The constitutionality of slavery was clearly raised when the last appeal was heard in April 1783. It was during this trial that Chief Justice William Cushing told the jury: "All men are born free and equal: and . . . every subject is entitled to liberty; and to have it guarded by the laws. . . .Perpetual servitude can no longer be tolerated in our government. . . . " The jury agreed, confirming Quok Walker's right to freedom.
But no links for Picard or Kirk? For shame sir, this is the internet!
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One of the other co-founders was William English Walling, whose wife, Anna Strunsky, co-authored the Kempton-Wace Letters with Jack London. Jack London's youngest daughter Becky was a lifelong baseball fan. One of her favorite teams was the New York Giants, the last team Eddie Grant played for before he retired.
In October 1918, Eddie Grant was killed by a German artillery shell while trying to get medical aid to his wounded lieutenant. Grant was commanding a battalion of infantry that was trying to rescue the Lost Battalion which was led by his old friend Charles Whittlesey. Although Grant's advance was halted, the Lost Battalion was rescued two days later. A month after that, the war ended.
Whittlesey was awarded the Medal of Honor and was chosen to be a pallbearer at the burial of the Unknown Soldier in November 1921. A few days later, he committed suicide by jumping from the United Fruit Company ship SS Toloa en route to Cuba.
The Toloa was named after a region on Tongatapu, largest of the Tonga Islands. Tonga is where Captain William Bligh was set adrift during the Mutiny on the Bounty. Previous to his abrupt loss of command of the Bounty, Bligh served as Ship's Master for Captain James Cook on Cook's third exploratory voyage in the Pacific. Cook, Yorkshire farm boy, captain of the Endeavor and a man who wrote that he had sailed "farther than any other man has been before", was the inspiration for one James T. Kirk, Iowa farm boy, captain of the Enterprise, who would boldly go where no man had gone before.
One of Kirk's successors, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, was a character based on Horatio Hornblower, who was in turn based on Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald. Cochrane was a brilliant, flamboyant, and irascible Master and Commander whose early career in the Royal Navy ended when he accused his superior, Admiral Lord Gambier, of failing to press the attack during the Battle of Basque Roads.
Gambier was exonerated and four years later he was part of the British team negotiating the Treaty of Ghent. Across the table was James Bayard, a senator (and father of two more senators and grandfather of another and great-grandfather of still another) from Delaware. During the presidential election of 1800, with the vote tied in the electoral college, Bayard led a group of Federalists away from voting for Aaron Burr. The Federalists' abstention resulted in Thomas Jefferson being elected president.
Aaron Burr was the brother-in-law of Tapping Reeve, law partner of Theodore Sedgwick. Sedgwick was an outspoken critic of the Shays Rebellion and his house was a natural target for reprisal. When a mob of rebels attacked the house, however, they were repulsed by his servant and one-time client -- Elizabeth Freeman.
posted by forrest at 12:45 PM on August 10, 2007 [13 favorites]