Notes from the Road, September 5, 2016

As I write this, a brilliant sunset is unfolding over Washington D.C., with clouds left over from the Hurricane Hermine reflecting the dying sun’s colors. No rain, no wind, just a beautiful sunset over the RV site at College Park. Here’s my travels over the last week and how I ended up in the nation’s capital.

Sunset over the Cherry Hill RV Park (Photo by Hunner)

After spending some time at Revolutionary War sites around Philadelphia, I went to Gettysburg National Military Park. I drove the battlefield, rode it again on my bike, and saw videos, cycloramas, and exhibits about the battle. Then I had a tour of the National Cemetery where President Lincoln gave his two minute long Gettysburg Address. Walking where men fought and died, where Lincoln offered his brief remarks about why the Union fought, filled me with solemn thoughts.

Pickett''s Charge at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863 (From cylcorama at Visitors' Center)

As I left the campground near Gettysburg, I met two women from Houston who are visited all 400+ parks. I have met a lot of people who are NPS enthusiasts, and I finally came up for a name for us—parkgonauts.

I then dropped down to Antietam National Battlefield, the battle that happened a year earlier than Gettysburg which ended General Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia’s first invasion of the north. At Antietam, I again drove and rode the grounds and imagined the clash from 1862 which resulted in the largest number of causalities in any one day that Americans have fought anywhere. Ranger Keith Snyder spent over an hour with me explaining the battle and how the NPS interprets and preserves the site while we sat looking out at the battlefield behind the Visitors’ Center.

Bloody Lane at Antietam (Photo by Hunner)

The next day, I descended on Harpers’ Ferry National Historical Park and found out about the multiple histories encompassed at that park—from early transportation and industry to the pre-Civil War raid by John Brown to several Civil War battles to Civil Rights and the creation of the Niagara Movement which led to the NAACP. At Harper’s Ferry, Chief of Interpretation Dennis Frye took me to a porch overlooking the town’s graveyard to discuss the place’s multifaceted histories. I later stood where Thomas Jefferson looked out over the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.

Firehouse at Harper's Ferry where John Brown was captured (Photo by Hunner)

Members of the Niagara Movement at a meeting at Harper's Ferry which gave rise to the NAACP
(From exhibit at Harper's Ferry NHP)

I also dashed up to Monocacy National Battlefield near Frederick, Maryland to see the place that the Confederates attacked during their third invasion of the north in 1864. I enjoyed some good beer and bar stool companionship at the Smoketown Brew Pub in Brunswick, Maryland.  Several new acquaintances in Brunswick asked for my thoughts on business ventures. While I am flattered, seriously Ken and Karen, you are in serious trouble if you turn to me for such advice.

As I wound my way to D.C., I stopped at the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park visitor’s center in Brunswick and talked with volunteer Karen there about her town where she had served as mayor for the last four years. From there, I went to the Monocacy Aqueduct, an amazing engineering marvel where the C&O Canal traversed over a river.

A coal barge on the C&O Canal (From exhibit at C&O Canal NHP in Brunswick, Md.)

The Aqueduct for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal NHP (Photo by Hunner)

Once at an RV park near D.C., I took a bike ride with parkgonaut Lisa where we rode along the Washington and Old Dominion railroad bed and then stopped at the house in Leesburg where the Confederate invasion of the north in 1862 was planned. Today, I go to the nation’s pastime, a baseball game between the Washington Nationals and the Atlanta Braves. 

Fort Stanwix National Monument, Rome New York

The first year of the war went well for the patriots. They had chased the British out of Boston and almost captured Canada. King George responded by sending more troops who landed in the New York area in 1776. British General Howe led his 32,000 army against Washington’s assorted militia units and beat them in August 1776 in the Battle of Long Island. Fortunately for the revolution, Howe failed to pursue his advantage and allowed the American army to slip away. On Christmas Day 1776, Washington struck a counterblow by leading his troops across the ice-choked Delaware River to attack and capture 1,400 German soldiers at Trenton and the next day, secured another victory in Princeton. This provided a welcome lift to the rebellion through that winter.

Place where Washington and his soldiers crossed the Delaware River on Christmas 1776 (Photo by Hunner)

The next summer, the British launched an ambitious campaign to split off New England from the rest of the colonies by capturing the Hudson River Valley. They planned a three pronged invasion with two armies moving south from Canada and another one coming north from New York City. General Howe was to invade from New York City, but decided instead to try to capture Philadelphia. General Burgoyne at first succeeded in advancing down from Canada through Lake Champlain and captured Fort Ticonderoga. General St. Leger came into New York from the west to join Burgoyne near Albany. The British had to pass by Fort Stanwix first.

