Was the Julian or Gregorian calendar in use in 1695 in America? When was the cha

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Question:

I am wondering what the difference is between the Gregorian and Julian calendars is!. I know there was a change, but I don't know what year it was done!. What was going on in the 1690s, for example 1695!. I ordered a book that may help me get these dates right - but I want to know for certain, and I haven't been in school for 28 years and took no college!. ThanksWww@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

The Julian calendar was used in Great Britain (including the English colonies) until 1752!. The change was made then!. Wednesday, September 2, 1752 was followed by Thursday September 14, 1752!.

The difference in the two calendars basically has to do with leap years!. The Julian calendar scheduled a leap year every four years (but there for a while, they were happening every three years because people misunderstood the rule)!. As a result of this, the calendar was "gaining a day" every 134 years, so that by the 1700's the day of Easter, which is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Ecclesiastical equinox, was not anywhere close anymore to the Vernal Equinox (the first day of Spring)!.

Pope Gregory XIII re-aligned the calendar so that Easter would happen when it used to -- right close to the first day of Spring -- and in so doing, instituted the Gregorian calendar, which says that in years that are divisible by 20 (for example, the years 1900, 1920, 1940, 1960, and 1980) there is NO leap day UNLESS the year is also divisible by 400 (such as the year 2000 was -- there WAS a February 29, 2000)!. These rules cause the calendar not to progress too far away from what "should" be happening in the skies (and the weather, etc!.) on each of the 365 days!.

This, of course, is due to the fact that the earth doesn't go around the sun in EXACTLY 365 days!. It takes about about five hours longer than that for the earth to return to the same position relative to the sun!.

The Julian calendar had the earth returning to the same position every 365!.25 days, so they were close!. But not close enough to keep the calendar from straying significantly over the centuries!. The Gregorian calendar, skipping leap years every so often, corrects for this error!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I believe it was the Julian, and it must have changed after 1732 because George Washington's date of birth is sometimes listed in old calendar and new calendar!.

Catholic nations changed the calendar before Protestant nations, and since England became Protestant in 1537, evidently they chose not to change the calendar!. Www@QuestionHome@Com