Tag: American History

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Jamestown: The Beginning of the American Experiment

On May 13, 1607, the English colonists landed near the James River in Virginia.

Nations have risen and fallen throughout world history. In the late 1500s, there was another attempt to build a nation. This one was unique. If we could travel back to 1607 Jamestown, the first permanent settlement in America, we wouldn’t notice anything special. Their boats weren’t much better than the ones Columbus sailed on or crossed the Mediterranean 1000 years before that. Their tools weren’t much of an upgrade – their shovels, axes, and hoes were similar to the ones used in ancient China and Egypt; their farming methods were also hoary with age; the same for their clothes and medicines.

At first, it didn’t look like Jamestown would make any progress. Of the first 9,000 settlers, only around 1,000 survived. What made Jamestown unique was its potential. They came from Europe, where Governments controlled economics, politics, and religion. But in the new world, although they imitated those old world bad habits, they were in a position to make improvements.

Economic Improvements

Economically, the early settlers weren’t completely free to develop their talents. Jamestown tried a form of communism, or corporatism, which was a miserable failure. They replaced that system with free enterprise, and things improved.

Political Improvements

The colonists also made improvements politically. In the summer of 1619, the first representative assembly in America, where people created laws through their chosen representatives, gathered for the first time, marking the birthday of America’s free institutions.

Religious Improvements

At first, political leaders vigorously controlled religion in Jamestown. But, eventually, over time, Americans would win their freedom in this area too. Thomas Jefferson helped write a bill establishing religious liberty, which he considered one of the most significant accomplishments in his life.

We’ve Come A Long Way

Look how far we’ve advanced economically, politically, and religiously since Jamestown. We went from sailing in the uncomfortable and small Speedwell to enormous luxury Cruise liners, from Monarchy to the Representative Republic, from state-forced religion to freedom to worship.

We may regress if we’re not careful. We are never more than one untaught generation from losing our liberties. Where are we today? Our best days can still be ahead of us as they were for the folks in Jamestown. But we, like them, must work hard to maintain our heritage and pass it on to the next generation.

Our best days can be ahead of us!

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Building America and Expanding Narrow Minds with Iron Rails

Building America and Expanding Narrow Minds with Iron Rails – By Daniel Sheridan

#OTD, June 9, 1781, a man was born whose world-changing invention built America.

In the 1830s, the world began progressing technologically at unprecedented levels through the efforts of inventors busily applying their talents for humanity’s sake. One revolutionized travel, helped build America, and expanded narrow minds as a by-product. Here’s the story. 

In 1807, Bostonians built the first American railroads, called tramways, which were temporary rail lines designed to transfer loads out of coal mines. Meanwhile, boats and factories utilized steam engines. One day, a clever inventor combined the two technologies.

George Stephenson, an English civil and mechanical engineer, was born June 9, 1781. In 1814, he invented a steam engine running on wheels grooved onto rails dragging attached cars loaded with cargo.

People mocked Stephenson’s contraption. A parliamentary committee man interrogating Stephenson sarcastically asked,

“Suppose, Mr. Stephenson, that a cow were to get in front of your engine moving at full speed, what would happen?”

George, however, unmoved by the little faith cynic, replied with his Northumberland accent,

“It wad be vera bad for the coo!” 

In 1821, Stephenson engineered and oversaw the Stockton and Darlington railway construction, becoming the first pubic railway four years later.  

Americans adopted Stephenson’s invention by 1830. Within a few years, Americans could travel from New York to Portland, Oregon, at the same time it previously took to go from New York to Portland, Maine, in the days of John Quincy Adams. 

Before the railroad, people traveled at a snail’s pace by wagon carrying small loads, which was not easy, especially maneuvering through muddy trails and weather conditions. After Stephenson’s invention appeared in America, freight trains crossed the country through any weather carrying large loads at lightning speeds. 

The railroad lowered transportation costs, encouraged travel, and added new cities and states to the American landscape. America became smaller and easier to govern, too. 

Furthermore, the railroad expanded people’s minds. Mark Twain said that travel cures bigotry. Efficient transportation exposes people to new worlds and promotes expansive commercial exchanges, bringing people closer and more frequent contact and eliminating bigotry and prejudice from the hearts of the sincere. 