Originally built during the French and Indian War to protect this key portage, Fort Stanwix protected the “Oneida Carrying Place,” a six-mile stretch between the Mohawk River which goes east into the Hudson River and Wood Creek which drains west into Oneida Lake. Ranger David at Fort Stanwix said that this was the center of the world for this region. During this period, all roads went through the Oneida Carrying Place and so converged at Fort Stanwix. However, after the French and Indian War, the British had no further use for it and so abandoned the fort.

In the 1770s, the British declared a boundary through central New York that prohibited settlers moving west into land that belonged to the Iroquois Confederacy. George Washington had bought the Great Meadow around Fort Necessity and men like Ben Franklin, Sam Adams, and others had also invested in land west of the boundary. They were unhappy that the King had set aside this region. So this boundary fueled the growing anger about a distant government meddling in America affairs.

Supporting the British plan to invade New York in 1777 from the north, west, and south, General St. Leger sailed by way of Lake Ontario to Oswego, New York with 800-900 British soldiers and Loyalist Tories and 1,000 Iroquois allies. According to Ranger David, the British promised the Iroquois that there would be no sieges, no battles, and that their warriors would enjoy many gifts. Hearing that the British were coming, the patriots secretly started rebuilding Fort Stanwix. They succeeded in rehabilitating the fortification so that when the British force arrived, they had to set up a siege.

On August 6, 1777, an American militia relief force led by General Nicolas Herkimer approached from the east but ran into an ambush of Tories, Mohawks, and Seneca Indians at Oriskany, about fifteen miles from Stanwix. Around half of Herkimer’s soldiers were killed or wounded in this vicious fighting. Ironically, Oriskany was the first in a series of events that led to the defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga. Here’s why.

As the Iroquois were fighting at Oriskany, their camps near Fort Stanwix were looted by soldiers coming out from the fort. When the Iroquois heard of this, they broke off fighting at Oriskany and rushed back to find their possessions gone. All of the promises made to them, no siege, no battles, lots of gifts were broken. So they left the campaign. The British and the Loyalists continued the siege for another two weeks until they heard that Benedict Arnold approached with 3,000 troops. In truth, Arnold had only 800 soldiers but had sent a Loyalist into St. Leger’s camp sounding the alarm about the bigger force. St. Leger abandoned his invasion, returned to Canada, and left Burgoyne without essential reinforcements. Arnold turned around and raced with his troops back to support the upcoming battle with Burgoyne.

As I wandered the grounds, I recalled Joan Zenzen’s book, Fort Stanwix National Monument, about the creation of the fort. After the reconstruction of Fort Stanwix, for the first twenty years, interpreters at Fort Stanwix played first person – that is they pretended to not know anything after 1777. I talked with many volunteers who were at the fort that Saturday. Volunteer Charles, who portrayed a Captain, switched from a Civil War reenactor to the American Revolution. When I asked Charles about first person interpretation at Fort Stanwix, he said that they don’t do that anymore. He explained that first person interpretation is hard on the audience and hard on the interpreters. The opinion of the interpreters at the fort is that it is difficult to engage with an audience when you pretend to know nothing about today.

I also had an interesting conversation about the interpretation done at the fort with volunteers  Frank, William, and Mike in a barrack as they shared bread and passed around some salami for lunch. Since the goal of volunteers and staff is to engage visitors, they considered that the best way to accomplish this was by talking with them from today. So they were in costumes from 1777, but are squarely in 2016. I blogged about this from my time at Conner Prairie Interactive Park, and I must admit, my thoughts are changing on this. More about this when we get to Plimouth Planation in Massachusetts.

Another interesting volunteer I met was Renee. She played a British Grenadier and explained that she has been fascinated by history since the 4^th grade and wanted to be a Redcoat since then. She found a friendly group with the volunteer group at Fort Stanwix and while I visited with her in a barrack, a mother with two children came in. Renee showed how muskets worked and even let them cock and pull the trigger on the gun.

To get back to the campaign of 1777, Britain’s attempt to split the colonies failed, but Howe did manage to capture Philadelphia, the nascent country’s capital. In European wars, capturing the capital often meant a war was won. Not here. The British occupied the City of Brotherly Love that winter of 1777-78 while Washington and his army hunkered down thirty miles away at Valley Forge. Up north, at Saratoga that fall of 1777, Benedict Arnold distinguished himself again and saved the rebellion. We will fully explore this in the future.

