PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, April 1861 – The following is a narrative represented as the 1859 reminisces of one, ninety-nine year old Anthony Sherman, an alleged witness to General George Washington at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777, at which time Washington had purportedly told an officer of the Continental Army of an angel’s prophetic revelations of America’s future.

Originally published by Charles W. Alexander (using the name of Wesley Bradshaw, Esq.), copied from a reprint in the National Tribune. Vol. 4, No. 12, December, 1880.

As time has gone on, many believe this story to be true, yet it is apparent that the story penned by Mr. Alexander for The Soldier’s Casket, a publication for Civil War veterans at the outbreak of the War Between the States, was written more for political reasons long after Washington’s death. And yet it remains a fitting addition to this volume, for it was said, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” Continue reading →

George Mason, “the father of the Bill of Rights.”

September 25, 1789 – During the debates on the adoption of the Constitution, its opponents repeatedly charged that the Constitution as drafted would open the way to tyranny by the central government. Fresh in their minds was the memory of the British violation of civil rights before and during the Revolution. They demanded a “bill of rights” that would spell out the immunities of individual citizens. Several state conventions in their formal ratification of the Constitution asked for such amendments; others ratified the Constitution with the understanding that the amendments would be offered.

The amendments were introduced by James Madison to the 1st United States Congress as a series of legislative articles. They were adopted by the House of Representatives on August 21, 1789, formally proposed by joint resolution of Congress on September 25, 1789, and came into effect as Constitutional Amendments on December 15, 1791, through the process of ratification by three-fourths of the States. Although twelve amendments were passed by Congress, only ten were originally passed by the states. Continue reading →

“If I am honored with the same indulgent attention which the House has been pleased to afford me on past subjects of deliberation I do not despair of surmounting all these obstacles in the common cause of justice, humanity, and policy”

Delivered in the Assembly of Maryland in 1788. A committee report favorable to the relief of slaves was then under consideration.

William Pinkney

Before I proceed to deliver my sentiments on the subject-matter of the report under consideration, I must entreat the members of this House to hear me with patience, and not to condemn what I may happen to advance in support of the opinion I have formed, until they shall have heard me out. I am conscious, sir, that upon this occasion I have long-established principles to combat and deep-rooted prejudices to defeat; that I have fears and apprehensions to silence, which the acts of former legislatures have sanctioned, and that (what is equivalent to a host of difficulties) the popular impressions are against me. But if I am honored with the same indulgent attention which the House has been pleased to afford me on past subjects of deliberation I do not despair of surmounting all these obstacles in the common cause of justice, humanity, and policy.
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November 15, 1777 – The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, on this date. However, ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not occur until March 1, 1781. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Continue reading →

An Important 1775 Broadside

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“The states can never lose their powers until the whole people of the United States are robbed of their liberties.”

Poughkeepsie, New York, 1787 – The youngest of the vital young men who hammered into form the Federal Constitution derided the fears of conservative New Yorkers that establishment of the national government would mean the extinction of State sovereignty – a fear so strong among the older New York hierarchy that it still threatened older New York ratification of the Constitution.

Alexander Hamilton, alien born in the Barbadoes, and this year only 30 years old, drew his bow in a personal contest of debate with Governor George Clinton at the New York Constitutional Convention called to meet under Governor Clinton’s chairmanship. The site itself is significant – this city settled exactly 100 years ago, unofficial center of the up-river patroons and far removed from the more cosmopolitan environs of New York City. Continue reading →

“… steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.”

September 17, 1796 – George Washington’s Farewell Address announced that he would not seek a third term as president. In his farewell Presidential address, while devoting much of the address to domestic issues of the time, advised American citizens to view themselves as a cohesive unit and avoid political parties and sectionalism as a threat to national unity, also warning to be wary of attachments and entanglements with other nations.

In 1796, as his second term in office drew to a close, President George Washington chose not to seek re-election. Mindful of the precedent his conduct set for future presidents, Washington feared that if he were to die while in office, Americans would view the presidency as a lifetime appointment. Instead, he decided to step down from power, providing the standard of a two-term limit that would eventually be enshrined in the Twenty-Second Amendment to the Constitution. Continue reading →

“The older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment of others.”

Dr. Benjamin Franklin

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, 1787 – In a speech on the newly written Constitution, before the Convention here at which he is the eldest sage among sages, 8I – year-old Benjamin Franklin did much toward assuring adoption of this notable document by his injection of homely philosophy into the oft-times heated debate.

