Rough Notes on 1776

The year 1776 keeps coming up as a significant year for New Beginnings in Society so I thought I'd take a look at basic information of what was going on that year. Here's a link to some copper gravures of the sky in 1776 by a Frenchman named Jean Fortin (1750-1831), very beautiful: http://www.pbase.com/henkbril/1776. This is a very rough and incomplete list. It's Tax Day and I'm feeling very very taxed and this is all I'm gonna do.

The Significant events that I'm aware of are:

Signing of the Declaration of Independence: July 4, 1776, Philadelphia, PA, late in the afternoon.

Publishing of Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith. Founding of Modern Economics Theory. (no birth date, Astrotheme gives Apr. 5, 1723 but I have no clue where they got this date from as no one else will commit to it. All I've found is that Smith was born after his Father died in January 1723 and baptized on June 5, 1723)

Publishing of History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by James Gibbon. The similarity of American Culture to Roman culture is pretty amazing. Gibbon gives the reasons for the Fall of the Roman empire, laziness and softness due to outsourcing. Sounds familiar. Why is Enlightenment so fleeting?

The Outer Planet placements for Jan. 1, 1776:

Jupiter 14 Gemini Rx; Saturn 21 Libra; Uranus 4 Gemini Rx; Neptune 25 Virgo; Pluto 26 Capricorn; NN 17 Leo; Chiron 12 Aries

The Outer Planet placements for Dec. 31, 1776:

Jupiter 22 Cancer; Saturn 2 Scorpio; Uranus 8 Gemini; Neptune 28 Virgo; Pluto 28 Capricorn; NN 28 Cancer; Chiron 16 Aries

The North Node placement in Cancer at the end of the year seems significant for Founding a Nation as Cancer is the sign associated with Patriotism, Home, Hearth, Borders. Pluto was conjunct the South Node at the end of the year.

There was an Earth Trine between Neptune in Virgo and Pluto in Capricorn the entire year. A feeling (water) of spiritual harmony (trine) that can be expressed in Nature and the Real World (Earth).

ECLIPSES

Here are the Eclipses I've found. There seems to be something significant about each one in terms of its placement in its Saros Series.

In July there was an Eclipse of historical note called James Cook's Lunar Eclipse. This was first in a series of 4 James Cook Eclipses that occurred over the next year. Link to NASA's information about this eclipse and others of historical note (including significant ones of the Roman Empire which might be important because this is the year that Gibbon's book was published: http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEhistory/LEhistory.html

Longest Total Lunar Eclipse of Saros 120:
Feb. 4, 1776 14:30
most current Lunar Eclipse of this series happened on: June 15, 1992 4:57
next Lunar Eclipse of this series will happen on: June 26, 2010 11:38

Eclipse of Sun to Jupiter, Cazimi Jupiter at around 3-4 degrees Cancer
June 24, 1776 12:02 pm Philadelphia, PA?

Lunar Eclipse of Saros 125, James Cook's Lunar Eclipse
Jul 31, 1776 00:02
most current Lunar Eclipse of this series happened on: Dec. 9, 1992 23:44
next Lunar Eclipse of this series will happen on: Dec. 21, 1010 08:17
This eclipse is interesting in that it was the first after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and is maybe a Lunar Return Chart for the DOI's chart: It has 9 Aquarius Moon. It also has South Node at 7 Aquarius with Sun conjunct North Node in Leo. It also has 20 Sagittarius Rising which is close to the Rising Sign for the Sibley chart. In this way, it reinforces that energies of that chart.

First Solar Eclipse of Saros 151:
Aug. 14, 1776 5:22:56
most current Solar Eclipse of this series happened on: Dec. 24, 1992 00:31:41
next Solar Eclipse of this series will happen on: Jan. 4. 2011 08:51:42

Shortest Total Solar Eclipse of Saros 4:
Nov. 30, 1776 07:41:49
most current Solar Eclipse of this series happened on: Jul. 23, 1992 04:03:17
next Solar Eclipse of this series will happen on: Jul. 12, 2010 20:41:58

Well, here's an interesting addendum to what I wrote about the eclipses. I have since purchased professional software which shows all the eclipses that occurred and 1776 and 1777 are exceptional in that they both had 6 eclipses a year. Usually there are 4 per year.

Here's a list, complete, no doubt, with typos.

Jan 21, 1776, 3:02am, Solar Partial, Saros 108
Feb. 4, 1776 2:30pm Lunar Total, Saros 120
Feb. 19, 1776 1:20pm Solar Partial, Saros 146
July 15, 1776 3:39pm Solar Partial, Saros 113
July 31, 1776 :02am Lunar Total, Saros 125
Aug. 14, 1776 5:23am Solar Partial, Saros 151

Jan. 9, 1777 3:55pm Solar Annular, Saros 118
Jan 23, 1777 4:24pm Lunar Partial, Saros 130
July 5, 1777 :23am Solar Total, Saros 123
July 20, 1777 12:48pm Lunar Partial, Saros 135
Dec. 14, 1777 1:49pm Lunar Appulse, Saros 102
Dec. 29, 1777 10:03pm Solar Annular, Saros 102