Mike Church

This Day In Founders History –15 August

On this day in 1787, the Federal Convention was in session, approving Article VI, Section 11, enacting the style for bills. They agreed to a three-fourths vote in order to override a Presidential veto, and they agreed to ten days instead of seven for the President to return bills.

In 1776 on this day, General Nathanael Greene wrote to General Washington informing him that he had reports the Hessians had landed on Staten Island in considerable numbers. He added the troops were in good spirits and they were ready to take on the enemy.

One notable birthday on this day in history in 1754, that of Benjamin Hawkins. Hawkins left Princeton a year early to join the Continental Army and was commissioned as Colonel and served on Washington’s staff as his main French interpreter. After returning home several years later, he was elected to the House of Representatives in North Carolina. Hawkins went on to serve as a delegate to the Continental Congress and as a U.S. Senator. In 1796, Washington appointed Hawkins as General Superintendent of Indian Affairs to all tribes south of the Ohio River. Hawkins served as principal agent to the Creek tribe and set up the Creek Agency in Georgia. His common-law wife was a Creek woman, Lavinia Downs.