, posted sixty dragoons to station themselves before its dépôt in the Chaussée d'Antin. The officers of the French Guards made ineffectual attempts to rally their men. The rebellious citizenry had now acquired a trained military contingent. As word of this spread, the commanders of the royal forces encamped on the Champ de Mars became doubtful of the dependability of even the foreign regiments. The future "Citizen King", Louis-Philippe, duc d'Orléans, witnessed these events as a young officer and was of the opinion that the soldiers would have obeyed orders if put to the test. He also commented in retrospect that the officers of the French Guards had neglected their responsibilities in the period before the uprising, leaving the regiment too much to the control of its non-commissioned officers. However, the uncertain leadership of Besenval led to a virtual abdication of royal authority in central Paris. On the morning of 13 July the electors of Paris met and agreed to the recruitment of a "bourgeois militia" of 48,000 men[17] from the sixty voting districts of Paris, to restore order. Their identifying cockades were of blue and red, the colors of Paris. Lafayette was elected commander of this group on 14 July and subsequently changed its name to the National Guard. He added the color white, the color of the King, to the cockade on 27 July, to make the famous French tri-color.

On the morning of 14 July 1789, the city of Paris was in a state of alarm. The partisans of the Third Estate in France, now under the control of the Bourgeois Militia of Paris (soon to become Revolutionary France's National Guard), had earlier stormed the Hôtel des Invalides without meeting significant opposition. Their intention had been to gather the weapons held there (29,000 to 32,000 muskets, but without powder or shot). The commandant at the Invalides had in the previous few days taken the precaution of transferring 250 barrels of gunpowder to the Bastille for safer storage.

At this point, the Bastille was nearly empty, housing only seven prisoners: four forgers; James F.X. Whyte, a "lunatic" imprisoned at the request of his family; Auguste-Claude Tavernier, who had tried to assassinate Louis XV thirty years before; and one "deviant" aristocrat, the Comte de Solages, imprisoned by his father using a lettre de cachet (while the Marquis de Sade had been transferred out ten days earlier).

The high cost of maintaining a garrisoned medieval fortress, for what was seen as having a limited purpose, had led to a decision being made shortly before the disturbances began to replace it with an open public space. Amid the tensions of July 1789, the building remained as a symbol of royal tyranny.

The regular garrison consisted of 82 invalides (veteran soldiers no longer suitable for service in the field). It had however been reinforced on 7 July by 32 grenadiers of the Swiss Salis-Samade Regiment from the regular troops on the Champ de Mars. The walls mounted 18 eight-pound guns and 12 smaller pieces. The governor was Bernard-René de Launay, son of the previous governor and actually born within the Bastille.

The crowd gathered outside around mid-morning, calling for the surrender of the prison, the removal of the cannon and the release of the arms and gunpowder. Two representatives of the crowd outside were invited into the fortress and negotiations began, and another was admitted around noon with definite demands. The negotiations dragged on while the crowd grew and became impatient. Around 1:30 pm, the crowd surged into the undefended outer courtyard. A small party climbed onto the roof of a building next to the gate to the inner courtyard and broke the chains on the drawbridge, crushing one vainqueur as it fell. Soldiers of the garrison called to the people to withdraw, but in the noise and confusion these shouts were misinterpreted as encouragement to enter. Gunfire began, apparently spontaneously, turning the crowd into a mob. The crowd seems to have felt that they had been intentionally drawn into a trap and the fighting became more violent and intense, while attempts by deputies to organise a cease-fire were ignored by the attackers. 

The firing continued, and after 3:00 pm, the attackers were reinforced by mutinous gardes françaises, along with two cannons. A substantial force of Royal Army troops encamped on the Champ de Mars did not intervene.[35] With the possibility of mutual carnage suddenly apparent, Governor de Launay ordered a cease-fire at 5:00 pm. A letter offering his terms was handed out to the besiegers through a gap in the inner gate. His demands were refused, but Launay nonetheless capitulated, as he realised that with limited food stocks and no water supply his troops could not hold out much longer. He accordingly opened the gates to the inner courtyard, and the vainqueurs swept in to liberate the fortress at 5:30 pm.

