Independence and Expansion (the United States)
(1789 to 1849)
What happened?
Americans had developed an ideology of “republicanism”. They wanted their “rights as Englishmen” and “no taxation without representation”. The British insisted on administrating the empire through Parliament, and the conflict escalated into war. After The war of independence, the US was a collection of 13 states whose cohesion was not too great. The American Revolutionary War was the first non-European entity against a European power, in this case against the British Empire. An important unresolved question was the division of power between individual states and the Union. Some wanted a strong central government, others a minimal power for the federal government in the capital, Washington.
The Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, this day is celebrated annually as Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a decentralized government that operated until 1789.
After its defeat at the Siege of Yorktown in 1781, Britain signed a peace treaty. American sovereignty became internationally recognized. The land was granted all lands east of the Mississippi River. Nationalists led the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 in writing the United States Constitution. The federal government was reorganized into three branches in 1789. George Washington, who led the Continental Army to victory, was the first President elected under the new constitution. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and guaranteeing a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.
In Europe, the French Revolution and the coming to power of Napoleon led to a turbulent time with protracted wars. The US tried to stay aloof and turned its attention to expanding its territory in North America. American settlers began to expand westward, prompting a long series of American Indian Wars. The US bought the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803. France thus tried to prevent much of that unexplored territory from falling into British hands while the US took control of the Mississippi River and grew twice its size. The groundwork was laid for the massive westward expansion of the later 19th century. In 1812, war broke out with England that ended military in a stalemate. The US was seen politically and morally as a victor. The last vestiges of English presence in US territory were expelled and the country’s independence was confirmed.
Although the federal government outlawed American participation in the Atlantic slave trade in 1807, after 1820, cultivation of the highly profitable cotton-crop exploded in the Deep South with the slave population. The US acquired Spanish Florida in 1821 and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819.
The Second Great Awakening converted millions to evangelic Protestantism. It energized multiple social reform movements in the North. Methodists and Baptists converted among slave populations in the South. In 1836, Texas fought itself free from Mexico and became an independent republic. The Republic of Texas was annexed in 1845 during a period of expansionism at its own request. At the annexation of Texas, a border dispute arose between the US and Mexico. The Mexican American War broke out in 1846 after a skirmish in territory claimed by both. Victory by the Americans resulted in 1848 Mexican Cession of California and much of the present-day (2021) American Southwest, such as the later New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada, making the US span the continent.
Shortly after the fighting ended, gold was found in California and soon the California Gold Rush of 1848–1849 broke out. It spurred a real migration to the Pacific coast, which led to the California Genocide of Native Americans and the creation of additional western states. Cities were sometimes literally built in one night. Many prospectors (= gold diggers) ended up in San Francisco, the so-called “49ers”.
The giving away of vast quantities of land to white European settlers as part of the Homestead Acts, nearly 10% of the total area of the US, and to the private railroad companies and colleges urged economic development.
Original Wood Shavings. Found: Washington DC, US (JN0666)
White House
± 1814
Since 1800, every US president has moved into the White House. President John Adams was the first. It is therefore quite normal that every resident has left traces. Regardless of who the occupant is at any given time, or the changes they have made, the White House itself continues to exist. It is a powerful symbol for the United States and the office of the presidency. Only President George Washington has never lived in the White House. He was actively involved in its creation and proposed the design.
President George Washington chose the location for the future executive residence and offices. In 1792, the first steps were taken to build the official residence of the President of the United States of America. Irish architect James Hoban had won the competition with his design. George Washington oversaw the works. Construction lasted until 1800 when Adams first moved into the Executive Mansion. After Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, and Abraham Lincoln are some of the earliest residents of “the House of the People,” where it is hoped that every American can feel a sense of inclusion and belonging.
