April, 19 1775 Battle of Lexington

[765x53]

It should be remembered. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/175140

[Mescalero]

According to my half brother, one of my ancestors was there.

[guido4198]

Thank you for posting that reminder of a day EVERY American should be aware of, and CELEBRATE.
I've visited the area many times. I can tell you, it's an incredibly moving experience. This piece of Granite marks the line where the town militia stood:


In the background you can see the home of Jonathon Harrington who was fatally wounded by a British musket ball. He managed to crawl back to his home, and died on his own doorstep.

Consider that at the time, the British army represented the most powerful military force in the world.
Would YOU have had the courage to arm yourself and muster on the Green that morning...???
I pray none of us ever have to KNOW the answer to that question.

[Centennial]

I read a good book about the Battle Road by General Galvin called THE MINUTEMEN. It details the days fights and then letters and articles from both sides of the Atlantic. Sometimes he could tell who shot who, or who was present at the same bridge or spot.

[Bill in Oregon]

Sobering. Truly, our nation was built with the blood of heroes.

[pwl44m]

Where would We place that Stone today ? I can think of one Place !
Perry

[AJMD429]

It is sad to think how many of our fellow citizens have essentially NO appreciation of the concept of true Liberty. The majority of us now are content to have enough 'freedom' doled out that we can practice our hobbies and go about our lives relatively free of inconvenience; the idea of accepting responsibility for our own total freedom, and that of our neighbors, is too frightening for most. Thus we are engaged in wars on 'poverty' and 'drugs' and 'guns' and all sorts of other nonsense, and for each of those 'wars', some fairly large percentage of our population is duped to going along with the loss of Liberty in exchange for some nonsensical illusion of security. We may have television shows that detail the structure of DNA and composition of the galaxies, but in terms of basic government and human interaction, we are so much less literate than our ancestors that it should humble us all.

[Centennial]

AJMD429,
Those Americans who traveled and stood up against a lot of federal guns in Nevada last week. They understand and seem plenty ready to pay the price, if that is what it came to.

[Griff]

Thank you for posting that reminder of a day EVERY American should be aware of, and CELEBRATE.
I've visited the area many times. I can tell you, it's an incredibly moving experience. This piece of Granite marks the line where the town militia stood:


In the background you can see the home of Jonathon Harrington who was fatally wounded by a British musket ball. He managed to crawl back to his home, and died on his own doorstep.

Consider that at the time, the British army represented the most powerful military force in the world.
Would YOU have had the courage to arm yourself and muster on the Green that morning...???
I pray none of us ever have to KNOW the answer to that question.

I ask every politician running for office that question. Unless they answer yes and explain why, I WON'T vote for them. They have neither the will nor the fortitude to keep this experiment from falling apart.

[Mescalero]

I never gave it much thought untill this year when my half brother gave me the lineage thing,
and then Hobie explained all that is involved.
It seems I have a responsibility here I never realised.

[AJMD429]

Those Americans who traveled and stood up against a lot of federal guns in Nevada last week. They understand and seem plenty ready to pay the price, if that is what it came to.

Yep. That IS encouraging. Too bad the 'news' media make them out to be the bad guys.

I ask every politician running for office that question. Unless they answer yes and explain why, I WON'T vote for them. They have neither the will nor the fortitude to keep this experiment from falling apart.

I agree.

I think any U.S. Citizen needs to be able to thoroughly explain:

• The difference between a given-right and an inherent-right,
  Why being a 'Citizen' is actually important,
  The difference between a Republic and a Democracy,
  The difference between Capitalism and Socialism,
  The difference between 'Crony Capitalism' and Socialism (there is basically no difference),
  The differences between God's Laws, Laws of Physics, and Man's Laws,
  Why the 'Affirmative Action' laws are illegitimate, counterproductive, and should be abolished,
  Why the 'Minimum Wage' laws are illegitimate, counterproductive, and should be abolished,
  Why the 'War on Drugs' laws are illegitimate, counterproductive, and should be abolished,
  Why the 'Income Tax' laws are illegitimate, counterproductive, and should be abolished,
  Why initially often only 'landowners' were allowed to vote, and finally,
  Why the Second Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights.