Ninety-eight attackers and one defender had died in the actual fighting, a disparity accounted for by the protection provided to the garrison by the fortress walls. Launay was seized and dragged towards the Hôtel de Ville in a storm of abuse. Outside the Hôtel, a discussion as to his fate began.[38] The badly beaten Launay shouted "Enough! Let me die!" and kicked a pastry cook named Dulait in the groin. Launay was then stabbed repeatedly and died. An English traveller, Doctor Edward Rigby, reported what he saw, "[We] perceived two bloody heads raised on pikes, which were said to be the heads of the Marquis de Launay, Governor of the Bastille, and of Monsieur Flesselles, Prévôt des Marchands. It was a chilling and a horrid sight! ... Shocked and disgusted at this scene, [we] retired immediately from the streets."

The three officers of the permanent Bastille garrison were also killed by the crowd; surviving police reports detail their wounds and clothing.

Two of the invalides of the garrison were lynched, but all but two of the Swiss regulars of the Salis-Samade Regiment were protected by the French Guards and eventually released to return to their regiment. Their officer, Lieutenant Louis de Flue, wrote a detailed report on the defense of the Bastille, which was incorporated in the logbook of the Salis-Samade and has survived. It is (perhaps unfairly) critical of the dead Marquis de Launay, whom Flue accuses of weak and indecisive leadership. The blame for the fall of the Bastille would rather appear to lie with the inertia of the commanders of the 5,000 Royal Army troops encamped on the Champ de Mars, who did not act when either the nearby Hôtel des Invalides or the Bastille were attacked.

Returning to the Hôtel de Ville, the mob accused the prévôt dès marchands (roughly, mayor) Jacques de Flesselles of treachery, and he was assassinated on the way to an ostensible trial at the Palais-Royal.

The king first learned of the storming only the next morning through the Duke of La Rochefoucauld. "Is it a revolt?" asked Louis XVI. The duke replied: "No sire, it's not a revolt; it's a revolution."

At Versailles, the Assembly remained ignorant of most of the Paris events, but eminently aware that the Marshal de Broglie stood on the brink of unleashing a pro-Royalist coup to force the Assembly to adopt the order of 23 June and then to dissolve. Noailles apparently was first to bring reasonably accurate news of the Paris events to Versailles. M. Ganilh and Bancal-des-Issarts, dispatched to the Hôtel de Ville, confirmed his report.

By the morning of 15 July, the outcome appeared clear to the king as well, and he and his military commanders backed down. The twenty three regiments of Royal troops concentrated around Paris dispersed to their frontier garrisons.[50] The Marquis de la Fayette took up command of the National Guard at Paris;[51] Jean-Sylvain Bailly – leader of the Third Estate and instigator of the Tennis Court Oath – became the city's mayor under a new governmental structure known as the Commune de Paris. The king announced that he would recall Necker and return from Versailles to Paris; on 17 July, in Paris, he accepted a tricolour cockade from Bailly and entered the Hôtel de Ville to cries of "Long live the King" and "Long live the Nation".

Aftermath

Nonetheless, after this violence, nobles – little assured by the apparent and, as it was to prove, temporary reconciliation of king and people – started to flee the country as émigrés. Among the first to leave were the comte d'Artois (the future Charles X of France) and his two sons, the prince de Condé, the prince de Conti, the Polignac family, and (slightly later) Charles Alexandre de Calonne, the former finance minister. They settled at Turin, where Calonne, as agent for the count d'Artois and the prince de Condé, began plotting civil war within the kingdom and agitating for a European coalition against France.

The news of the successful insurrection at Paris spread throughout France. In accord with principles of popular sovereignty and with complete disregard for claims of royal authority, the people established parallel structures of municipalities for civic government and militias for civic protection. In rural areas, many went beyond this: some burned title-deeds and no small number of châteaux, as the "Great Fear" spread across the countryside during the weeks of 20 July to 5 August, with attacks on wealthy landlords impelled by the belief that the aristocracy was trying to put down the revolution.

On 22 July 1789 the populace lynched Controller-General of Finances Joseph Foullon de Doué and his son-in-law Louis Bénigne François Bertier de Sauvigny. Both held official positions under the monarchy.

Although there were arguments that the Bastille should be preserved as a monument to liberation or as a depot for the new National Guard, the Permanent Committee of Municipal Electors at the Paris Town Hall gave the construction entrepreneur Pierre-François Palloy the commission of disassembling the building. Palloy commenced work immediately. The demolition of the fortress itself, the melting down of its clock portraying chained prisoners, and the breaking up of four statues were all carried out within five months.