Fort Stanwix became a National Monument on August 21, 1935. The NPS acquired the property in 1973 in anticipation of the U.S. Bicentennial. A group of politicians and local boosters received urban renewal funding to revitalize the downtown area by rebuilding the fort with promises of hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. The more recent buildings on top of the site were razed, archeological excavations conducted, and the blueprint for the original fort was discovered in a British archive which helped recreate the fort. Today, the promise of tourist hordes has failed to materialize, but it is a lively site with costumed interpreters firing off cannons, demonstrating martial life of the time, and engaging visitors with their knowledge and love of the place that prevented the British forces from uniting in 1777 and dividing the colonies along the Hudson River. 

Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

It was one thing for a group of hotheads in Massachusetts to start shooting at the Redcoats in response to the Intolerable Acts and the Boston Massacre. It was another thing altogether to establish a unified governing body to justify, fund, and fight a rebellion against the most powerful army in the world. Much of this discussion and planning happened in the streets, taverns, and formally in Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall. The Hall also served as the birthplace for the United States Constitution. Before we return to the battles of the Revolutionary War, we will look how Philadelphia contributed to the creation of the United States and the buildings there where this history happened.

Independence Hall in Philadelphia (Photo by Hunner)

A lot of the intellectual fervor of the revolution centered in Philadelphia. Granted by King Charles II in 1682 as a colonial charter to William Penn, Pennsylvania became a place of religious freedom for Quakers and a haven of tolerance for others. Philadelphia’s central location between the northern and southern colonies, its position as a gateway to productive lands in the west, and its embrace of the many peoples who flocked to its streets all gave it a vibrancy and primacy in colonial affairs during the 18^th century.

Ben Franklin's first Post Office at Franklin House (Photo by Hunner) 

Three important moments in the founding of our republic occurred at the Pennsylvania State House. First, delegates debated and signed the Declaration of Independence there in 1776. Second, these delegates also wrote the Articles of Confederation there. Third, in 1787 and 1788, representatives from the newly formed states replaced the Articles with the Constitution of the United States.

The Second Continental Congress convened on May 19, 1775 at the State House, which in 1730s, had served as a seat of government for the colony and then for the Revolution. As conflict erupted in Boston, the Second Congress created the Continental Army on June 14 and appointed Virginia delegate George Washington as its commander-in-chief the next day. In response, Washington wrote to his wife Martha: “It has been determined in Congress that the whole army raised for the defense of the American cause shall be put under my Care, and that it is necessary for me to proceed immediately to Boston to take upon me the command of it.”[1]  

George Washington (From  exhibit at Saratoga NB)

The Congress chose Washington for several reason. He had combat experience from the French and Indian War (1754-1760). He also came from Virginia, the wealthiest and largest colony at the time; however, throughout the war, delegates from other colonies, especially Massachusetts, challenged his competence.

A curious inconsistency surfaced with the Continental Congress. It had no legal authority to create an army, tax, print money, create legislation, in fact no legal authority to maintain a central government over the separate colonies. The Continental Congress created itself out of thin air, and then it began to rally for independence and to govern.

As fighting erupted and discontent simmered, Congress in the spring of 1776 moved toward a formal declaration of freedom. To officially sever ties with the British Empire, it passed a resolution on May 10 calling on all colonies to form a revolutionary government in defiance of King George and Parliament. A “Committee of Five” composed of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston assisted Thomas Jefferson in drafting a resolution.

Thomas Jefferson worked on the document at the Declaration House in Philadelphia. This resolution applied John Locke’s contract theory of government that urged people to discard a government if it abused its power and the rights of its citizens.

The table that Thomas Jefferson used to draft the Declaration of Independence
(From exhibit at Declaration House in Philadelphia)

In contrast to the aristocratic non-elected governments in Europe, the Declaration called for a system of governance where “all people are created equal,” where governments derive their “just Powers from the consent of the people,” and where people need to “alter or abolish” that government if the inalienable rights of “life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” are curtailed. After establishing the rights of citizens to seek freedom from an unjust form of government, the rest of the Declaration was a list of twenty-seven specific abuses perpetrated by the King and Parliament on the colonies.