Until 1950, many of the most historic and notable events of the United States and the world were directly associated with the White House. The White House's history was nearly cut short during the War of 1812. British troops set the building on fire during the Burning of Washington in 1814. After the flames were extinguished, only the exterior walls remained. All parts of the south wall had to be demolished and rebuilt. The First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln, undertook a major refurbishment project for what she called a third-rate hotel. The project ran so far over budget that Abraham Lincoln would never approve the bills. It was not until 1901 that the building received its formal name “White House” from President Theodore Roosevelt. Before that it was called "President's House" or "Executive Mansion". The West Wing was added in 1902 and the East Wing in 1942.
After 150 years, age and use took their toll on the structure. Beginning in 1949, the last major renovation (as of this writing, 2022) began and the entire interior of the White House was completely redone, under the supervision of President Harry Truman. Everything was demolished, including all wood, bricks, marble, cords, plaster, and nails. The project is sometimes referred to as a reconstruction rather than a renovation. This is because the structure was stripped from the inside and refitted with a steel superstructure. This process generated huge amount of salvage material. Some original pieces were replaced in the new restoration. Others were used for various other state projects. Part of it was used as a garbage dump. Some attractive material was packaged and sold to the public as souvenirs. It was a popular public souvenir program designated by the Building Renovation Commission. Sales started in 1951. Our copy is some wood shavings recovered during the renovation and expansion of the White House in 1948-1952. It most likely comes of wood that was removed from a corridor on the second floor. In 1961, Congress passed a bill to officially designate the White House as a museum.
Original Mechanics Pile Driving Machines Construction Abraham Rees Print. Found: Manassas, Virginia, US (JN0718)
Pile
± 1820
Houses on stilts were built on the banks in Europe around 5000 to 500 BC. As a result, they were high and therefore dry. When constructing abutments, the Romans used the pile as an underground foundation. With the disappearance of the Roman Empire, much architectural knowledge disappeared. During the Middle Ages, there was no need for the foundation of simple wooden houses. A support of stones and horizontal posts was sufficient. As the buildings got bigger, like churches, better foundations became necessary. In the beginning, slats (= bundle of short posts driven vertically into the ground) were used on which the building could rest. The slat foundations did not rest on a load-bearing layer, which meant that subsidence remained possible.
From the 16th century, the solution came to replace the slats with long, thick piles and to place them in a load-bearing sand layer. A technique that made its way. This “piling” was done with the classic Dutch piling rig, a three-legged wooden construction for piles up to twenty meters long. It took many people to lift the pile driver. A piling crew of up to sixty men was no exception. The use of pulleys reduced that number. The heaviness of the pile driver was expressed in the number of men required for the operation. For example, there was an eight-, ten-, twelve- or sixteen-tailed block, where the "tail" was the rope that one man pulled.
Before the piling work started, a construction pit was dug. The wooden posts had to be completely submerged or the wood would rot. Pumps kept the work pit dry. After the pile driving, the piles were sawn down to below the groundwater level and provided with a wooden supporting construction, on which a stone foundation was laid. The pile driver was lifted and released by the pile driver in 30 strokes or “tripping”. Then it was time to rest, and another 30 tripping were made. Good coordination was important. That is why the cadence of a work song was used during the pile driving. A savior always had thirty short lines, as many as there were strokes. The pile driver sang and was therefore also called a singer, the pile butts needed their air to pull. Whatever was sung, the last line was always “stretch and set,” to indicate that it was allowed to rest. Often the songs were ambiguous or bawdy, with lyrics about poles, willing women, and drink.
The driving of the first pile was already a festive occasion in 1852. That pole was decorated and carried around the neighborhood while singing. A drink was expected from the contractor. The last pile was also celebrated. An article about this appeared in the Groninger Courant, a Dutch newspaper from Hoogeveen in the province Drenthe.
Pile driving was for centuries heavy and dangerous manual work. There are numerous reports of fatal accidents. Then the steam engine made its appearance in the 19th century. The steam engine was replaced from 1900 by the lighter and practical diesel engine, and later by the diesel hammer (the diesel pile driver). In 1902, the raw piling was known for its uncivilized manners.
