Notes from the Road, September 12, 2016

This past week, I drove (and bicycled) to more 19^th century historical sites. Last Monday, I went to Ford’s Theater where Lincoln was assassinated on April 14^th, 1865. The museum in the basement is a good overview of the Civil War and its ending, which happened just days before Lincoln’s death. His balcony box seat looks much like it did the night he was murdered.

Lincoln's balcony seat at Frod's theater (Photo by Hunner)

That night, I watched the Washington Nationals defeat the Atlanta Braves with friends and parkgonauts Laura and John.

The Nats get a curly W (win) against the Braves (Photo by Hunner)

Laura suggested that I tour the Frederick Douglass house which I did the next day. I had crossed his path at Seneca Falls, New Bedford, and Harper’s Ferry so it was interesting to learn more about this escaped slave who became a powerful abolitionist at his home overlooking D.C.  

Douglass's House (Photo by Hunner)

That afternoon, I bicycled around the National Mall, which I think is the best way to see the heart of our capitol. I started off at Jefferson’s Memorial, went to Washington’s Monument (closed because of elevator problems), then passed by several Smithsonian units including the National Air and Space Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian.

On top, the Capitol. On bottom, NPS 100th birthday banners at the National Archive (Photos by Hunner)

I then circled around the Capitol and rode past the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court buildings. I took a break and had a beer at the Dubliner near Union Station, then pedaled down the north side of the mall passing by the art, natural history, U.S. history, and African American history museums as well as the National Archives.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture set to open later this month.
(Photo by Hunner)

I spent some time west of the Washington Monument at the World War II Memorial paying tribute to my dad who fought in New Guinea and the Philippines and continued along the Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln Monument. I sat with many people on the steps thinking about Lincoln and looking back over the mall to the Capitol. It is a glorious site.

On top, the view from the steps of the Lincoln Monument. On bottom, Lincoln peering out from inside the monument. (Photos by Hunner)

I walked my bike over to the stark Vietnam Veterans Memorial with its list of over 50,000 names of the Americans who died in that war and I then rode over to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial with his inspirational quotes etched on the marble walls.

On top, the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial. On the bottom, King's Memorial (Photos by Hunner)

Similarly, I walked around the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and read many of the famous things that he said. Then I noticed something bizarre. A lot of people were wandering around, looking at their phones and then around the plaza. I even saw the Park Ranger on his cell phone walking around. I asked him what was going on and he said that this site is one of the best places in the country to play Pokémon Go. In fact, he told me that people come from around the world to play there. At night, hundreds of people arrive, wander around, capture the pocket monsters, and acquire candies and stardust. When someone sees a rare Pokémon and shout out its name, like “Bellossom,” ? says it is like a herd of wildebeests running across the plaza looking for this creature. I must admit I don’t play this game and have mixed feelings about people using a place like FDR’s Memorial for it. But ? talked about bringing new groups of people into the parks and maybe they will look up and read one of the FDR quotes as they capture Pokémons.

On top, Pokemon Go players at the FDR Memorial. On bottom, a ranger has to keep current with Pokemon Go to assist visitors (Photos by Hunner)

Leaving Washington the next day, I stopped at the Chancellorsville National Military Park and visited the spot where in 1863 Confederate troops accidentally shot General “Stonewall” Jackson. He died several days later, depriving Robert E. Lee and the South of perhaps its best general. Nearby, I visited the Wilderness Battlefield which was the beginning of the end for the Confederates as the Union troops led by General Grant ground towards Richmond in 1864-1865.

I visited my old friend George at Shannon Farms near Charlottesville. Thanks for all the people at Shannon Farms for their hospitality, especially Barbara and George. George and I drove to see Appomattox Courthouse NHP where General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant on April 9^th, 1865, effectively ending the war. It is a place of quiet dignity which honors the more than 600,000 men who died in our Civil War. 

On top, George talks with first person interpreter Carl at Appomattox. On bottom, a painting of the surrender by General Lee to General Grant which ended the Civil War (Photo by Hunner and from exhibit at Appomattox)

Now, I take a break from driving to our National Parks and fly to Scandinavia where I attend the annual conference of Bridging Ages in Kalmar Sweden and then go to my nephew’s wedding in Denmark. Here's a link to this living history conference if you are interested: Bridging Ages 2016. I’ll post something next Monday so stay tuned. In the meantime, get out, go to a park, and enjoy the natural and cultural wonders of the United States.

