President’s Message

Greetings Compatriots,

Here we are in March and the onset of Spring on March 20th.  Daylight Savings Time begins on March 13th and St. Patrick’s Day is on March 17th.  

The Stamp Act was passed on March 22, 1765, imposing a tax on legal documents, newspapers, even playing cards. This is the first direct tax on the American colonists and is hotly resisted. What if you were a tax collector?  Tax collector’s families went into hiding, it ruined the trust people had in tax collectors, and it made the colonists so angry they tortured the tax collectors. Another consequence was the formation of the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts. 

On March 10, 1783, the last naval battle of the revolution was fought off Cape Canaveral, Florida, as Captain’s John Barry and John Green try to deliver a shipload of 72,000 Spanish silver dollars to the Continental Congress.  The silver made it to Philadelphia and a few days later, word arrived that the Treaty of Paris had been signed on February 3, bringing the Revolution to a close and making this engagement the last naval battle of the Revolution.

The COVID pandemic is finally nearly behind us.  The requirement to wear masks is being relaxed.  This give you all the more reason to join us at our March chapter meeting on March 15th at Mimi’s in Irvine.

In compatriotism,

R. Scott Whitman