215 Years Ago Today...

The 16 Carmelite martyrs of Compiègne were guillotined during the French Revolution.

You can read more about them in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Also recommended are:

The Song at the Scaffold by Gertrud Von Le Fort (Neumann Press) - approriate for high school or adult

To Quell the Terror: The Mystery of the Vocation of the Sixteen Carmelites of Compiegne Guillotined July 17, 1794 by William Bush (not yet reviewed for age-appropriateness)

The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne (published 1851)

Hokusai (Japan, 1760-1849)

Hokusai: The Man Who Painted a Mountain by Deborah Kogan Ray (Hokusai, Japan, 1760-1849)

French Revolution (1787-1799)

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baronness Orczy (read the entire series online)

The Song at the Scaffold by Gertrud Von Le Fort (d. July 17, 1794)

To Quell the Terror: The True Story of the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne by William Bush

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

The Guillotine and the Cross by Warren Carroll

American Revolution (1785-1783)

Picture Books:

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? by Jean Fritz
Sam the Minuteman by Nathaniel Benchley (1776)
George the Drummer Boy by Nathaniel Benchley (1776)

Boston Tea Party: Rebellion in the Colonies by James E. Knight

Grade School:

Amos Fortune: Free Man by Elizabeth Yates (d. 1801)
Flaming Arrrows by William O. Steele
The Reb and the Redcoats by Constance Savery (1780s)
Guns for General Washington by Seymour Reit
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (1774)
Shhh! We're Writing the Constitution by Jean Fritz (1787)

Out of Print Favorites:

Silver for General Washington by Enid Lamonte Meadowcroft
Swamp Fox of the Revolution by Stewart Holbrook (Landmark Series)

Primary Sources:

Patrick Henrys' Speech: "Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death!", March 23, 1775

On the Web:

The American Revolution

Founding Fathers, U.S.

Picture Books:

Benjamin Franklin by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire (1706-1790)
George Washington by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire (1732-1799)

Grades 1-4:

Benjamin Franklin: Young Printer by Augusta Stevenson (Childhood of Famous Americans)
George Washington: Young Leader by Augusta Stevenson, illustrated by E. Joseph Dreany (Childhood of Famous Americans)
Thomas Jefferson: Third President of the United States by Helen Albee Monsell, illustrated by Kenneth Wagner

Famous Speeches:

"On the Constitution", Benjamin Franklin, 1787

Blessed Junipero Serra (1713-1783)

"Always Go Forward, and Never Turn Back: Blessed Junipero Serra", Reading Comprehension: Stories of the Saints, Volume 3 pgs. 81-103 (Catholic Heritage Curricula)

The Man Who Founded California: Blessed Junipero Serra by M.N. Couve de Murville

Art:

Saints of the California Missions: Mission Paintings of the Spanish and Mexican Eras by Norman Neuerberg (Bellerophon Books)

Out of Print Favorites:

The First Californian: The Story of Fray Junipero Serra by Donald Demarest (Credo Books)

Act of Settlement - 1701

This act banned Catholics (or anyone married to a Catholic) from ruling Great Britain.

That all and every person and persons, who shall or may take or inherit the said Crown, by virtue of the limitation of this present act, and is, are or shall be reconciled to, or shall hold communion with, the See or Church of Rome, or shall profess the popish religion, or shall marry a papist, shall be subject to such incapacities.

Catch the details here

18th Century AD

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (inspired by true story 1704-1709)
The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice D'Algliesh (1707)
St. Louis de Montfort: The Story of Our Lady's Slave by Mary Fabyan Windeatt (1673-1716)
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (1751)
With Pipe, Paddle and Song by Elizabeth Yates (1750s)
Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare (1754)
"The Miracle of Paterno, Italy", EM 169-170) (1772)
Priest on Horseback by Eva K. Betz
Kat Finds a Friend: A St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Story by Joan Stromberg
The Martha Years Books (Little House Series) by Melissa Wiley (mostly 1790s)
Mother Seton and the Sisters of Charity by Alma Power-Waters (1774-1821)

Primary Sources:

George Washington's Farewell Address: September 19, 1796