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island National Monument, New York and New Jersey

I went to a birthday party on August 25^th and fell in love with a French woman. I have seen her several times over the years, but this time we clicked. Maybe it was the celebration, maybe it was all the people flocking to her, whatever the chemistry, I was smitten. She had an entourage that accompanied this elegant lady as she landed in New York. Artists and industrialists brought her to New York from Paris. I admired her like millions of others past and present, for her call for freedom and liberty. Of course, I am talking about the Statue of Liberty.

Statue of Liberty and downtown Manhattan from the ferry to the islands (Photo by Hunner)

On the 100^th birthday of the National Park Service, I went to the islands of Liberty and Ellis to celebrate. Hand in glove, you can’t separate them. Liberty and seeking a better life, freedom and the American Dream, the Statue of Liberty is the face on our proud tradition, and Ellis Island is where millions arrived to actualize that dream.

I took a tour led by NPS Ranger Tom Tauscher around the base of the pedestal. He joked that a French lady that size is going to require a lot of maintenance. For example, the torch that is a beacon for the world has had several major alterations. At first, the light from the torch was dim. So six portholes were cut in the flame. Still dim, another 194 holes were cut. Still not enough, so in 1916, the original torch was replaced by a stained glass one, which leaked and weakened the hand and arm that held up the torch of freedom. Finally in 1986, the Lady underwent a major renovation which included removing the stained glass torch and replacing it with the current golden flame in time for the centenary of her arrival in the New York harbor.

Stained Glass torch on exhibit in the Liberty pedestal museum (Photo by Hunner)

Her original name, “Liberty Enlightening the World,” began as an idea of Edouard de Laboulaye and a group of French intellectuals who wanted to protest political repression at home. Laboulaye’s artist friend Auguste Bartholdi seized the idea of creating a new Colossus and in 1876, displayed the arm and torch at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The French public financed the statue while the American peopled funded the pedestal that the Lady stands on.

Auguste Bartholdi (From exhibit in the Liberty pedestal museum)

Newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer championed the statue by launching a fundraising campaign in his New York World. The names of all donors were published in the newspaper. Circulation increased as the public bought the daily to see their names in print, and competition among the wealthy occurred since Pulitzer also printed the amount of each donation.

Lady Liberty being built in Paris (From exhibit at Liberty pedestal museum)

A replica of Liberty's face (From exhibit at Liberty's pedestal museum)

To support a statue that stands 151 feet (46 meters) high, in 1879 Bartholdi turned to Gustave Eiffel to design the infrastructure for the copper covered lady. By 1885, the statue was completed in Paris, disassembled, sent to New York, and reassembled on Bedloe’s Island in its harbor. On October 28, 1886, Lady Liberty was dedicated. Contrary to Ranger Tom’s assertion that the lady needs a lot of maintenance, copper does not need that much. The 62,000 pounds of copper give a green coloring to Liberty and like a good sunblock, protects her from the elements.

Above, a model of Eiffel's structure to support the statue. Below, Gustave Eiffel
(From exhibit at the Liberty pedestal museum)

The meaning of Lady Liberty has evolved over the years. At first, Liberty Enlightening the World had a goal of protesting Napoleon III’s oppression in France by sending her to the United States. Once in New York, the statue’s meaning changed, especially after Ellis Island opened in 1892. As immigrants arrived, the “Mother of Exiles” greeted them with her torch of liberty and her promise of freedom and opportunity. Emma Lazarus’s poem, “The New Colossus,” has Lady Liberty saying:

Give me your tired, your poor, 

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, 

The wretched refuge of your teeming shore. 

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, 

I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

Emma Lazarus's full poem "The New Colossus" (From exhibit at the Liberty pedestal museum)

With immigration on hold during World War I, Lady Liberty served as a patriotic symbol to urge the public to buy war bonds and enlist in the armed forces. Now the Lady is used for a variety of purposes from marketing products and services to advocating for political candidates to attracting tourists. Three million people flock to her each year. She is a powerful symbol.

