NOVEMBER 11, 2006

VETERANS MEMORIAL PARK

ABINGDON, VIRGINIA

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR MIGHT NEVER HAVE HAPPENED BUT FOR ONE SINGLE, PHENOMENAL EVENT.

IN 1775, AMERICA’S WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE WAS FAR FROM INEVITABLE. THAT YEAR, THERE WAS A MUCH GREATER LIKELIHOOD THAT AMERICAN COLONISTS WOULD RECONCILE THEIR DIFFERENCES WITH BRITAIN. DESPITE EARLIER OUTBREAKS OF ARMED VIOLENCE AT LEXINGTON AND CONCORD, AMERICA COULD VERY WELL HAVE REMAINED A PART OF THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH, MUCH LIKE AUSTRALIA TODAY.

TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS AGO, THERE WAS, OF COURSE, NO UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. IN 1775, AMERICA CONCISTED OF A LOOSE CONFEDERATION OF COLONIES UNDER BRITISH RULE.

THE COLONIES WERE IMPORTANT TO BRITAIN, WHICH WAS THEN A GREAT EUROPEAN POWER. THE AMERICAN COLONIES PROVIDED BRITAIN WITH RAW RESOURCES AND, IN TURN, SERVED AS A MARKET FOR BRITAIN’S MANUFACTURED PRODUCTS.

ADDITIONALLY, BRITAIN RECEIVED MUCH OF ITS REVENUE FROM THE AMERICAN COLONIES IN THE FORM OF TAXES AND DUTIES.

IT’S TRUE THAT AMERICAN COLONISTS RESENTED NOT ONLY THEIR UNFAVORABLE BALANCE OF TRADE WITH BRITAIN, BUT IN PARTICULAR THEIR LACK OF REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT … YET AMERICAN COLONISTS CONSIDERED THEMSELVES – ABOVE ALL ELSE – BRITISH AMERICANS, AND THEY VALUED THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO THEIR KING.

IN JULY OF 1775, DELEGATES FROM THE COLONIES CONVENED TO PHILADELPHIA TO DRAFT A DECLARATION OF PROTEST TO THEIR KING, GEORGE III. THERE WAS MUCH DISAGREEMENT OVER THE EMANDS THAT THIS SECOND CONTIENTNAL CONGRESS WOULD PRESENT TO THE KING. HOWEVER, THE DELEGATES WERE UNANIMOUS IN THEIR AGREEMENT ON ONE IMPORTANT POINT: AMERICAN COLONISTS DI DNOT WANT INDEPENDENCE FROM GREAT BRITAIN.

THE VERY IDEA OF SEPARATION FROM THE BRITISH CROWN WAS BOTH FRIGHTENING AND UNIMAGINABLE TO MOST COLONISTS IN 1775.

DESPITE THEIR ANGER WITH PARLIAMENT AND TE KING’S MINISTERS, THE AMERICAN COLONISTS FELT A STRONG BOND TO THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH. THERE WAS MUCH LESS OF A BOND AMONG THE COLONIES WHERE REGIONAL DIFFERENCES WERE SHARPLY DEFINED. THE INTERESTS OF NEW ENGLAND FISHERMAN, FOR EXAMPLE, WERE NOT THOSE OF SOUTHERN PLANTERS. THE AMERICAN COLONIES WERE MORE DIVIDED THAN UNITED IN 1775.

EVEN THOMAS JEFFERSON BELIEVED THAT RECONCILIATION WITH BRITAIN WAS IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE COLONIES. GENERAL WASHINGTON FELT THE SAME WAY. MOST OF WASHINGTON’S TROOPS HAD SWORN AN OATH OF ALLEGIANCE TO KING GEORGE III, AS HAD THEIR BRISTISH COUNTERPARTS. WASHINGTON SAW NO IRONY IN THE FACT THAT HE COULD LEAD HIS TOROPS AGAINST THE BRITISH GARRISON IN BOSTON AT THE SAME TIME HE COULD LEAD HIS OFFICERS IN TOASTING THE KING’S HEALTH.

SO WHAT CHANGED? WHAT EVENT ACTUALLY SPARKED THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE?

THE ANSWER WAS A SLIM PUBLICATION, ONLY 46 PAGES IN LENGTH, WHICH INFLAMED THE PASSIONS OF THE COLONISTS WHEN IT FIRST APPEARED IN JANUARY 1776.

IN THAT FIRST YEAR OF PUBLICATION, THIS PAMPHLET SOLD 120,000 COPIES JUST IN ITS FIRST 3 MONTHS – THE EQUIVALENT OF A 35 MILLION-COPY MEGA BEST SELLER TODAY. IT WAS AN IMMEDIATE SUCCESS.

WHAT MADE THIS PUBLICATION SO DIFFERENT WAS THAT IT WAS WRITTEN IN THE LANGUAGE OF COMMON MEN WHO FREQUENTLY MET IN COFFEEHOUSES AND TAVERNS TO DEBATE THE ISSUES OF THE DAY.

THE AUTHOR’S LANGUAGE WAS SIMPLE, PERSUASIVE AND DEVASTATING. HE LOOKED FOR THE COMMON THREAD THAT TIED TOGETHER COLONIAL INTERESTS. HE LAUNCHED A WITHERING ATTACH ON THE KING OF ENGLAND IN A WAY THAT HAD NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE. ONLY BY THROWING OFF THE YOKE OF BRITISH TYRANNY, HE SAID, WOULD THE COLONISTS EVER ACHIEVE THEIR FULL POTENTIAL.

THE AUTHOR OF THIS PUBLICATION IDENTIFIED HIMSELF ONLY AS “AN ENGLISHMAN”.

