E Pluribus Unum

If the Latin phrase "E Pluribus Unum" sounds familiar, it should.

It is the motto of the United States of America as found on not only our Great Seal but also our currency.

The phrase means, "Out of Many, One."

Our nation's early currency featured phrases and symbolism representing unity, including "fractional Colonial Notes" (less than a dollar) designed by Benjamin Franklin which stated the same concept plainly in English: "We Are One."  He placed that uniting phrase in block letters within a circle of 13 interlinking rings, each of which had the name of one of the original colonies which became states.

On July 4, 1776, Congress appointed a committee to design a seal for the United States of America, selecting "E Pluribus Unum" to be included as our country's motto.

An early design of the Great Seal from 1776 had 13 smaller shields with each of the state names positioned in the outline of a shape of a larger shield.

Within the shield outline of states are six symbols representing "the six countries from which these states are peopled." There's a rose for England, a thistle for Scotland, a harp for Ireland, a fleur-de-lis for France, a lion for the Netherlands and the Habsburg Doubler Eagle representing Germanic central Europe.

These six countries provided the primary cultures and histories which formed the political, economic, social and legal foundations of our nation, but there seem to be three obvious omissions: Native America, Spain and Africa.

Native Americans were considered to be members of their own independent nations, and while Spain definitely had major colonies in the Americas at the time, few Spanish were part of this confederation seeking independence from English rule. Africans, on the other hand, had been dragged involuntarily to the New World not as citizens but as slaves.

Slavery is an ugly part of our country's history, although contrary to recently promulgated belief, slavery wasn't exclusively American.  In fact, slavery started thousands of years ago.  Slaves were conquered peoples captured in wars and put to work productively serving their captors rather than being put to death or imprisoned.  Over time, the repugnant slave trade developed, treating these unfortunate captured humans as chattel to be bought and sold.

Contrary to other widely held popular beliefs, dark-skinned people were not the only ones ever enslaved, and only about 6% of African slaves brought to the Americas came to the British colonies that became our United States.  Almost ten times as many went to the scattered small islands of the Caribbean, and most of the rest to predominantly Spanish-controlled South America.

The issue of slavery was much debated at the time our Constitution was being written, but our founding fathers reached compromise to continue the disgusting institution in order to form a defensive union with southern colonies, who erroneously believed slavery was the only way to get enough laborers to harvest plantations in an era before modern American agricultural machinery like Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin and scientific methods like crop rotation promulgated by scientists including George Washington Carver.

The horrific legacy was that children of slaves became slaves themselves, but fortunately that did not pervade ad infinitum.  About 80 years after our country gained independence from England, Republican President Abraham Lincoln led our country to emancipate all slaves.  After Lincoln's assassination, the Republican-led Congress passed the 14th Amendment to ensure that American citizenship continued for all descendants of former slaves.

We've come a long way from there.  Since our bloody Civil War ended US slavery in 1865, many millions of "blacks," dwarfing the number ever brought in as slaves, have freely come to the United States, not to mention stayed by choice.  Notably among that voluntary migration was the father of our current President, Barack Obama, the first African American to hold the highest office in our country.

Since our country's foundation, E Pluribus Unum has taken on greater meaning, as we have become a melting pot for people from everywhere in the world who choose to assimilate into this wonderful country where every person is free to become whatever he or she may choose to be, as long as they don't unjustly hurt anyone.

Living in our current era, it is easy to forget how unique our freedoms are compared to all of human history before our country's birth and many places in the world today.

What does this have to do with travel?

Well, as far as the lengthy tangent from my original subject, the new National Museum of African American History and Culture just opened in Washington, D.C., and that could be an easy addition if you visit our nation's Capitol, possibly in conjunction with a cruise departing from nearby Baltimore.

Regarding the original topic of this post, our oldest daughter Gina recently accepted a tenured position at Drexel University in Philadelphia, a city which brings to mind Ben Frankin and the founding of our nation.  We  look forward to visiting her family's new home in Philadelphia soon.

More to the point of cruising, this same spirit of E Pluribus Unum has been adopted by cruise ships, where crew members from all over the world combine their talents to provide cruise experiences unique to the particular cruise line's philosophy.  It's what helps us decide which cruise ship could be perfect for our next great vacation.



And what if you find a cruise line doesn't meet expectations?

We will provide feedback to the line in hopes of facilitating change, but we also will give greater consideration to alternatives for your next trip based on the latest information available about cruise ships and your ever-evolving personal preferences.

Which ONE is right for you?

Better service leads to better trips!

A Book About Canada/New England

Several ships cruise to Canada/New England each year.

Holland America devotes a ship to the region for the entire summer cruising between Boston and Montreal.

A few others add occasional summer trips of varying lengths, but most of them don't get as far as Quebec.

It is the changing leaves of autumn that attract most cruisers, and a broad choice of cruise lines arrive to accommodate us.

This fall, Julie and I were among that number lured to the beauty and history of the region, and we loved it.