From Liberty Island, a short ferry ride took me to Ellis Island where I spent the afternoon. Beginning in 1892, immigrants arriving into New York had to go through Ellis. Part of the exhibits at Ellis Island illustrate how officials processed the newcomers —sometimes as many as 5,000 a day. There, arrivals were vetted for their nationality (since quotas limited people from certain countries), for how much money they had (at one point, a new law required at least $25), and for any physical or mental health issues that would make one an unfit immigrant (only 2% of the arrivals were sent back to where they came from). At times, family names were Anglicized and radically changed. It often was a confusing time.

Immigrant ship landing at Ellis Island (From Ellis Island exhibit)

The exhibits at Ellis cover the push and pull of immigration. First, why did people leave their home countries? Graphic images of war ravaged villages, destitute families living in ruined buildings, pogroms and purges, droughts and starvation illustrate what pushed people to leave their homelands. Some of the images in the galleries speak to such desperation.

Poverty in Eastern Europe (From Ellis Island exhibit) 

After making the difficult decision to leave one’s country of origin, the next question was where to go? What places pulled people to relocate and to start a new life? The promise of America from the 16^th century on served as a magnet for such aspirations. Whatever the reasons for leaving a home, millions came to North America for a better life, for freedom to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. This freedom drew people to these shores long before Lady Liberty symbolized this desire.

Granted, many millions of Africans were brought here as slaves, and for them, the dream of liberty remained at best a remote and dangerous possibility. We will explore this aspect of the American experience more fully when we visit Civil War sites.

Little Italy in New York City (From Ellis Island exhibit)

Once allowed to enter the United States, many immigrants stayed in New York. They moved into neighborhoods that became havens for them and their fellow countrymen. They worked where they could, dreamed of a better tomorrow for themselves and their children, and innovated to make that dream happen. Others spread out from the large railroad station near Ellis Island in New Jersey to farm or work in factories and raise families across the country.

Immigrants at work (From Ellis Island exhibit)

We are a stronger and more lively country for the presence and contributions of immigrants to the U.S.  Diversity is our destiny. It has been from the beginning, even before Europeans arrived on these shores. Humans need each other, both family members as well as strangers, to thrive. We culturally code-switch—we borrow from other peoples to make our lives better and more interesting. We find new ways, either by inventing something or by borrowing from a different culture. With such innovations and peoples’ motivations to have a different life, society adopts and adapts and often improves. I have written more about cultural code-switching at Contact: Encounters and the Colombian Exchange.

Ellis Island processed 12,000,000 people from 1892 to 1954 when it closed. Interestingly, that is the estimate of the number of undocumented Mexicans who now reside in the U.S. Deporting those people would be equal to sending all of those who passed through Ellis Island back to their country of origin. What would the United States be if the people who entered through Ellis Island had not built their lives and families here?

The motto of the United States is E pluribus unum – out of many, one. Out of the indigenous people who had lived here for millennia, out of the immigrants who came here, out of the slaves forced to come here, and from the descendants of all of these people, we have created one nation.

Newly arrived children (From Ellis Island exhibit)

At the birthday party for the National Park Service at Liberty Island, a Girl Scout troop stood at the base of the pedestal and sang “This Land is Your Land.” See the video at Statue of Liberty Facebook page. Rangers held up cue cards with the lyrics, and we all sang along. I got chocked up. Later I asked Melissa Cannady why they chose that song, and she replied: “Because the parks are all our lands.” Enough said.

Rangers holding up cue cards with the lyrics of "This Land is Your Land" (Photo by Hunner)

The Statue of Liberty became a National Monument in 1924. Ellis Island became part of the NPS by proclamation by President Johnson in 1965 and was reopened to the public in 1990 as the country's primary museum devoted to immigration.

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.

Minute Man National Historical Park at Concord, Massachusetts

“Lay down your arms, ye damned rebels, lay down your arms!” With that terse warning from Major Pitcairn of the British Army, his guard of 150 soldiers confronted the 77 assembled Minute Men on the town green at Lexington, Massachusetts. The militia on the Lexington Green on April 19, 1775 had responded to the alarms spread by Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Dr. Samuel Prescott. At the time, no one cried “the British are Coming!” Most colonials still considered themselves British. The cry that did ring out through the New England countryside that night was “The Regulars are Coming!”