In 1830, Americans laid 23 miles of track for horse-drawn cars. By 1840, they embedded 2,800 miles of rail powered by Stephenson’s invention and blanketed over 30,000 miles of the country by 1860. Railroads and steamboats put westward expansion on the fast track.

On this day, June 9, 1781, George Stephenson was born.

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Captain John Barry: An American-Irish Naval Hero and “Father of the American Navy”

Captain John Barry: An American-Irish Naval Hero and “Father of the American Navy” – By Daniel Sheridan

On June 27, 1963, President John F. Kennedy laid a wreath at the memorial to the Revolutionary War hero, John Barry, of Wexford, on the first full day of his visit to Ireland. Who is John Barry?

The British Navy dominated the seas in the 1770s. During the Revolutionary War, the American Navy was no match for them. But private ship owners bravely filled the gap. Congress granted them the authority to “distress the enemies of the United States by sea or land.” Their pay consisted of war spoils. These patriots sailed up and down the Atlantic, destroying hundreds of enemy ships. Massachusetts and Pennsylvania alone employed about five hundred ships in this service.

Historians have singled out John Paul Jones as the “Father of the American Navy.” However, thousands of other seamen fighting for American Independence were just as patriotic and accomplished as Jones, but Jones got the most press. One man’s story demands our admiration.

Outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia stands the statue of John Barry. Captain Barry, a native of Ireland, was born in Wexford in 1745. When the war for Independence broke out, he willingly offered his services to his adopted country – the new United States. Barry’s exploits were terrific. He cruised up and down both sides of the Atlantic, engaging the British in fierce battles. He lost a few ships and was wounded in action more than once, but he continued to fight and captured many prizes.

The British, unable to beat Barry, tried to seduce their former citizen to switch sides with an offer that most men wouldn’t have the virtue to refuse. They offered Barry $100,000 cash and the command of a frigate in exchange for his loyalty. Think about how much money that was in the 1770s. What would you have done? Here’s what Barry did. He replied without hesitation and indignantly:

“Not the value and command of the whole British fleet can seduce me from the cause of my country!”

Barry was a faithful and virtuous Patriot from the outbreak of the war till its glorious end; he even fought in the last naval battle. His service extended beyond the war, too. Barry helped establish the newly formed government under the Constitution when President George Washington appointed him Captain in the freshly reorganized Navy. He oversaw the construction of the famous frigate “United States” and took command of it when put to sea. Additionally, the Captain defended his country in the naval war with France from 1798 to 1801. He continued to assist his country in other capacities until he was too ill to serve, an illness that took his life.

Captain Barry died on September 13, 1803, in Philadelphia. People said, “Barry was noble in spirit, humane in discipline, discreet and fearless in battle, urbane in his manners, a splendid officer, a good citizen, a devoted Christian, and a true Patriot.”

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Flag Day: The Story of the First Stars and Stripes

Happy #FlagDay! Do you know the story behind the flag?

The Story of the First Stars and Stripes – By Daniel Sheridan

#OTD, June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress authorized the “stars and stripes” flag for the new United States.

On the right of the provided photo is the British Union Jack with the red cross of St. George and the Scottish white cross of St. Andrew. General George Washington used the flag on the left at Cambridge in January 1776. The flag in the middle, our “stars and stripes,” was adopted by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777, when Americans exchanged the British Union for a Union of 13 States, symbolized by white stars on a blue background. Below the center flag is the Washington family coat of arms with a Latin phrase meaning, “The event justifies the deed.” The “Stars and Stripes” now represented the United States in their struggle for freedom, and it flew for the first time on August 6, 1777. Here is how that story unfolded.

On August 3, 1777, British Colonel St. Leger, leading an expedition consisting of Loyalists and Indians, laid siege to Fort Stanwix, a log fortification held by two New York Regiments. The American patriot, General Herkimer, knowing the Americans couldn’t hold out for long, raised a militia of 800 men and went to the aid of his fellow patriots.

Herkimer and his band, however, were ambushed Near Oriskany, New York, by the Mohawk chieftain, Joseph Brant. The battle was gruesome. Militia, Royalists, and Mohawks became so intermingled that the fight turned into hand-to-hand combat, men wrestling with bayonets, hatchets, and hunting knives in hand. Many souls fell in the forest “with their left hands clenched in each other’s hair, their right grasping, in a grip of death, the knife plunged in each other’s bosom.” As he lay dying from a mortal wound, General Herkimer continued to encourage and command his men until his last breath.