The diplomatic editor of Poor Richard’s Almanack frankly told his colleagues that he is not satisfied with the Constitution drafted for submission to the States, and yet he expressed doubt that he ever would be satisfied.

More than that, however, he counseled his fellow members of the Convention against such a predisposition toward personal feelings about it as to break the unanimity of support that it must have among its authors. Continue reading →

September 17, 1787 – The Federal Convention convened in the State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia on May 14, 1787, to revise the Articles of Confederation. Because the delegations from only two states were at first present, the members adjourned from day to day until a quorum of seven states was obtained on May 25. Through discussion and debate it became clear by mid-June that, rather than amend the existing Articles, the Convention would draft an entirely new frame of government. All through the summer, in closed sessions, the delegates debated, and redrafted the articles of the new Constitution. Among the chief points at issue were how much power to allow the central government, how many representatives in Congress to allow each state, and how these representatives should be elected – directly by the people or by the state legislators. The work of many minds, the Constitution stands as a model of cooperative statesmanship and the art of compromise. Continue reading →

“Leave the people free to do as they please.”

Second Joint Debate

Douglas: The Little Giant

Freeport, Illinois, August 27, 1858 – Senator Stephen A. Douglas, in open and joint debate here with Abraham Lincoln, contesting for his Senate seat, today told his opponent that expansion of the United States by the admission of new States must not be hampered by conditions laid down as to slavery within the borders of each.

If the population of a new state favors slavery, he said, that is the business of that state; if slavery is opposed, the state may be counted upon to see that no police powers protecting this institution are maintained.

In this manner, the Democratic Senator – spokesman for this “free state” but openly allied with his party confreres from the South-challenged the thesis of Mr. Lincoln, repeated time after time in debates with Senator Douglas on the basis of his acceptance speech given at Springfield some months ago. Continue reading →

An engraving of George Washington

President George Washington wrote to Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, Virginia’s governor and a former general, regarding the Whiskey Rebellion, an insurrection that was the first great test of Washington’s authority as president of the United States. In the letter, Washington declared that he had no choice but to act to subdue the “insurgents,” fearing they would otherwise “shake the government to its foundation.

The Whiskey Rebellion of August 1794 was the product of growing discontentment, which had been expressed as early as 1791, of grain farmers who resented a federal tax imposed on their distillery products. As growers threatened federal tax collectors with physical harm, Washington at first tried to prosecute the resistors in the court system. In 1794, however, 6,000 men angry at the tax gathered at a field near Pittsburgh and, with fake guillotines at the ready, challenged Washington and the federal government to disperse them. Continue reading →

“We have no other alternative than independence.”

Samuel Adams

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, August I, 1776 – The veteran revolutionary, Samuel Adams, from Massachusetts, today interpreted the Declaration of Independence, in a speech before the Continental Congress, as a step from which there is no retreat; that unless victory is won slavery will be the price paid for failure. With the same undiminished fervor that has marked his leadership in the rebellion against British misrule, first displayed in his opposal more than a decade ago to the Stamp Act Mr. Adams said “our union is now complete,” and that victory is assured.

But he cautioned that with victory, when it comes, must also come a peace that will make further wars for independence unnecessary. Considering his fiery background, this speech by Mr. Adams, second cousin of his more famous relative John Adams, and chief lieutenant of John Hancock, was moderate and perhaps memorable for the high idealism it set forth. Continue reading →

Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms

Second Continental Congress

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 6, 1775 – Prepared by the Second Continental Congress to explain to the world why the British colonies had taken up arms against Great Britain. It is a combination of the work of Thomas Jefferson and Colonel John Dickinson (well-known for his series “Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer.”). Jefferson completed the first draft, but it was perceived by the Contenential Congress as too harsh and militant; Dickinson prepared the second. The final document combined the work of the two. Continue reading →

“We are called as a people, to give testimony, in the sight of the world, to our faith that the future shall belong to the free – for history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.” ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower – Washington, D.C., January 20, 1953

Battle of Lexington

NOTE: The following was originally published on The Federal Observer on July 2, 2003 as a portion of a Studio recording from 1998 entitled, The American Crisis II. ~ Ed.