INDEED, HE WAS AN ENGLISHMAN WHO HAD ARRIVED ON AMERICAN SHORES ON A TYPOID-RIDDEN SHIP ONLY 14 MONTHS BEFORE. HE HAD LITTLE MORE THAN THE CLOTHES ON HIS BACK AND A LETTER OF INTRODUCTION FROM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, WHOM HE HAD MET IN LONDON.

THIS NEWLY ARRIVED TRANSPLANT WAS SHORT OF STATURE WITH A REDDISH FACE AND A BULBOUS NOSE. IN ENGLAND, HE GREW UP AS A QUAKER, AND SPENT ONLY SIX YEARS IN SCHOOL BEFORE SERVING AS AN APPRENTICE CORSET-MAKER. LATER HE WOULD SERVE ON A BRITISH PRIVATEER AND THEN AS A TAX COLLECTOR.

WHAT MADE THIS MAN A WRITER OF SUCH POWER WERE HIS IDEAS, IDEAS THAT WOULD SHAPE BOTH THE THOUGHTS AND THE EMOTIONS OF ORIDINARY PEOPLE TO BELIVE THAT THEY COULD CONTROL THEIR OWN DESTINY.

THE PAMPHLET THAT SPARKED THE IMAGINATION OF AMERICAN COLONISHS AND IGNITED THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR WAS CALLED “COMMON SENSE”. ITS AUTHOR WAS THOMAS PAINE – THE “FORGOTTEN FOUNDING FATHER”.

THOMAS PAINE WAS THE FIRST TO SPEAK OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES AS THE “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA”. HE, MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE, LIT THE FUSE THAT IGNITED THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION FOR INDEPENDENCE.

IT WAS THOMAS PAINE’S PAMPHLET THAT GALVANIZED AMERICAN COLONIAL OPINION AGAINST THE BRITISH CROWN IN A MATTER OF WEEKS.

ONLY THEN WAS IT EVEN POSSIBLE FOR THE MOST POWERFUL DOCUMENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY – OUR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE – TO EMERGE LIKE A PHOENIX DURING THAT HEADY SUMMER OF JULY 1776, BY ANOTHER CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.

BUT THE EUPHORIA OF SUMMER WOULD SOONE WEAR OFF AS THE WAR CONTINUED ON INTO THE GRIM MONTHS OF WINTER. GENERAL WASHINGTON KNEW THAT IT WAS VITAL FOR HIS TROOPS TO UNDERSTAND WHY THEY WERE FIGHTING AGAINST SUCH DESPERATE ODDS. SO HE OFTEN READ PASSAGES FROM “COMMON SENSE” TO ENCOURAGE HIS SOLDIERS.

THOMAS PAINE SERVED IN GENERAL WASHINGTON’S ARMY. HE ENDURED THE SAME HARDSHIPS AS THE COMMON SOLDIER. BY THE END OF THE YEAR – 1776 – PAINE HAD WRITTEN ANOTHER PAMPHLET ENTITLED “AMERCIAN CRISIS” WHICH GENERAL WASHINGTON DISTRIBUTED TO ALL RANKS OF HIS ARMY AND SAW TO IT THAT IT WAS READ ALOUD TO ANY WHO COULD NOT READ IT FOR THEMSELVES. WASHINGTON KNEW THAT THE WORDS OF THOMAS PAINE OFFERED HIS ARMY TWO THINGS THEY MOST DESPERATELY NEEDED. BY CALLING FOR CONTINENTAL SOLDIERS TO OPPOSE NOT “TYRANNY” BUT THE “TYRANT” GEORGE III, PAINE GAVE THEM AN ACTUAL ENEMY. AND BY STATING THAT THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE OUTCOME OF THE WAR WAS INDEPENDENCE, HE GAVE THEM A CAUSE.

THERE WAS NO EXIT STRATEGY. FOR EIGHT LONG YEARS WASHINGTON AND HIS CONTINENTAL ARMY WOULD FIGHT A GRUELING WAR OF ATTRITION AGAINST WELL-TRAINED, WELL-EQUPIPED PROFESSIONAL TROOPS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. YET AMERICAN COLONISTS PREVAILED DESPITE A SENSE OF UNRELENTING FAILURE ON THE BATTLEFIELD, WHERE THE ONLY “VICTORIES” OFTEN CAME IN THE FORM OF WELL-EXECUTED RETREATS.

EVENT TODAY, THOMAS PAINE’S WORDS EVOKE THE UNDIMINSHED SPIRIT OF THOSE COLONIAL SOLDIERS. HE SAID,

“THESE ARE THE TIMES THAT TRY MEN’S SOULS. THE SUMMER SOLDIER AND THE SUNSHINE PATRIOT WILL, IN THIS CRISIS, SHRINK FROM THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY; BUT HE THAT STANDS IT NOW DESERVES THE LOVE AND THANKS OF MAN AND WOMAN. TYRANNY, LIKE HELL, IS NOT EASILY CONQUERED; YET WE HAVE THIS CONSOLATION WITH US, THAT THE HARDER THE CONFLICT, THE MORE GLORIOUS THE TRIUMPH. WHAT WE OBTAIN TOO CHEAP, WE ESTEEM TOO LIGHTLY: IT IS DEARNESS ONLY THAT GIVES EVERY THING ITS VALUE.”

THIS WAS – AND CONTINUES TO BE – THE AMERICAN “SPIRIT OF ‘76”.

FREEDOM IS A VERY GRAGILE THING AND IS NEVER MORE THAN ONE GENERATION AWAY FROM EXTENTION.

WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN AND HEARD HERE TODAY IS NOT ABOUT US – BUT FOR THOSE MEN AND WOMEN WHO DIDN’T COME HOME! WE MUST PRESERVE OUR HERITAGE FOR OURSELVES, LOVED ONES AND FOR THOSE WHO WILL COME AFTER US!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!