Item: i112933

Authentic Medal of:

United States of America
Bicentennial – Council of the Thirteen Original States – Francis Lewis
1974 Proof Silver Medal 38mm (31.68 grams) Sterling Silver
Reference: Franklin Mint
Francis Lewis facing 1/2 right in government building.
FRANCIS LEWIS MERCHANT NEW YORK, Feather pen and ink well, signature below.
Edge Lettering:
OFFICIAL MEDAL OF THE BICENTENNIAL COUNCIL OF THE 13 ORIGINAL STATES 74 P STERLING

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The Thirteen American Colonies formed the United States of America in July 1776. Their groupings were: New England (New Hampshire; Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Connecticut); Middle (New York; New Jersey; Pennsylvania; Delaware); Southern (Maryland; Virginia; North Carolina; South Carolina; and Georgia).

Francis Lewis (March 21, 1713 – December 31, 1802) was an American merchant and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation as a representative of New York to the Continental Congress.

Lewis was born in Llandaff, Wales, on March 21, 1713. He was the only child of Morgan Lewis and Anne Lewis (née Pettingale) of Newport. ^2] Lewis was educated at Westminster School in London.

Lewis entered a mercantile house in London until he turned 21 and inherited some properties left by his father. Lewis sold the properties and used the proceeds to acquire merchandise, set sail for New York City, arriving there in 1734 or 1735. He left some of the goods in New York to be sold by Edward Annesley, his business partner, and brought the rest to Philadelphia. After two years in Philadelphia, he returned to New York.

Lewis made several trans-Atlantic trips, visiting several northern European ports, Saint Petersburg, northern Scotland, and Africa. He was taken prisoner while he served as a British mercantile agent in 1756 and sent to France for imprisonment. On his release and his return home, he became active in politics.

Lewis was a member of the Committee of Sixty, a member of the New York Provincial Congress, and a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1775 to 1779. In 1776 he signed the United States Declaration of Independence, and in 1778 he signed the United States Articles of Confederation. In 1779, he served as the chairman of the Continental Board of Admiralty.

He helped his son Francis Lewis Jr. open a dry goods business named Francis Lewis and Son. Morgan served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and later held many offices in New York State, including governor.

In 1745, Lewis married to Elizabeth Annesley (died 1779), a sister of his business partner. Together, they were the parents of seven children, three of whom survived to adulthood:

• Ann Lewis (1748–1802), who married Captain George Robertson (1742–1791) of the British Royal Navy.
• Francis Lewis Jr. (1749–1814), who served as churchwarden of St George’s Parish in Flushing, New York, from 1791 to 1794. He married Elizabeth Ludlow (d. 1831), daughter of Gabriel Ludlow, Esq.
• Morgan Lewis (1754–1844), who married Gertrude Livingston, the daughter of Judge Robert Livingston of Clermont. He was a governor and attorney general of New York.

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles (9.8 million km²), the United States is the world’s third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe’s 3.9 million square miles (10.1 million km²). With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital’s federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world’s 17 megadiverse countries.

Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century. The United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, and the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776. The war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. The United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, and gradually admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848.

During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery. By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, and its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish-American War and World War I confirmed the country’s status as a global military power. The United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The Rights Acts of 1964, 1965 and 1968 outlaws discrimination based on race or color. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 U.S. Moon landing. The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world’s sole superpower.

The United States is the world’s oldest surviving federation. It is a federal republic and a representative democracy. The United States is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States (OAS), and other international organizations. The United States is a highly developed country, with the world’s largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP, accounting for approximately a quarter of global GDP. The U.S. economy is largely post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge-based activities, although the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The United States is the world’s largest importer and the second largest exporter of goods, by value. Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, the U.S. holds 31% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country.

Despite wide income and wealth disparities, the United States continues to rank very high in measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP, and worker productivity. The United States is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, and is a leading political, cultural, and scientific force internationally.