Hosted by Fraunces Tavern Museum and Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society. In 1776, the US vessel Andrew Doria sailed to the Dutch island of Sint Eustatius carrying a copy of the Declaration of Independence. Upon its arrival, the island’s governor provided a formal cannon salute to the ship’s patriot flag, marking the first acknowledgement of the United States’ sovereignty. In this presentation, Sergio Villavicencio, Vice President of the Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society and Chair of the NYC Semiquincentennial Committee, will delve into the early relationship between the United States and Sint Eustatius, which critically supplied the patriots’ cause by smuggling the necessary goods to keep the American Revolution going, and how the island’s fate years later decisively affected the end of the Revolutionary War. This lecture will take place via Zoom.