The mighty blasts of steam from the steam engine are replaced by diesel knock, the pungent peat and coal smoke gives way to an oil smoke, and the blaze in which the rammers shined disappears completely. A reporter in 1939 ran an article about this.
In the meantime (2022) the wooden posts have been replaced by concrete ones. You hear the knocking of the heath every now and then. Drilling is more often done, after which an iron reinforcement is slid into the hole when the concrete is poured. Vibration damage to buildings is avoided. But despite all the changes, pile driving remains of fundamental importance.
Ice Cream Shop Newspaper Ad. Found: Oxford, Maryland, US (JN0127)
Ice Creams
± 1848
The discovery of the ice cream has been a process of centuries. Natural ice was always available in the winter months of prehistoric times.
To make frozen drinks, whether sweetened, a lower temperature was required than this ice could provide. An 11th century Arabic text for the first time reports how salt added to ice or snow causes the temperature of that mixture to drop well below zero. In principle, it was also possible to freeze other liquids with this cold brine mixture.
The Italian Giambattista della Porta managed to freeze a bottle of water diluted wine in a tub of snow and saltpeter in Naples in 1589. You could not drink the wine, but only consume it by sucking or licking it. The ice slowly conquered the rest of Europe. Fruit-made water ice, in all forms, was a big hit at the banquets of the European nobility. Discovery that mixtures of cream or milk also yielded delicious ice cream. For a long time, ice cream was a luxury item reserved for the wealthy elite.
The Industrial Revolution of the 19th century brought techniques that made raw materials such as sugar cheaper and available in large quantities. Nancy Johnson's ice cream maker in 1843 made ice cream preparation a lot easier.
Italian migrants brought the ice to the Netherlands and Belgium at the end of the 19th century. They took to the streets with special carts. Dutch confectioners smelled their chance and started selling the cold delicacy. Antoine Marziale makes ice in Liège, Belgium, in 1895, which was "harvested" from the Meuse in winter and stored in ice cellars. Sales from exotically decorated carts. Copper gas lamps made sales possible until the late hours.
Only artisan ice cream makers served the market before WWI. The street ice cream sold in small shot glass-like glasses or presented on a piece of flat paper. Cones and wafers arrived a little later. Eating ice cream on the street was taboo for women. Women ate ice cream somewhere quiet, out of sight, because a neat girl does not lick.
During WWI there was a rise in the Netherlands of ice cream companies, cooperatives of ice cream makers, who jointly purchased and produced. They bought from an ice cream company and the ice cream was called an "ice cream".
The invention of the continuous ice cream freezer in 1927 in America enabled factory production of the ice cream. Antoine Marziale founded MIO (Italian for "mine") in Liège, Belgium, in 1928. It developed into one of the largest ice cream producers in Belgium.
The Amsterdam Milking Facility (VAMI) was the first ice cream factory in the Netherlands in 1929. The large ice cream manufacturers before WWII had sales of ice cream only in the summer. After WWII they dominated the market, especially from the 1960s, when the freezer entered households.
Staf Janssens started in 1935 as a fourteen-year-old boy as an ice cream vendor and later founded the IJsboerke in Tielen, known throughout Belgium.
The beginning of Ola ice cream in 1959. After a difficult start in Baasrode, Belgium, Ola managed to become the ice cream producer in the Low Countries. Worldwide distribution: Walls (Asia), Frigo (Spain), Langnese (Germany), Good Humor (USA), Hollanda (Latin America).
The Rocket, the well-known tricolor water ice cream, sold for the first time in 1962, is one of Ola's successes and is the best-selling water ice cream in the Netherlands.
A cycling team sponsored by IJsboerke won a few stages of the Tour de France in the 1970s.
Ola changed the composition of The Rocket in 2007, an improvement. The public complained enormously. The original Rocket came back.
Ice cream used to be an uncomplicated treat. In the late 2000s, ice cream presents itself as an adult stimulant. E.g., Ola presented the Magnum ice creams as the seven deadly sins, greed, revenge, lust, vanity, laziness, greed, and jealousy.