March 1, 2025
Beware the Ides of March
By Eloise Graham
Julius Caesar was warned about the Ides of March. In 44 BC he was launching a series of political and social reforms. He was assassinated on March 15. This event has been immortalized by William Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar.
Below are some of the other events that happened on March 15 during the 18th century.
In 1729, Sister St. Stanislas Hachard became the first official nun in the United States when she took her vows in New Orleans. She was also the founder and first abbess of the Ursuline order.
In 1731, Italian noblewoman Cornelia Zangari Bandi died. Her death is often described as a possible case of spontaneous human combustion. She was 66 years old.
Cesare Bonesana Beccaria was born on March 15, 1738 in Milan, Italy. He was an Italian criminologist, economist, and public official.
The King Louie XV of France proclaimed the French war on the western frontiers of the Massachusetts Bay province on March 15, 1743. A year later, (March 29, 1744) the King of Great Britain, King George II, proclaimed war.
In 1748, George Washington and his party surveyed land in northern Virginia for George William Fairfax. The survey took place on Cates Marsh and Long Marsh, which are small streams that flow from North Mountain to the Shenandoah River.
Samuel Stanhope Smith was born in Pequea, Pennsylvania on March 15, 1751. Smith became a minister studying theology and philosophy under John Witherspoon.
In 1754, George Washington was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel in the Virginia Regiment. He was second-in-command of Fort Prince George, but was unable to take on the role because the French had already captured the fort.
In 1757, the governors from North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania met with the Commander in Chief of British forces of North America in Philadelphia.
On May 15, 1765, Parliament passed the Quartering Act which required colonial legislation to provide housing for British troops. The act was an amendment to the Mutiny Act of 1765.
The Battle of Guilford Courthouse took place on March 15, 1768. This battle was fought in North Carolina as part of the American Revolution. The Revolution began with the British troops landing in Boston in 1768 to enforce taxes and suppress radicals.
On this date in 1770, the Boston News-Letter published a eulogy for the man killed in the Boston Massacre the previous week. The newspaper called the event “the bloody massacre,” which happened on March 5 when British troops opened fire on a crowd of Boston colonists.
In 1777, General George Washington addressed the Continental Army’s discontent and the Newburgh Conspiracy in Newburgh, New York.
In 1788, Alexander Hamilton published Federalist No. 70 in the New York Packet. This essay was part of The Federalist Papers. It argued for a strong executive branch in the United States Constitution. Hamilton wrote the essay under the pseudonym Publius.
On March 15, 1789, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to James Madison about the need for a Bill of Rights. In this letter, Jefferson discussed his views on whether the Constitution needed a Bill of Rights. He argued that a bill of rights was necessary to protect freedom of religion and the press, and to protect against standing armies and monopolies.