Lexington Green (Photo by Hunner)

At the Lexington Green, a shot rang out, and the militia scattered, some run down by the Regulars who charged with bayonets, killing eight and wounding ten. The Regulars suffered no casualties. Pitcairn marshaled his jubilant troops back to command and rushed his men to Concord to capture a stockpile of rebel arms and ammunition.

 Reenactors portraying British Regulars at Concord (From exhibit at Minute Man NHP) 

The fighting at Lexington and Concord that April in 1775 sparked the American Revolutionary War and changed the world. The road to rebellion was slow boil for the colonists in British America that dated back to the French and Indian War. Administering the American colonies burdened the growing British world empire, and Parliament thought payment was due. Beginning in 1733 with the Molasses Act, taxes on essential colonial products raised the ire of the Americans. First Lord of the Treasury, George Grenville, justified the taxes saying that they would go “toward defraying the necessary expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the said colonies and plantations.” From our early days, taxes have vexed Americans. A particularly odious tax on the colonies was the Stamp Act of 1765, covered in last week’s blog. Local Sons of Liberty began to organize against the rising “tyranny” of the British over colonial matters.

Ben Franklin's call for unity during the protest against King George III and Parliament.
(From Franklin House exhibit at Independence NHP)

Revolutions need many elements to succeed. They need a perceived threat to motivate people to rebel. They need talented leaders to take charge and figure out how to rebel. They require a network of communication to spread the word. And they need luck.

Talented writers fanned the flames of rebellion and justified the challenge to the British and King George III. Virginians Patrick Henry and John Dickinson, Pennsylvanian Benjamin Franklin, and Bostonian Samuel Adams stoked popular resentment with pamphlets, broadsheets, and articles decrying British tyranny and rallying the public with slogans such as “Taxation without representation is tyranny,” and “Give me Liberty or give me Death.” From leaflets to popular songs sung in taverns, the rebels organized against England. The patriots were lucky with such talented publicists.

Building on the growing discontent, rebels started boycotting British imports. Sassafras tea replaced British tea as the protestors’ drink of choice. Women made garments out of homespun cloth, merging fashion with defiance. Patriots organized militia to resist England. In Massachusetts, almost all men between sixteen and sixty served in their town’s militia, with the younger men serving as a rapid response force, nicknamed the Minute Men. All knew that once open rebellion started, they would face the best military in the world.

Political cartoon showing the English forcing tea down an American
(From exhibit at Minute Man NHP)

What did the rebels want? They fought for independence from an oppressive regime; for equality (for white males with property); and for representation in government. Newly arrived from England, Thomas Paine published the influential Common Sense in January 1776. In it, he wrote:

It is not in the power of Britain to do this continent justice: … for if they cannot conquer us, they cannot govern us.… Independency means no more, than, whether we shall make our own laws, or, whether the king, the greatest enemy this continent hath, or can have, shall tell us, "there shall be no laws but such as I like.”

Cries for rebellion like Payne’s unified the disparate colonies into a continent, into a whole land. Granted, the thin line of English settlement along the eastern seaboard ignored the rest of North America continent; nonetheless, colonials started seeing themselves as part of a larger country fighting against a corrupt government.

In my tour of Independence Hall in Philadelphia led by Ranger Greg, he mentioned militia Captain Preston’s reason about why they took up arms against the King. Was it taxes? No. Was it the Boston Massacre? No. Preston said they fought because those people in England felt that we Americans could no longer take care of our own business, we could no longer govern ourselves. That is why he and his fellow soldiers rebelled.

The First Continental Congress met at the Carpenters’ Hall from September 5 to October 10, 1774 to respond to the Punitive Acts (aka the Intolerable Acts) that Britain enacted due to the Tea Party. General Gage placed Boston under martial law. The Congress, with representatives from all the colonies but Georgia, petitioned King George III to remove these acts and soldiers from the colonies. They then adjourned with the understanding that they would meet again if the King rejected their petition. The King was not amused.