Perhaps like us, you have family in the region, expanding the itinerary beyond cruise ports.

Whether you venture as far afield as Pennsylvania, you definitely should try to spend a bit of extra time in the bookend ports of the cruise, because they are world class cities.  Take the time to play tourist, as we did in New York City this time, even if you've been there several times.

Increasingly, cruise lines include an overnight stay in these great cities, such as Princess does with its "More Ashore" program for an overnight in Quebec, making it unnecessary to add a hotel at the end of the cruise.

You don't have to take an early morning flight on the day you get off the cruise just because you theoretically can when you overnight in the debarkation port.

We found that if we stayed a couple of nights in Montreal, we could save enough on air to essentially pay for the extra vacation days.

Below are links to all of the "chapters" of our trip's story, where you can catch a glimpse of what we found along our way.  Hopefully it will help you choose to cruise in this remarkable region.

Why Should You Cruise On Princess?

Longwood Gardens and Wynnewood, Pennsylvania

E Pluribus Unum

Valley Forge

Should you begin at Newark Penn?

An Elevated View of New York City

Cruising From Brooklyn

Newport, Rhode Island

Boston and the Sons of Freedom

Bah Hah Bah (Bar Harbor), Maine 

Saint John, New Brunswick

Halifax and Peggy's Cove

Sydney, Nova Scotia

Entertainment and Dining on Caribbean Princess

Quebec City

New France (With More Photos of Quebec City)

Montreal for $15 a Night?


Arts and Music in Montreal

What will you find on a Canada/New England cruise?

Each journey is personal, so you need to discover that for yourself.

"Better service leads to better trips!"

New France (with Photos of Quebec City)

In Quebec, most residents prefer to speak French, which along with English is one of Canada's two official languages, so it's not exactly shocking to learn that at one time the region was called New France.

After Great Britain won Canada from France in the Seven Years War, they renamed it the Province of Quebec with the Royal Proclamation of 1763.

Hoping to avoid rebellion, the Brits allowed the overwhelming majority of French Canadians to keep many traditions, including not only their language but French culture, civil law traditions and Roman Catholic religion, rather than forcing them to conform to British mores.

The plan worked quite well, and while for the most part Canada is a fully independent, self-governed country, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II surprisingly reigns as Queen of Canada (and also of Australia, New Zealand and a dozen other smaller countries, including several in the Caribbean).

It occured to me this morning that our vacation in New England and Canada brought us in contact with the six European cultures which provided the political, economic, legal and social foundations upon which the United States of America was built.  I previously wrote about this under E Pluribus Unum.

Before the cruise, we'd been to Pennsylvania, where many Germans began settling in the late 1600's.  They became known as Pennsylvania Dutch, somewhat confusing because the name actually refers to Deutsch (German) rather than people from Holland.

At Valley Forge, Baron von Steuben introduced German discipline and efficiency to our military, turning losers into winners.

New York was initially the Dutch (as in the Netherlands) city of New Amsterdam. In fact, the area from Pennsylvania to Cape Cod, including most of New York, Connecticut, Delaware and New Jersey, was at one time the Dutch Colony of New Netherland.

The Dutch were great ship builders, explorers and traders, and in their Golden Age of the 1600's, the Netherlands became the richest country in the world.

I attribute much of what our country became economically to Holland, even if that connection has been overshadowed by the military victories of the British, who changed New Amsterdam to New York in honor of the Duke of York, King James II of England.

It goes without saying that we spent much of our time in New England, but I'll say it anyway.

For the most part, we speak English, which has further become the most common language for business and success throughout the world, including in the fast growing economies of China and India.

We owe much of our government system, including our Constitution based to some extent on the groundbreaking Magna Carta, two houses of legislature plus an executive branch, and our legal system based on common law to the foundations laid by the Brits.

Our voyage took us through Nova Scotia (New Scotland) where many Scottish and Irish migrated as part of British expansion, although of course immigrants didn't only go to places subsequently named for them. Since I was a boy who cheered for the Lakers against the Boston Celtics, I've known many Bostonians claim roots in Ireland, as do plenty of New Yorkers, as portrayed in an excellent period movie, Brooklyn, which Julie and I happened to watch before going on this trip,

We had a similar encounter with these cultures and more in the Southern Caribbean earlier in the year, but I seem to have already gotten very far off topic.

Upon debarking from Caribbean Princess, our plan had been to return to charming Petit-Champlain if it was sunny, but when the day broke cold and misty, we instead enjoyed a leisurely breakfast on board and then hiked directly to the beautiful historic railroad station to catch the train to our next stop, Montreal.

While planning our trip we had tried to book return air from Quebec City, but we found it would cost half as many air miles to fly nonstop from Montreal on Monday as to return on an early Saturday flight from Quebec City with a lousy itinerary, so we opted to spend a couple of nights in Montreal.

That would prove to be a great decision.  On the scenic train ride, I wondered if the city would live up to my fond memories from forty years ago.