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As we approach our 250th birthday, Washington and Jefferson still ring true
Well, here we are. Our 249th birthday behind us and as you read this, 364 days to our 250th. Imagine that.
It started when after over a century of colonists basically be being left alone to run their own affairs collided with a “Mother England” deciding to impose taxes upon the colonies in 1763 to help pay off debts from the French and Indian war.
Two years later came The Stamp Act, two years after that the Townshend Acts and in 1770 the Boston Massacre that took things to a whole new level.
By 1773 the Sons of Liberty let King George know what they thought of his Tea Act by throwing him a little surprise party in Boston Harbor.
When in 1774 Parliament imposed The Coercive Acts to punish Massachusetts for its insolence, the colonies instead united, and brought about the First Continental Congress.
A year later British redcoats were marching on Lexington and Concord to seize colonial powder and weapons stores only to find themselves being repulsed by what Ralph Waldo Emerson would immortalize six decades later in his “Concord Hymn” poem:
"By the rude bridge that arched the flood
Their flags to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.”
And what a shot it was.
Within nine months, on January 10, 1776 Thomas Paine would publish his pamphlet Common Sense that put words to Emerson's famous shot and made the case for independence like no other had done before. The constitutioncenter.org summarizes its effect on the colonists “In electric prose, Paine, a recent English immigrant, made a forceful case in defense of separation. On multiple scores, the pamphlet radiated a radical democratic spirit. In plain, unadorned writing, it appealed to the common capacities of all people to evaluate the case for independence.”
Less than six months later, a 33 year old Thomas Jefferson would take his place in history with "We hold these truths to be self evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men." 46 words that literally forever changed the world.
We've come a long way since the colonies gambled on war against the mighty British Empire. The American navy was basically non-existent and certainly no match for the Royal Navy, and the Continental Army was less than a year old and plagued by lack of supplies, organization and troop retention.
To put it bluntly, the odds of the American upstarts actually securing the independence they had just so boldly declared were anything but good.
But what our founders lacked in military hardware they made up for in spirit, perseverance, and their faith.
Two days before Jefferson's immortal words went public General George Washington issued general order to his troops. Within those orders “The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army—Our cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission; this is all we can expect—We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die: Our own Country’s Honor, all call upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world—Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions—The Eyes of all our Countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings, and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the Tyranny meditated against them.”
Jefferson's words get all the attention, yet Washington's are no less inspiring. Had he written them a month earlier or a month later, who knows, perhaps they too would be as immortal as those of the young man from Virginia.
Throughout his life, the man we refer to as “the father of our country” made clear time and time again his belief in the hand of Providence protecting both him and the young nation he was the first to lead.
Our history is certainly not pristine. We have chapters as dark as dark can be; slavery, Trail of Tears, the eugenics movement, “separate but equal” just a few. Yes, we have some horrible, but we also have a helluva lot of good chapters out there.
And that is what's important. That while we're not perfect we are constantly striving to do better.
As long as we stay that path, and take note of Mssrs. Jefferson and Washington's words, the odds of America living well beyond 250 are better than ever.
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How fitting that little Herb's latest piece is right next to yours....the perfect example of what you are saying! He is such a child... and evidently completely unaware of how brainwashed he is. Really amazing and offensive pablum.
Another excellent piece Geoff!