On 16 July 1789, two days after the Storming of the Bastille, John Frederick Sackville, serving as ambassador to France, reported to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Francis Osborne, 5th Duke of Leeds, "Thus, my Lord, the greatest revolution that we know anything of has been effected with, comparatively speaking—if the magnitude of the event is considered—the loss of very few lives. From this moment we may consider France as a free country, the King a very limited monarch, and the nobility as reduced to a level with the rest of the nation."

In 1790, Lafayette gave the wrought-iron, one-pound and three-ounce key to the Bastille to U.S. President George Washington. Washington displayed it prominently at government facilities and events in New York and in Philadelphia until shortly before his retirement in 1797. The key remains on display at Washington's residence of Mount Vernon.

Palloy also took bricks from the Bastille and had them carved into replicas of the fortress, which he sold, along with medals allegedly made from the chains of prisoners. Pieces of stone from the structure were sent to every district in France, and some have been located. Various other pieces of the Bastille also survive, including stones used to build the Pont de la Concorde bridge over the Seine, and one of the towers, which was found buried in 1899 and is now at Square Henri-Galli in Paris, as well as the clock bells and pulley system, which are now in the Musée d’Art Campanaire. About 900 people who claimed to have stormed the Bastille received certificates (Brevet de vainqueur de la Bastille) from the National Assembly in 1790, and a number of these still exist. The building itself is outlined in brick on the location where it once stood, as is the moat in the Paris Metro stop below it, where a piece of the foundation is also on display.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storming_of_the_Bastille

Author Credit: By Jean-Pierre Houël - Bibliothèque nationale de France, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=106405

SCOURGE OF PLAGUE: THE BLACK DEATH (1346 to 1353)

~ Spread of the Black Death in Europe and the Near East ~

The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality, or the Plague) was the deadliest pandemic recorded in human history. The Black Death resulted in the deaths of up to 25–200 million people in Eurasia and North Africa, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351. Plague, the disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, was the cause; Y. pestis infection most commonly results in bubonic plague, but can cause septicaemic or pneumonic plagues.

The Black Death was the beginning of the second plague pandemic. The plague created religious, social, and economic upheavals, with profound effects on the course of European history.

The Black Death most likely originated in Central Asia or East Asia, from where it travelled along the Silk Road, reaching Crimea by 1347. From there, it was most likely carried by fleas living on the black rats that travelled on Genoese merchant ships, spreading throughout the Mediterranean Basin and reaching Africa, Western Asia, and the rest of Europe via Constantinople, Sicily, and the Italian Peninsula. Current evidence indicates that once it came onshore, the Black Death was in large part spread by human fleas – which cause pneumonic plague – and the person-to-person contact via aerosols which pneumonic plague enables, thus explaining the very fast inland spread of the epidemic, which was faster than would be expected if the primary vector was rat fleas causing bubonic plague.

The Black Death was the second disaster affecting Europe during the Late Middle Ages (the first one being the Great Famine) and is estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of Europe's population. In total, the plague may have reduced the world population from an estimated 475 million to 350–375 million in the 14th century. There were further outbreaks throughout the Late Middle Ages, and with other contributing factors it took until 1500 for the European population to regain the levels of 1300. Outbreaks of the plague recurred at various locations around the world until the early 19th century.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death

