When the war began in 1775, the Americans did not have a professional army and lacked officers, sergeants, regiments and a store of arms, tents, muskets and uniforms.
Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, issued an emancipation proclamation in November 1775, promising freedom to runaway slaves who fought for the British; Sir Henry Clinton issued a similar edict in New York in 1779.
Congress had initially invited French-Canadians to join them as the fourteenth colony, but when that failed to happen, an invasion of Canada was authorized in an attempt to drive the British from the primarily francophone colony of Quebec (comprising present-day Quebec and Ontario).
Physical sciences, math and computer sciences, and engineering—traditionally fields whose research support has come mostly from Washington—have declined as a share of the federal academic budget from 27 percent to 24 percent.
Advanced degrees in science and engineering are on the rise—the number of master's degrees increased 20 percent from 1987 to 1996, and the number of doctoral degrees in science and engineering, excluding social sciences, increased more than 40 percent between 1987 and 1997—but only because of increased enrollment by foreign students.
First, science and engineering education is generally more expensive, partly because S&E faculty have relatively high salaries (because universities must compete with the private sector for their services) and partly because technical education requires expensive laboratories and equipment.
Feeds |
Contact