Fifty-seven delegates signed the Declaration of Independence in the Assembly Room of the Pennsylvania State House, including such luminaries as Samuel and John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Philip Livingston of New York, and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. The delegates officially ratified the declaration on July 4, 1776. The declaration has inspired people from around the world with its call for equality and freedom; however, written by slave owners and devoid of a woman author or signer, this call for liberty and freedom is still a work in progress.

The Assembly Room at Independence Hall where the Declaration was signed on July 4, 1776 (Photo by Hunner)

The Congress then turned to creating a way to govern the rebellious colonies. They ratified the “Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union” in November 1777 which established the rules and duties for the national government including prosecuting war and seeking peace, negotiating diplomatic and trade agreements, and settling disputes between states. Unfortunately, the Articles were flawed, especially since Congress had no official authority to raise money through taxes. It struggled to finance the war with borrowed money.

As the war progressed, most people realized that the Articles did not work. No state honored all of their financial obligations since there were no penalties. At times, Georgia and New Jersey refused to pay anything. Consequently, the Confederation government lacked the money to pay even the interest on its foreign debt. By 1786, the United States defaulted on its debts from the war as they came due. Changes had to happen.

The Constitutional Convention convened on May 14, 1787 when delegates returned to Independence Hall in Philadelphia to correct the Articles. By mid-June, the delegates switched from revising the existing Articles to creating a different form of government. Some of the contentious issues included how much power to give the federal government; how to elect representatives to Congress and how many should come from each state; who could vote; when to hold elections; and how to change the constitution and thus the government? Delegates debated all of these issues and more through the summer of 1787 in the State House.

Despite creating a democracy to give the public power over government, our country’s founders did not really trust the people. As Virginian James Madison observed: “if humans were angels, no government would be necessary.” To counter human nature, the delegates turned to Montesquieu who championed the separation of power between executive, legislative, and judicial branches to protect individual freedoms. Only power checking power could preserve the hard won liberty.  

The convention focused on two proposals of governance—the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. The Virginia Plan favored empowering the states with larger populations. It proposed a federal government with three branches to insure checks and balances. The legislative branch had two houses—one elected by popular vote for three year terms and the other selected by state legislatures for seven year terms. Representation was based on population – larger states had more elected officials in both chambers.    

The New Jersey Plan, also known as the Small State Plan, countered the disproportionate power that the more populated states would have under the Virginia Plan. This called for a unicameral body with one vote for each state. In a compromise cobbled together by the Connecticut contingent, aspects of the New Jersey Plan were incorporated into the final draft. This created a bicameral legislature with a House of Representatives apportioned by population and a Senate which granted equal votes to each state, big or small.

After lengthy debate and compromise, the Convention adopted the new Constitution on September 17, 1787 and sent it out from Independence Hall to the states for approval. Ratified by conventions in eleven States, the Constitution went into effect on March 4, 1789. As the supreme law of the land, the Constitution formed a model for representative government that launched a democratic revolution around the world.

In addition to an elected bicameral legislature, the Constitution also established an elected president in charge of the executive branch and an appointed judicial system. All three have duties to ensure a separation of powers to safeguard against abuses.

The Constitution provided the framework for a working republic. It held many firsts as historian Joseph Ellis states:  it established the first modern republic; it created the first wholly secular nation; and it created a federal government where multiple states and their divergent interests worked together. Despite the strengths of the Constitution, the Founding Fathers avoided several areas which belied the phrase that all men are created equal. For a nation created on equality, slavery existed and in the coming years, grew in some states. Native Americans did not receive equal protection and in fact, lost land and rights. And women did not win the right to vote until the 20th century. While the Constitution serves as a model for democratic governance around the world, it also held some almost fatal flaws as well.  We will explore this when we drive to the parks that focus on the Civil War.

The colonial men and women had fought a long and difficult war to free themselves from King George and the Parliament. The Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation came from Independence Hall in Philadelphia. After the war ended, the hall once again hosted the intense debates and creation of the new republic. The resultant Constitution of the United States has for more than two centuries served as a model for democratic governments around the world.

Millions of people from around the world have converged on Philadelphia, have tramped over the grassy mall, toured Independence Hall, and visited the other buildings and sites of this National Historical Park. They all come to look for America.

On June 28, 1948, the U.S. Congress authorized the Independence National Historical Park which was then formally established on July 4, 1956. Independence Hall became a UNESCO World Heritage Site on October 23, 1979.

In the next blog, we return to the war and the campaign of 1777.

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[1] Kelly, Best Stories of American Revolution, 85.