In early 1776, Thomas Paine argued in the closing pages of the first edition of Common Sense that the “ custom of nations ” demanded a formal declaration of American independence if any European power were to mediate a peace between the Americans and Great Britain.

A similar French influence is seen in classroom ASL in francophone West Africa, where ASL was introduced along with formal education for the deaf by the deaf American missionary Andrew Foster.

At the end of the 1900 season, the American League removed itself from baseball's National Agreement ( the formal understanding between the NL and the minor leagues ).

Surveys show that the majority of black Americans have no preference for " African American " or " Black ," although they have a slight preference for " black " in personal settings and " African-American " in more formal settings.

In American English, collective nouns almost invariably take singular verb forms ( formal agreement ).

Erin Brockovich-Ellis ( born June 22, 1960 ) is an American legal clerk and environmental activist who, despite the lack of a formal law school education, or any legal education, was instrumental in constructing a case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company ( PG & E ) of California in 1993.

In American Sign Language ( ASL ), more lexical items are fingerspelled in casual conversation than in formal or narrative signing.

* 1942 – World War II: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.

A new definition of hypnosis, derived from academic psychology, was provided in 2005, when the Society for Psychological Hypnosis, Division 30 of the American Psychological Association ( APA ), published the following formal definition:

* 1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Wagner / Morris Island – the first formal African American military unit, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, supported by several white regiments, attempts an unsuccessful assault on Confederate-held Battery Wagner.

* 1958 – A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.

The crew were held captive throughout the year despite American protests that the vessel was in international waters and finally released in December after a formal US apology was issued.

A formal chemical synthesis was accomplished in 1944 by American chemists R. B.

In 1983, the Central Conference of American Rabbis passed a resolution waiving the need for formal conversion for anyone with at least one Jewish parent who has made affirmative acts of Jewish identity.

In 1998, the American Psychiatric Association issued a statement opposing any treatment which is based upon the assumption that homosexuality is a mental disorder or that a person should change their orientation, but did not have a formal position on other treatments that attempt to change a person's sexual orientation.

It is the first formal treaty between the United States and a Native American tribe ( the Lenape or Delaware Indians ).

The Declaration was ultimately a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War.

Adams regarded his May 15 preamble effectively as an American declaration of independence, although a formal declaration would still have to be made.

The Repeal Act, indeed, was only passed pari passu with another censuring the American assemblies, and declaring the authority of the British parliament over the colonies " in all cases whatsoever "; so that the House of Commons repudiated in the most formal manner the principle Pitt laid down.

** WWII: Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.

* July 18 – American Civil War: The first formal African American military unit, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, unsuccessfully assaults Confederate-held Fort Wagner but their valiant fighting still proves the worth of African American soldiers during the war.

* September 17 – The Treaty of Fort Pitt is signed, the first formal treaty between the United States and a Native American tribe ( the Lenape or Delaware ).

In the first place the new doctrine brought a formal separation of international from municipal law, rejecting the earlier view that both were parts of a universal legal system.

Chiefs and other leaders preside over customary, traditional courts, though all persons have the right to request that their case be considered under the formal British-based legal system.

In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons ( see: cause of action ) that the filing party or parties ( the plaintiff ( s )) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the party or parties against whom the claim is brought ( the defendant ( s )) that entitles the plaintiff ( s ) to a remedy ( either money damages or injunctive relief )

In some other jurisdictions, a person may simply start using a new name without any formal legal process.

All EU citizens are now " legally entitled " to use and be titled ( addressed ) as " Doctor " or " Dr ." in all formal, legal and published communications ( provided they do in fact hold the appropriate degree ).

For example, Duncan Kennedy, in explicit reference to semiotics and deconstruction procedures, maintains that various legal doctrines are constructed around the binary pairs of opposed concepts, each of which with a claim upon intuitive and formal forms of reasoning that must be made explicit, not only in their meaning but also its relative value, and criticized.

Having this hard currency buffer to work with, the Salvadoran Government undertook a monetary integration plan beginning January 1, 2001, by which the U. S. dollar became legal tender alongside the colón, and all formal accounting was undertaken in U. S. dollars.

Unlike natural languages, such as English, the language of first-order logic is completely formal, so that it can be mechanically determined whether a given expression is legal.

The person who issues a fatwā is called, in that respect, a mufti, i. e. an issuer of fatwā, from the verb أ َ ف ْ ت َ ى < nowiki >'</ nowiki > aftā = " he gave a formal legal opinion on ".

A legal minimum wage of 36 gourdes a day ( about U. S. $ 1. 80 ) was set in 1995, and applies to most workers in the formal sector.

Since real political power belongs to the sole legal party, in certain states under Marxist constitutions of the constitutionally socialist state type inspired by the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( USSR ) and its constitutive Soviet republics, there was no formal office of head of state, but rather the leader of the legislative branch was considered to be the closest common equivalent of a head of state as a natural person.

Sometimes a head of state assumes office as a state becomes legal and political reality, before a formal title for the highest office is determined ; thus in the since 1 January 1960 independent republic Cameroon ( Cameroun, a former French colony ), the first President, Ahmadou Babatoura Ahidjo, was at first not styled président but ' merely ' known as Chef d ' état ( literal French for ' Head of State ') until 5 May 1960 ; in Uganda, military coup leader since 25 January 1971 Idi Amin was formally styled military head of State till 21 February 1971, only from then on regular ( but unconstitutional, not elected ) President.

The 1815 Congress of Vienna marked the formal recognition of the political and international legal system based on the conditions of Europe.

they rejected the notion that " imperialism " required formal, legal control by one government over another country.

They feared the King would use Orders to gain support for absolutist goals and to make formal distinctions among the peerage which could lead to its legal breakup into two separate classes, and that the King would later play one against the other and eventually limit the legal privileges of hereditary nobility.

A person may be a national of a state, in the sense of having a formal legal relationship with it, without subjectively or emotionally feeling a part of that state.

Plea bargain as a formal legal provision was introduced in Pakistan by the National Accountability Ordinance 1999, an anti-corruption law.

Despite its growing dominance in the constitutional hierarchy, the Premiership was given little formal recognition ; the legal fiction was maintained that the Sovereign still governed directly.

However, Latin, not German, was the formal legal language of the medieval Empire (), so English-speaking historians are more likely to use Latin than German as a term for this period of German history.

By 1968 all forms of segregation had been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, and by 1970 support for formal legal segregation had dissolved.