File: Nuremberg chronicles - Dance of Death (CCLXIIIIv).jpg

SIGN OF THE RAINBOW... A BRIGHT FUTURE IS COMING

~ Inky, the Hallowe'en Cat, with Mobile Art Studio ~

In 1974, the year Inky vanished chasing june bugs and heralded a personal "plague of improvidence" that cost me my 1st marriage, my Karma turned retrograde, putting me out of a rented waterfront cottage and into the dirt floor cellar that was my sign-making shop and art studio turned into living quarters. I couldn't afford summer seasonal rates for cottages on the Island of Nantucket. That same year, I bought a parcel of land in the Maine woods and built a 24' x 36' wood frame cabin on it in the Fall of 1978, living alone as a hermit until the 1st day of Spring the following year. I couldn't find work in the area, so I returned to Nantucket where I lived and worked in a local resort hotel washing dishes in the kitchen, doing renovations in the dining room, and eventually maintenance. In 1985 I met Susan, who was my wife for 30 years. We raised two children in Gloucester then moved to New Bedford where we bought a home near Buttonwood Park. There we lived together until I chose to join Sirius Community, an Eco-village in western Massachusetts, thus walking away from the mother of my children in pursuit of a life in the woods that failed to manifest for me in central Maine years earlier. Though I gathered rural skills at Sirius, the membership there was not stable as the 40 years that passed since its founding in 1978 by former members of Findhorn in Scotland didn't result in community growth and prosperity, so I left Sirius to  live briefly in central Florida and settle near my son and his partner in the City of Crossville, Tennessee. Yesterday afternoon, I witnessed a spectacular rainbow arch over the sky near my apartment, not too far from the crossroads...~ J.D.H.W. Bryan-Royster

~ A Beautiful Rainbow Over Crossville, Tennessee ~

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON: A Fourth of July Message to USA

In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

Preamble

Outlines a general philosophy of government that justifies revolution when government harms natural rights.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

Indictment

A bill of particulars documenting the king's "repeated injuries and usurpations" of the Americans' rights and liberties.

"Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

"He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

"He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

"He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

"He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

"He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness of his invasions on the rights of the people.

"He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

"He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

"He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

"He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

"He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

"He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

"He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

"He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

"For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

"For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

"For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

"For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

"For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

"For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

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

"For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

"For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

"He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

"He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

"He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

"He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

"He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

"In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."

Denunciation

This section essentially finishes the case for independence. The conditions that justified revolution have been shown.

"Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends."

Conclusion

The signers assert that there exist conditions under which people must change their government, that the British have produced such conditions and, by necessity, the colonies must throw off political ties with the British Crown and become independent states. The conclusion contains, at its core, the Lee Resolution that had been passed on July 2.

"We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

Signatures

The first and most famous signature on the engrossed copy was that of John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress. Two future presidents (Thomas Jefferson and John Adams) and a father and great-grandfather of two other presidents (Benjamin Harrison V) were among the signatories. Edward Rutledge (age 26) was the youngest signer, and Benjamin Franklin (age 70) was the oldest signer. The fifty-six signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows (from north to south):[84]

New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts: Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware: George Read, Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean

Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward Jr., Thomas Lynch Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence

Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LyzI81HDdw

PRESIDENT DONALD JOHN TRUMP

I remember America's 200th Birthday celebration in Philadelphia very vividly because, like unto the People's Park solidarity march on Memorial Day in 1969, I was there. Visiting with Jon, a born-again Christian friend, in Germantown, PA on outskirts of "The City of Brotherly Love" I made a conscious decision to witness our un-elected President Gerald Ford stand behind Independence Hall addressing the crowd gathered in Independence Mall observing a perceived reality of what my 1976 illustrated poster proclaimed: "Two Hundred Years of Independence and Liberty" in an official birthday celebration for the United States of America (this commemorative poster is now out of print and to this day, I do not have a copy of it in my portfolio.) After I heard President Ford speak I realized that Steven, with whom I was walking since midnight on the 3rd was nowhere to be seen. After viewing spectacular fireworks display over Philadelphia, my footsteps retraced my path through North Philadelphia alone, to an apartment in Willow Grove, PA where Steven and his brother Bill were staying. Then I "crashed and burned" with exhaustion from the walking, there and back again like unto Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit written in 1939 by J.R.R. Tolkien.

~ Joseph David Henry Ware Bryan-Royster ~

D. C. - Decentralized Cooperative Party; form as grass-roots coalition of independent voters. Third Option to Republican & Democratic Parties in the United States of America presenting "Green New Deal" politics as pioneered by independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Ask Marianne Williamson to run for President as an Independent, not as a Democratic candidate. Template for 3rd Party in the United States is an organized coalition of independent candidates. Support Joe Biden as the nominee of Democratic Party in 2020. Goal is to limit President Donald J. Trump to only one term in office. The first Decentralized Cooperative National Convention is set to be held in 2024. Site: Philadelphia, PA - where the original thirteen British colonies in North America unanimously declared independence on July 4th, 1776. (proposed political party in the United States offered by J.D.H.W. Bryan-Royster, Lantern of the Hermit publisher)