The Charter Oak was an unusually large white oak tree growing, from around the 12th or 13th century until it fell during a storm in 1856, on what the English colonists named Wyllys Hyll, in Hartford, Connecticut in the United States. According to tradition, Connecticut's Royal Charter of 1662 was hidden within the hollow of the tree to thwart its confiscation by the English governor-general. The oak became a symbol of American independence and is commemorated on the Connecticut State Quarter.
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Famous quotes containing the words charter and/or oak:
“Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing,
And like enough thou know’st thy estimate:
The charter of thy worth gives thee releasing;
My bonds in thee are all determinate.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Where he swings in the wind and rain,
In the sun and in the snow,
Without pleasure, without pain,
On the dead oak tree bough.”
—Edward Thomas (1878–1917)