Revolt ignited that April morning north of Boston. After the British attacked the militia at Lexington Green, they continued to Concord. Nearby Minute Men swarmed to the sounds of gunfire as the Redcoats searched for arms and ammunition. When the militia saw smoke coming from Concord, they feared that the British had started to torch the town. They charged the North Bridge occupied by the Redcoats and exchanged fire which killed two Minute Men and eleven English soldiers. British Colonel Francis Smith ordered his men to retreat to Boston.

North Bridge at Concord where the shot heard 'round the world occurred (Photo by Hunner)

The  Minute Man statue at North Bridge (Photo by Hunner)

A mile east of Concord at Meriam’s Corner, a narrow bridge across a creek created a bottleneck for the British, and the gathering militia, hiding behind fences, walls, and trees, started picking off the enemy. More militia joined the fray and forced the English to run a gauntlet of deadly gunfire as they retreated to Boston. Near Lexington, the British column faced the men they had attacked that morning who exacted retribution from the Regulars. A British officer wrote about their retreat:

The Rebels kept the road always lined and a very hot fire on us without intermission; we at first kept our order and returned their fire… but when we arrived a mile from Lexington, our ammunition began to fail … so that we began to run rather than retreat in order.[1]

Inconceivably, the ragtag group of colonial militia had forced the Redcoats to flee in disorder. The Regulars ran into reinforcements at Lexington sent from Boston or their retreat would have been worse.

The retreat from Concord (From Minute Man NHP exhibit)

The engagement shocked the British —almost three hundred men killed, wounded or missing, and their forces now under siege in Boston. The Minute Men suffered ninety-three killed or wounded. As an irregular unit, the militia inflicted serious damage to the best army in the world by using guerrilla tactics learned from fighting Native Americans in the woods. This would be a different kind of war.

After the first skirmishes near Boston, conflicts erupted at Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point in New York. Then, on June 17, militia from the Boston area defended the strategic heights above Charlestown from a Redcoat assault. During the Battle of Bunker Hill, a first wave of 2,200 Regulars struggled uphill over fences and hastily constructed bulwarks. Volleys of bullets rained down from above and forced the Redcoats to retreat. They charged again, and again the militia fought them back. The third charge proved successful for the Redcoats as the Patriots started to run out of ammunition. The British suffered 1,054 casualties including 232 dead while the Americans had only 400 dead, wounded, or missing. British General Clinton complained: “A dear bought victory—another such would have ruined us.”

The vicious battle for Bunker Hill (From Bunker Hill exhibit at Independence NHP)

Several consequences came out of these first armed clashes. First, with cold weather approaching and surrounded by a hostile force, the British abandoned Boston and retreated by boat to Halifax, Canada where they wintered. Second, the British generals became more cautious in engaging the home grown militia whose atypical combat style proved effective. Third, the British decided to counter this rebellion with a show of force and sent their largest contingent of soldiers up to that time anywhere for next summer’s campaign. Finally, the Continental Congress called for all able bodied men to join the militia.

Not all Americans joined the rebellion. Perhaps a third of the colonials wanted rebellion and freedom from England while another third remained loyal to the king. The rest stayed neutral, but this was as much a civil war as a unified struggle against the British. Finally, these Boston battles sparked the years of combat and destruction as armies chased across the colonies, killing one another, and often destroying whatever lay in their paths.

In 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened in May and in response to the fighting in Boston, declared the colonies independent. They also organized the defense of the colonies as combat rang out in Boston and elected George Washington to lead the nascent Continental Army. At the City Tavern, at Quaker meetinghouses, in Carpenter’s Hall, debates rang out about whether to rebel and if so, what to put in Parliament’s place.

Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia (Photo by Hunner)

City Tavern in Philadelphia (Photo by Hunner)

The American Revolution, begun in April 1775 in Concord, lasted until the Battle of Yorktown in Virginia in October 1781. We will explore the history of the war and the creation of our democracy in future postings.

The Minute Man National Historical Park was created on September 21, 1959 when President Eisenhower signed its enabling act. The sites connected to the Revolution in downtown Philadelphia was designated as Independence National Historic Site in 1934 and added as Independence National Historical Park in 1938.

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[1] Stevens, America’s National Battlefield Parks, 25.