The American Crisis

The members of the Second Continental Congress were men of status and wealth, men who in normal circumstances might be expected to shrink from the very word “rebellion” and seek shelter under the comforting mantle of established authority. Yet in 1776 these men – successful lawyers, merchants, ministers and plantation owners, and a sprinkling of artisans – signed their names to one of the most revolutionary documents of modern times in which they pledged to each other, “our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor,” in the cause of American independence and the seemingly quixotic ideal that “all men are created equal.”

Thus was the United States of America born – not a nation at first, but a loosely knit confederation brought together by common dissatisfaction and shared inspirations. Continue reading →

“I am sick and tired of the snivelers, the defeated and the whiners.”

Editor’s note: For all that you are about to read… one could change a dozen words or so – and maybe a few names to update the topic of the discussion… but tell me – what would be different in comparison to this day and time? The terms, “snivelers” or “whiners” would translate into the “snowflakes” of today. ~ Ed.

John Mason Brown, noted critic and lecturer, consigned to a deserved ignominy the prophets of the “beat generation” in a talk to one of his favorite audiences, the “sixth form” and graduating class of the Groton School for Boys. He delivered the “Prize Day Address.”

The subject is a favorite with Mr. Brown, and in language understandable to youth he paid his critical respects to two of the most pessimistic of the self-appointed “interpreters” of depressed youth – Jack Kerouac and John Osborne.
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“No slave shall go from the tenements of his master, or other person with whom he lives, without a pass, or some letter or token whereby it may appear that he is proceeding by authority from his master, employer, or overseer.”

In his original draft of the Declaration, Jefferson denounced the slave trade as an “execrable commerce …this assemblage of horrors,” a “cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life & liberties.” If there had been inclusion of his words of the issue, slavery and the slave trade in the United States, would have been abolished.

“One cannot question the genuineness of Jefferson’s liberal dreams,” writes historian David Brion Davis. “He was one of the first statesmen in any part of the world to advocate concrete measures for restricting and eradicating Negro slavery.”

But in the 1790s, Davis continues, “the most remarkable thing about Jefferson’s stand on slavery is his immense silence.” And later, Davis finds, Jefferson’s emancipation efforts “virtually ceased.” Continue reading →

“Shall Liberty or Empire be Sought?”

Richmond, Virginia; June 5, 1788, in the Virginia Convention, called to ratify the Constitution of the United States.

Mr. HENRY. Mr. Chairman, I am much obliged to the {44} very worthy gentleman for his encomium. I wish I was possessed with talents, or possessed of any thing that might enable me to elucidate this great subject. I am not free from suspicion: I am apt to entertain doubts. I rose yesterday to ask a question which arose in my own mind. When I asked that question, I thought the meaning of my interrogation was obvious. The fate of this question and of America may depend on this. Have they said, We, the states? Have they made a proposal of a compact between states? If they had, this would be a confederation. It is otherwise most clearly a consolidated government. The question turns, sir, on that poor little thing — the expression, We, the people, instead of the states, of America. I need not take much pains to show that the principles of this system are extremely pernicious, impolitic, and dangerous. Is this a monarchy, like England — a compact between prince and people, with checks on the former to secure the liberty of the latter? Is this a confederacy, like Holland — an association of a number of independent states, each of which retains its individual sovereignty? It is not a democracy, wherein the people retain all their rights securely. Had these principles been adhered to, we should not have been brought to this alarming transition, from a confederacy to a consolidated government.
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NEW YORK CITY, New York, 1789 – On April 30, George Washington the Nation’s first chief executive took his oath of office in the City of New York on the balcony of the Senate Chamber at Federal Hall on Wall Street. The first Electoral College had unanimously elected General Washington President, and John Adams was elected Vice President because he received the second greatest number of votes. Under the rules, each elector cast two votes. The Chancellor of New York and fellow Freemason, Robert R. Livingston administered the oath of office. The Bible on which the oath was sworn belonged to New York’s St. John’s Masonic Lodge. The new President gave his inaugural address before a joint session of the two Houses of Congress assembled inside the Senate Chamber. Continue reading →

“The shot heard ’round the world.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson was a key early American philosopher, poet and writer, particularly known for his appreciation of individualism, self-reliance and intuition. He wrote this poem, which was sung as a hymn at a July 4, 1837 ceremony to mark the completion of the Concord Monument, to immortalize the resistance of American Minutemen to British forces on April 19, 1775. The poem’s phrase “shot heard round the world” is now internationally famous for its description of the philosophical importance of the American Revolution. Continue reading →

Listen, my children, and you shall hear
of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive,
Who remembers that famous day and year. Continue reading →