Dear Readers,
As July opens with colorful fireworks and celebrations of America’s independence, let me refresh your memory regarding Italian American contributions to the founding of our nation. An Italian American signed the Declaration of Independence.
An Italian American contributed many of the ideas to Thomas Jefferson upon which he based the concept that ‘all men are created equal’. As many know, the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. What many of us do not know however, is that in 1776 there were already Italians and Italian Americans living in the thirteen colonies.
One of the most famous Italian Americans at the time of the Revolution was William Paca. The Paca family had emigrated from Italy to England and then to Maryland. In 1651 the Paca family received a large estate of land and eventually became wealthy planters by the end of the 17th century. William Paca distinguished himself by serving in the Maryland Legislature and the Continental Congress.
He was also a famous jurist in Maryland. William Paca, along with the other revolutionaries and founding fathers, renounced his allegiance to the British Crown and King George III, and was one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Following his signing of the Declaration of Independence, William Paca became the third governor of Maryland and the very first governor of Italian heritage in the United States. So as early as the 1700’s, we were proud to have an Italian American as governor in the United States.
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Philip Mazzei was a very educated Italian who lived in London for eighteen years before he was introduced to, and became good friend with Benjamin Franklin, and also a friend of a Virginia businessman at the time named Thomas Adams. Mazzei was invited by Ben Franklin and Thomas Adams to come to the United States to try an agricultural experiment in Virginia.
Thus, Mazzei came to the Colonies in November 1773, on a ship which he chartered himself. Upon arriving in America, he was welcomed by the leading citizens of Virginia, including Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and George Mason. Soon after arrival, Mazzei became very involved in America’s revolution and struggle for freedom, so much so, that he neglected his own business and devoted all of his time in explaining to the new Americans why they should declare their independence from the British Crown.
Thomas Jefferson soon became good friends with Mazzei.
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It was in 1976, thanks to research by a nun, Dr. Margherita Marchione, that Filippo Mazzei’s contribution to our Declaration of Independence finally came to light. My late pen-pal, Peter Sammartino, Ph.D., Chancellor, Fairleigh Dickinson University, great friend of Sr. Marchione, wrote (when a 40cents then USA airmail stamp rate was issued) about Philip Mazzei and other Italian American contributions…
Dr. Margherita Marchione came across a 1776 document that is without doubt one of the most important in the history of the United States. It was a set of “instructions” (a plan to create a new government) to John Page and Patrick Henry. These “Instructions of the Freeholders of Albemarle County to the Delegates in Convention” were unsigned.
But by clever detective work, observing that Mazzei used various symbols, and by matching them with those in drafts with bits of paper found elsewhere, Sister Margherita (she is a nun who teaches at Fairleigh Dickinson University), realized that these instructions were written by Philip Mazzei. Thomas Jefferson, a close friend of Mazzei, in his own draft-constitution of 1783 was influenced by the views expressed in the document.
In other words, the very basis of our government, through Thomas Jefferson, was influenced by an Italian. As a matter of fact, the phrase “all men are created equal” was undoubtedly transferred from a letter of Mazzei to Jefferson in which he uses the phrase “All men are by nature born equally free and independent.”
But Mazzei is but one example of the Italians who were important in the early years of our nation. Unfortunately Italian American research to highlight our contributions did not coalesce until the last few decades (too late for us to learn in school.) Remember that there was no unified entity as Italy until 1870. During the colonial period there were people from Savoy, from the Piedmont, from Lombardy, from Tuscany, from Venetia, from the Kingdom of the two Sicilies, and from other city-states.
Different countries owned parts of Italy, and the Kingdom of Sardinia which eventually would become the reigning dynasty of Italy was limited to Sardinia during the Napoleonic regime. After Napoleon was overthrown, the dynasty resumed its control of Savoy, Liguria, and the Piedmont. Immigrants from the Savoy might be categorized as French, from the Trentino as Austrians.
Names were anglicized if the person spent some time in England. Giovanni Caboto, born in Genoa, became Cabot when he went to England. In the list of persons who landed in Jamestown in 1607 there is a “Symn” who was listed as “Italian” but this categorization was rare. In the Revolutionary War, three regiments fought under DeGrasse and another at Yorktown composed mostly of Italian volunteers from Savoy, fought under the French flag. One regiment was even known as the “Royal Italien.”
The leaders of the Revolution were men of culture and of intellect. They knew of the tremendous role of Italians in the arts, in history, in commerce. They knew of the world leadership of Rome, of the importance of the maritime republics (Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Amalfi), of the artistic primacy of Florence, of the value of Italian philosophers, of the power of Italian bankers.
Here they were trying to pull together a motley group of states into a new nation when in Italy, independent states had existed for centuries and had achieved a high degree of culture and commerce. In England many from Italy had been welcomed and had been given leadership roles. Bartolomeo Tagliaferro of Venice went to England in 1602 but we find the Tagliaferro family well represented in Virginia in 1637. But names changed. Tagliaferro was slurred into Tolliver.
D’Anna became Dana; Rossi, Ross; Bassi, Bass. Remember that there was quite a bit of trade between the various states of Italy and the colonies and in the process some Italians remained in America.
Italian Protestants might come through France. When Catholics were allowed in Maryland, some Catholics from Italy also came. One salient fact that should be kept in mind is that the claims of England, France and Spain were all based on the explorations of Italians – English claims through Cabot, French through Verazzano and the Tonti brothers, Spanish through the exploration of Italian priests. More Italians in the Revolution. Major Cosmo De Medici displayed outstanding bravery and was given a grant of 1872 acres of land by the state of North Carolina.
Captain Tagliaferro was killed at the Battle of Guilford Hall, Lieutenant Bracco at White Plains. There are others too: Brigadier General Christopher Baldy (Baldi), Colonel Isaac Corsa, Lieutenant Colonel Luigi Antonio De Cambray-Digny who was one of the ten to receive a medal struck by Congress. Luigi Giovanetti Pellion, an officer in the Piedmontese Army, asked to be sent to America to serve in the American Army.
Others saw action on French or English warships. God Bless America and remember “America, we discovered it, we named it, we built it.”
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After much ado (the US postal officials originally wanted to honor Mazzei with a postcard), on October 13, 1980, the Philip Mazzei Patriot Remembered US 40 cents airmail stamp was issued in Washington, DC. The first day cover envelope, stamped 1730-1980, indicated that it was the 250th anniversary of Filippo Mazzei’s birth. Mazzei was born in December 1730 in Tuscany (Poggio a Caiano) and later helped Thomas Jefferson sire the phrase “All men are created equal.”
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