Becoming Americans (1774) - In-person

at the Olney Library

Get ready for America's 250th birthday, coming on July 4th, by joining Olney Library for an exciting talk by Brookeville historian Sandra Heiler.

Get ready for America's 250th birthday, coming on July 4th, by joining Olney Library for an exciting talk by Brookeville historian Sandra Heiler! Learn about what was happening in our own neighborhood and all over Maryland in the spring of 1774, and throughout the summer, over all of the thirteen original colonies, as they came one step closer to revolution and, eventually, to declaring independence.

In June 1774, ten men from what would become Montgomery County met at Hungerford’s Tavern, at the intersection of Frederick (Route 355) and Veirs Mill Roads, to sign a list of resolves to boycott all trade—both imports and exports— with Britain. This was in response to Britain’s closure of the Port of Boston, a city about 450 miles (at least a two and a half week stagecoach ride) away, that probably none of these men had ever been to.

This talk situates those men’s actions within the broader context of a transition, as American colonists began to see themselves no longer as Englishmen and women, but ultimately as "Americans." The talk describes the increasingly infuriating chain of events that led up to those actions, which formed the first coordinated, united, “Continental” response to Britain’s unconstitutional acts toward her American colonies—actions that led directly to the First Continental Congress in the fall of 1774, which, in turn, brought the colonies one step closer to declaring war in 1775 and, ultimately, to declaring Independence in 1776.

Note on the accompanying graphic: The backdrop of the title picture is a cartoon from Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette, first published during the French and Indian War (1754-1763) and later revived in 1774 by Paul Revere as the masthead for his newspaper, The Massachusetts Spy.

NO REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED BUT SEATING IS LIMITED. Q&A and light refreshments to follow. Hope you can join us!

Sponsored by Friends of the Library, Montgomery County, MD, Inc.

SANDRA HEILER is an early American historian specializing in the years leading up to the American Revolution and the early Federal period. She is currently the Treasurer of Montgomery Preservation, Inc., and a member of the county’s Rustic Roads Advisory Committee, as well as a member of Montgomery History’s Speakers Bureau. She served on Montgomery County’s Historic Preservation Commission for 13 years, 3 as vice-chairman and 3 as chairman, and she is a former board member of Preservation Maryland. She is currently Co-Chair of Montgomery County’s committee to plan this year’s celebration of America’s 250th birthday. Sandy has a BA in Mathematics and an MA in American Studies and Historic Preservation from Boston University. After a 38-year career as a computer scientist, she retired from Verizon Laboratories as Principal Scientist and Director of Verizon’s Information Technology Lab.

Questions about this program? Contact Olney Library at 240-773-9545.

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If you plan to attend with a group of ten or more, please contact the branch at least one week before the program to discuss how your group might be accommodated.

Accommodation Requests

People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing should request English-language captioning or sign-language interpretation at least five days before the library-sponsored program they plan to attend. Contact the Assistant Facilities and Accessibility Program Manager at 240-777-0002 with all other accommodation requests.

cm 1.1 01/03/2023

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