The battle still raging, men from the American garrison executed a daring move that successfully drove the enemy away. The Patriots, having heard of Herkimer’s fate, returned to the fort with prisoners, spoils of war, and five enemy flags.

The garrison didn’t have a flag when the battle began, but soldiers improvised one on the spot upon their triumphant return. They cut up white shirts to fashion the white stripes, the red from pieces of scarlet cloth sewed together, and the blue background for the stars from a coat. Historian John Fiske describes the scene:

“This rude flag, hastily extemporized out of a white shirt, an old blue jacket, and some strips of red cloth from the petticoat of a soldier’s wife, was the first American flag with stars and stripes that was ever hoisted, and it was first flung to the breeze on the memorable day of Oriskany, August 6, 1777.”

Bancroft says,

“It was the first time that a captured banner floated under the stars and stripes.”

That’s the origin of the American flag.

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Recurrence to Fundamental Principles, Love, and Charity: The Foundations of a Free Society

#OTD, June 12, 1776, the Virginia Constitutional Convention approves George Mason’s Bill of Rights. Why should we care?

Recurrence to Fundamental Principles, Love, and Charity: The Foundations of a Free Society – By Daniel Sheridan

1776 was the year of the Declaration of Independence and constitution-making in the new states. One question Americans couldn’t answer yet: Who had the right to declare what the law shall be?

Historian Forrest McDonald describes the problem facing the Patriots:“Of the eight constitutions established in 1776, six were drafted by bodies especially elected for the purpose, but they were never submitted to anyone for ratification…Proclamation of a constitution by a legislative order was scarcely a satisfactory procedure, for what one legislative body could enact another could repeal. To cope with this problem, some early constitution makers appended to their constitution a list of principles that, they declared, no government could properly violate.”

George Mason of Virginia wrote the first of these lists of principles. On this day, June 12, 1776, the “Virginia Declaration of Rights,” or “Bill of Rights,” was approved by the Virginia Constitutional Convention. This Bill of Rights became the preamble to the Virginia Constitution. Other states followed Virginia’s example, using Mason’s work as a template while making revisions of their own, yet all with one voice proclaiming their shared beliefs about the role of government and man’s natural rights. They guaranteed, for instance, freedom of speech, of the press, and religious worship. Individual liberty was the fundamental law. “A freeman’s remedy against a restraint of his liberty ought not to be denied or delayed,” declared the North Carolina Constitution. They also called for representative government, trial by jury, protection against unreasonable searches of people and papers, eliminating cruel and unusual punishment, and securing other fundamental liberties. Thomas Jefferson’s wording in the Declaration of Independence and the first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution reflects Mason’s work.

The Virginia Bill of Rights contains 16 declarations. George Mason wrote the first 15; Patrick Henry wrote the 16th declaration concerning religious liberty.

Declaration 15: “That no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.”

The word “recurrence” means “to resort to,” “to return to,” and “to think about.” Mason is reminding us that a government based on freedom principles won’t last long unless the people are continually thinking about and applying correct principles to every area of life. Principles guide us in making the right decisions personally and politically. When Mason wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights, these universal principles were well known, believed, and applied. I’m not saying they employed them perfectly, especially with slavery still in existence. Still, they got to know and acknowledged these principles and dared to proclaim them as our country’s foundation publicly. Unfortunately, our practice doesn’t always match our beliefs, but if we keep the faith in our hearts, we will eventually train our feet to follow – whatever the cost. Part of the American experience is living up to our principles. Before we point fingers at those in the past who lived in different times and circumstances, let’s ask ourselves: Are WE living up to these principles today?

Patrick Henry concludes the Virginia Bill of Rights with Declaration 16: “That religion, or the duty which we owe to our CREATOR, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity, towards each other.”

The lesson is clear. America won’t remain free unless “We the People” practice these two things:

1. Think about, resort to, and return to fundamental principles.

2. Practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other.

On June 12, 1776, the Virginia Constitutional Convention approved George Mason’s Bill of Rights.