If a person can't adequately explain those simple, Constitutional, concepts, then I'm not sure giving them a high-school diploma, or allowing them to vote, is a good idea...

[Mescalero]

I would add that untill you had read and proved that you understood:
The Demon Haunted World............. Science As A Candle in the Dark......... by Carl Sagen, you should not obtain a high school diploma.

[GonnePhishin]

Thanks for sharing that picture. Frankly and unfortunately, I don't think the majority of people today really give a darn and are too involved in really useless things.

[Centennial]

They say the majority didn't give a dam back then. That it was about 3% that did.

[SteveR]

Thank you for posting that reminder of a day EVERY American should be aware of, and CELEBRATE.
I've visited the area many times. I can tell you, it's an incredibly moving experience. This piece of Granite marks the line where the town militia stood:


In the background you can see the home of Jonathon Harrington who was fatally wounded by a British musket ball. He managed to crawl back to his home, and died on his own doorstep.

Consider that at the time, the British army represented the most powerful military force in the world.
Would YOU have had the courage to arm yourself and muster on the Green that morning...???
I pray none of us ever have to KNOW the answer to that question.

Interesting how the powder horn hung over the barrel, looks like the mason scale logo.

Steve

[guido4198]

They say the majority didn't give a dam back then. That it was about 3% that did.

My own research on the period indicates across the 13 colonies...(more or less depending upon where you looked)... something like a pretty even 3-way split. About a third wanted to be free of England. About a third didn't want to break away. About a third didn't have much opinion either way.
I have tried to understand the positions of BOTH sides. The Crown needed to recover revenue from the colonies it had gone into debt to protect from France...I get that.
The colonists thought it the height of tyranny that they were taxed by the Crown, with NO SAY in the matter. (the whole taxation without representation thing).
In the mid-to late 18th century in Great Britain...Parliament represented the British people through the House of Lords and House of Commons...problem for the colonists was that the colonies did not enjoy a seat in either house.
I've always wondered how things might have been different if when the Intolerable Acts were passed...the law included apportioning seats for the representative of the colonies affected.
Talk amongst yourselves....

[Centennial]

They say the majority didn't give a dam back then. That it was about 3% that did.

My own research on the period indicates across the 13 colonies...(more or less depending upon where you looked)... something like a pretty even 3-way split. About a third wanted to be free of England. About a third didn't want to break away. About a third didn't have much opinion either way.
I have tried to understand the positions of BOTH sides. The Crown needed to recover revenue from the colonies it had gone into debt to protect from France...I get that.
The colonists thought it the height of tyranny that they were taxed by the Crown, with NO SAY in the matter. (the whole taxation without representation thing).
In the mid-to late 18th century in Great Britain...Parliament represented the British people through the House of Lords and House of Commons...problem for the colonists was that the colonies did not enjoy a seat in either house.
I've always wondered how things might have been different if when the Intolerable Acts were passed...the law included apportioning seats for the representative of the colonies affected.
Talk amongst yourselves....

In the first year do you think it was 3% that made up the ranks of Washington's Army?

[guido4198]

In the first year, 1775, Washington's Continental Army consisted of 28 regiments..approx. 20,000 men under arms.
Colonial population at that time is estimated to have been 2.4 million. Therefore the original Army represented something like 0.83 percent of the population of the 13 colonies.
By the winter in Valley Forge (1777-1778)...the Regular ( Continental) Army had dwindled to about half that, or something like 10,000 men, 2500 of whom died there by the end of Feb. 1778.

[Centennial]

^ I did not know that. That makes it even more amazing and commendable for what they endured, criticisms from others, persevered and accomplished.