Anybody in the US commemorating tomorrow's 200th anniversary of the death of Paul Revere on 10 May 1818?  He was the guy who, along with William Dawes, rode through the night to warn the US colonists of the arrival of British forces who would have destroyed the indepence-seekers' arms depot.  Also in 1775 the US navy was established, albeit slightly smaller than today's, comprising 'two swift sailing vessels'.

See http://fooddeserts.org/images/000USA.htm
and scroll down to years 1776,  1775

Not such a happy time for the French monarchy, whose support for the original 1776 Amerexiters ended up precipitating the French Revolution - some deep cuts were made to the French administration shortly after that.

Dr Hillary J. Shaw
Director and Senior Research Consultant
Shaw Food Solutions
Newport
Shropshire
TF10 8QE
www.fooddeserts.org